So I read this article saying that Jews who go on Birthright* trips to Israel are more likely to marry within the Jewish faith than Jews who don’t go on Birthright.  This study frustrates me so much because it’s so biased!!  The study says that Jews who go on Birthright trips learn to value their culture and heritage more or some other bullshit and that makes them more likely to marry within their faith. What a load.  Of COURSE Jews who go on Birthright are more likely to marry other Jews.  They were probably more likely to marry other Jews whether or not they went on Birthright!  Jews who go on Birthright already have an interest in their heritage, that’s why they’re going in the first place.  The free trip to Israel doesn’t have them coming home and suddenly thinking “Gee, check out Shoshana, the way she lights those Shabbat candles gets me so hot under my Tallis!”  Most likely, it was already important to them to marry a Jew. 

This really doesn’t have to do with my own Judaism, more about my hatred of biased studies.  Okay, yes, I’ll give it to them that a trip like that can make a person feel more in touch with their faith and maybe they’ll become more observant, but I still find the study to be biased.  The study says that more people who were selected via lottery for the trip married fellow Jews as opposed to those who weren’t selected.  I can’t argue with numbers, which they supply, but I can argue with the assumptions they make based on numbers.  Say that marrying a Jew after going on the trip doesn’t mean the trip itself changed their views on religion in marriage, but maybe spending ten days with a group made up entirely of Jews might change their social circle a little, therefore maybe changing who they wind up marrying.  You meet a friend on Birthright who’s Jewish, maybe they introduce you to other Jewish friends and in that group you find your future spouse.  Maybe a little far-fetched, but it’s definitely plausible, and a possible explanation besides, “Israel made ‘em do it.”

They also left out Orthodox Jews who went on the trip saying, “They were probably gonna marry Jews, anyway.”  What?!  You’re allowed to pick and choose your subjects based on how Jewish they are?!  What magic fairy pseudo-science is this?!?!

The problem with this study is that they’re asking the wrong question.  Or really, they should be asking MORE questions.  Like asking the participants how important it was for them to marry a Jew before they went on the trip and asking them again after.  Maybe, “Do you think your trip to Israel influenced your thoughts on interfaith marriage?  Did it make marrying a Jew more important to you?”

When I called my mother to rant about the article she pointed out that the study was most likely done by someone trying to influence people to donate to Birthright.  I checked the article and found the study was done by Brandeis University, which is a very Jewish institution (their school motto is actually in Hebrew), and Birthright helped pay for it (though apparently they did not come up with the question about marriage).  She’s probably right.  It simply frustrates me to no end how easy it is to skew a study like that.

Science is supposed to be about truth.  It’s about facts and learning how the world works.  How can we know what’s actual, real science when there’s so much bullshit out there? This study, and the thousands more out there based on incomplete questions and sketchy control groups, isn’t about learning and finding truth, it’s about manipulating the fears of many Jews that our culture is dying to scare them into handing over some cash.

And no matter what the stereotypes may say, tricking people out of their money IS NOT JEWISH.

To end this rather long bit of angry babble, I’ll leave you with Brandeis’s motto in English:

“Truth Even Unto Its Innermost Parts” 

Yeah.  Right.

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*Birthright-Taglit is an organization that gives free trips to Israel to Jews between the ages of 18 and 26.  I’m not saying the organization itself is bad, from what I’ve heard the trips they give can be a wonderful experience and I think it’s great to give people such an opportunity.  I’m frustrated at the study and it’s sketchy science, not the work that Birthright does, which I think is pretty cool.