NEW YORK (AP) — A newly released survey on the state of American Judaism found that the number of Jews has dropped 5% to 5.2 million in the past decade, as a low birth rate

combined with slightly rising levels of intermarriage.

However, the National Jewish Population Survey also found increased enrollment in Jewish day schools

and strong emotional ties to Israel.

Even the least-engaged U.S. Jews observed some holiday rituals, such as lighting candles on Hanukkah, the report said.

The study, done every 10 years, is highly influential in directing how money is spent to keep Judaism alive in the United States.

But the latest version is about two years late and the delay has threatened the report's credibility.

Preliminary findings were released last October then abruptly retracted after the agency overseeing the project, United Jewish Communities, discovered that an outside firm which conducted fieldwork had lost some data used to determine who would be interviewed. [...]