HIGH HOLY DAYS : Jews Celebrate the New Year

This is the Jewish New Year 5754. Though modern Jews acknowledge the scientific view that the Earth is billions of years old, the holiday tradition follows the reckoning of 12th Century Jewish scholars who said the world was created 3,761 years B.C., or before the Common Era.

Jews in the San Fernando Valley

* The Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles estimates that the Valley Jewish population is between 250,000 and 300,000 people, or nearly half of the estimated 600,000 Jews in Los Angeles, Ventura and Riverside Counties.

* Ten percent of Valley adults polled by The Times Poll in 1991 answered “Jewish” when asked their religion. Of them, 3 out of 4 said they identified with the Reform or Conservative wings of Judaism, which are the largest groups in the United States. Nationwide, Jews make up 2.3% of the population.