OPINION

CONTENTS

Elderly Identify Strongly
With Their Jewishness

SHERRY ROSEN

Special 10 The Jewish News

D

emographically di-
verse, geographically
mobile and personally
active and productive are
some of the characteristics
that describe the fastest-
growing segment of the
American Jewish communi-
ty: the new Jewish elderly.
Unlike the generations of
elderly preceding them, the
Jewish elderly of today and
tomorrow are likely to be
American-born, highly
educated and retired from
professional or managerial oc-
cupations. And also unlike
their largely Orthodox
forebears, most of them list
their own religious affiliation
and identity as Conservative
or Reform.
In
light
of
these
developments, many of to-
day's elderly are confronting
new and complex challenges
within their extended
families: forging new rela-
tionships with non-Jewish
sons- and daughters-in-law
and grandchildren.
In many ways, the Jewish
elderly are a reflection of cur-
rent trends in the Jewish
community in general and in
Jewish families in particular.
Increased longevity and
lower birth rates underscore
the prediction that the elder-
ly will increase from 12 per-
cent of the American Jewish
population in 1975 to 17 per-
cent by the year 2000.
This growth, which will
take place mostly among
those 75 years or older, is
greater even than the propor-
tional growth of elderly
predicted for the U.S. popula-
tion at large — from 9.8 per-
cent to 11.9 percent for the
same period.
There are other significant
differences between Jewish
and non-Jewish elderly in
America, differences
heightened by the fact that
more Jewish elderly tend to
be concentrated in the middle
and upper middle classes.
There is some evidence, for
example, to suggest that
Jewish elderly:
• Live longer and in better
health and seek out medical
care more frequently than
non-Jewish
their
counterparts.
• Are more likely to stay on

Sherry Rosen is a research
specialist in the Jewish
communal affairs office of the
American Jewish Committee.
(c) Jewish Telegraphic Agency

their jobs after age 65 and,
after retirement, are more
likely than non-Jews to par-
ticipate in volunteer
activities.
• Report more contact with
their children and grand-
children, yet are also more
likely than non-Jews to be
placed by their children in in-
stitutional facilities.
As Allen Glicksman, a
gerontologist affiliated with
the Philadelphia Geriatric
Center, has observed, being
Jewish affects how people ex-
perience the aging process in
a variety of ways.
At a recent conference spon-
sored by the William
Petschek National Jewish
Family Center of the
American Jewish Committee
in New York, prominent
gerontologists, policy plan-
ners, health care profes-
sionals and Jewish communal
leaders gathered to hear
presentations by Glicksman
and others and to explore the
implications of this changing
scenario.

The generation of
younger Jewish
leaders and
professionals are
increasingly
oriented towards
religious self-
identity and
expression.

The experts stressed the
need to recognize the diversi-
ty of the elderly population
and to acknowledge the diver-
sity of their needs.
For example, the elderly,
who are now routinely age-
ranked into "young-old"
(65-74), "middle-old" (75-84)
and "old- old" (85 and over),
also differ sharply from one
another in terms of their
health.
As Marjorie Cantor, a pro-
fessor at Fordham University,
notes, while the so-called
"compression of morbidity"
has prolonged the period of
good health for many elderly,
there is also an ever-growing
elderly population with
severe medical problems and
chronic illnesses.
Similarly, the relative af-
fluence of some should not
obscure the fact that 25 per-
cent of all Jewish elderly are
poor, especially very old
women living alone.
Widespread concern has
been expressed over the need

Continued on Page 10

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8:45 p.m.
July 21, 1989
9:52 p.m.
Sabbath ends July 22

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

7

