Jewish Contributions to Humanity
# in a series
Three Jews
Who Swung for
the Fences.
2018 Metro Detroit
Jewish Population
Bud Selig
Stan Kasten
Theo Epstein
BUD SELIG (1934-).
the number of households with adult
children living at home is up; 7 per-
cent of children live in single parent
households; and 37 percent of children
up to age 12 live in households where
both parents (or one parent if a single
household) work. Twenty percent of
children live in a household where an
adult was or is divorced.
• More than three-quarters of adults
older than 25 have a four-year college
degree or higher — above average
compared to other U.S. Jewish com-
munities, according to Sheskin. Forty-
four percent are employed full time.
• According to the study, about 5
percent of the Jewish population iden-
tifies as LGBT.
• The 2017 median household
income of Jewish households is
$107,000: 53 percent earn more than
$100,000; 8 percent are low-income
(less than $25,000); and 2 percent live
below the federal poverty level.
• Ninety-nine percent of survey
respondents said they are proud to be
Jewish.
• Nine percent of Metro Detroit
Jews are Orthodox; 20 percent
are Conservative; 2 percent are
Reconstructionist; 35 percent
are Reform; 4 percent are Jewish
Humanist and 31 percent are “just
Jewish” — up from 18 percent in 2005.
Five percent of the community are
Jews By Choice, up from 3 percent in
2005.
• About a quarter of Jews attend syn-
agogue at least once a month, while
31 percent never attend. Synagogue
membership is down to 39 percent
compared to 52 percent in 2005.
• As for religious practice, 69 per-
cent have a mezuzah on the front
door; 74 percent of households cel-
ebrate Passover; 71 percent celebrate
Chanukah; and 73 percent observe
Shabbat in some way. Nineteen per-
cent keep a kosher home and 13
percent keep kosher in and out of the
home. Twenty-five percent of Jewish
households put up a Christmas tree.
• Politically, 51 percent of survey
respondents were Democrat, 15
percent Republican and 34 percent
Independent. Nearly all, 96 percent,
are registered to vote and 94 percent
voted in the last election.
In coming weeks, the JN will delve
into the results of the 2018 population
study, looking specifically at educa-
tion, Jewish continuity, synagogue
membership and engagement, social
service needs of the community, Israel
advocacy and philanthropy. •
b. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Former Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
The ninth Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Allan “Bud” Selig was born in
Milwaukee to parents from Romania and Ukraine, and loved the game of baseball from
an early age. The majority owners of the Milwaukee Braves moved the team to Atlanta
in 1965, leaving Selig as a minority owner without a team. Five years later, he purchased
the bankrupt Seattle Pilots, moving them to Milwaukee and renaming them the Brewers.
In 1992, Selig gave up his ownership to assume the role of acting MLB commissioner
and was elected the official commissioner in 1998—a position he held until 2015. During
his tenure, Selig created the wild card postseason format, interleague play and instant
replay. He helped engineer major labor and drug testing agreements, and in an age
of new media, and the explosion of football and basketball, Selig helped ensure that
baseball not only did not lose relevance—but became more popular than ever. The
decade of 2005-2014 included all 10 of the best-attended seasons in MLB history, and
from 1992 to 2014 revenue increased from $1.2 billion to more than $9 billion.
STAN KASTEN (1952-).
b. Lakewood, New Jersey. President of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Everything Stan Kasten touches in the baseball world, it seems, turns to gold. As
President of the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals, he turned average teams into
crown jewels. And, in fact, in 1999, Kasten was the first person in sports to simultaneously
be the president of three different teams in three different sports—the Braves, the NBA’s
Atlanta Hawks, and the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers. During his time with the Braves (1987-
2003), the team won the World Series in 1995, a record 12 consecutive division titles, and
assembled one of the most dominant pitching staffs in baseball history. In 2012, Kasten
joined Magic Johnson and other investors in purchasing the Los Angeles Dodgers for
$2.15 billion, and became the team’s president. Under his leadership, he’s doing for the
Dodgers what he did for Atlanta and Washington. The team has made the playoffs in four
consecutive seasons.
THEO EPSTEIN (1973-).
b. New York, New York. President of the Chicago Cubs.
In 2002, Theo Epstein, 28, became Major League Baseball’s youngest general
manager upon signing with the Boston Red Sox. Two years later, Boston won its first
World Series in 86 years, and won again in 2007. Prior to joining Boston, Epstein was a
Yale graduate, interned with the Baltimore Orioles, and worked for the San Diego Padres,
where he worked his way up to become the team’s Director of Baseball Operations. After
his time in Boston ended in 2011, Epstein took his magic to the Chicago Cubs, who had
not won a championship since 1908. For the first three years of Epstein’s leadership,
the Cubs finished in last place each year. That was no surprise, given that Epstein was
building a team for the future, not the present. And in 2016, 108 years after the team’s last
championship, the Chicago Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians in an epic World Series,
cementing Epstein as one of the sport’s greatest curse breakers.
Original Research by Walter L. Field Sponsored by Irwin S. Field Written by Jared Sichel
jn
September 20 • 2018
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