views
The Contours of Our
Jewish Community:
Snapshots from the 2018
The Upcoming ‘Silver Tsunami’ Population Study
guest column
A
• Our elders are less likely to have family
s the president and the CEO of
caregivers available to assist them, physi-
Jewish Senior Life of Metropolitan
cally and financially. Outmigration of adult
Detroit, we applaud the Jewish
children to other states, delayed retire-
News for its discussion of some of the sta-
ments of adult children and their spouses
tistics identified in the recently released
and higher college debt all
Jewish Population
play a role.
Study spearheaded by
• The tight labor market is
the Jewish Federation
putting pressure on caregiver
(“Changing Senior Needs
wages. Nationwide, we are
and Preferences,” Nov. 14,
experiencing difficulty hiring
page 10). In this op-ed,
and retaining frontline staff
and in greater depth on
to provide care for our elders.
our website (JSLMI.org),
Kenneth Goss and
The most efficient use of this
we continue the conver-
Nancy Siegel Heinrich
shrinking labor pool is in
sation.
The JN identified several trends and asks congregate settings.
• While senior housing options are
two important questions: Would Jewish
abundant for the wealthy, and JSL has
communal resources be better invested
subsidized housing for those with incomes
by providing more services and resourc-
below 50 percent of the Oakland County
es to Jewish elderly in their homes or in
median (i.e., less than $25,000 per year for
non-Jewish sponsored facilities and, are
an individual and $34,000 for a couple),
there any scenarios where the Jewish com-
there is insufficient affordable senior hous-
munity might step back from owning and
operating brick-and-mortar senior housing ing for moderate-income individuals. JSL is
concerned about this large portion of our
facilities?
population and how to serve them.
The Board of Directors of Jewish Senior
Life asked itself these same questions in
SOCIAL CHALLENGES:
its most recent strategic planning effort.
The board concluded that there were other • Research indicates that social isolation
negatively impacts quality of life. Senior
trends also prevailing that will impact
communities provide a remedy to this iso-
the direction of JSL and has entered into
lation.
a master planning effort to dig into all of
Given these trends and facts, and those
these issues in depth so that plans can be
identified by the JN, we ask the community
made to position JSL for the future. Some
to consider the following questions:
of the trends the board identified include:
How are the baby boomers going to
pay for their preference to “age in place”
CHANGING FACE OF JSL COMMUNITIES:
even if we refocus community dollars
• Older adults are already aging in place
on assisting them to do so? Today, JSL
… until they can’t. They still come to live
provides housing for approximately 350
at JSL residences in similar numbers, but
individuals on our Oak Park campus and
they come to us later in life and more frail.
140 on our West Bloomfield campus whose
The average age in our non-government
incomes are less than 50 percent of the
subsidized buildings is 87-90. Given that
Oakland County median. Of those, almost
the oldest baby boomers are in their early
300 have annual incomes of less than
70s, we believe that the community will
not really feel the impact of this population $15,000.
The current cost to the community of
bulge of older adults for another 10 to 15
serving these individuals (who are aging
years.
in place in their JSL apartments) including
safe and attractive housing, five subsidized
ECONOMIC CHALLENGES:
dinners a week, daily activities, security,
• Baby boomers are not saving adequately
service coordination, home care services
for retirement. Thirty-five percent of those
and social opportunities, is less than $20
65 and older have saved less than $50,000
per day. It is hard to imagine a scenario
for their retirements. Studies show that
where the community could serve as many
most Americans worry their savings will
individuals in their homes at anywhere
fall short in retirement; the average house-
hold spends more than $40,000 per year in near this level at anywhere near the current
cost.
retirement, but the average person collects
In addition, JSL also already provides
less than $17,000 in Social Security.
continued on page 10
8
December 6 • 2018
jn
Editor’s Note: Each week, the Jewish News will offer insights into the
findings of the 2018 Detroit Jewish Population Study with the intent of
stimulating discussion about its potential meaning and impact.
Detroit’s Jewish Community
Has ‘About Average’ Emotional
Link to Israel
F
or more than a century, the
concept of a nation-state
for the Jewish people in the
land of their biblical ancestors has
been debated and advocated for
by the Detroit Jewish community.
To ensure the survival of Israel fol-
lowing its founding in 1948, Jewish
Detroiters committed substantial
amounts of their treasure and time.
More than 70 years later, Israel
is a vibrant and often-chaotic
democracy with a strong economy
and military that still faces myriad
threats to its existence. And today,
Jews in the diaspora — including
those in Detroit — look to Israel
as a way to help spark, retain and
strengthen their own Jewish identi-
ty as well as those of their children
and grandchildren.
The 2018 Detroit Jewish
Population Study provides some
useful insights into the Israel-
Detroit relationship, challenging
some long-held assumptions while
reinforcing others.
When asked about their emo-
tional attachment to Israel, 49
percent of Jewish respondents
said they were extremely or very
attached to Israel; 32 percent said
they were somewhat attached;
and 19 percent not at all attached.
Compared to the 2005 Detroit
Jewish Population Study, those
extremely or very attached has
declined by 7 percent. Meanwhile,
the number who now say they are
not attached has increased by 7
percent.
In comparison to 30 other com-
munities across the U.S. similarly
surveyed on this question, Detroit’s
strong emotional attachment to
Israel is “about average.” In a sim-
ilar 30-community comparison,
only four other communities had a
higher percentage of their popula-
tion not attached to Israel.
Looking at the data through
some additional filters, 64 per-
cent of those older than age 75
felt extremely or very attached to
Israel, the fourth-highest among 25
comparison communities in this
age group. And two-thirds of all
in-married couples expressed this
high level of attachment. Compared
to the 2005 study, one of the larg-
est declines in emotional attach-
ment to Israel can be found in the
Orthodox community. Though
currently still high at 80 percent,
those extremely or very attached to
Israel totaled 94 percent in 2005.
What do the 2018 data tell us
about how political affiliation
impacts attachment to Israel? We
know that 51 percent of Detroit
Jews identify as Democrats,
15 percent as Republicans and
34 percent as Independents.
Among Republicans, 71 percent
are extremely or very attached
emotionally to Israel. Among
Democrats, 46 percent share that
same level of emotional attach-
ment. ■
QUESTIONS:
• The data indicate that the Detroit
Jewish community’s emotional
attachment to Israel is “about aver-
age” and that it has a comparatively
higher percentage of respondents
who have no emotional attachment
to Israel. Does emotional attach-
ment to Israel matter? What other
yardsticks could be used to gauge
the strengths or weaknesses of the
Detroit-Israel connection?
• How do you interpret the sta-
tistically significant gap between
Republicans and Democrats on
emotional attachment to Israel?