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?