AUGUST 12 • 2021 | 25

two generations ago with my 
mother’s parents who met at 
Tamarack Camps. We still 
like to tell the story about the 
baseball game at Tamarack 
(the Fresh Air Society at the 
time), and the boy who threw 
a wild pitch into the stands 
and hit a girl in the head. The 
pitcher was my grandfather, 
the girl was my grandmother. 
No injuries were reported, as 
I understand, but it was the 
pitch that started our family.
My grandparents, all four 
of blessed memory, were 
very community-driven. 
In particular, my maternal 
grandparents spent their time 
building bridges between the 
Jewish community and the 
Black and Arab communities. 
Building a greater Detroit was 
a longtime desire and goal 
of theirs. My parents were a 
part of that and loved being 
involved in making friends 
across those community 
lines, blurring those lines — 
teaching one another.
I grew up with a strong 
sense that my parents’ 
and grandparents’ Jewish 
identities were essential to 
them. However, my own 
Jewish identity didn’t truly 
materialize until I participated 
in a Teen Mission to Israel 
in 2004. My parents decided 
to enroll me after seeing an 
advertisement for the trip in 
the Jewish News, and I’m so 
glad that they did. At 17, I 
was not unlike other teens in 
high school — rebelling for 
the sake of rebelling, including 
by struggling with my Jewish 
identity and the concept of 
organized religion.
But then, when I stepped 
off the bus in Israel at that 
first stop at Castel — that 
lookout point over Jerusalem 
— suddenly I realized where 

I stood and how connected I 
was to our ancestry and the 
history of the land. And it was 
in that moment that something 
clicked, and I thought that 
maybe my Jewish identity was 
more important than I realized.
I carried that Jewish identity 
to college and adopted MSU 
Hillel as the place I most 
loved to be on campus. I’m an 
Alpha Epsilon Pi alum, but 
MSU Hillel was where I spent 
much of my time. I studied 
there, hung out there, led 
Shabbat services there for six 
years. I can’t say enough about 
Cindy Hughey and Jonathon 
Koenigsberg [executive 
director and associate director] 
and how they and the rest of 
the incredible staff made MSU 
Hillel a home for all of us. 
What eventually drew me to 
community work in my 20s, 
though, was the realization that 
I had received so much from 
the Jewish community and 
that I felt it was time to start 
giving back. I also had friends 
in community leadership roles 
showing me the way.
To be on the receiving end 
of our community resources is 
a good thing but giving back 
feels great. Sixteen years a 
community volunteer in Jewish 
Detroit, and I still consider 
myself a “newcomer,” just 
getting started on a lifelong 
journey with Federation. And 
I couldn’t be prouder to be on 
my way. 

ON PROFESSIONAL 
AND LEADERSHIP 
DEVELOPMENT
Q: How does a computer geek 
become a patent lawyer?
KS: I started college with 
a love for video games 
and pursued computer 
programming coursework 
to learn how to make them. 

With programming — writing 
software — the only resources 
you need are a computer and 
your brain to create, invent and 
solve problems beyond your 
wildest dreams.
I found it to be a challenging 
and fulfilling activity … 
until I realized that most 
of software development is 
debugging — fixing broken 
code — especially when it 
was written by someone else. 
It turned out that debugging 
was not something I enjoyed. 
Still, I was halfway toward my 
computer science degree, and 
it made no sense to throw out 
that knowledge. So, I looked to 
see how I might apply my skills 
to another field and found the 
answer in patent law.
Patent law is pretty 
specialized. I had to take 
an additional bar exam to 
get my license to practice 
before the U.S. Patent and 
Trademark Office. I work 
with inventors — engineers at 
global corporations, industry 
leaders in software and 
telecommunications — in all 
sorts of other spaces. I’m the 
guy who can translate their 
science into legalese. I learn 
about what they’ve invented 
and how it works, and then I 
write patent applications, which 
are dense, legal documents 
explaining how to make and 
use the invention, to help them 
protect those inventions. Not 
unlike any other aspect of law, 
it’s challenging, it’s rewarding 
— and there’s a lot of strategy 
involved. 
The past couple of decades, 
in particular, have seen an 
explosion in the number of 
patents awarded to software 
inventions. In just the span of 
time that I’ve been in practice, 
the rate of U.S. invention has 
been mind-boggling.

ON NEXTGEN DETROIT 
AND THE STRENGTH OF 
COMMUNITY
Q: How did you first get 
involved with Federation?
KS: My two-year term 
on the board of Tamarack 
Camps (2015-17) was my 
introduction to communal 
leadership. Joining that board 
led to a wider network with 
Federation’s NEXTGen Detroit 
and my first assignment 
as cochair of Federation’s 
Interfaith Couples Group. 
With that connection, Tara 
and I had all the incentive we 
needed to jump into a new 
Jewish community adventure 
together. Tara’s role in 
helping to shape Federation’s 
programming opportunities 
for interfaith couples and 
encouraging others to 
participate was as formative as 
mine.
Tara grew up Presbyterian, 
but if you ask her, I imagine 
that she would say that 
religious belief is a personal 
choice, and that she doesn’t 
identify with any religion 
today. Before we married, 
we were in clear agreement: 
Out of respect and love for 
our blended families, we have 
chosen to raise our kids in a 
Jewish household where we 
can celebrate Christmas and 
Easter with their maternal 
grandparents.
I was so excited to have 
the opportunity to co-chair 
the Interfaith Couples group. 
As studies have shown for 
years, our family represents 
an estimated 50-60% of the 
population that is interfaith. 
To be a vibrant Jewish 
community, we must embrace 
our diversity and welcome 
interfaith couples, with the 
acknowledgement that this is 
their community as well. If we 

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