8 Friday, June 6, 1986

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

T OMTHPEARBEESATNYWHGEIVRE !

I IF YOU WANC
US A TESTI
Cli • coN 111 85

ENTERTAINMENT
ADS
GET RESULTS
Call

The Jewish News
Advertising Dept.

354-6060

Broasted &
Bar-B-Q Chicken
Bar-B-Q
Ribs
Seafood

BROASTED,
BAR-B-Q
AND SEAFOOD,
THAT'S WHAT WE
DO BEST!

CHICKEN & RIBS BY MILES
CAN BE FURNISHED
IN ANY QUANTITY
FOR YOUR
SPECIAL OCCASION

544- 121 1

TCOU PONT

1 5% OFF

TOTAL BILL!

DINE IN & CARRY-OUT!

With Coupon • Anyhour 7 Days • EXPIRES 6-12-86
Open Sun. tarn Thurs. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
I CARRY-OUTS IN ANY QUANTITY FOR ALL OCCASIONS
1118 S. WOODWARD, Just N. of 10 Mile Next To The Zoo

• STEAKS • SALADS • SANDWICHES

544-1211

DISCOVER

A UNIQUE APPROACH
TO CHUCK MUER DINING

Thaw, P( ( an soi t

At Meriwether's you can enjoy Chuck
Muer's best - the freshest seafood
available.

ifut we've also created a menu that .
will satisfy the most hard to please
palate.

Try our delicious PRIME RIB,
mouth watering LOBSTER TAILS,
savory ORIENTAL STIR FRYS, and
hot TEACUP BREAD, served with
honey cinnamon butter.

Of course this is just a sampling of our
fare. And it's not all you'll enjoy. Our
old English style charm, and
reasonable prices win praise too.

So stop by for LUNCH or DINNER
and discover us for yourself?

(nukes

Mepiwether's

Telegraph Road north of 10 Mile, Southfield
For reservations 358-4950

95

rid

Luncheon 11am-3pm
Hors d'oeuvres 4pm-7pm
Dinner 5pm-11pm
Friday & Saturday'til
midnight
Cocktails'til 2am
Reservations accepted
at 642-2430
30100 Telegraph (north
of 12 mile, next to
Jacques restaurant)

FOCUS

Intermarriage And
The Case For Israel

BY ZE'EV CHAFETS
Special to The Jewish News

Jerusalem — Last week, the
Israeli Cabinet met to discuss a
shocking report. According to
Professor Roberto Bracchi, head
of the Hebrew University's
Department of Statistics, there
are 9.5 million Jews living out-
side Israel today. According to
Professor Bacchi, if present
trends continue, there will be 8
million in the year 2000. Or, to
put it another way, 1.5 million
Jews will disappear (at least
as Jews) within the next 15
years.
The reasons for this mass
defection are no secret. Jews
abroad have a low birthrate and,
increasingly, they marry non-
Jews. Professor Bracchi told the
Cabinet that intermarriage in
the Diaspora averages 40 per-
cent, and In some countries has
reached 50 percent. Some of
these couples raise their children
as Jews, but most do not.
Some Jewish activists in the
United States have challenged
Professor Bracchi's findings.
They produce all sorts of argu-
ments about the vitality of the
Diaspora, the number of con-
verts to Judaism and so forth.
These arguments are pure
sophistry. Jews in America are
disappearing at an alarming
rate. If you don't believe it, just
look around.
Why have so many American
Jews decided to break their
millenia-old chain and abandon
the Jewish people? Like all good
mysteries, the answer - lies in
motive and opportunity.
The Jewish baby boom gen-
eration is the first to be raised —
in the post-Holocaust period.
Consciously or not," they are
aware that in recent history
much of Europe considered be-
ing Jewish a crime punishable
by death. They know that their
own country preferred to send
Jews to a certain death in
Europe rather than grant them
asylum in America. Not even the
most assimilated American Jew
has escaped the message that
the Jews have been a persecuted
and despised people.
This realization has inevitably
affected the contemporary
Jewish self-image. We all
remember the experiment in
Psychology 101, in which little
black girls are offered a choice of
black and white dolls to play
with — and invariably choose
the white ones. American Jews,
so superficially secure and well
adjusted, have a great deal in
common with those little girls,
A generation of American
Jewish writers turned their
mothers into ugly stereotypes.
American Jewish screenwriters
have given the public a dozen
variations on the theme of the
Jew as nerd. And JAP jokes,
told mostly by Jewish men, are
an unmistakable statement of
disrespect and dislike of their
own women.
The American Jewish com-

munity has failed to counteract
the trauma of the Holocaust by
providing Jews with positive
reasons for remaining Jewish.
Instead, it has trivialized the
Jewish experience by portraying
Judaism as simply another
American religion. At the same

The American
Jewish community
has failed to
counteract the
trauma of the
Holocaust by
providing Jews with
positive reasons for
remaining Jewish.

time, an obsession with Israel
has drained Jewish resources
and cast American Jews in the
role of spectators. Indeed, fund-
raising for Israel has become, for
many Jews, a substitute for
Jewish life.
Worst of all, the • hyper-or-
ganized Jewish community has
failed to provide its children
with any real Jewish education.
Since Jews in America take
education very seriously, the
message of this failure is clear:
Judaism is irrelevant and unim-
portant. Better you should
study for your college boards.
So much for motive. The op-
portunity is obvious. America
has been wonderful for indi-
vidual Jews — and a disaster for
the Jewish people. Jews have
become so thoroughly accepted
that they can simply blend in,
live where they choose, work in
virtually every profession — and
marry whom they wish. After
all, if Judaism is simply a Prot-
estant religion without Jesus,
why should young Jews restrict
themselves to a Jewish partner
or a Jewish lifestyle? Increasing-
ly American Jewish parents,
educators and leaders have no
answer for that question.
The plain truth is that Amer-
ican Jewish life has become a
holding operation. A minority
has sought refuge from Amer-
icanization in Orthodoxy, but
the majority is simply marking
time. Not even the most pious
rabbi, zealous Zionist or active
ample member can be certain
that his or her grandchildren will
be Jews.
Only in Israel is there a near
certainty that future genera-
tions will be Jewish. Europe's
Jews paid a terrible price for re-
jecting Zionism as the answer to
anti-Semitism; American Jewry
is now paying a similar (if more
benign) price for rejecting it as
the salvation from philo-Sem-
itism and assimilation.
Most Jewish leaders of our
generation — both in America

