CLOSE-UP
Cost Of Being Jewish
FL
Continued from preceding page
r.
OFF
DRESS SHOES BY
Caped©
Jumping-Jacks®
COUPON EXPIRES
SEPT. 15th
REG. PRICE AND
IN STOCK MERCHANDISE I
ONLY
Orchard Mall
reg
Orchard Lake Rd., N. of Maple
West Bloomfield • 851-5566
Evergreen Plaza
12 Mile & Evergreen Rd.
Southfield • 559-3580
SHOES
Os
PIERSON INTERIORS
Wishes Their Family, Friends And
Customers A Healthy, Happy
And Prosperous New Year.
Pierson Interiors
hmeiwilerhthr
4110 Telegraph Rd. (Just S. of Long Lake), Bloomfield Hills, 642-0070
Mon., Thurs., & Fri. 9:30 AM to 9:00 PM, Tues., Wed., & Sat. 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM
20 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1988
donations to Israel is an im-
portant step toward
American Jewry's road to
financial recovery.
American Jewish dollars —
not to be confused with
American government dollars
— are not central to Israel's
existence, Bubis says. Israel,
he says, needs American olim
much more than it needs
Jewish dollars.
Federation officials oppose
such a plan for, as one ex-
plains, "Giving to Israel is
very important to Jewish
identity in America. And it's
not as though all our pro-
blems would be solved if we
stopped sending money to
Israel. We could divert half
the money we give to Israel
now into local Jewish agen-
cies and we would still run
short. We'll just never have
enough!'
The 1985 study by the
Council of Jewish Federations
does suggest ways to deal
with the high cost of being
Jewish.
It encourages federations to
consider programs like in-
creased subsidized trips to
Israel for youth and young
adults; outreach to unaf-
filiated Jews with free trial
memberships to synagogues,
agencies and membership
organizations; and Jewish
mortgage money for housing
and Jewish education.
One thing the Federation
survey does not take into ac-
count is food, and some Jews
cannot even escape a higher
cost of living when sitting
down to the dinner table.
Keeping kosher is anything
but affordable.
A typical family meal
might include two vegetables,
wine and the ubiquitious
chicken. Those who do not
keep kosher could go to the
supermarket, buy 4.26 ounces
of chicken for $4.64, a bottle
of Riunite Bianco for $3.89
and frozen corn and broccoli
at 89 cents and $L44 respec-
tively. The bill would come to
$10.86.
Compare this to the family
which keeps kosher. The
father drives in his station
wagon to Great Scott! and
heads straight for the kosher
meat section. He buys a 4.40
ounce Empire chicken for
$6.12. Then he buys the same
frozen corn and broccoli for a
total of $2.33 and a bottle of
Kedem Soave for $5.29. His
total is $13.74.
Thus, adding only two
kosher items to a dinner rais-
ed its price by almost $3. And
this is a meal that does not in-
clude an appetizer, bread or
dessert — all of which, if
kosher, increase even further
the price over a non-kosher
meal.
Yet one area resident who
keeps kosher says he isn't
angry about the discrepancy
in costs.
"It's not as though I seE
people leading a plush life
because they work in the
kosher food business," he
says. "Let's face it. Nobody iE
getting rich from it."
Instead, the speaker, a ba'al
teshuvah, suggested that
more Jews keep kosher. That,
he says, would bring down the
cost of kosher meat.
ne thing in Jewish
life won't cost a pen-
ny. Advice. And
Jewish communal workers
have plenty of it when it
comes solving the rising costs
of being Jewish.
Bubis believes members of
the Jewish community with
more money are not doing
enough. "The problem isn't
really one of cost," he says,
"the problem is the source of
the dollar doing the under-
writing?'
He adds that, "We've got to
get the people with the money
to share the wealth more,
which was always the Jewish
way historically." •
Several experts suggest,
however, that the problem lies
with the whole of the Jewish
community, not just the
wealthy. They say that many
Jews need to reevaluate the
use of their discretionary
funds — monies not needed
for food, shelter and other of
life's necessities.
"Certainly there's a pro-
blem with things being ex-
pensive," one observer says.
"But at the same time, there
are a lot of Jews who aren't
putting their money into
Jewish services. They're spen-
ding it on cars and clothes?'
One figure places just 1 per
cent of the "Jewish Gross Na-
tional Product" — dollars
spent by Jews — going toward
Jewish activities.
Yet a recent study con-
ducted in New York shows
that even those Jews who use
all their discretionary funds
for Jewish purposes may
come up short.
Nancy Marcus is very
familiar with tightening the
family belt so that her
children will be able to attend
Hillel and enjoy other Jewish
activities.
She admits the family can-
not go on expensive vacations,
and says she's already con-
cerned about saving for
Aaron's bar mitzvah and even
for her children's education
years from now.
"I worry about what we're
going to coo when it's time for
them to go to college," she
says. "I look at our budget