OPINION

Pleading No Contest

PHIL JACOBS

Managing Editor

F

ILL OUT AN AP-
PLICATION BLANK
AND WIN A FREE
TRIP!! Yeah, sure, probably
a free trip that would end up
costing us a bundle.
But there it was, a card-
board sign with the accom-
panying pocket of applica-
tion forms on a shoe store
display case. There was my
7-year-old, doing what any
child, certain of winning,
and unfamiliar with gim-
micks, was doing — filling
out as many of the applica-
tions as she could while her
little sister tried on shoes.
Didn't she know that these
things never work? Didn't
she know that the applica-
tions probably get thrown
out? Didn't she know that
her father never wins
anything?
We won.
Or shall I say, we "won."
About a month after the
application was filled out, a
pleasant-sounding lady called
us, all excited to announce
that we had won a trip to a
famous beach resort. All that
we had to do to claim our
prize was to come to her office
and sit through an hour-long
promotion on what else the
company awarding us this
momentous prize offers.
All of us who have ever
signed our name to anything
have received letters telling
us that "we have already
won" a trip or a prize. A
friend once won a CB radio
for taking a trip to see log
cabin property in West
Virginia. Of course, the CB
radio was only a receiver.
You couldn't 10-4 anyone on
it. But, the adventure was
what it was all about.
Feeling that it's every per-
son's obligation to go
through this shtick at least
once in their lives and get it
all over with, my wife and I
decided to sit through the
presentation. After all, there
was more to be "won" here.
An additional no-obligation
prize drawing could send us
to the bank cashing in on
hundreds of dollars of prize
money. And then there were
the trips. Who could forget
the trips we might win to
Lake Tahoe, Vegas, Hawaii?
What excitement. What a
country. To think I was go-
ing to spend this hour on a
Friday playing jump rope
with my daughter or helping
my wife prepare for Shabbat.
Give me a pina colada and
Tahiti.

The adventure continued
in the office of the travel
firm. There, we were sur-
rounded by four-color posters
of sunsets, blue waters, ex-
otic looking fish and plenty
of tanned, well-rested bodies.
Other "winners" filed into
the office, sat down, filled
out an information sheet
that asked for income and
credit card choices. They too
were dreaming of the places
they would go. We were all
so high on expectations that
we could feel the cool spray
of the ocean leaving beads of
fantasy on our faces. With
skepticism as our umbrellas,
we awaited our turn.
"Jacobs!" a voice from a
doorway called out. There
was the key master to

A

pleasant-sounding
lady announced
that we won the
trip to the famous
beach resort.

unlock our dreams. We've
come so far, I thought. What
great thing awaits us now?
Quickly my imagination
went into a different sphere.
I heard voices inside my
head saying famous lines
such as "There's a sucker
born every minute," and
"There's no free lunch." I
even quickly pictured my
mother telling me not to
volunteer for anything right
before my first trip to over-
night camp when I was 12.
But "Tom" had it all
worked out for us diff-
erently. There was no need
for us to worry. Because he
was going to show us how
over the years we've wasted
tens of thousands of dollars
on our vacations. And how
would we feel about visiting
the same places we love, in-
cluding Israel, for a fraction
.of the price?
By now, the dreams of
vacation seemed to fade a
bit. We had been there over
an hour already. We were
shown a film with more
beautiful bodies swimming,
sailing and sipping
cocktails. Then came the
map with pushpins in-
dicating all of the club's
vacation spots.
And then came the price
for all of this wonderment,
$8,000. The financing was
there if you could only put a
fraction down.
They had just taken us
through an hour and a half
of presentation, and they
wanted a decision right

there. Literature to take
home and read? "We don't
do that here," I was told by a
smiling "Tom."
Was it the $8,000 that was
keeping us from making a
decision, we were asked? I
told my wife that I'm sure
almost everyone makes an
$8,000 decision in a split
minute. We must be diff-
erent.
And just like in car
showroom fashion, "Tom"
disappeared for several mo-
ments, returning with his
sales manager. It seemed
that the sales manager had
come up with a way for us to
join the club for only $2,000.
All we had to do was join
that very day.
I said no. The sales man-
ager, without looking at me
straight in the eye said,
"Good luck in the drawing."
The bitterness of his tone
almost assuredly meant that
we had little or no shot of
winning anything more.
Goodbye luck, goodbye op-
portunity. Hello, exit. We
were directed into another
room, where our salesman
would pull a chance for an-
other prize from a canister.

First, he knocked over the
canister and the chance
cards fell all over the floor. I
helped him put them back.
And then he pulled a chance
card out.
We didn't win anything
else.
But we did win the lodging
at the resort. We only have
to drive 15 hours to get there
or pay our own flight and

food. But they'll put us up
. . . provided we give them
ample notice.

We decided not to take ad-
vantage of our unique oppor-
tunity. I guess we're choos-
ing to lose out on the only
contest we've ever "won."
But in terms of this par-
ticular contest, winning
wasn't worth the price. ❑

Even The Optimists Are Worried

GARY ROSENBLATT

Editor

Even Charles
Silberman is
worried about
the future of
American Jew-
ish life.
Mr. Silberman,
you may recall,
published a major book in
1985 on Jews in America (A
Certain People: American
Jews and Their Lives Today),
whose conclusions were op-
timistic enough to set off a
major debate within the
community.
Challenging the widely
held beliefs that intermar-
riage and lack of religious
observance were leading us
down the path of assimila-
tion, the author of such
major books as Crisis In
Black And White and Crisis
In The Classroom spent
several years studying the
American Jewish commun-
ity. What he found was that
anti-Semitism is decreasing,
fears of assimilation were
exaggerated and that a Jew-
ish renewal — an increased
study and practice of
Judaism — was bringing vi-
tality to religious life.

Mr. Silberman wrote that
American Jewry was "not
headed for a fall" and was
"not seriously threatened by
the new openness of Ameri-
can society."
When his observations
were criticized for being too
optimistic, he responded
that Jews are "congenitally
unable to accept good news."
That's why I was curious
to hear his response to
several recent studies, in-
cluding the major survey
released in June by the

"If I was writing my
book today, I'd
have to be much
more cautious."

Charles Silberman

Council of Jewish Federa-
tions, which found that
assimilation appears to be
on the increase.
The CJF report noted that,
since 1985, more than half of
Jews who married, married
a gentile. And conversions to
Judaism among non-Jewish
spouses have decreased over
the last two decades from
about 33 percent to about
five percent.
Mr. Silberman maintains

that there was "a statistical
basis for my optimism" at
the time that he wrote his
book, but acknowledges that
"something has happened in
the last few years" to justify
the alarm among those who
worry about Jewish survival
in the United States.
He feels that Jewish
renewal "may have played
itself out" and that "some of
the old taboos are falling."
Specifically, he mentioned a
personal observation that
Jews who a few years ago
may have married a gentile
in a civil ceremony are now
being married in a church
service.
It was one thing, he said,
for a Jew to marry a non-
Jew, but for a Jew to identify
as a Christian or raise one's
children as Christian, "these
were unthinkable," he said.
"Clearly, they are becoming
more thinkable.
"There seems to be a stag-
gering increase of Jews who
are no longer identifying as
Jews," Mr. Silberman
observed.
"Ultimately, my optimism
was based on the assumption
that most Jews refused to
stop being Jewish," he said.

Continued on Page 10

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

7