BUY WHOLESALE! Custom Designed and Hand-Built Furniture ... Direct from Factory! ■ BEDROOM SETS • HOME THEATRE UNITS • TABLES ■ WALL SYSTEMS • COMPUTER WORK STATIONS Today's Israelis Losing Their Religion BOAZ DVIR SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS M Call Now For FREE In-Home Design Appointment and "SPECIAL ADDITIONAL HOLIDAY DISCOUNTS," with this ad! Take Advantage of our many Finance Plans, including: *12 - Month INTEREST-FREE Financing! FURNITURE PROFILES 21930 Wyoming, Oak Park, Michigan Warehouse District 810-399-2311 E. Sabbagh, M.D. C. Choi, M.D. R. Rifai, M.D. W. Sabbagh, M.D. • Specializing in all facial, nose & body surgery & liposuction • View hundreds of our before & after photographs • Obagi Skin Rejuvenation Program •Accredited Office Surgical Suite (AAAHC) • Doctors on staff at Straith Hospital (JCAHO accredited) • Free initial consultation/brochure any people are sur- prised to learn that most Israelis are not re- ligiously observant peo- ple. In fact, more than 50 percent consider themselves secular, while only 20 percent are obser- vant/Orthodox. The rest consider themselves traditional. Secular Israelis not only do not practice Judaism, they also know little about it. A recent Maariv survey shows that only about half of them know the basics. Fifty percent knew that Jews pray three times a day and 56 percent knew what a Siddur (prayerbook) is. But when it came to more dif- ficult questions — which dealt with issues just as important as prayer in Judaism — secular Is- raelis were lost for words. Only 4 percent know the three sins that Jews must never corn- mit, not even if they have to give up their lives (idol worship, mur- der and incest). Only 16 percent knew that Jews say the "Sh'ma" prayer twice a day. And only 40 percent know what "Havdalah" is (a blessing said at the end of Shabbat). The survey, according to Maariv, sparked emotional re- actions. Israel Chief Rabbi Yisrael Lau blamed the schools and parents for secular Israelis' lack of spiri- tual base and knowledge. "In this area, [parents] are like a blackout," he told Maariv. "They darken Judaism to the children and do not fulfill their role in the historical relay race." But other Israelis questioned the need for this survey. "In recent years, the question, `Who is a Jew?' has become, 'How much of a Jew?"' said filmmaker Asi Dayan, son of the late Gen. Moshe Dayan. The fact that 57 percent of sec- ular Israelis know that wearing a yarmulke is not a biblical in- junction did not impress Mr. Dayan. "As far as I am concerned, the yarmulke can appear in the Bible — just not on my head." Just A Test The FDA recently gave Israeli hospitals an early, and quite ex- citing, Chanukah gift — the op- portunity to test medicine for U.S. companies. The FDA has decided to rec- ognize these tests when consid- ering applications, according to Yediot Ah.aronot. Since U.S. companies pay hos- pitals to test their medicines, this is expected to generate up to $250 million a year for Israel, Yediot Aharonot reports. That's Your Opinion You probably won't be shocked to learn that Israelis are opin- ionated people. To capitalize on this mentality, Channel One has started airing a new program "Public Opinion with Meni Peher" that links 1,000 people who, on live television, give their opinions on a variety of is- sues, according to Maariv. The topics include politics, sex, entertainment and fashion, Maariv reports. The great thing about this, Mr. Peher told Maariv, is that, right from the start, "we have already raised our ratings by 1,000." And that's not an opinion. It's a fact. The Not So Friendly Skies Maariv recently sent a re- porter on a unique assignment — working undercover as a flight attendant on El Al, Israel's na- tional airline. The reporter, however, uncov- ered nothing new. Orit Harel wrote that the passengers were loud, demanding and obnoxious. "The mentality of El Al pas- sengers," she wrote, "is very sim- ilar to the mentality of the Israeli drivers." It's a good thing, then, that they have nowhere to go in skies. ❑ 6- a/l or next seminar c Publicity Deadlines After Rhinoplasty 17100 W. 12 Mile Rd, Southfield, MI 48076 (810) 557-1622 Above photographs are Straith Clinic patients Announcing our new location in January 1996! 52 32000 Telegraph Rd., Bingham Farms, MI (at 13 1.2 Mile) The normal deadline for local news and publicity items is noon '1'hursday, eight days prior to issue date. The deadline for birth announcements is 10 a.m. Monday, four days pri- or to issue date; out-of-town obituaries, 10 a.m. Tuesday, three days prior to issue date. All Material must be typewritten, double-spaced, on 872x 11 paper and include the name and daytime telephone num- ber of sender.