jews in the d Jewish Contributions to Humanity # in a series These Jews Were Great Mind Readers. Mel Lester and Ira Jaffe have hosted U-M tailgate parties for nearly 50 years and have hosted about 100,000 people. They are honorary co-chairs of the JCC event. Spirited Fun JCC tailgate party to honor U-M President Schlissel. T he Jewish Community Center of Metro Detroit is planning to honor University of Michigan President Mark S. Schlissel — and it’s taking a page from the playbook of legendary tailgaters Ira Jaffe and Mel Lester, honorary chairs of the event. On Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 6:30 p.m. at the JCC, the organization Mark Schlissel will host a true-to- form tailgate party complete with kosher corned beef sandwiches, spiked cider and a wide array of tailgate treats. Activities will include cornhole and other tailgate games as well as entertainment from marching bands, followed by an awards presentation at 7:30 p.m. in The Berman. Ira and Mel’s pre- and post-game tradition spans nearly 50 years of Wolverine history and has welcomed an estimated 100,000 guests. The event is open to the commu- nity and will celebrate the enduring relationship between the U-M and the Metro Detroit Jewish commu- nity as Schlissel is presented with the Boneh Kehillah (Builder of Community) Award. This honor recognizes a relationship that has evolved over many generations, cre- ating a partnership in philanthropy, education and community. The timing of this honor has been met with some concern as the uni- versity addresses the actions of two professors who elected not to provide recommendations to Jewish students applying for study abroad programs in Israel. “We understand that this is a sensitive moment in the historic relationship between our community and the university,” says JCC CEO Brian Siegel. “It is especially in these moments — when difficult conver- sations need to be had — that we are most thankful for the long and trust- ing partnership between the universi- ty and the Metro Detroit Jewish com- munity. I know these hard conver- sations are being had with President Schlissel and that he has heard and empathizes with our concerns.” Mel Lester’s son, Matt, a host com- mittee chair and U-M graduate, grew up at his father’s tailgates while also participating in activities at the JCC. Now a strong supporter of both, he says, “The University of Michigan and the JCC have the same sort of mission: They are dedicated to edu- cating our youth. At the JCC, that’s through camps, through leagues, through programs, through Book Fair … It’s one program after anoth- er.” Proceeds from the gala will ben- efit JCC youth programming and cultural arts — everything from infant childcare to senior groups for learning and socializing year-round. Some of the programs that will be supported include camp scholar- ships for youth, the Sarah and Irving Pitt Child Development Center, the Kenny Goldman Basketball League, JCC Maccabi Games Opening the Doors program for children and adults with special needs, the Jewish Book Fair, the Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival, the Janice Charach Gallery, SAJE, FedED and Melton. For ticket information, visit jccdet. org/tailgate or call (248) 432-5418. Attendees are encouraged to wear casual clothes celebrating their favor- ite university. ■ Stanley Milgram Solomon Asch STANLEY MILGRAM (1933-1984). b. New York, New York. d. New York, New York. Uncovering a dark corner of human nature. One of the most important people in the history of social psychology, Stanley Milgram’s experiment on obedience remains to this day among the most well-known and most disturbing studies ever done in the social sciences. Born in the Bronx, Milgram identified strongly with his Jewish heritage from an early age, and resolved early to better understand the Holocaust. After receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard, in 1960 Milgram became a professor at Yale. In July 1961, three months after the start of Adolf Eichmann’s trial, in which he said he and the Nazis were just following orders, Milgram began an experiment in which he tested the ability of humans to violate their consciences in order to obey a higher authority figure. He conducted his experiment as follows: The subject was told that he was part of a study of memory and learning. He was instructed to teach word associations to a second subject, who he couldn’t see. When the second subject selected an incorrect answer, the one asking would administer a shock, which the second subject supposedly (but not in reality) felt. These shocks eventually became very painful, and even dangerous to the second subject’s health. When the first subject would object and wish to stop, the experimenter would verbally prod him to continue administering increasingly stronger shocks. Sixty-five percent of the subjects continued to administer shocks up to the highest levels. Milgram’s experiment was extremely controversial at the time, and the conclusions to be drawn from it are still debated. Whether or not the Milgram experiment explains a large part of Eichmann’s reasoning that the Nazis were just “following orders”, Stanley Milgram’s work shed light on a darker side of human nature. SOLOMON ASCH (1907-1996). b. Warsaw, Poland. d. Haverford, Pennsylvania. How peer pressure shapes our minds. A leading social psychologist of the 20th century, Solomon Asch showed how strongly peer pressure impacts people’s decision-making. Born in Warsaw, Asch’s interest in psychology was sparked at the age of 7, during a Passover seder. He saw his grandfather pour an extra glass of wine. A young Solomon asked why he did that, and his grandfather said the cup was for the prophet Elijah, who would soon come to drink it. Expecting that Elijah would come, Asch thought he saw the level of wine in the cup drop. Nearly 40 years later, as a psychology professor at Swarthmore College, Asch conducted what he called “an experiment in perceptual judgment.” The subjects were given a card with three lines of different length, and shown a line of “standard” length on the board. They were then asked to say which line on their card was the same length as the one on display. Each time the experiment was run, one student heard the others assert that a line obviously shorter than the one on display was in fact the same length. The students choosing the wrong line were in fact instructed to do so by the experimenter, and the student feeling the peer pressure was the subject. About one-third of the time, the subject chose the line that his fellow students chose—the wrong line. Asch’s experiment showed how group pressure can change one’s perception of obvious reality. Original Research by Walter L. Field Sponsored by Irwin S. Field Written by Jared Sichel jn October 25 • 2018 17