upscale synagogues, the fund-raisingncommunity federations, and the inevitablencountry clubs. These people are thenoften self-appointed elite of the Jewishncommunity. It goes without saying thatncountry club ‘membership is open onlynto the most financially well-off andnsocially “acceptable” members.nLikewise, the federations are controllednnot only by the big givers, whichnis not unexpected, but by those subscribingnto the conventional wisdom ofnthe liberal ideological agenda to whichnestablished Jewry remains in thrall.nChafets tells of one prominent outfitncalled the New Israel Fund whose goalnis not to make life easier for the Israelinpopulace, much less the leadership ofneither major party, but rather to transformnIsrael into the type of place “thatnwould meet the approval of the ACLU,nThe Nation magazine, and the SierranClub.” Apparently wanting to apply thensame philosophy to the US, many nationalnand local Jewish organizationsnjoined the lynch mob against RobertnBork.nSecuring membership in a synagoguenis not very easy, either. Here,ndues rather than overt ideological standardsnare the big hurdle. Most synagoguesndo not charge a fixed annual feenfor all, but set obligations on the basis ofnperceived ability to pay. Although thenmotive may be admirable, the financialntest exposes the prospective member tona humiliating inquisition into his assetsnand annual income by synagogue “financencommittees” peopled by creaturesnwho were evidently unsuccessfulnin their applications to become IRSnauditors. Not only that, these synagoguesnthen typically favor those payingnthe highest dues in dispensing honorsnand perquisites. After having to put upnwith these invidious distinctions, thencongregants get a lot more newlyfashionablenpolitics than old-fashionednreligion.nChafets, who grew up in Michigannbut has lived in Israel for the past 20nyears, tells of a first visit in two decadesnto his old temple in Pontiac, where itnturned out that very little had changed.nThe thrust of the sermon was that then32/CHRONICLESnprophets had all been liberal Democratsnwho would have supported the ERA,ngun control, school busing, and a cutoffnof aid to the contras. “In my day, thenprophets were Hubert Humphrey men;ntwenty years later, they were with MarionCuomo and Michael Dukakis.”nThe protagonists of Members of thenTribe are, thankfully, not the synagogue,ncountry club, and fund-raisingnpoobahs who have made organizednAmerican Jewish communal life sonbanally conformist. Rather, Chafetsndevotes his work to the rich diversity ofnJewish America one would neverndream existed from the pages of ThenNew York Times. (The Times BooknReview, incidentally, delivered itself ofna huffing dismissal of Members of thenTribe for “bypassing” the Jewish establishment.nIt should be anticipated thatnthe elite media would give such shortnshrift to this indispensable book on anpreviously neglected aspect of AmericannJewish life; one of Chafets’ earliernbooks, Double Vision, skewerednAmerica’s leading media organs fornleft-wing bias in reporting on the MiddlenEast.)nChafets does not rehash what can benfound every month in Commentary;nindeed, there is nary a mention ofnNorman Podhoretz, Irving Kristol, ornany other intellectual fountainhead ofnneoconservative thought. Instead,nChafets’ heroes are the Jews of MiddlenAmerica, people who would never benallowed into the established countrynclubs or be encouraged for membershipnby many synagogues like, say.nTemple Leo Baeck, Los Angeles’ mostnfashionable synagogue, which Chafetsncalls a size-three congregation because ,nof its members’ predilection for frequentingnequally toney health clubs.nOne not at all chic group is policemen.nChafets informs us that Jewishnpolicemen are not extinct, and thatnseven or eight walk the streets of Detroitnalone. In fact, the most poignantnportrait in the book is that of Detroitnpoliceman Marty Goldfine, who for antime was assigned to guard the innerncity Downtown Synagogue. Despitenan excellent record, Goldfine had nevernbeen promoted beyond the rank ofnpatrolman, frequently being passednover in favor of members of preferrednraces and gender. The theologians ofnaffirmative action, of course, do notnconsider Jews a “minority” for theirnnnpurposes, nor were Jews given, accordingnto Goldfine, fair treatment by policenofficials or unions. It was a case ofnplain, old-fashioned discrimination.nYet, while otherwise active in antidiscriminationnand “civil rights” causesncurrently in vogue, the organized Jewishncommunity in Detroit refused tonhelp Goldfine, since Jews were “notnsupposed to be cops.” It would havenbeen astonishing if it had acted otherwise;nto liberals, middle-class males likenGoldfine, regardless of whether or notnthey are Jewish, are the cannon fodderndragooned into bearing the cost ofnaffirmative action reverse discrimination.nGoldfine, not surprisingly, rejectednthe idea of moving to the suburbsnbecause he did not feel comfortablenwith “federated Jewry.” (Still,nGoldfine was proud enough of hisnJewish heritage to be “thrilled” to benfeatured in a Jewish book. Adding tonthe irony of all this was the fact thatnGoldfine changed his name back to thenoriginal family name from the Gaynornsurname adopted by his father. Inncontrast, the former head of the B’nainB’rith, of all people, had his namenaltered from Abraharn Fastenberg to anthoroughly anglicized moniker.)nChafets chronicles his travels with anrepresentative of the American IsraelnPublic Affairs Committee (AIPAC)nthrough Midwestern hamlets searchingnfor vest-pocket Jewish communities tonaid the cause. Strange as it may seem atnfirst blush, AIPAC has discovered angreater commitment to the preservationnof Israel’s security among thesenisolated Jews than in the enclaves ofnManhattan, Cambridge, and BeverlynHills. In contrast to Brooklyn Heightsnand the Upper East Side, Yasser Arafat-chicnevidently has not yet hit RapidnCity, South Dakota.nThe diversity of Jewish life mirrorsnthat of the general society; along withnJewish policemen and mainstreetnsmall-town merchants, Chafets unearthednJewish cowboys, Jewish country-and-westernnsingers, black Jews,nand even Jewish inmates in a maximumnsecurity prison. Why does MartynGoldfine belong in the same book withnthe residents of Pennsylvania’snGaterford penitentiary? And why themnwith the other varied characters? Theirnone common denominator is their sta-n,tus as “misfits” — not welcomed, andnat best barely tolerated, by the institu-n