Originally Posted by Bowgie

It is disheartening to go thru two pages of replies to find one (yours) that is sensible

Originally Posted by PTravel

I don't know if this still goes on, but in the late 70s, when I was living in New York, the Lubivitchers, one of the Hassidic groups in Brooklyn, used to drive around in an RV decorated with big Jewish Stars and a huge sign on it saying, "Mitzvah-Mobile." ("mitvah" means "blessing" in Hebrew.) They'd park it near busy intersections and scout out people who looked Jewish (that, in itself, opens a whole can of worms). They must have had pretty good "Jew-dar" because they'd always make a beeline straight for me, saying, as they approached, "You Jewish? You Jewish?" I used to say something along the lines of, "My religion is a private matter, I don't discuss it with strangers and I'd appreciate it if you'd respect my beliefs." Without missing a beat, they'd say, "Aha! You're Jewish! Come with us!", and grab my arms and, literally, drag me into the Mitzvah Mobile, where they'd have me put on tefillin and say the daily prayer (about a 3 minute undertaking). Then they'd let me go, with my pockets stuffed with literature on various programs they had to bring Jews like me back into the fold. After this happened a couple of times, when they'd run up to me, saying, "You Jewish?", I'd just say, "No!"