I am not Jewish, and what I know of that community's anxieties about assimilation I have read in the press. However, though I am a Gentile who grew up in the Midwest eating peanut butter sandwiches made with toasted Wonder Bread, I do know good bread from bad, and a lot of the bagels out there are just not very good. Would I rather have a machine-made bagel than none at all. It depends, I guess, on my experience with the store, and on what else is on the menu.

OK, there was a good bakery in town. At this point I have no idea what their ethnicity was.