Los Angeles herald., 1905-05-20
DISTINGUISHED RABBITS
REPLY TO DR.. BOWERS
Or. EdeLn1an's Response to the Criticism Offered
by DR.. Stephen Bowers Respecting
the Wines of the Bible
Written for The Herald by Rabbi Edeiu,an

LOS ANGELES, May 1S.-(Editor
Herald): In your issue of May 10 I
find that Or. stephen Bowers in his
reply to my article on the Use and
Abuse of Fermented Wine" printed in
your issue of May 6, critlcises and re-
Dukes me rather harshly for practic-
ally all Of the statements made therein.
Mr.. Bowers remarks that he "can not
but feel a degree of surprise that one
apparently so learned should err so
grievously in his Interpretation of the
Old and New Testament scripture re-
lating to wine" Likewise that 'while
Mr. Edelman's Interpretation Of the
words and phrases relating to wine will
not bear the light of critical exegess,
the tendency of his teaching, regret to
say, is not good" And elsewhere ITO
say that Christ is the author of this
great crime"-i e., turning water into
wine-"or to say that he sanctioned
| it by precept or example is abhorent
and unthinkable."
These three are the principal divi-
sions which can be made of the doc
tors criticism, which holds the igno-
rance-or worse-of your humble serv-
ant to the scorn of your many read
ers.
Let us analyze as briefly as possible
the doctors criticism of my "interpre-
tation and application
Fermented Wine
First. Dr. Bowers reminds us that
chomets, means ito leaven;" that on
Passover the Jews are forbidden to eat
| leavened bread, and so this is conclu-
sive evidence that fermented wine was
excluded from the Hebrew festivals
and, of course, following the same line
of reasoning, the four cups of wine
which the Jew is commanded to drink
on Passover must be unfermented wine.
Only a few words in reply and I pass
on: Fermented wines, the doctor
might have ascertained from many eX-
cellent authorities, were never forbid
den at any festival if kept from con-
tact with leaven, which is restroicted
to fermented grain products only.
Furthermore, as l stated in my prevl-
Gus article, the rabbis of the Talmud
were of the opinion that for all religl-
GUS and even for semi-religious occa-
sions fermented wine (yayin chaD,
strong wine must be used, and only
when fermented wine was not to be
had, "yayin migito," wine fresh from
oil Thnraforn 7
am sorry that 1 can not offer the
worthy doctor the much-coveted COM
| fort of the example of Jesus, who as
a good Jew undoubtedly drank his four
cups of fermented wine on each Pass
over, and who, in spite of the doctors
belief that in that event he "must
have staggered from his sacred feast"
undoubtedly was wiser than many in
our generation, and knew that four
cups of wine partaken of slowly
| throughout a Passover meal need not
produce drunkenness in him any more
than it does in the millions of Jews,
men, women and children, who fulfill
the law in this respect annually during
Passover meals.
Unfermented Wine
And now as to tirosh and yayin. DR..
Bowers has striven long and earnestly
to prove what is really of but the
! slightest consequence, i. e., that tirosn
means unfermented wine.
What is decidedly of more importance
| is his endeavor to prove that "yayin,"
which means wine and includes
"tirosh" as well as "strong drink" is
to be construed "unfermented wine"
whenever he so desires it; and when it
cannot be thus construed because of
the context then, of course, and only
then it means "fermented wine" If
the doctor had pursued my article more
carefully he would have seen this:
Literally the Hebrew word "yayin"
is a noun and means both fermented
and unfermented wine.' Surely no long
argument was necessary there.
But by what inspiration has the
learned doctor differentiated through
out the Old Testament "yayin," fer
mented wine, from "yayin," infer
mented wine? 1t is even so in English.
! wine" in this language is also a
generic term; but if Jones drinks
"wine" and becomes drunk and Brown
drinks "wine" and stays sober must we
believe that Jones' wine was champagne
and Browns wine grape juice? Noah
drank "yayin" and became drunk, BY
what analysis has the doctor ascer
tained the difference between that par
ticular brand of "yayin" and that of
which King David says in Psalm 1O4.
verse /: Bless the Lord, my soul
o Lord my God thou art very great
Thou art clothed with honor and
majesty" Verse Il: He causeth the
grass to grow for the cattle and herb
for the service of man, that he may
bring forth food out of the earth. 4"
Verse Is: And wine I've yayin) that
maketh glad the heart of man."