The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-11-28
7he Ba,uing Oueshon-No. 2
By RABBI JULIUS T. LOEB.

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 That rule which makes the giving away of any small quantity of fermented beverage an offense against the laws of the state, could never be carried out among the Jewish people. For the Jew who will fall to place before his guest a glass of wine or liquor on a Sab- bath or other festive occasion, will be held out among his own as an example of most disgraceful conduct. The fail- ure to pronounce his "kiddush'' (Sancti- fication) and to let those present enjoy the cup of blessing," will make the Is- raelite who cares aught for his religion unhappy and miserable to the utmost de- gree. A wedding celebrated among Jews at which alcoholic beverages are not served by force of the prohibition law is styled "funereal," and feeling runs high on such occasion where the Jew ish people are thus robbed of the good cheer and the mirth by which it is their privilege and religious duty to rejoice and to gladden. the hearts of the newly welded couple. On such occasion It is worth while to study the dismal faces of the assembly, and to hear them sigh and murmur and frequently mention the word captivity"
 Little wonder that the Jews as lovers of liberty and believers in naturel re- ligion, are so incensed against the pro-
 
 a rule of tyranny.
 Though otherwise loyal and law-abidng citizens, intensely devoted to the cause of their adopted home. proud upon their American citizenship, and always ready to contribute their share to the pros perity and welfare of the land; yet in this particular instance they find them selves at variance with the existing law. and they are filled with disappointment and humiliation at such unredeeming and irreconcilable measure, which is as un- Amercan as it Is inhuman.
 While it must be admitted the prohibit ton law is not directly aimed at the Jews, 1t is nevertheless a source of un- ending trouble to them; and as the nat ural scapegoat of humanity the Jew or all history Is hit the hardest by any cruel measure that is imposed upon the community for the abridgement of per sonal liberty and right.
 As individual citizens the Jews undoubt- edly feel the cumbersome weight of the rule, which deprives them of their per sonal comfort; as business people they are hurt by the prohibition law, and ham, pered in their honest labors for the eco homie improvement of themselves and the community at large; and what is worst of all, as members of the Hebrew faith they meet with maltreatment and galling contempt by reason of the agi- tation, which furnishes a license for narrow minded bigots to creep out of their hiding places and attack the Jew ish name and character.
 Because the Jews as a body are known to be non participants in the prohibition movement they are so often held re- sponsible for the liquor interests with the evils arising therefrom, and they Ire greeted with such anathema as If they were really the guilty ones in the community. Thus certain Rev. H. l. Martin some time ago, forgetting the dignity of his office, and ignoring also the responsibility devolvlng on him as editor, jumped out of his lair as q thoroughbred anti-Semite of the 'Stoeck- CT" type, or as "Yuophobe" la Krush- hevan of Kishineff fame, and among oth- CT sweet epthets and expressions he elected the following: Jews as a body. and as one man, stand for liquor and the debauchery of our citizenship, and as a body should be condemned for their acts" And this in the face of all free Americans. Fortunately the fair-minded Senator Hamburger of Mobile has taken this reverend gentleman to task and has given him just few brief hints of what the Jew has done for the world and or what he has done even for this grand republic. But there Is stil one thing should like for this preacher of the gos- pei to kflOWt duu tfldt 10, tiot eHo oS" Is neither drunkard nor prohibitionist; neither can he side with the whisky men nor with the total abstainers, and in this question he can well afford to remain as neutral as he always was in matters or religion and moral concept.
 Evidently this Rev. Martin cannot for give the Jews because as race they are comparatively exempt from the drink habit. But instead of stopping to inves- AL 4~ x1t,t th,a atxxrl,x nd whPra- fore" of things. to take co~n'7anoe If the fact that the religion of the Jew has taught him how to drink and never to get drunk and that from nls earnest childhood-nay, even from his infancy, when sealed with the sign of the Abra- hamic covenant on the eighth day of his birth. a few drops of wine were adminis- tered to him; instead of searching for the cause of such immunity, and possi- bly, to apply the same means and meth- ods for remedying of general condi- tions-this gentleman indhlges in an out pouring of vulgar terms and indictment against the Jews, and in laying the blame of the drink evil upon them.
 This circumstance reminds one of the charges by the multitudes In the four teenth century. as at other periods In the history of the middle ages, that the Jews were engaged in some vile plot against the people of Europe, by way of poisoning the fountains. the wells, and even the flowing rivers; since the horri- ble plaques that were then raging and smiting their thousands amidst all sec- tions and spheres. and regarding no per son, nor creed. seemed to give the Jews alone comparative exemption from their rayases: and that from the cleanliness of their habits, from frequent ablutions and from their peculiarity of diet (SicD" So Miman describes the situation, and proceeds to tell us that Pope John XXI publicly denounced the detestable sor- ceries and magic of the Jews and or dered their Talmud to be burned. and hundreds of their men, women and chil- dren to share the same fate" Now 1t appears as though for a similar ''of- fense" (the comparative exemption from the drink eviD the Rev. Martin and his fix would have all the Jews, 'as body" with their women and children. and the sacred books that occupy their attention, all ascend In one pillar of smoke.
 It is surely a disagreeable task, if not A real precarious business, for the Jew to disagree and differ with a sweeping majority in so far as the conception of temperance is concerned; yet in his eth- ical and moral principles the Jew has for many centuries past stood alone in the face of all existing conditions and creeds, and he so intends to continue slaaalng for natural religion and all- embracing law of morality, in all time to come.
 If prohibition were purely question of saloon or no saloon." then indeed might we all, Jew and Gentle, combine in one joint effort to remove the evil