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Show Jews and Their TJ3e of Liquor. Dr. .Maurice Fishberg has been contributing con-tributing to a Jewish magazine a series of articles on the life of the Jewish people in New York. Among other things he mentions their habits with regard re-gard to liquor. We take the following review of this part of his statements from the New York Sun: "The Jews, as is well known, are usually very temperate in their use of 1 alcoholic beverages, and alcoholism is rare in the Ghetto, more particular! among Jews from Russia. Total ah- j stinence is supposed to be frequent, bui Dr. Fishberg explains that even those who do not drink usually do so at least on Saturdays and holidays for religious purposes (Kiddush) and on variou3 other occasions. Intoxication is rare, yet Dr. Fishberg reports that while during his residence of ten years in the Jewish quarter he has only seen a Jewish 'drunk' on only one or two oc-cations. oc-cations. He has repeatedly met Jewish patients suffering from the effects of chronic alcoholism, as cirrhosis of the liver, alcoholic gastritis, etc. "One reason why an intoxicated Jew is SO rarplv spon in tKo ctroot a . us, that 'the Jew generally knows when to stop drinking, and when he 13 somewhat some-what intoxicated those near him will at once remove him to his home. He quotes an officer of a society to give poor people Jewish burial as reporting that during more than a year's service he had found among the large number of unclaimed Jewish dead in the morgue only one case where alcoholism was given as the cause of death, though the deaths of 'at least seventy-five per cent of the Gentile unclaimed dead in the morgue are directly or indirectly caused by alcoholism.' In Russia the Jews abhor a drunkard and 'name him with converts and outcasts.' Dr. Fishberg Fish-berg finds, however, that 'alcoholism ig -decidedly increasing among the Jews of New York, particularly in the young generation, who are adopting the habits hab-its and customs of life of their Gentile j neighbors their virtues as well a3 ttieir vices.' " I |
