HOHENT 20:5 OCTOBER 1995

here was a Lime. beard) Stiles later hung at \';1Ie. Stiles --, in the 19th cell­ treated C.. uigal as if he were a repos­ r_ tury. when Jews itory of ancient wisdom concerning in this cOlin try the and Jewish tradition. c:.. were sought Olll DUling UlC 19u1 celltlllY this S

S4 t.lOt.lENT. c.': f' " against "infidels." The English lay language permeated its tracts; minis­ ously felt they required the cloak of leader Da"id Levi, for example, pro­ ters and prominent church laymen biblical sanction to give an aura of duced a widely read response to dominated its leadership; and several divine legitimacy to their cam­ Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason. denominations, notably the Meth­ paigns. To condemn what the Bible TIlomasJefferson wrote of Levi: "[He] odists, openly aligned themselves \\;th permitted (or vice versa) would amils himself all his advantage over his its stated aims. have been unthinkable, for it would ad\ -ers.-uies by his superior knowledge As temperance advocates broad­ be tantamount to saying that the of the Hebrew, speaking in the very ened their attack to include wine, Bible was a less than perfect guide language of dh,ine communication, this posed a problem. Wine, after to human actions. This stimulated while they can only fumble on with all, was praised in the Bible. It was new research into the "biblical vie\\'" conDictingand disputed translations." featured prominenuy in such New of wine and temperance. In 1829 a story in the Richmcmd Testament episodes as the maniage It should come as no surprise that Constitutional Whig described Jews American Jews found themselves this way: drawn into these debates--Q\\ing to When we see one of these people, their reputed expertise in scriptural and remember that we have been matters. Temperance advocates told by good authority, that he is an .~ turned first to an "expert" named exact copy of the Jew who wor­ Mordecai M. Noah, the best known shipped in the Second Temple two American J ew of his day-joumalist, thousand years ago-that his phys­ iognomy and religious opinions­ politician, diplomat, play\\'right­ that the usages and customs of his best remembered for his abortive tribe are still the same, we feel that plan to found a Jewish colony profound respect which antiquity named Ararat on Grand Island, New inspires. York, in 1825. He was asked a decep­ The more common view, taught tively simple question: \\11at kind of to generations of schoolchildren by wine did Jews use at the "Feast of one of McGuffey's readers, described Passover"? Passover was of course the Jews as "the keepers of the the "feast" that was thought to " have been celebrating during the Jews also played a special role as Last Supper, so the answer-assum­ "consultants" in the American tem­ ing, as so many Evangelical perance movement. During the Christians did, that contemporary 1830s, per capita consumption of Jewish practices reflected ancient liquor (which had reached extraor­ at Cana, where Jesus turned water ones--could simultaneously shed dinarily high levels in the early 19th into wine for the wedding guests light on two issues: first, the mean­ century) declined markedly in (Joh n 2: 1-11), and Ule Last Supper, ing of wine in the Pentateuch; and America as more and more citizens where Jesus tells the apostles to second, the kind of wine used at the voluntarily signed temperance drink wine "for this is my blood of Passover seder celebrated by Jesus pledges. Reform did not come fast the covenant," (Matthew 26:27-29). with his disciples. enough for anti-liquor crusaders, Wine was also used by most church­ Noah's answer, as published by however, and by 1840 many came to men in communion services. temperance supporters. is surprising advocate "total temperance" (teeto­ Attacking it was not the same as and at first perplexing: talism) and a "dry America." attacking the use of distilled liquor. Unfermented liquor, or wine free Temperance leaders, who formerly Even writers in the religious press from alcoholic substances was had confined themselves to attack­ charged that the "Total Abstinence only used, in those times, as it is ing the baleful effects of "spiritous doctrine" stood "opposed to the used at the present day: at the teachings of the Saviour." Passover; the wine over which the liquors," lashed out against beer blessing is said; the wine. proba­ and wine as well. They also entered To counter this charge, support­ bly, used at the Last Supper; and the political arena by seeking to ers of abstinence sought to prove the wine that should be used al impose legal restrictions on liquor. that wine, when written about the communion table. Slate prohibition laws multiplied in approvingly in the Bible, meant Supporters of "total temperance" the J850s. unfermented wine, or grape juice. were delighted by this news and uley Religion played a significant role in The dubious credibility of this schol­ J.he temperance movement. Relihriow; arly cfTon aside. the reformers olni- flJlIlill/(l'ri Oil !Jf1K" 80

Ocr05[1o .~s: • MOMENT 55 Bible Experts ((}lItil11/ffl fmtn Pflgr " gave it wide publicity. AJewish expert seemed to validate their claim that wine in the Bible meant IInferment­ ed wine. The reason Noah believed that unfermellled wine was lIsed in ancient times at Passover was probably that American Jews of his day llsed unfer­ mented raisin wine on Passover, a CIIS­ tom that lasted until kosher Passover wine became a\'ailable in this country in the 18iOs. And in fact his original remarks. as I learned by going through prcccdCIH norJewish pr.lctice made am' his newspapers. related only to difference. The 18th amendment ba,{. Passover. At the beginning of his analy­ ning the manufacture, sale or trans. sis he had observed, quite correctly. portation of intoxicating liqllors was that throughout the Bible "patriarchs. adopted in 1919. Thanks in part 10Jews, legislators. kings. priests. and generals however. the legislation did carr\' an all partook of [wine} ... .It is the abuse exemption permitting In(mmRTIlrn lL~e of of\\ine, not its use that is complained alcohol. of." But temperance supporters simply Today, it wO~lld be hard to imagine ignored this. I~ost Jews poslIlg as ~Bihle experts," r-Ioreo\'er. Noah's "testimony~ did Ll\1ng among gelllilcs and often igno­ not go unchallenged. Temperance rant of their own tr.lditiolls.Jews have moderates. seeking to refute his also largely lost their mystique as the remarks (as published). followed the People of the Book--or worse, if the strategy of their opponents and like­ mystique remains. thev \00 often fail to wise sought evidence from Jewish I ive up to the billing. . "experts." An unnamed New York Meanwhile. those who do stud\' the rabbi (or reader). probably Samuel Bible realize th.1I it r.lrely speaks in ~ sin­ Isaacs. revealed that English Jews did gle voice-in fact, according to tradi­ use fermented wine on Passover, not tion, it speaks in iO voices at once. As raisin "ine. refracted through generations of rab­ Another temperance moderate. an binic interpreters, the Hebrew Bible Amcrican Christian missionary in the docs convey a great deal of wisdom. ~Iiddle East named Daniel Ladd, often penillellt to contempor.l'1' issues. reported that he had "made diligent But we cannm rdy. as too manv in the inquilies ofJews and others in this cOlln­ temperance debate did. on o~e voice t'1· ... whether thev know of any stich alone. We need to listen to all iO." practiLe. and the result is that no one cver hcard of it. except that very poor . Jc,\'s in Europe. who on account oflheir pm'en), cannot obtain wine. do some­

times make such a decoction. ft Rabbis into the 20th century con­ tinued to be asked their views on the question of whether wine in the Bible was fermented or not. A whole range of Jewish answers exist, but my favorite comes from a late 19th