Alcoholism
Aldus Mauutius
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
very (lispniportioiintfly prevalent
among
the
off-
These diseases are also very Jews, but are certainly not due in
spnii^j; (if alcoliolics.
frcqueut ainoiifT their ease to Aieiiliolism.
Alcoholism prevails all over the world, andisprohahlv inereasinir. more especially amon.ir the northern nations. 15u! amoni: the Jewsit is almost an unknown alleel ion. Their Rarity
Among' Jews.
sobriety
is
proverbial; an<l the
e.xiieri-
ence anion;,' Jewish medical jiractitioners
unanimously
is
they are a smalt community ; and their partial Isolation from other ndiiflous denomlnatlcms biu* a tendency to make them careful of (heir monils. The most liniMirtant n'lLson, however. Is that they do not fiillowanyaviH-ations which necessitate Thus we seldom llnd them worklnjr a.s (freat physical exertion. artis3»ns or day-Ialxirers sjj that there is no threat iMidily waste to be repaired; and they an*, mon'over, n*moved fnim the temtitalions t*> excessive drinking to which the preat nia.ss of our worklni,'-iM'o[ile are exposed. Amonff Jews of the iid<ldlti classes then' Is mon* liitempenince. As aln'ady remarked, however, on the whole, the Jews are a sober and exemplary race, whose habits In this respect are well worttiy First,
...
of nnivei-sal iinitation."
W.
to the elTect that
occasion to observe he disease in the person of a Jew isof e.cos.sive rarity. The Jewsare undoubtedly subject to nervous diseases to a greater extent than the but this is due to the social an<l goncrjjl community hygienic conditions under which many of them live, and not to Alcoholism. The rate of suicide is far less in Jewish than in other communities; and this is undoubtedly comiected with the absence of Alcoholism. Attention has already been called to the It has been sugintimate connection of the two. gested that the absence of Alcoholism among contlie fact that those adtemjiorary Jews is due to dicted to it in th<' jiast left families which have died out: but there is no evidence of any jirevalence of I
Alcoholism among Jews at any period. Statistics confirm the general opinion of Jewish Selecting two tyjiical hospitals, as possobriety. sessing the most trustworthy records, a corii))arativo investigation may be made as to the prevalence of Alcoholism among their patients. The Boston City Hospital has a general clientele in a town that does not contain a <lisproportionately large nundicr of Hebrews. In IHil!) there were 7,104 cases treated there; and of these, 22G, a little over 8 per cent, were admitted for Alcoholism. The Hcth Israel Hospital of York city has an entirely Jewish clientele, the proportion of non-Jews treated there being a negli.irible quantity not over one fourth of Its records show 4 cases of Alcoholism, 1 per cent. or diseases directly attributable to it, in ;!, 000 cases thatapplieil foradmission during the last fewyears. This is a little over one-tenth of 1 jierccnt. Hence, the records show that Alcoholism is at least thirty times as prevalent among the general community, including the Jews, as in that race itself. Dr. Norman Kerr, one of the highest authorities upon Alcoholism, says, in regard to drink among the Jews ("Inebriety, Its Etiologv," etc.. Lewis, London, 1889):
—
" Extensive as m,v profes-sional Interrourso Willi tlipm hn.s been, I have never iJeen consulted fur inebriety in the person of a Jew while my ailviee tias been soiiKht for this eoniplaini by a very Inrfre niiiiiber of Christians. ... In my opinion their pener:il fret'itoni from Inebriety in almost every clime and under all coiiditiims uliere are a feiv exceptions to this rule), is as much due to i-:iciiil as to hyeienic intluences. and more to racial This extniordinary iM*ople has. than to reliirious tnllnences.
amid wondrous
vicissitudes, presented a variety of distinctive characteristics; and I can not help thinkine that .some Inherited racial power of contml. as well as some inherited niclal insusceptibility to nan-otism. strenL'thened and conllrmed by the practise of various liytrienic habits, has been the main i"eaS4in for their superior temperance. Even amon^ those Jews In whom there has been an unusual amount of alcohcpl-drlnklnc ithongh they were not 'drunk '). when there has Iteeu slii/ht thickeniiiK of the speech, (^llltness of tonpue, and unv»tntcd exubenuice of spirits, eviilcucint^ a certain amount of alcoliolii- poisoniuf?. I have never tletected the extstence of the diseast* inebriety. Of tliis strong Impulse to alcoholism or other narcotism, I liave never seen a case amongrst this distinctive people."
Other authorities believe that the sobriety of the
Jews is rather dependent upon their.social condition. Thus Samuelson (" A History of Drink A Heview, Social, Scientific, and Political," Trllbnor, London,
1880)saj-s: "Little need be said of the drinklnp bahll^ of the modem They are notoriously a sober race, both In Enfiland ami and their teuiiH'nince Is mainly due to two causes.
elsewliere
G.
S.
ALCOLEA
(NV'i'lp^N) • ^ .'^' '" """ province of Jaeii. Aiulalusia. the Jewish congregation of which, like many others of the country, enjoyed special privileges. According to the records of the congregation, a standing committee coniiiosed of twelve members was selected, whose duty it was to tax the
members
in accordance with their financial ability, a procedure which caiisi'd fre(iuent ((uarrels and divisions. Any one who obtained remission of his taxes from the governor or prince was at once jilaeed unIt appears der the congregation's ban for a year. that the Jews in Alcolea were of such overthrifty disposition that they at one time insisted that tlnir cantor (synagogue-reader) shouUi likewise be taxed toward the congregational ex|ienses and even the payment of old congregational debts. The matter came to a lawsuit. In the earlier part of the year 1414 th<' small Jewish community of Alcolea accepted baptism. This wliolesjile conversion was but an episode in the triumphal evangelizing march of Vinccnte Ferrer.
niBLioCRArilv: Isaac 477
De
los Rios,
(iriitz, (rfucli.
</.
b.
Sheshet, Rc!>i>nnm, Nos. l.)T-t<iI. 473ite Ins Judiits en f>;>rt»la. 11. 444
HiMoria Judfti.
vlii.
i:i;i.
K
M.
ALCONSTANTINI, HANOK BEN BAHYA.
New
Jews.
334
See
Enoch iIImiki
r.i:N
l'.MIV.
. l,(
nN>T.i.
1
1
M,
ALCONSTANTINI, HANOK BEN SOLOSolomon, .i.MON. See Knocii (I.Ianoki 1'.i-;n
(
liNSl
AN
riNi
ALCONSTANTINI, ISAAC BEN
ANCONA. .Vm
IINSI
AN
See
Isaac
iii-;N
ABBAM
AitUAiiAM Ancona,
TINI,
AL-CORSONO, JACOB BEN ISAAC.
See
hkn 1>aa( ALDABI, MEIRIBN: Writerof the fourteenth century: son r>f Isa;cc Aldabi, "Hc-l.Iasid" (The Pious) grandson of Aslier ben Jehicl. and a descendHis name (erroant of the exiles from Jerusalem. neously spelled Albaili, Albalidi. Alrsibi. and Alt;ibi) is ascertained from his chief work. "Shebile Emunah." wherein a poem is found in which every line begins with a letter of his name: and there it reads "Aldabi." In the preface to his book occurs the This, toexpression, "of the exiles of Jerusalem." gether with Akiabi's statement that he was exiled from his country (Andalusia), caused Graetz to asConsoNo,
.i.-. .Iac or.
.
Graclz that he was banished to Jerusalem. to take into account Akiabi's words. " He [God] led me into a waste land." which he would not have used in reference to Jeru.salem. Aldabi belonged to the class of popular writers who, ])Ossessing extensive theological and scientific knowlcd.se, coiumcnted upon the assertions of their predecessors with a clear understanding, expressing iierc and there their own opinions, and presenting some subjects from the standpoint of the Cabala. .Vldabi was also one of tho.sc Talniudists wliosc conception of religion was wholly spiritual and who revered the Cabala: lie can not, however, be called a " true cabalist. In 1300 he wrote " Shebile Emunah (The Paths of Faith), an exhaustive treatise on philTo osophical, scientific, and theological subjects.
sume
failed
