Clever ‘fake rabbis’

According to a Sept. 9, 1922 article in the San Francisco Examiner, The Jewish World newspaper had claimed Irish, Swedish, Scottish and Greek residents of San Francisco were getting monthly supplies of sacramental wine “under the names of Goldstein, Blumberg, Silverstein, Levinsky and other adopted Jewish cognamens.”

Kassens (2019) “The clever fake rabbis who made millions off of Prohibition,” JTA.

A few weeks ago the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reached out to me to write an Op-Ed that elaborated on one of the topics in my book: fake rabbis. I jumped at the chance. The piece was published yesterday here. Enjoy!

Drinkers in Chicago raise a celebratory glass of alcohol following the repeal of Prohibition, 1933. (Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News collection/Chicago History Museum/Getty Images)

Leave a Reply