Rabbis Charge Bias to Jews in Win Permit Distribution

Asking for a revision of the present system of wine distribution which would reduce the average distribution to about a gallon and a half a family annually, rabbis representing virtually all the Orthodox Jewish congregations in New York charged on Thursday that Jews are being discriminated against in the granting of permits for sacramental wine. At present a Jewish family is allowed five gallons of wine a year, but in many instances, the rabbis said, requisitions made by them were reduced by the government officials and sometimes denied.

“We feel that the rabbis under the present system are distrusted and subjected to espionage and persecution, which is a discrimination against the Jewish people,” said Rabbi B. Birstein of Ezrath Israel Synagogue. “Every application for wine made by a rabbi must be authenticated by a federal official, but both Protestant and Catholic applications are granted as soon as they are approved by a bishop.”