Submitted by the Chai Minded Meetup Club
From Jews and booze, to one of the biggest, most notorious bootleggers in the country, the Chai Minded Meetup Club will be taking a trip back to the time of Prohibition to explore “Cin” City’s sordid past at the Bootleggers Lunch on Wednesday, April 10th at 11 a.m. at the Firehouse Grill in Blue Ash. The event is open to all “Oldies but Goodies” (and harmless gangsters) who are young at heart.
In addition to meeting new friends over lunch, participants will get to know one of the Queen City’s — and the country’s — most notorious gangsters, the King of Bourbon himself, George Remus. A German immigrant with a brilliant mind for business, he built a bootlegging empire in Cincinnati, amassing 35% of all the liquor in the US in just two years, and a net worth of nearly $18 billion in today’s dollars.
Remus was also known for his extravagant lifestyle, which included a mansion in Price Hill called the Marble Palace, where he hosted lavish parties thought to be the inspiration for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most famous work, The Great Gatsby.
But as the saying goes, “truth is stranger than fiction,” especially in the case of George Remus. Some might argue that the story of his rags to riches rise to infamy isn’t the most fascinating thing about him. Perhaps it’s the fact that he murdered his wife in cold blood in the middle of the day in Eden Park that many find even more intriguing.
Following lunch, guests will learn about Jews and Booze in the Prohibition Era with a fun and engaging presentation by Rabbi Drew Kaplan, the founder of the Jewish Drinking project, the country’s leading resource on the history, wisdom and literature related to drinking in the Jewish tradition.
“While the Volstead Act was set up to prohibit the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, there were also built-in loopholes, most of which were created for religious purposes within a Christian context,” explains Rabbi Kaplan. “However, these religious allowances did not take into account Jewish context. Moreover, while there were Jews who sought to be good American citizens by not involving themselves with alcohol during Prohibition, there were also many of them who did.”
One such loophole allowed Jewish households to have a certain amount of wine per adult, per year, but required them to have a certification from their rabbi. It is widely believed that this is what accounted for the massive jump in synagogue membership across the country by more than 1,000% during this time.
Guests are responsible for covering the cost of their own lunch and gratuity. For those participants fully practicing the laws of prohibition, “Mocktails” will be available for purchase. And for those who are willing to risk a police raid, cocktails will also be available.
The event is open to all adults in the Jewish community who live independently. Non-Jewish partners and friends are always welcome. Space is limited to the first 75 to RSVP to the Chai Minded website. Reservations will be given on a first come, first served basis.
