Jewish Eugenics—And Another Book Of The Same Name
02/15/2011
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Book titles are often reused—P. G. Wodehouse, titling his 1929 novel Summer Lightning, found so many people had been before him that he could only hope it would be found "worthy of inclusion in the list of the Hundred Best Books Called Summer Lightning".

I have personally read three books by three different authors called A Fine and Private Place, and, partly thanks to the TV show, there are even a bunch of books called Alien Nation.

I mention this because if you read Cooper Sterling's review of Jewish Eugenics by John Glad, you may be surprised to know that there are actually two books called Jewish Eugenics.

The  other one was written in 1915, by three rabbis—Rabbi Max Reichler, Rabbi Joel Blau, and Rev. Dr. David de Sola Pool of New York's historic Congregation Shearith Israel, which goes back to Peter Stuyvesant's day.

The second book is also available for free download, if you're interested—full title Jewish eugenics, and other essays; three papers read before the New York board of Jewish ministers.

My point here is that "eugenics" used to be much more respectable than it is today, and that, as I put it in article "Eugenics" Is What Happens When Cousins Don't Marry."

This rule about cousins is in the Old Testament, as any rabbi could tell you, but apparently not in the Koran—large parts of the Arab world look like the result of the famous heckler put-down "This is what happens when cousins marry!"

 

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