Jews Are Immune from Tuberculosis but Are Susceptible to Diabetes

The Jews show a marked tendency toward diabetes and a relative immunity to tuberculosis, according to Dr. Louis I. Harris, Commissioner of Health of New York City, in an article to be published by The Ninety-and-One, the official organ of the New York Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies, the first issue of which makes its appearance today. The publication is under the direction of I. Edwin Goldwasser, chairman of the public relations committee, and Harold A. Lebair, chairman of The Ninety-and-One. Isidore Sobeloff is the editor.

“The high tension under which the Jews have so frequently worked and the sensitive nervous equipment of which they are possessed,” declares Commissioner Harris, “have affected their hearts, blood vessels and kidneys. Wherever Jews abound, the rate of apoplexy and the instances of high blood pressure have been a problem to all public health workers. The Jews must learn to moderate their zeal and to curb their energies. The prevalence of nervous diseases and diabetes among Jews is another evidence of their high-geared, tense and intense existence.

“As a result of the survival of the fittest, and through a severe testing within the Ghetto walls, the Jews have acquired an immunity against tuberculosis. This does not mean, however that tuberculosis is not a grave problem among Jews. Through the Committee for the Care of Jewish Tuberculous and its marvelous factory many have been restored to health. In the same way, through the Jewish Social Service Association, hundreds upon hundreds of families have been directed to agencies with preventive and corrective health programs, thereby contributing so much toward the lessening of disease and poverty, its too-frequent companion. Their infant mortality rate is very low. In the most congested districts of the lower East Side, the percentage of deaths is lower than in some of the sections of the city where the economic level is considerably higher,” Dr. Harris writes.

Further disclosures concerning the discovery of a Slavonic version of the text of Josephus Flavius in his work, “The Wars of the Jews,” which might prove the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth, are promised in a month’s time by Dr. V. Burch, lecturer on theology at the Liverpool Cathedral.

It is understood that the old Slavonic manuscripts are in Dr. Burch’s possession, and that it is he himself who is engaged in preparing a full edition of the new text of Josephus in English.

The world of scholarship, according to Dr. Burch, has unaccountably overlooked the importance of the discovery made some years ago. He states that he is not at the moment able to assess the full value of his researches, because the ultimate conclusions must depend upon extensive literary work in several of the ancient languages.

Miss Irma May, who recently returned from a three months’ tour of the Eastern European countries, made her first public address at a meeting of the Women’s Division of the $6,000,000 United Jewish Campaign of New York, yesterday at the Hotel Biltmore. Miss May reported on her observations in the countries she visited. Mrs. Abram I. Elkus, chairman of the Women’s Division, presided. Officers of many Jewish women’s organizations attended.