By SGT D. P.
I am personally accustomed to use the leftover etrog from Sukkot, and make a schnapps with the zest thereof. It’s a pretty simple recipe: Rectified grain spirit (essentially pure alcohol), etrog zest, and confectioner’s sugar. Typically I save it for the following Purim. A few years ago, I took some of my batch and brought it to work on or around Purim to share with my battle buddies. I recall pouring half-shots for everyone, because as I explained to my colleagues, a little bit goes a long way. But my section NCOIC (who has since been medically retired from the Army for unrelated reasons), perhaps feeling the need to assert his manliness, told me to pour him a “real drink.” And so I did.
Long story short, one sergeant started feeling the effects so immediately he began asking everyone if they were feeling a similar… intestinal distress. (I’m cleaning up the language here.) And the NCOIC, he definitely felt it. While I emerged from the scene unaffected despite consuming the same quantity as everyone else, my boss called me later that day. It was a Friday, so I was en route to the local Jewish community for Shabbat. He told me that not only did he need to have a subordinate drive him to all his meetings that day, he was still feeling the effects some six hours later!
My colleagues dubbed the concoction “Jew-Juice”, and it remains something of an in-house legend to this day: A warrior’s drink – not for the faint of heart… or stomach.
Originally published in the Purim 5782 issue of the Jewish-American Warrior.
