Fighting antisemitism with gin: Kosher spirits project backs Jewish life in Spain

“J. Ferd. Nagel’s name became a mark of quality, his bottles recognized in foreign markets as the seal of a master distiller,” says his descendant Raphael Nagel.

Today, German-Spanish investor Nagel, founder of the Abrahamic Business Circle in Dubai, who believes that “economic diplomacy can bring people into practical relationships at a time when political language often divides them,” has launched a limited collection of his ancestor’s exclusive gin to aid the continuity of Jewish life in Spain.

The importance of Nagel’s project is backed up by the shocking figures he quotes from a report by Spain’s Antisemitism Observatory. The year 2024 saw a 321% rise in antisemitic incidents over 2023, and a 567% rise vis-à-vis 2022.

“These facts have intensified concerns among Jewish organizations in a country where Jewish history is both extraordinarily deep and painfully marked by expulsion, conversion, and long absence,” he says.

While Nagel knows full well that “a bottle of gin is an unlikely place to look for an answer to rising antisemitism in Europe,” he has always believed that “a business can carry a meaning beyond the transaction itself.”

Bereshit Serie (“Genesis” in Hebrew and “series” in German), named for the first of the Five Books of Moses, which was launched to the public last month, has sold 500 bottles since its March prelaunch.

The project is called Tannenblut (“Blood of the fir tree”), and the Black Forest gin is at its center. The Bereshit Serie is a limited series of 3,000 individually numbered bottles, stamped with kosher certification and designed as collector’s items. Some are priced conventionally for a luxury gin. Others, selected by number and symbolism, are priced as patron objects. Examples of these are 1/3,000, the Founder’s Bottle; 18/3,000, “chai,” for life; and 613/3,000, the number of mitzvot in the Torah.

It is a limited series of a physical object, conceived as ultra-collectible and intended for a select circle of collectors, families, and institutions. Every bottle drunk means one less collectible, which offers the added advantage that some numbers will be “lost,” causing each remaining bottle to increase in value.

It is a certain investment. Physical luxury collectibles cannot be devalued by monetary policy or quantitative easing. The bottles are all hand-numbered, wax-sealed, and decorated with the Kaiser Franz Joseph medallion that my ancestor received in 1873. The series combines heritage, Jewish symbolism, and a strict private-invitation policy, with a pricing structure that reflects the scarcity and significance of specific numbers within the edition. Bottles are placed by private invitation and at the seller’s discretion.

One book, Tannenblut – A Novel About Names, Brands, and Memories, is about my ancestor. The other is called Antisemitismus – Origins, Development, and Global Protection Mechanism s. The more expensive, premium bottles come with the books as token gifts, but these can also be ordered separately at tannenblut.co.

The pledge that 60% of the profits from the Bereshit Serie will go directly toward supporting Jewish life in Spain. This extraordinary commitment turns what might otherwise be simply another elaborate luxury launch into a more demanding experiment.

While a bottle cannot solve antisemitism, it can become a reason for a collector, a company, or a family to support a specific purpose and to speak about why that purpose matters. The book is another part of the project. Tannenblut is a reflection on origin, identity, and what is preserved when a name is carried forward. The gin is presented as something drawn from the world of the book.

Each bottle is also a conversation piece, whether it is Jewish clients who order the gin – whom I believe will be the majority of the customers – and it becomes a springboard for discussion about its origins and where its profits are aimed; or a non-Jew who invests in a collectible gin and now owns a “kosher” product and is motivated to learn more about what that means.

The charitable commitment will support and protect Jewish life by covering legal costs for Jews to fight back. The Spanish justice system is still working, despite attempts to handcuff it, and the money will go to hiring lawyers to prosecute antisemites, as well as psychologists to help promote positivity and a healthy outlook. Jewish children are being bullied at school; adults are getting fired from their jobs. We have created a platform whereby a network of dedicated lawyers and psychologists can be contacted via a hotline.

Yes, we will be adding whiskey, Champagne, and others. The Chumash has five books, so, at a minimum, we expect to do one series for each. They will all be certified kosher, demanding the strictest definition of purity available in the international world of spirits.

As Jews, we all need to be more united. Where there are three Jews, there are five opinions. We need a more united front.