Alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B) encodes a key enzyme for alcohol metabolism. The A allele of rs1229984 results in the substitution of Histidine for Arginine48 (ADH1B*2), which greatly increases the activity of the ADH1B enzyme (Hurley & Edenberg, 2012). This allele has been consistently associated with a protective effect against alcoholism in Asian populations (Li, Zhao, & Gelernter, 2011), in which there is a high prevalence (~40%; (Li et al., 2011; Yokoyama et al., 2013)) of the protective ADH1B allele. Even in populations of European origin, in which the frequency of the protective allele is low (generally under 5%), a strong effect has been demonstrated (Bierut et al., 2012). Among the Jewish population in Israel, a relatively high prevalence of the ADH1B protective allele (20–41%) has been identified (Meyers et al., 2013; Neumark et al., 2004). Associations between ADH1B and alcohol phenotypes have been shown in Israeli Jews (Hasin et al., 2002; Neumark et al., 1998), including association with maximum drinks consumed in a 24-hour period (“Maxdrinks”) and AUD severity in recent work in a large household sample (Meyers et al.,
