Drinking on Purim
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It’s pretty rare to find people who live an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle where there’s no Orthodox Jewish community. But I do.
Because I’m recognisably Jewish (I wear a kippah), I often encounter people who have questions and pre-conceptions about Judaism, which I’m more than happy to oblige.
There is one particular misconception about Judaism that I encounter time, and time again. For some reason, people seem to think Jews don’t drink alcohol.
Oh, but we do.
It’s customary to drink wine after Shabbat services, and many congregations have a custom to drink during services, too!
No holiday exemplifies this more than Purim. The Talmud in Megila 7b instructs us, seemingly, to drink until we are very drunk.
Rava said: A person is obligated to become intoxicated with wine on Purim until he is so intoxicated that he does not know how to distinguish between cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordecai.
Woah! Haman is the bad guy of the story, and Mordecai is the good guy. It’s like saying “drink until you can’t tell the difference between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader”. That’s a lotta grog.
The (let’s call it) dynamic relationship between Judaism and alcohol is problematic, especially given modern social problems related to alcoholism (a problem which Jews are by no means immune to).
Thankfully, this question was asked of Rabbi Chaim Ingram this week, and I wanted to share his response for two reasons.
- Most of the readers to this blog are not Jewish, and I think this answer provides a great insight into the Jewish mind and culture.
- There’s a lesson here beyond any questions of “how much to drink” that we can all learn from.
Rabbi Ingram directs us to the specific words used in the verse: “cursed is Haman”, and “blessed is Mordecai”. In Hebrew, they are: “אָרוּר הָמָן” (arur Haman) and “בָרוּךְ מָרְדֳּכַי” (barukh Mordechai).
Let’s take a quick detour to a seeming contradiction, just a dozen chapters apart, in Proverbs.
In Proverbs (11:10) it is stated:
When the righteous prosper the city exults;
When the wicked perish there are shouts of joy.
But in Proverbs (24:17) this is contradicted:
If your enemy falls, do not exult;
If he trips, let your heart not rejoice.
The contradiction resolves when you understand the difference between “the wicked”, and “your enemy”. Your enemy might be people with their own misconceptions, traumas, goals, and beliefs, which clash up against yours and cause friction.
But “the wicked” refers to something else. There’s a pure, unadulterated evil that exists in the world. When this evil is extinguished, we should celebrate! The removal of evil is the same as the triumph of good!
On Purim, we have drunk enough when we realise that arur Haman is the same as barukh Mordechai. When Haman (representing pure evil) is cursed, Mordechai (representing good) is blessed.
In an age where all moralities are often treated as equally valid, this lesson is more important than ever. Evil does exist, and removing it makes the world a better place.
Chag Purim Sameach!