March 14 • 2019 17
jn
Too Far?
Drinking on Purim can
leave lasting impressions.
LOUIS FINKELMAN
Y
ou can look through the entire
Hebrew Bible and nearly all
of rabbinic literature without
finding anything positive about get-
ting drunk. That is, until you come to
Rabba’
s statement: “A person must get
‘
spiced’
on Purim until he does not
know the difference between cursed
Haman and blessed Mordecai” (Talmud
Megillah 7bj).
The statement attracted pushback
over centuries. The Talmud also reports
“Rabba and Rabbi Zeira shared a Purim
feast together and got ‘
spiced.
’
Rabba got
up and slaughtered Rabbi Zeira. The
next day, Rabba prayed for mercy and
revived him. The next year, Rabba invit-
ed Rabbi Zeira to share the Purim feast
again, but Rabbi Zeira declined, ‘
Not
every day does a miracle occur.
’
”
Some later rabbis advise against drink-
ing on Purim. Others suggest taking a
nap. While asleep, you cannot discern
between Haman and Mordecai.
Some people, though, often teen boys,
try to implement the recommendation
to imbibe scrupulously.
One former Detroiter writes about his
first year away from home as a 13-year-
old yeshivah student in the 1960s. On
Purim, students would visit their Talmud
teacher and lie on his living room floor
listening to him lecture about morality as
they drank heavily.
“I had never ingested more than a few
ounces of wine on Shabbat or Jewish
holidays,
” he writes. “My initial shock
turned to disgust as the room began to
reek of sweat and vomit.
”
Another anonymous informant, now a
respected rabbi, recalls a Purim morning
when he dormed at his Midwest yeshi-
vah high school. A classmate he did not
know wound up at a teacher’
s house,
three miles from the dorm. The admin-
istration did not, he recalls, treat the stu-
dent’
s wandering as an emergency and
did not warn students against drinking.
Daniel Jacobovitz of Oak Park recalls
three bad memories of Purim drinking:
“The first: I was delivering mishloah
manot (Purim treats) in Oak Park about
20 years ago, when I was 14. One of
the places I went was a school. I was
astonished to see kids about my age just
drinking; some were just wasted.
“The second: I was having the Purim
feast with my extended family. It was not
a drinking party, but a feast with plenty
of food. One person — about my age
then, 13 or 14 — kept sneaking alcohol.
No one said anything. By the end, he
made a complete fool of himself.
“The third: A few years later, some-
body I knew was drinking and kept on
drinking. After I left, I heard someone
took him to the emergency room … He
spent the night in the hospital; they said
he had alcohol poisoning.
“I just turned 34. I don’
t drink. I
haven’
t seen anything like that since,
but, then, I don’
t hang around people
seriously drinking. These stories have
been bothering me for years. I am glad I
finally got to tell them.
”
Rabbinic scholar Dina Najman, head
of an Orthodox synagogue in Riverdale,
N.Y., (and a former Detroiter), writes,
“We have a responsibility to explain this
is not only a medical concern (preserv-
ing life) but also . . . halakhic . . . exces-
sive drinking is the opposite of giving
praise to God.
” ■
The nonprofit Detroit Chaverim will run a free bus
from 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Wednesday, March 20, and
from 1 p.m.-1 a.m. Thursday, March 24, traveling
between Coolidge and Southfield roads, and from
Nine Mile Road to 11 Mile Road. Call (248) 658-
8111 for an appointment for a group, or, if you
see the bus, hail a ride. DetroitChaverim.org.
This 19th-century Purim painting shows
Chasidic Jews celebrating with plenty of wine.
jews d
in
the
LUXURY
DESIGNER FURNITURE
Floor Sample Sale
Saturday, March 16th & Sunday, March 17th
70%
OFF
UP TO
All Custom Living Room &
Dining Room Furniture, Oil Paintings,
Accessories and Oriental Rugs
Hancock & Moore | Theodore Alexander | Maitland-Smith |
Hickory Chair | Sherrill & Many More
SHOP WHERE THE DESIGNERS SHOP
248.723.8888 | BirminghamDesignStudio.com
808 S. Old Woodward Avenue | Birmingham | 48009
COLLECTION OF ISAAC EINHORN, TEL-AVIV/ERICH
LESSING/ART RESOURCE N.Y.