APRIL 4 • 2024 | 43
J
N

Avoiding 
Intoxication
I

n Shemini, Aaron’s elder 
sons Nadav and Avihu offer 
“strange fire” during the 
first sacrificial offerings and are 
suddenly incinerated. Why did 
Nadav and Avihu die? 
While the rabbis 
offer varied interpre-
tations, many seize on 
God’s words following 
their deaths:
“
And Adonai spoke 
to Aharon, saying: 
Drink no wine or other 
intoxicant, you or your 
sons, when you enter 
the Tent of Meeting, 
that you may not die. 
This is a law for all 
time throughout the 
ages.
” (Leviticus 10:9)
We Jews have a complex 
tradition regarding alcohol. 
On the one hand, the Torah 
in Deuteronomy 14:26 tells us 
that when we bring our tithe, 
we may convert our produce to 
money “and spend the money 
on anything you want cattle, 
sheep, wine or other intoxicants 
or anything you may desire.
” 
Wine and intoxicants are 
available options for the cele-
brations, and the post-biblical 
Purim custom of extreme ine-
briation became popular. Wine 
is used to sanctify holiness 
from Shabbat and holidays to 
weddings, with four cups on 
Pesach. It seems biblical figures 
are drinking wine, too, so why 
shouldn’t we?
But we must be careful, lest 
we seek to rationalize contem-
porary American habits of daily 
or near-daily drinking by seeing 
Jewish tradition as sympathetic.
Why? Because the Torah 
condemns the drunkenness of 
Noah, Lot and others and notes 

how alcohol interferes with the 
capacity for sexual consent, a 
vital issue considering the binge 
drinking and harm on college 
campuses (and beyond) today. 
The tradition forbids one 
from evading grief through 
alcoholic beverages during 
shivah, thus cautioning us 
all that alcohol tends to be 
used to numb, rather than 
deal with, our feelings. 
The primary example 
of a vow to God is a vow 
to abstain from all alcohol 
consumption for a definite 
period, while one removes 
oneself from family and 
social circle (like recovery 
programs today). Finally, 
wine in biblical times was 
diluted with water. 
Recently, we have learned 
claims that a nightly glass of 
wine is healthy are entirely 
erroneous. (Wine drinkers tend 
to be wealthier and have better 
access to quality health care, 
thus explaining previous data.) 
New research shows that drink-
ing even small amounts of alco-
hol regularly can cause long-
term negative health effects. 
We Jews should be at the 
forefront of advocating, like 
our tradition, for only mod-
erate alcohol consumption 
and only in safe settings (like 
Shabbat dinner) and on special 
occasions. It will not always be 
comfortable to speak against 
society’s love affair with drink-
ing, but we might, as Rambam 
derived from this parshah, learn 
that by avoiding alcohol, we 
find ourselves with less shame 
and greater wisdom. 

Rabbi Nadav Caine is rabbi of Beth 

Israel Congregation, Ann Arbor.

SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION

Rabbi Nadav 
Caine

Parshat 

Shemini: 

Leviticus 9:1-

11:47; Exodus 

12:1-20; 

Ezekiel 45:16-

46:18.

 Listen to this article now
00:00
07:23

Check out
thejewishnews.com

 option on all articles.

NEW

text-to-speech