Parshas Tzav (Purim Edition) 5779
You’re not going to believe this but … our Sages teach us (see the Talmud Megillah 7b and Shulchan Aruch O.C. 695:2) that on the holiday of Purim (this year on Thursday March 21st) it is a mitzvah obligation for each and every adult Jewish male (who can handle it) to get bombed, hammered, inebriated, smashed, intoxicated, loaded, plastered, tanked, sloshed … oh, and also drunk … to the point that he can’t tell the difference between the blessed Mordechai and the cursed Haman!
[Ed. Note: The Ramâ€a and a number of other Halachic authorities rule that instead of getting totally drunk on Purim, one can fulfill the mitzvah by drinking more wine than one usually does and then falling asleep.]
One classic reason for the mitzvah to drink wine on Purim is offered by the Avudraham. He writes that the entire Purim story was influenced by wine. Vashti was removed from her role as queen through drinking of wine. Esther took her place through a party. So too the fall of Haman was through wine. Therefore, we drink on Purim to remember the great miracles that happened to the Jews through wine.
I would like to share with you three additional reasons for the mitzvah of drinking wine on Purim that you might not have heard before….
(1) The Manos Halevi writes that the reason why Mordechai and Esther instituted the mitzvah of Mishloach Manos – sending gifts of food or drink to family, friends and others - on Purim, was to unite the Jewish people, and thus to counter the Lashon Hara (slander) that the wicked Haman spread about the Jewish people that we are “scattered and dispersedâ€, i.e. we don’t get along with each other (see the Book of Esther 3:8 and Talmud Megillah 13b). The idea of drinking wine on Purim is based on the same idea of uniting the Jewish people. When people drink together, they loosen up and barriers between Jew and fellow Jew are broken down. [And once the barriers are down and all the inhibitions are gone, you can hug the guy sitting next to you at the Purim meal and tell him that you love him – even if you don’t know who he is!]
(2) The Yosef Lekach, in his commentary on the Book of Esther (9:23), points out that unlike other Jewish holidays like Chanukah, Purim was established during a time of Galus (exile) for the Jewish people, when many Jews had in their collective memory the recent destruction of the First Holy Temple in Jerusalem and were now experiencing all the tzaros (troubles) of their present exile in Babylonia. And even though the Jewish people were now miraculously saved by G-d from their enemies, and Mordechai and Esther wanted to establish a new holiday to commemorate the amazing miracle of their salvation, they understood that it was not possible for the Jewish people to be fully joyous while we are still in galus. Therefore, they ordained that we drink a lot of wine on Purim to “drown our sorrows†and to help us forget (if only for the day of Purim) about all our many tzaros. This way we can then celebrate the Purim miracle and be joyous properly. [This idea of “drowning our sorrows†to enable us to experience true joy is so relevant in our times when it seems like each new day brings a new tzarah with it – may G-d protect us!]
(3) The Maggid (itinerant preacher) of Kamenetz offers a fascinating reason for the mitzvah of drinking wine on Purim. He writes in Imrei Chayim that at the time in the Purim story, when the tide turned in favor of the Jews, many non-Jews converted to Judaism. As it says in the Book of Esther 8:17, “Moreover, many from among the people of the land professed themselves Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon themâ€. The problem Mordechai and Esther had was how to figure out which converts were sincere in their conversion to Judaism and which were just becoming Jewish on the outside in order to save themselves, but inside still felt animosity towards the Jewish people. So Mordechai and Esther came up with a brilliant idea. They ordained a big party and invited all the Jews to eat food and drink lots of wine together in celebration of the great miracle of their salvation. Inevitably many Jews got drunk, and they started revealing their innermost feelings, for as the Rabbis teach us, “When wine comes in, secrets come outâ€. And so it happened that when one of the new converts got drunk, and in his drunken stupor he would still be saying “blessed is Mordechai†and “wicked is Hamanâ€, they knew that his conversion was sincere. But if, in his inebriated state, the convert was cursing Mordechai and blessing Haman, then Mordechai and Esther knew that he was one of their enemies who was just faking his conversion out of fear for the Jews, and they got rid of him. And ever since then, it has become a time-honored tradition among the Jewish people to drink a lot on Purim, just as Mordechai and Esther had ordained way back when -.and to reveal our innermost feelings of thanks to G-d for the ‘blessing’ of the righteous Mordechai and the ‘cursing’ of the wicked Haman.
HAPPY PURIM! … BURP!
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