This week’s Purim activities included chessed and an opportunity to visit Rabanim in their homes. Last week I gave a shiur on the minhag of drinking on Purim, and for the benefit of those readers who do not have a chance to examine the sources themselves, I would like to highlight the issues and the abuses of Purim. It is clear from all sources that getting “wasted” to the point where you are out of control, could create a chillul Hashem or even if, as a result of drinking, one would miss tefillah or birchat hamazon one is forbidden to consume alcohol at all.

An important factor in this minhag is that the only time that the halacha allows for drinking is during the seudah and it must be wine. There are those poskim who state that a person should drink until they cannot compute the gematriah of arur haman and baruch Mordechai (they are actually equal), therefore, most will not have to drink too much to reach that level. The Rambam and the Rama state that a person should drink wine at the meal more than they are accustomed to and fall asleep at the table. The Aruch HaShulchan and Chochmat Adam clearly emphasize that the custom of people drinking till they assume “the more a person drinks and the crazier they act the better” is actually a criminal offense and should be stopped.

All those who write about this topic stress that drinking should be used to help show one’s true inside emotions and feelings and, therefore, they state when the wine enters the true person comes out. We should only partake in this minhag if our inner beauty is indeed a beautiful treasure that we would like to share. But if the inside is not so beautiful it should remain tamed inside of you and should not shown to the general public.

I would like to end with the following conclusion: One who drinks more and one who drinks less (both are acceptable) as long as their actions are for the sake of Hashem and not as an excuse for alcohol abuse.

Shabbat shalom