Wine & Drinking on Purim | Rabbi Anthony Manning | February 25th 2026

Vet, it's good to see everybody here today. If I could ask everyone to take a seat. I'd like to uh thank our sponsors for the my sh today. They have a few names to read out. So the shir is sponsored. While the Wednesday morning behavid and limud Abraham Strauss and Morai ben Mosha and Raisel Benf Marcus parents of Judy and Marcus that's the whole morning and my sh here is sponsored for the academic year Ben and Amy and Bassan have also sponsored dedicated the shar in honor of their 10th aliyah versary which is very exciting. Uh so we wish them a continued uh kita tova and everything should be successful in every way and I'd like to also thank uh our sponsor that the sh has also sponsored leu nishmas jared binfeld the yield site of Howard Binel's son um which is the 10th of Adara coming up in a couple of days. Now we have a topic today which is I hopefully will be both enlightening and also a little bit entertaining. Uh we have a purim uh discussion and I hope to bring some new sources on this that you may not have heard before. Some of them you will be familiar with but we'll hopefully put them in a context and structure and bring some new ones that you may not have heard. So everybody knows that there is a mitzvah to feast and to drink on purim and it is based on the psukim that we will start with in number one. But what exactly the parameters of that mitzvah are is sometimes not always understood. So let's start with theim therefore. So those Jews living in the open onwalled cities they keep the 14th three things and of course no mention there of interestingly I noticed that the uh sorry was maybe it was the I didn't bring it on the sheet maybe was the totima could be the totima brings down that it doesn't mention Matus Levion because mention of the word Yonf should trigger off in everybody's minds the automatic need to give Maton Levion all you need to say is and people realize oh of course we have to help the poor to keep it because it's a interestingly so that's the all of the receive this message. So the 14th and the 15th just like we rested from our enemies on these two days and the month that was turned from mourning into rejoicing from from sadness to rejoicing from mourning to and now we have a new mitzvah repeat and then of course like I said before it doesn't say so it adds inim why the repeat of the words and then what's going on we said those twice now in different orders so the first thing that Gomorrah picks up on in McGill is uh perhaps a little surprisingly that the words don't mean that you have to eat on we'll get there in a minute that you do but look at number two says the gummor it means that you're not allowed to give eulogies has spade him on if somebody has a funeral on him and feasting means what in case you thought that was going to mean you have to you know rejoice with wine and make merry. No, it means you're not allowed to fast. Now already you'll think to yourself, well, well, purim is not prohibited in doing. So, do we pass like this um statement? In fact, Purim is a day on which you're allowed to do technical, but you're strongly encouraged not to go to work, not to do that will distract you, if you like, from the nature of the day. a little parallel to another day on which it's technically permitted to do the that you'd have on Shabbat, but you're encouraged to not work so that you don't forget the nature of the day. However, the Gmorra in this is why in order to get to the from the Gmorra, you always have to, you know, be concerned that there's a little statement somewhere in the middle of a completely unexpected place that is going to change the whole uh the whole nature of the debate. But everybody agrees when it when it's talking about and do we dedicate the feast days and to ourselves to to our families or do we dedicate them to God and it's a combination because everybody agrees that on purim there has to be not just but also says what does that mean that we should be happy Okay, we have to um the we have to feast on purim with food and with drink my time. Why do how do we know this? Because it says again a second time. So we have two statements. One of them is to tell us we're not allowed to fast. And one of them is to tell us that we not only don't fast, but we actually enhance the food and the drink of the day. And we'll see that the Rambam really picks up on that. And we'll see his position soon. Okay, we can drink. We should drink. Do we have to get drunk? Now, I'm sure that the audience here is a very moderate and uh and and focused audience. Um I don't know if everybody was always so uh in years gone by, but uh nevertheless, nevertheless, we will see that there are a number of different opinions. First of all, let's see the Gammorrah and let's see what we can do with the Gomorrah. Number four, the famous Gomorrah. I'm a ra says A person has to live a sum. Now that's already an interesting phrase. First of all is interesting in and of itself. It's a very unusual expression. It's not it doesn't say now okay you could say it's colloquial. It's in the you know it comes up only in one other place I could find in the Gmorra when it talks about going to greet your Rav on on yans. But maybe it's a little bit different to you stand in a state of obligation as opposed to specifically but I can't guarantee that. However, the word liver is highly unusual. There is a word in Hebrew for to get drunk and it's from now rashi he immediately jumps in and says okay that's what he means. you have to get drunk on wine. But it's not obvious that that's what the word means because bos li bosm doesn't normally mean drunk. We we'll see that there is a word in Aramaic for drunk. We'll see that afterwards. But bosom normally means uh a little bit sort of high in a we'll see what high means, not in a kind of induced drug sense, but a little sort of excited and pleasant and sweet, fragrant. uh bossom of course is is perfume. So it's not obvious that this word means drink. And also people quote this line without mentioning which we're going to mention soon that just 16 words before this is another use of the word liume which obviously informs this use which means something quite different from to get drunk. And the word is only used three times in shas in this context and the fact that they come together in migill we have to look at the other one. So so we'll put on hold what else might mean and we'll go with rashi for now. [clears throat] Okay, we'll have to unpack that until he doesn't know the difference between Muhammad and Barak. And here's the story. Rabbi Zera Rabba and Rabbi Zer. Now, Rabba is different from Rava. Ra lived the generation after Rabba. However, there are some gear that have at the beginning of this statement that we read, not Amar, but Amma Rabba, the same person about whom this story we're going to read happened. Okay? To whom this story happened. But even if it's rather ra is a generation later looking back on this story we'll have to see what it means says the story as follows Rabba and Rabizer had a purima together if so and they did this mitzvah they will live they became let's say drunk calm rabba then raba got up and he did we'll get we'll get to see what that might mean The next morning when they'd all calmed down boy he dav for him and he came back to life [clears throat] next year. So rabb says to reb let's do purim again is it's you know last year was was a blast. Okay, responded to him. You can't always guarantee that a miracle is going to happen. Okay, last year was last year. Let's not do puring together this year. Um uh and we have to work out what that means. What what what is that story telling us? How is that story >> how does it relate to the statement of Rob? >> Does it mean don't get drunk? Does it mean yes, get drunk? We'll see you in a minute. So, first of all, before you get too upset about day, I want to show you the marisha number five. This is very strange, says the mara. Are you going to explain it literally? He literally killed him. I don't think so. He said, what does it mean? is he he almost killed him because he made him drink wine and he kind of gave him the encouraged him encouraged him another one another one down another one another one to drink way too much until he got sick okay and he passed out and he was like looked as though he was dying and that's why he uses the Why doesn't he say he killed him or something like that? He says because it he he killed him in his throat cuz he was another one. Another one. Another one. The wine's going down his throat. That's the when it says that he prayed for him that he shouldn't die. He shouldn't die from the sickness. I mean he didn't bring him back to life. He ded that he should you know come around and and and he came around the next morning and he kind of nursed him back. We said we find them we find many times the the language of is it means >> why then does it use the term >> because he was so drunk. People don't come around from this kind of alcohol poisoning without a hospital visit. Okay. But he was Yeah. dead drunk. I like it. Yeah. That's a good interesting uh he was like past normal drunk. He was worried that he was not not going to make it. Okay. So, but either way it he didn't want to come back the next year for pur. So, what do we learn from that? So, we are going to see three groups of one group that says that the statement is literal. It means to get drunk. It means to get drunk and that's the Another group will say yes it means to get drunk and this story is telling us it's not the And the third group which I think is the most interesting is you've missed the whole point. It doesn't mean and it never meant to get drunk. It means something completely different which we'll see at the end. Please God, we have to make sure we leave enough time to do the sources at the end. Okay. So I might skip a few but we'll see how it goes. First of all, two radically different ways of reading the story. Look at number six and seven. The six is number six is the ran. The ran on McGill. Um both of these uh rishonim who interpret this story. He quotes the Rabenu Ephraim. Rabenu Ephraim was an early Russian lived in a student the riff. So an early rishian living in North Africa. And he quotes him and he says from this story that came and killed someone on or almost did this shows you that we're pushing away the statement of we don't pass like this and it's not right to do that. Meaning there was a suggestion and this story shows you we don't follow that. It's dangerous. Don't do it. Don't even try it. We we reject that as the hal comes along the eshk. >> Is it important the riff? >> I'LL BRING YOU THE RIFF in a minute. >> Yeah. The the riff brings it and the ram says no. Okay. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see. The riff brings the statement and the and the ram brings the riff's talid that disagree with this rebi. Correct. We'll see. There's a lot of disagreement on this issue. Um we see rebies who get drunk and talidim who don't and talidim who get drunk and the rebies say they shouldn't. And we'll see. It's very interesting. Number seven says the eshko I think this story is telling us something quite different from here you are from this story you have a proof that you have to get drunk why did eli have a because if not have a lema he should have said to him rabbi zeru could have turned around to him and said you know something let's have purim suda together but let's just not get drunk because the purim suda was lovely but the drinking was a disaster. The fact that that was not even an option. He couldn't say, "Let's do Suda without drinking. You learn from that." He that you have to drink. So, and he couldn't. So, it's interesting. You can read as a classic Talmudic way. You can read this story in both ways. You can either say the story proves how dangerous it is to get drunk or the story proves how necessary it is to get drunk. So he wasn't going to do it with with rubber because he's a bit too wild. Okay, he'll get drunk with someone else. And everyone has porum stories of uh one of my favorites is one of my rabbon in London. Um there was a big ruckus in the you know the neighborhood in gold is green. Everyone's drinking on purim and dancing around and a policeman came the road had been closed off by the police so that the Jews could do purim together in gold is green. The policeman came and said like what's going on here? And they said well the Jews have got a holiday. He goes what's it all about? goes, "I don't know. There's a rabbi. Go and ask the rabbi, number 42, and you'll see him." So the policeman goes down and everyone's in full poor and suda mode. And as he walks in, everyone's going, "Whoa, you're dressed as a policeman. That's amazing." And he and and he sits down and his little radio goes, "Where did you get that? That's amazing. That it's so authentic." Okay. So the policeman's like, you know, so every everyone has uh has their stories. Um I I've been to many puras of different types. We went once to Dal in London and he never drank. He said I am on duty 24/7 for Shilas. People come to me from all over the world for Shilas and I need to make sure that I'm not never drunk. So or even drink more than I would be able to not pass a shila because I need it and it's very interesting. But the the broom there didn't have that approach. So it's okay. Okay, let's go further. So let's have a look now. So there are um a number of post that say look it says to get drunk get drunk you have to get drunk this is the riff he just brings the statement doesn't elaborate the rash does the same so once the riff and the rash have said the same thing then you can expect the is going to go that way because remember he pascans like the majority we had a sh on this a few weeks ago of the ramb the riff the rambom and the rash the rambom doesn't quite say this but the riff and the rash do and we'll see the says the same the son of the number nud you have to make more of your and he says it in explicit terms you have to get drunk now the who also understands this literally says I don't understand getting drunk is not usually something we encourage The in Torah number 10, if you want to ask, how could the rabbis have said to get drunk? We don't we don't see that getting drunk has a good track record. It's a big it's a big problem in the Noah. This is what happens to people who get drunk. They end up, you know, rolling in the street. The lot and lot ends up getting drunk and look what happens there. And he says, "So how can this be?" So I want to suggest because every that happened on Purim involved people getting drunk and therefore this is the presuming of Purim at the beginning of the story got upset with because he was drunk and he asked her to come out. Esther and then later Esther came in place of and there was a a feast to celebrate her coming. Everything they did they did over over drink and got drunk. So sorry. So with and his downfall it was all through drink. Everything happened through drink. It reminds me when I used to be a lawyer in London, it seemed pretty much the same kind of uh approach to life that every I mean this was the 1990s. I think things might have sobered up since then, but uh you know it seems that every single client meeting the the main object was to the clients just had to be happy that they get drunk. I even went to a memorial nebak for one of my non-Jewish colleagues at the time that died from basically his liver packed in because for the last 35 years nebak he'd been drinking. I mean the the guy had more money than he knew what to do with but ne and the irony which seems to be lost on everybody else there is that every 5 minutes at this memorial somebody picked up a drink and said let's toast uh good old David uh who you know we remember him so well. And I'm thinking, does anyone else here see the irony of what's going on here? And and nobody nobody did. It was it was very strange. So he says the whole thing was drinkim. That's why they told us we have to get drunk and purim because the n came through drinking wine. Now you see here, by the way, wine, it's all focused on wine. And many explain that if you're not drinking wine, you're not doing this persona. If you're drinking vodka or or whiskey or or pinina coladas or whatever you like, this is not happening because the is on wine. We'll see. There are others that disagree. Okay. So that's why he says that's why they said unusually to get drunk. And the seems to say the same thing etc. In number 11, the Bach the Bach. Now, the Bach says, "Okay, the says this, but I have a slightly different kind of touch, a little bit of a different understanding." So, look at what he says. The Bak is coming shortly after the NRA. It seems to my in my humble opinion you the said this, the Torah said this and he's commenting on the Torah. The Torah said explicitly it's you just you have no clue which is close to now that's very shikot is where you've completely lost it you end up in the situation god forbid the lot did okay But not quite there, but not far off there. You shouldn't be so surprised. How could the the allow someone to get drunk in this way? Brings the party there. He says, "But I think it's more appropriate. I respectfully disagree with the Torah on this." Let's go with the more sober. He says, from that story. We push this away. It's not good to do that. And you have a lot of other people who bring this more sober approach that you should not be getting drunk or certainly not that drunk. And that's why um he put it after the story came after that statement is not like so he in he concludes in the end that you don't have to get so drunk that you don't know the difference between that we've pushed away. you do have to drink more than normal you're married with a drink and you're drunk or or even like not just but shik is okay he says and you couldn't get up and speak before the king meaning that's it with davening you because that's the that's the the level that you can't don anymore so there's no way you could do anything sensible like that as long as you've just got some level of das that's enough. Okay, [snorts] so it's interesting. He says he he sets up a kind of typology here. There's lot which is never allowed. That's completely out of it. There's abdo which is a little bit less than that and he doesn't like that either in the end. And he says shik that you don't have any ability to speak for a king but you still have a das and he says to go with that but he's still understanding that you have some obligation to get drunk. the brings about his father. Number 13, I heard from my father when he was a young man. He used to do this. He used to do this mitzvah. Okay. Posh because you can't you can't take things out of the pashas. It says that it says to get drunk. So you have to get drunk. Okay. When the kahami was a bit older maybe he was a bit more sober but in his youth he used to do this kapash and the prehadesh says very similarly. The prehardes says in number 14 look here in number 14. Yes. He says there's that statement of all the killjoys. I'm adding that in myself like know that he doesn't mean from the story that we pushed aside and they say you shouldn't get drunk. This is just not correct. Don't bring me this that the story is is pushing it away that ina am I is he asked the question of the of the uh and he says if that's the case why would rather not do without the drink he should have said to him why did he have to say to him rather you you can't always guarantee an since he saw that they got so drunk that they he killed him or nearly killed him. They should have had just without all the all the excess without drinking without drinking more. It's just a little bit more than normal. They couldn't do that. And we see from this story, not that you shouldn't drink, but that you should drink. that we treat the statement of as it sounds but he says now having said that that's the now he says but these days the kids these days he says they just don't behave properly says so nowadays so he says yes in theory that is the you're meant to get drunk but Not anymore. Not anymore. Now we have to go with the other which I hold is wrong. But it's better now because people just don't behave properly. Little whatever you'd normally drink on PES. Drink a bit more than that. >> By the way, I I never had when I I used to have the gap year students for for pur. Now I'm the head of mida. So the women are in their 20ies, it's a little bit more of a grown-up environment. But when the kitty so I always pour in I was always very kind of kept my eye out make sure nobody's drinking too much I don't want be maybe drinking not drinking at all the one time I never thought to be conscious about this was pes night okay and we once had a student who was very mahmir about arocosis and and uh which we didn't expect to happen and by denu she was mama standing on a chair singing d okay so it it just goes to show you that even on yon you have to be uh on the ball. Uh and uh and the and and I I must tell you that most of the the seminaries now that they basically the rules they give is that no one's allowed to have any drink on on Purim. No one gives anyone any drink. The yeshivas had that approach. Okay? Because the yeshiva guys clearly do not uh do not follow that approach and neither do their basically take the view that no one's going to listen to them which is true and therefore they say what's the point of saying things that no one's listens to because you keeps you. >> Yeah. Well, I don't think that I think it's more if we say things and people don't listen, then we just become the people who say things and people don't listen, which maybe you could say that's already the case. People listen when they want to and they don't when they don't want to. But uh but he says these days we shouldn't be doing it. The Benghai brings you an interesting uh source here. Number 15. You should be drinking 15 cups of wine. Communion base oates yud and h because there's twice twice the two letters yud and beside okay okay with the y. And now he says to one second one sec. He says to you but you can decide how big the cups are. So, if you know that you're uh you're not going to be able to take 15 glasses, so bring a couple of little shot glasses and have 15 of those of wine and if you can do more, you can do more. But you should do everything etc. By the way, in the Benish, this is on his he doesn't say anything about drinking wine. And the the sparard are also not so into drinking wine. And they say he obviously realized that lisa practically for people they shouldn't be drinking but cababalistically they can drink they should drink 15 glasses of wine but you can have little glasses if you want. Okay. They are the postkim or a a representative sample of the postkim that say no it's capash day. Even if they're not so happy about doing it they say that's the others say no no no that was never the intention of this uh line of the garra. It didn't mean you had to drink that much. It means something a little bit different. Number 16 says the Rambam. What is what should you be doing on Sudasurua? The first thing he says is have a nice meal. The Rambam was not into excess of anything, drinking, even music, poetry. He was very kind of sober individual in the in every sense. He said you should be eating nice food. As much as you can afford, not more. You should be preparing a nice meal. Now, there are those that want to make a deal. He doesn't say, which everybody the maybe sounds a little bit less than. You could argue that point either way. It's not it's not clear. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's Yeah. Okay. Already in the Porum Terra. Good actually. But now he says he should get drunk but you should fall asleep. So the Ram already brings in this idea that the real thing is the real is is being asleep because being asleep somehow can uh by not being troubled by all of the problems of this world that stop us from seeing things clearly. The sleep can sometimes give more clarity and this we'll see as we get towards the ravkook at the end you get this the paradox that through not knowing you know more you know better you uh it's like with through not revealing you reveal more it's a it's that's a very classic cabalistic the rabbit's not a cabalist I'm not saying he is but the idea of falling asleep be is picked up on by many of the as ah that's what we're really trying to do that we're trying to just fall asleep although it doesn't sound it does sound from Rambam that you're falling falling asleep from the drink and not just going to sleep. We'll see at the end many raonim today they have a drink of wine and then they go to bed and they sleep not because of the wine but because they say I should sleep on purim because that's the mitzvah of okay you could do that we'll see soon Rav willig says that's what he likes to do on purim we'll get to him soon fine the on the raam says ah it says when it says in it doesn't see quotes the ra it doesn't mean your doesn't mean it's an obligation means it's a mitzvah it's Not it's not something you have to do. It's something which you can do but don't think that it's actually an obligation. And then you come in with all of the other perim of what this might mean. Look at the Abu diary number 18. It's about gamatrius. If you can't add up the letters of and which add up to the same gamatria then already. Okay. Some people can't do that when they're stone cold sober, honestly. But um the the it's interesting. I think the the mukbalin I'm not sure the Abu Darren was uh was in that crowd, but maybe he was. I don't know so much about him. They don't add up the words of gumatrias or the letters. >> They see the the number in the word. It's very clear. Like we have a gumatrius. Someone gives and we're thinking like 1 + 90 + 50. I don't think that's what they did. I think when they saw words they they look almost like colors that the the gumatria of the word actually what jumped out at them is what they were reading because every now and then you see this thing you see this like whole sentence is the gumatria which is the same as this like who thought to sit and work that out. I think that they managed to look at things differently. It was almost like music. You know, every word had a different uh harmony and a different I I just think it's a different way of looking at things which is why we don't get gumatri. Gumatri feels a bit silly. You adding up this and adding up this. I think they saw it almost as a as a as a musical thing. There was a um a story uh Oliver Saxs who wrote uh the man who thought his wife was a hat >> has a story in that book about two uh men who were on the spectrum in all sorts of ways and could not do all sorts of things that regular people do but they used to speak to each other twins I think they were brothers they used to speak to each other in numbers they used to say numbers numbers back numbers numbers and he realized that every number that they threw out at each other was a prime number. >> Yeah. >> They communicated each other to each other in prime numbers which was fascinating. And and for them when they said this prime number they said like you know 613 I just picked that out of you know 613. Oh never thought of that. It's like this whole you know each prime number has its own like uh flavor almost which is just a way that we don't see things. Pythagoras Pythagoras was a mystic. There's a mystical, you know, study of Pythagoreanism, if I'm saying the word right, which we again, we think of Pythagoras as something we learned in second grade where the sum of the the the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the but no Pythagoras is a mystical system of thought. Anyway, we're getting we're getting beyond ourselves here. >> Such a thing. >> What's that? >> The same are the same. You worked it out obviously. Uh that's your your yster, the mitzvah. Well, maybe not. You should be able to not work it out. Okay, fine. Um have a look in number 19 says the Abu Dar alternatively he brings the balinos he says it seems to me there was a song and you there was a verse and at the end of each verse you had to scream back or and when people started getting mixed up then which some people would on the first verse they then knew okay so that's what it is okay fine you need a certain clarity and you make a mistake and that's when you get to it and brings down that there was a long that people used to say he quotes that this is and if you couldn't remember all of the words for this long ps then that was uh the include barakai Auroreshim etc etc. So it was it was actually quite a feat and you reached the level of already much much earlier than getting drunk. It's the minute you can't do all of these uh uh complicated thinking tasks on you're already and the brings that down in giml he talks about the song that people could say all the words I'll just bring out in number 21. What's better for us? Meaning we're almost overwhelmed with Is it the downfall of our enemies? Or is it our own good fortune? Is it the defeat of uh of the people we fight? Or is it the fact that we live in Israel and we have meaning? It's it's it's almost a sense of being overwhelmed with love for Hashem that you don't know what to thank Hashem for most. Okay? So they are that say yes drink but drink less. And then you have the say no drinking or very little drinking. Have a look in the until you feel you lack nothing in the world. We are definitely not obligated to get drunk and to debase ourselves through that you call. We're not obligated in nonsense that makes people spout nonsense of joy. Okay? that we reach. We're meant to reach that stage that we're so thankful, but we're not meant to get drunk. Drunk. Drink is is just a dangerous thing. Number 23 says, "You must not get drunk." Getting being drunk is absolutely prohibited. There is no worse auguras. Look what it causes in society. It causes people to behave like behemoths and they're all they have immorality and people kill each other. The amount of violent crime I grew up in England. I don't know what it's like in other places between usually men because they're drunk so much that they have in places where people just have drink drink cultures. Barash Israel we have a lot of things we need to fix but we don't and we have to be careful that we don't develop a culture where people drink to that degree that they're constantly you know sinking into this behavior and so many other things just have a little bit more than normal just a little bit it's not that you have to be drunk it's you have to lose any kind of inhibitions that you have to be other people yeah that when people comes to the or you don't feel oh it's a bit awkward. You just you have this sense of warmth that you want to help people and greet people. That's the key. That's the you console them and you speak to their hearts. That's the full we feel we feel often very uh repressed. Well, I'm English, so I can't speak for everybody else, but I I we we barely we barely allow ourselves to get excited about our own family or anything, but but people feel awkward a lot. So, the wine should just enable people to feel this sense of that we're all brothers, we're all sisters, we're all uh we're all the same family. Um and that's a very nice idea, he said, but it's not, God forbid, it's not getting drunk. The BIF, which I'm not going to read you. Now the said just the straight line the says no no no no actually I go with all of the Morim that say you shouldn't get drunk at all and and the Morim ask on that say well well how does how do you read that the beta is meant to be the detailed version and the is meant to be the summary and they say two quite different things so you see from here a that you have to read them together you can't just read the and think you've done the job because the bet yourself informs the a lot And B, that's another reason why people didn't like the because they felt look it gives you half the story or a very very very summarized version and you really have to be reading something like the uh the beta say. So what does say number 25 and we bring the as well says the remot there brings in for the don't get so drunk drink a little bit more and go to sleep because you went to sleep he brings from the ram you should go to So long as as long as you are doing it is uh it is fine. He said but you my advice is drink a little bit and go to sleep. And we'll see many of the Ashkanazi hosting were very magpid on that. We'll see in a minute who they were. They just had a little bit and they went to sleep. Interestingly there is a statements in uh in number 26. There are three things which aim is allowed to be a little bit less than truthful on the meaning somebody says I hear you're a big you've learned all of and let's say he has he's allowed to say no no not so not really that he's allowed to lie on we'll see what that is in a minute is even if somebody down the road is an unbelievable host Then at a time shouldn't be too quick to say that to people because people will bombard them with invitations. Being sensitive to other people's needs and limitations. What's pura? Says the marsh. What is pura? So on level it means purvu things which are to do with uh you know private issues which is nobody else's business. But he says maybe not. Maybe this is means not. So rabbis are allowed to act the in a way which is not truthful and say that they don't know the difference between meaning you're allowed to pretend to be drunk. even though it's misleading but you're not allowed to be drunk. You're allowed to pretend to be drunk which is very interesting that is also bringing a uh a note of caution. The oracle and I'll leave you to read in your own time. I want to make sure we have time for the last few sources. He brings the the different mfort that we've seen. He's very unhappy with too much drinking. Um and uh even though he says it sounds from some of these sources and that's what you have to do. Just read the bottom two lines of number 28. In practice, you should be careful not to get drunk and you certainly shouldn't be drinking liquor. >> Whiskey, vodka, schnaps. He says you shouldn't be drinking that so because this is what really gets people to behave badly. Meaning actually most people by drinking wine they actually taka just kind of fall asleep dozy from the wine before they get into any serious problems. But when you you're downing you know shots of vodka and whiskey and whiskey and vodka and all that kind of stuff says that that you shouldn't be doing. Drink a little bit of wine go to sleep a little bit and that's and you're good to go. You should know by the way that drank vodka and porum. So he didn't pass it like okay but he was uh he was no doubt able to do it in a way which is uh which was appropriate but he did get drunk on Purim no question the on the top of page six says just make sure you don't uh uh prevent yourself from doing any mitzvah maybe you'll be too drunk to dare too drunk to bench etc. It says once you once you can't do a mitzvah um and that's interesting because the the level of drink but you can't damage if you you're not able to be play a melo. So he says you have to be careful not to cross that line. I brought you in the in the footnotes which is actually quite interesting different statements from different modern postkim um the the idea that you have a little drink and then you go to sleep. This was the reported practice of many of the mafor many of the poem of the 20th century rasein the stipler shalom zam albbach that's what they did ra elashiv would would just sleep in the middle of the day and then have a little bit of wine for suda he said I don't even need to sleep from the wine which is interesting I just need to sleep let me read what will says we would do well it's in the footnote in number 25 we would do well to follow the advice of the I personally drink a sizable cup of wine time together with breakfast on Purim morning. [laughter] Fine. Okay. And then I go to sleep immediately. This fulfills the Misha element of drinking wine and Purim. Then to fulfill the silk aspect, we have a little more wine than usual at the Suda later in the day. And I believe this is the preferred way to fulfill the mitzvah. Very very kind of man like you know have breakfast, drink a glass of wine, go to sleep, get up, etc. >> Yeah. in your cornflakes this whatever I'm I'm not I'm not going to argue with you ra similarly wine at the loyada does not really uh constitutes an independent mitzvah but merely a detail within suda purim okay many people get stone drunk on purim but not as part of the suda which says not a mitzvah many others get drunk on the night of purim when most assume that there is no mitzvah of suda at all why you getting drunk at night according to revelation these practices are and proper. And then he says getting drunk on Purim outside the context of the Suda would be the same as getting drunk on July 4th. Very strong language etc. Um therefore he also says uh you should not be uh doing what people do. I brought you at the bottom of that footnote raise. Rav Osherise he says here men need to drink. Women are not required to drink. Children definitely should be prohibited to drink. Interesting. And I think children should be up until the age of about 25 actually. >> [laughter] >> But but I don't think I'm going to get anywhere with that. Listen, they do say in psychology emerging adulthood is certainly with men until 30. So until 30 you have no gu I see this in shim all the time until 30 there's no guarantee that they won't behave like a teenager. Okay. So maybe that should be true for the mitzvah drinking wine as well. And then he says, I must say a few words about yadas yada says raise because I was personally never drunk in my life. Okay. And he is as well. Almost all the rashon clearly indicate that this should not be taken literally. Why did the ronin write such far-fetched? You know you the gamatria and the this. What's it all about? When the gammor writes why would we say he's to become drowsy and then go to sleep and when you sleep you don't know. It's all like fetched. It's only because the ronin and the great post king totally reject drunkenness and that's why they went to extremes. It was posh to them. If you become drunk, how are you going to serve? How are you going to thank? How will you be happy on the majority of person say a person should not be totally drunk? It is not acceptable in okay so um you know I say this every year and I'm not sure anyone listens but uh that seems to be the position of most posting. Well, let's have a look in the last 12 or so minutes at uh at an alternative focus. Bottom of page six. Like I said to you before, um there there is a word in Aramaic for drunk in the pukin that deal with people being drunk. I brought you number 30 which is um which is uh which is Noah being drunk. It uses the the uh the Aramaic word vra. Rav ra is the word for drunk. I brought you number 31. and the brothers and Yseph drank and he says okay they got drunk with him he uses the word it's that's the word for to to be drunk in Aramaic is not okay and the it's not it's something quite different so what does it mean if it doesn't mean necessarily to get drunk and again there is a perfectly good word in Aramaic for getting drunk and it is not liver sum. So have a look at the context of the mgilla number 33 number page 733. This is the gammorra in mgilla that we've been quoting again and again and again and again today. But look at the context says I'm abar when I left the master's house he's talking about leaving the house here of rabba when he left rabba's house which is interesting because rabba is the one that went to puram suda with rabies. said when we left Rabba's house generally have a savana we were so stuffed we were so full we were so full of all this wonderful food that that either raba or Mrs. rubber um uh made for dinner. In fact, he says, "But but it was completely full." But when we went to the next house, they were kind of uh you know, hopping around different houses. I'm not sure this was necess. We went to the next house. They brought me 60 plates, the shinada of 60 different kinds of food, the in. And I had 60 portions. Meaning I thought I was full from all the wonderful food that I had in the last place. But when I got to the next place, I I was realized I was completely, you know, ready to eat even more. Basic. And the last dish they brought out. It was called some kind of pot roast, maybe a sweet, something with honey in it, like a dessert. And and I I polished it off so much I wanted to chew the plates afterwards. He licked the plate clean. What do I get from this? Says Abaya. That I thought I was full and then I went to the next house and wa and I ate like a like a king. Aba says that's what people say. Poor people are hungry and they don't know how hungry they really are. But then he says maybe that's not the lesson here. Alternatively, meaning that you've always got room for something nice, for a bit of dessert, there's always room for dessert. Yeah. No matter how full you are. Oh, I I couldn't eat another thing. And they bring out that chocolate mousse. >> Oh, maybe [laughter] maybe just a little bit. Okay. Okay, you learn from this that there's always room for dessert no matter how full you are. And that's the word it means something which is extra special, extra fun, extra extra delicious, extra delicious. And then it says they used to switch their sudas with each other. Okay, that's nice that they should give each other food for and then it says So the word in this we've been discussing comes just a few words after the same expression meaning dessert something special something exciting something sweet something that you can't resist that's what it means and therefore you can't use the put these two the tweet these two statements and separate them stresses it doesn't say anywhere to get drunk. Look in number 34. He brings from which is also we'll see the um the uh also look in number 34. The rabbis were very careful in their holy language and the words they used. They said and they did not say they never said that. when the writes in his day he writes absolutely clearly do not get drunken not it means something different this is the and it means that you have to be mit what could that mean number 36 says That's very strange. How amazingly important is Purim in the spiritual world? So many important spiritual ideas. We've all heard that idea. It's like it's like the day we receive the Torah. We talked about that last week. When they received the Torah willingly for a That's how we destroy our enemies. This needs a lot of thought. What on earth can we be doing on Purim that's that that marks the elevated nature of the day? How do we then square this with the obligation of or and and therefore he advised people in practice his what does it say in the you don't get have the lift from wine you have the lift from purim you have to get high on purim not high on purim but from purim from The purim you have the purim is giving you the lift not the drink not the not the the stimulation from outside you get drunk from the purim itself from the ideas of purim from the excitement of purim it's not it's not from wine this one day a year that we can reach this level you got to get drunk on on that somehow on the on the atmosphere on the ideas on the on what you can uh what you can achieve on Purim and the Yakos brings the same idea in the Arizal he never said that you should get drunk he says Basin means to have this exciting lift from Purim and I want to end with Rafuk because Rafk is is incredible and it's very very applicable to our days and in the last five minutes I want to read with you this Ravk um which I think will leave us on a on a on a high even before Puru okay this eternal statement, this summons that Esther says, "Go gather the Jews together." It has to it has to elevate us, breathe life into us again and again. Lift us from our low state, from our dust, from our own state of depression. And if you say that Ham was lying when he said, what does that mean? [laughter] There is one people, but they're scattered and they're and they're and they're and they're different from each other. What does it mean? Are they or are they? Are they are they are they one people or are they how can they both go together? If you say that that's a lie, you're making a mistake. Yes, the Jewish people are scattered and divided [laughter] and they're one people. Nevertheless, this one people that is scattered and divided is one people. You might turn around and say, can these two paradoxical things live together? On the one hand, they're one people and they're scattered and divided on the other hand. Don't be surprised by that because there are paradoxes in the world. There are wonders in the world. Meaning a paradox is very important to understand as a cabalist also embraces a paradox. Normally when you have A and B and they differ from each other. So you have to either go like A or go like B or find some way to harmonize them. A paradox doesn't say that. It says A is true and the opposite is B and B is true and they remain true and they feed each other. Somehow A enables B to succeed and B enables A to succeed even though they seem to be saying the opposite of each other and you sustain that paradox that's that's very much in it goes back and forth and back and forth and this is what he means. Okay, sorry. The hams of every generation and they strike us with their venomous hatred, especially in this in this time, this transitional time. He's talking about now we've come to Israel, but we don't yet have we're on a trai on a trajectory towards, but we're still in those enemies, those hums that want to kill us. They take the weak side of us because that's the one that's wellnown. You open the the newspapers, you open the Jerusalem Post, you never see any good news. I mean, I'm not criticizing the Jerusalem Post, okay? But I'm saying you open the newspapers, it's all this is terrible and that's terrible and this is terrible and that's terrible. It can make you want to just like, you know, go crazy. You read the news. He says, "Yes, the and you know something, our enemies also read the same news. the talk to say that we're divided and we and we saw kamas did what they did when they did it because they looked at what happened in the summer before. They said explicitly they think these people are so divided they'll never unite. Yes, that's the weak side of us. But through these other people, through these enemies that come at us when they think we're divided, we we come to understand. We have a hidden united soul, a mighty national soul, and we've forgotten it. We've forgotten our united soul. And our enemies remind us of that. for he this is full of strength his soul. This has the power to pick us up to revive us to to the to the strength even more than we ever were. And this strength will will fight this will fight all the all those people who want to kill us who who who just want to pray on the weak on people who can't defend themselves. People who are unable to fight back. That's who they want to kill. This could have been written this year. Could have been written this year. And the hidden Judaism which often we forget ourselves that we have this is the the soul of the people and this soul of the Jewish people. We carry the burden of the world and the light of the world in us. Meaning the whole world is obsessed with us. The whole world is interested in our struggle in different directions. This will make known to us in these days that soul the will be this will be known to us and the place that was hidden this hidden place in the nation's soul will be known will bring to us the will be what does that mean through not knowing the difference between we will have a an elevated understanding. We'll find the hidden Jew inside us and brother will become known to brother. I'll read this in Hebrew because Rabbi Goldstein is here and I'm already over time. I apologize. It will rebuild our land. Then he ends on a high. He says it's very very exciting at the end and and uh and it could have been written just this week. I wish you all a pur um and our enemies should take notes and uh understand where they where they stand.