To Drink or Not to Drink
Purim and Shemini:
The joyous Festival of Purim occurs, in some years in the week that we read the parsha of Shemini.
(Leap Years, in which an additional month of Adar is inserted into the calendar, occur 7 times within every 19 year cycle. Hence, in these years Purim will occur several weeks later than in normal years.)
Shaloh (seventeenth century authority on Talmud and Kabbalah) stresses the connection between a weekly parsha and the holiday with which it intersects, even when, on the surface, it seems that they have nothing in common. What connections can we find between Shemini and Purim?
Perpetual Partying
One obvious connection is the reference to a Kohain not drinking wine before entering into the Holy Temple to perform the service there. Aaron’s sons, we are told by our Sages, perished on the day the Mishkan (the portable Sanctuary in the desert) was dedicated precisely because they did not anticipate that command and entered these holy precincts in an intoxicated state.
Purim, too, is all about drinking. It begins— as recounted in the Megillah, the Book of Esther—with the detailed description of the Persian monarch’s orgiastic party that lasted for 180 days! And this was then followed by another really wild party that lasted for another seven days at which time the King Achashveriosh, lost his head, figuratively speaking, and his queen, Vashti, lost her head, quite literally.
For the Jews these parties were also tragic. Our Sages reveal to us that Jewish participation at this party was the reason G-d threatened them with annihilation.
According to the Talmud this threat was due to the fact that the Jewish people “enjoyed the party of that evil man” (King Achashveirosh).
According to some interpretations that party was thrown by the King to celebrate what he thought was the total dashing of the Jewish people’s hopes that were based on Biblical prophecies that the Holy Temple would be rebuilt.
The Talmud explains that Achashveirosh miscalculated the end of the seventy years that was prophesied as the length of time it would take for the Temple to be rebuilt after the destruction of the first Temple. When the seventy years passed—according to his miscalculation—and the Temple was still not rebuilt, Achashveirosh was convinced that these prophecies would not materialize, and thus he celebrated.
That celebration was therefore, essentially, a celebration of the defeat of the Jewish nation and their hopes for the restoration of their most cherished institution, the Beit Hamikdash. For Jews to join in this celebration was so egregiously insensitive and sacrilegious that G-d sought to jolt them out of their, figuratively speaking, unken stupor, reflected in, and exemplified by, their physical state of intoxication which occurred at that infamous party.
On Purim, in accordance with Talmudic fiat, we therefore have the obligation to drink more than usual. By engaging in drinking and still remaining faithful to our Jewish identities and hopes for the rebuilding of the Temple we correct the negative consequences of the drinking that precipitated the threat of Haman in those days.
Until You No Longer Know the Difference Between Cursed is Haman and Blessed is Mordechai The Talmud makes an incredible statement with respect to the obligation to drink on Purim:
“One is obligated to become intoxicated on Purim until one no longer knows the difference between cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordechai!”
There are literally hundreds of interpretations of this cryptic statement, all of which insist that it cannot be taken literally.
Based on the foregoing analysis we might suggest a new interpretation:
The Book of Esther relates that the feast hosted by the King was in accordance to the will of “ish v’ish,” which means to comply with each man’s will. The Talmud states that the expression ish v’ish, which when translated literally means “man and man,” refers to two of the people who were placed in charge of this feast: Mordechai and Haman.
Now we all know that Haman’s intentions and involvement in supervising this feast were not favorable to the spirit of the Jewish people. He certainly did not intend for them to come out of the feast inspired to go out and build the Holy Temple, and for that we certainly should not hesitate to repudiate Haman in the harshest of terms: “Cursed is Haman”.
However, we must try to understand Mordechai’s role at that feast. He certainly could not have wanted the Jewish people to participate in this blasphemous orgy of a banquet.
But Mordechai was still in Galus/exile. Even after the miracle of Purim, Mordechai was bound by Persian authority and so still could not build the Holy Temple as long as—in the words of the Talmud—“We are still subjects of Achashveirosh.” So Mordechai had to limit his influence to that of one who was put in charge of the party in order to minimize the damage to the Jewish spirit (no pun intended). And for that he should certainly be blessed.
However, both Mordechai (unwillingly) and Haman (more than happy to oblige) were involved in this party that had at its goal the continued subjugation of the Jews to a Persian monarch in a world without complete Redemption as exemplified by the lack of progress in the building of the Beit Hamikdash.
So on Purim, we must rectify the negative aspect of the drinking party that celebrated Galus. And to that end it does not suffice to rejoice through drinking in a way that reviles Haman because he wanted to denigrate the Jews and, on the other hand, to extol the virtue of Mordechai because he tried to salvage some of their spirituality. That would not be a complete reversal of the harm done to the Jewish people at that party.
In order to rectify that party we must also recognize that even Mordechai’s role at that time (though, of course, due to no fault of his own) fell short of the mark. Because even after the miracle of Purim, let alone at the time of the feast that he supervised, there was no Beis Hamikdash; the Jewish people still remained in Galus.
Hence on Purim we no longer are satisfied with cursing and repudiating Haman and blessing Mordechai for salvaging and preserving some portion of our Jewish sprit and dignity. We want much more than that; we want Purim to get rid of the Galut entirely—with the imminent coming of Moshiach and the building of the Third and final Beit Hamikdash, that is, a complete and total Redemption.
Amalek and Kosher Food
Another connection between the parsha of Shemini and Purim is the subject of Kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws, specifically which animals we may consume and which are forbidden to us.
According to one Midrashic opinion, the banquet that Achashveirosh threw for the citizens—including the Jews— of Shushan was not entirely kosher. And it was that transgression of partaking of non-kosher food and wine that precipitated the heavenly decree that would threaten these Jews with annihilation.
What is the conceptual basis for the connection between Kashrut and the events surrounding Purim?
One way of explaining the connection pertains to the integrity of the Jewish people as a people that does not shed its identity. While Judaism includes many signs that identify us as Jews such as the Mezuzah on our doorposts, the Tefillin we wear on our heads and arms, the Shabbos and Jewish holidays, etc. there is always the threat that we may still assimilate into foreign cultures that will adulterate or even negate our Judaism.
What Mitzvah has the capacity to prevent us from such acculturation? It is Kashrut which counters that threat because it compels us to dine together with those who share the same dietary restrictions and whose way of life is similar. The greatest bulwark against assimilation is the observance of these laws of Kashrut. Likewise on a spiritual level, the eating of kosher food generates the requisite spiritual energies that line our souls and bodies with the resistance to the infiltration of attitudes and beliefs that are anathema to Judaism.
Historically, when Jews lose their commitment to Kashrut and begin the process of assimilation into non-Jewish society, many ultimately choose to return to the Jewish fold as a result of their encounter with anti-Semitism. When they discover the degree to which they were rejected by those very people they sought to join, and when they realize how these people even seek their destruction as we’ve seen in Germany during the era of the Holocaust, the Jews then return to their own people and their own religious life.
Thus, there are two diametrically opposite ways that the Jewish people have historically countered the forces of assimilation:
The first is through their observance of the Torah in general and Kashrut in particular. The second is through the diabolically evil forces of the very nations into whose culture they wished to enter.
We can now understand a most cryptic statement of our Talmudic Sages:
“The most righteous of the animal slaughterers is the partner of Amalek!”
Amalek is identified in the Torah as representing the most wicked of nations and the arch enemy of the Jewish people. How can anyone think there is even the remotest connection between any notion of a Jewish profession, let alone one who provides us with both kosher food and Amalek?
My grandfather, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Halevi Grossman of blessed memory, provides an ingenious explanation of such a connection in his work Darkei Yaakov:
Both Amalek and the providers of kosher food have become strange bedfellows because they share one thing in common, albeit for opposite reasons. Both serve the interests of Jewish unity and fidelity to their traditions. Kahsrus, as we have explained, is the strongest fortification against the intrusion of alien ideas into the Jewish community and to the Jew remaining within the Jewish fold.
And, paradoxically, Amalek, too, in his own diabolical way shocks us into realizing the necessity of our remaining Jewish. The threat from the Hamans of the world serves to jolt us out of our reverie and delusion that we are welcome in other societies and that we can graze in foreign pastures. Thus, ironically, the providers of kosher food (“The most righteous of animal slaughterers”) and Amalek are indeed partners!
“Until You No Longer Know the Difference Between Cursed is Haman and Blessed is Mordechai”—Revisited We can now find a second novel interpretation of the enigmatic passage in the Talmud that people should drink on Purim until they no longer know the difference between cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordechai.
However, in light of the above we might suggest the following explanation:
Haman, the descendant of Amalek, is the most reviled figure in all of Biblical literature. And Mordechai, the hero of Purim, is obviously one of its most beloved figures. Yet when Purim comes we can realize that Haman was actually, in a most bizarre way, Mordechai’s partner in bringing the Jewish people to their senses. Mordechai did it by inspiring them to be faithful to the Torah, particularly the laws of Kashrus. And Haman accomplished the same—and perhaps even more—when he unleashed his diabolical plan to annihilate them.
So on Purim we no longer are to know the difference between these two opposite personalities. Both became partners in the Divine drama that brought the Jews back to their roots.
There is also a flip side to this lack of distinction between cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordechai. For so much of our existence and especially in the last century— and continuing today through the likes of the contemporary Persian Haman and others— we have had our fill of Amalek and his attempts at destroying us. We have had ample opportunity to return to our own people and Torah as a result of these Hamanlike threats. Historically, many will argue, anti-Semitism (“Cursed is Haman”) did as much—if not more—to unite the Jewish people as did the positive inspiration we derived from the “Blessed Mordechais” of the world.
However, now we are situated on the very threshold of Redemption. And, as foretold by our Prophets and Sages, we are therefore on the verge of eliminating the Hamans as well. It therefore behooves us to reverse the equation in favor of accentuating “Blessed is Mordechai.” Previously, we would get our jolt of inspiration from the Hamans and would equate it with the inspiration we used to get from Mordechai. Now we are to shift gears and give preference to the inspiration we get from the Mordechais and equate that with the shock value of the Hamans.
In simple terms this means that no longer should we have to resort to negative stimuli to restore our Jewish consciousness. Instead let us unite as Jews through the positive influences and under the banner of the Rebbe, the Mordechai of our generation, and his campaign to strengthen our observance of Kashrut, one of the main themes of this week’s parsha.
From the book Light from the Future: Purim by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
