You Could Have Your Wine and Drink It Too
The distinction between known as Kabbalah and Chassidus is that Chassidus mines and elicits the positive in ourselves and in others. Chassidus is the part of Torah that digs into the deepest recesses of our soul, where no negativity can exist. Chassidus relates to the Yechidah, the essence that is intimately tied up with G-d’s essence.
The Paradox
Judaism’s paradoxical view of wine is highlighted in this week’s parsha. The Torah speaks of a Nazir, one who makes a vow to refrain from wine. The Torah introduces this subject with the words: “If a man or woman sets himself apart by making a nazarite vow to abstain for the sake of G-d…” The Torah then lists the various forms of wine or grape products forbidden to the Nazir.
In the preceding section of the same parsha, the Torah speaks of a woman who is suspected of adultery. This woman, referred to as a sotah - one who has strayed - is put through an elaborate ritual to determine whether she is guilty.
Rashi, asks why is this section, dealing with the Nazir, placed next to the section dealing with the errant woman?
Rashi’s question may be better understood if we analyze the difference between these two personalities. The Sotah represents a person who allows herself (as well as the man with whom she consorted, who is likewise guilty of adultery) to indulge her prohibited desires. The Nazir is one who goes to the opposite extreme, rejecting even those desires that are permissible. Why are these two diametrically opposed archetypes be presented to us in one sequence?
Rashi’s answer is: “It is to teach you that whoever sees a sotah in her disgrace will make a nazarite vow to abstain from wine, for it leads a person to adultery.”
In other words, the juxtaposition of these two themes is purposeful, precisely because they are opposites. The way we can avoid deviating from the norm of morality and holiness, we are told, is to go the other extreme and pursue an ascetic approach to life, specifically as it pertains to drinking of wine.
This analysis leaves us with a rather grim view of wine. Since we are all vulnerable to the pressures of society to conform to mores and values antithetical to the Torah’s values, it behooves us to go to the opposite extreme.
The “Contradiction”
This is not the last word on wine, however. Rashi seems to contradict himself, when in a subsequent verse of this section, he quotes the Talmudic Sage Rabbi Elazar, who says that the reason the Nazir was required to bring a sin offering was to atone for the sin of causing himself distress by abstaining from wine.
Asceticism, it now appears, particularly abstinence from wine, is not such a good idea after all. How can we reconcile this approach with the earlier notion that it is a positive thing to abstain, and thereby escape from degenerating into immorality?
This question has already been asked by Rabenu Tam (Rashi’s grandson, the great French 12th century Sage), recorded in the Tosphos commentary on the Talmud (Bava Kamma 91b). Rabenu Tam’s approach is that while it is a slight sin to deny oneself the pleasure of drinking wine, it is a necessary “evil.” The Mitzvah to protect one’s morals overrides the sin of ascetic behavior.
What Do You See?
There is a Chassidic approach stated in the name of the Ba’al Shem Tov’s disciple, Rabbi Dovid Forkus. Once, at a lively and joyous gathering of Chassidim, he was challenged by some onlookers. “How could you celebrate when the Jewish people are suffering in exile?”
He replied by citing the above-mentioned contradiction. “Is abstaining from wine a virtue or a vice?” The answer, he said, lies in the Talmud’s statement (cited by Rashi, mentioned above): “Whoever sees a sotah in her disgrace will make a nazarite vow to abstain from wine, for it leads a person to adultery.” At this point, Rabbi Dovid Forkus offered a novel interpretation: “One who has a predilection to see the negative in others, by exposing their sins and deficiencies must abstain from wine.” Wine has the capacity to enhance one’s obsession with investigating the behaviors of others and discovering their vices.
(This does not mean to preclude assisting people who want to change and mend their ways. It merely suggests that one’s motive should not be a negative one. To see the other’s faults as a way of helping them is not focusing on the negative when it is based on one’s concern for the other. That, too, is a positive approach.)
However, the Jew who views others with a “good eye” and sees only the good in others and therefore does not see “a sotah in her disgrace” may not deny himself the joy that comes from wine. The joy that it can generate is a positive result because the Divine presence dwells in our midst only when we are in a state of joy.
One could add to the above that, just as the negative person who drinks will only become more negative, so too the positive person who drinks (obviously it does not mean drinking to excess) will discover that his positive impression of others has been enhanced.
The “Wine of Torah”
The above can also be interpreted figuratively.
The term “wine” is associated with the deeper and hidden meanings of the Torah. This description of wine is based on the Talmud’s association of wine with secrets. The numerical value of wine, which is 70, is the same as the word sod, which means secret. Hence, the “wine of Torah” alludes to the mystical dimension of Judaism.
For centuries, these teachings have been kept secret, but in recent times, these esoteric teachings of Torah have been disseminated widely to all segments of the Jewish community.
What was it that allowed these secret teachings — the “Wine of Torah”— previously reserved for the spiritual elite, to become popularized?
If the reason to abstain from wine is due to our negative approach to life (either because, as Rabenu Tam stated, we are morally challenged, or as Rabbi Dovid Forkus explained, due to our tainted and jaded vision of others) then why shouldn’t the rules of abstinence apply to the “Wine of Torah” too? If, in the distant past, it was considered dangerous to teach these secrets without restriction, what has changed today?
Two Approaches: The Sick Prince and the Preparation for Redemption
There are two approaches to answer this question.
The first was given by the Alter Rebbe (R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the author of the Chassidic classic, the Tanya), who was responsible for initiating a new and expansive approach to disseminating the mystical teachings of Judaism. This, he said, could be compared to the crown prince who was deathly ill. The only cure, his father the king was told, was to take the crown jewel, pulverize it and dilute it in water and give the sick prince some of it to drink. Most of it will go to waste, but if even one drop gets into his system it will save his life.
So too, the Jewish people have suffered so much in exile. They have been crushed physically, emotionally and spiritually. The only thing that can save their sunken spirits and revive them is a dose of the powerful teachings of Torah.
Wine can be destructive to people who are in a compromised emotional and spiritual state as was explained above, nevertheless, there are times when those whose illness becomes life threatening must take a strong medicine to save their lives If we were to divide Jewish history or personalities into different periods based on their ability or right to imbibe the “Wine of Torah,” one could make the following observation:
For the holiest of people, such as Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (the author of the classic work on Kabbalah, the Zohar) there was no restriction. These people were not tainted by exile conditions and were thus incapable of being harmed by the powerful teachings.
Most other Jews, for close to two millennia since the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, were considered too spiritually weak and vulnerable to be able to drink the “Wine of Torah.” It was, therefore, kept hidden from them. And those who tried to imbibe were tragically harmed.
The third period, includes all who have lived through the worst possible persecution and threats of assimilation in the last two centuries; we have been so sickened by the galus conditions that we desperately require some of the most potent medicine to survive.
There is, however, a second and more positive, approach to the recent “explosion” of mystical knowledge. This approach sees the popularization of the mystical teachings as a totally positive phenomenon; it is a taste of the teachings that we will be privileged to hear from Moshiach.
No Side Effects
To better understand this second approach, a cautionary question must be answered. If wine causes a negative person to become more negative, how can we, the products of so much negativity, be receptive to the powerful Messianic teachings? How can we now permit ourselves to become intoxicated with the “Wine of Torah?”
The answer lies in the distinction between mystical teachings in general, known as Kabbalah, and the mystical teachings in Chassidic literature. While both are powerful “drinks,” Chassidus represents the part of Torah that focuses on, mines and elicits the positive in ourselves and in others. Chassidus is the part of Torah that digs into the deepest recesses of our soul, where no negativity can exist. Chassidus relates to the part of our soul that is referred to as the Yechidah, the part that is intimately tied up with G- d’s essence. This level will be fully revealed in the Messianic Age, but even now, as we get closer to the Geulah - we can, through these teachings, get in touch with that untainted positive light. As such, we can have our proverbial wine and drink it too. The “Wine of Torah,” as it is revealed through Chassidus, has all the benefits of wine with none of its negative side effects.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Naso by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
