Married and Navigating Jewish Life

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Purim is right around the corner

with 8 comments

And of course liquer is on the mind of most Jews when it comes to Purim.

Now depending on who you do listen to, there is a major mitzvah to get drunk, however many of our fellow Jews that this too far. When the adults become intoxicated around the children the children want in on the fun too. Many High Schools and Post HS Bais Midrashes have this issue and it becomes a worse problem every single year. How many times does hatzolah need to answer calls of emergency for excessive drunkedness? How many times are we going to let our children see what kind of animals we become when we are drunk? How many times will we allow them to go to unsupervised events? (and when unsupervised I mean a rational adult that will prevent anyone below the age of 21 to drink as well as ensure no one is allowed to drink more than becoming a little drunk)

I implore every single one of my readers to go ahead and tell your family and friends that while drinking is a mitzvah, it is more of a mitzvah to go and learn about the fact that you cannot tell the difference between Mordechai and Haman through the inner meanings of Purim instead of drinking and not realizing the difference between your bed and the cold concrete outside your home as you collapse into a drunken sleep.

Written by frombrooklyn

February 28, 2007 at 2:38 AM

8 Responses

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  1. Uh, I would not want to be in your shoes.

    You are a CLEAR Apikores.

    How DARE you argue on the RAMBAM who clearly states that one must drink AD SHEYIRDEM. (I’m not going to explain what that means, since you are a complete ignoramous.)

    AND don’t try and tell me that the Rambam did not know what would be going on in the year 2007……MeyMoshe ad Moshe Lo Kom Kemoshe.

    If you even attempt to wash away the Rambam, then you clearly don’t beleive in Moshiach – since every bit of info that we know about Moshiach comes from him…..

    And just for the record, you are obviously have NO clue what your talking about.

    Take a ride over to Lakewood Yeshiva or any other REAL Makom Torah and watch the THOUSANDS of dead drunk Bochurim & Yungerleit argue in learning, and cry about their aveiros on this Yom Hakadosh, the Yom Ha-Kippurim.

    Get out of your cave from the 20’s or 30’s in Flatbush, where life is all about wife swapping, and driving a nice car and WAKE UP.

    Yeshiva guy

    February 28, 2007 at 3:40 AM

  2. wow! Yeshiva guy! Hot Damn!

    Somebody call a whambulance for frombrooklyn.

    He just got whacked by yeshiva guy but good.

    “Get out of your cave from the 20’s or 30’s in Flatbush, where life is all about wife swapping, and driving a nice car and WAKE UP.”

    Mmm, cave…mmm, wife-swapping..who wants to wake up from that?

    p.s. Shhh.. I’m j/k, yg.

    jacob

    February 28, 2007 at 4:07 AM

  3. Wow, Yeshiva Guy, seems you are starting that drinking a little bit early. Never heard of the other respected Ravs who have stated that overdrinking is wrong, how many Yeshivas act about the excessive drinking is horrible, and that there are plenty of commentaries that state that learning about being able to mix up Mordechai and Haman = drinking to the same state to get the mix up.

    For shame…but here *hands a vodka bottle*

    Wow

    February 28, 2007 at 4:24 AM

  4. To Yeshiva Guy:

    Of course I have every right to bring up respected Ravs to disagree with the Rambam about it. The Alshich (I am assuming you know of his commentary because otherwise you need to pull yourself from just reading the Rambam) who states that learning that you cannot tell the difference between who was more important to the story of Purim, that Mordechai and Haman’s roles are so wrapped up together they cannot be seen as having a difference is equal to being drunk and getting the same effect.

    Now the mitzvah for drinking on Purim is only to mistake Haman for Mordechai and vice versa. Now, if you can explain to me the throwing up, yeshiva boys being rushed to the hopsital, the streets of Brooklyn and the Yeshiva Halls that are around here in some instances turning into a parody of a well known dvd/video series that the name ‘Yeshiva Boys Gone Wild’ should ring a bell then we have some major issues to deal with.

    Beyond the fact that allowing underage children to drink excessively is against the law, that the cops talk down about Jews because of the excessive Purim drinking, that hatzolah routinely asks many of their members to be on standby due to the influx of calls due to excessive drinkings.

    Go into the ER of Maimomedies during Purim and see how many people come in drunk.

    Go tell your opinions to the parents of children who come home wasted.

    Tell that to the wives and children who watch their father go and blast himself into a drunken state and doesn’t have divrai torah come out of his mouth.

    I will gladly admit that there are many Jews out there that this doesn’t apply to. My Rosh Yeshiva was amazing to see on Purim and he truly embodied what the Rambam met. But I have walked around Flatbush and other locales on Purim and seen what happens to those that cannot reach that kind of mental state.

    Using the excuse of a mitzvah in order to allow avairahs and chilul Hashem is a disgrace. There has to be consequences for allowing this to continue unchecked and unsupervised.

    To Jacob:

    LOL.

    To Wow:

    No need to be so aggressive against others here, but not sure if your vodka joke was far off the mark.

    frombrooklyn

    February 28, 2007 at 4:38 AM

  5. Yeshiva Guy –

    You are correct in quoting the Rambam that one should get totally intoxicated, but are you aware that the Beis Yosef quotes other Rishonim who say that it is an “Issur Gamur”?

    As I write on my blog and in the comments, it is a Machlokes Rishonim, and the consensus of Achronim is that if one will act inappropriately he should not get drunk, but if one will use this state of mind to reach greater spiritual heights then he can.

    Here is a link:

    http://independentfrumthinker.blogspot.com/2007/02/drinking-on-purim-happiness-not-holelus.html

    independentfrumthinker

    March 1, 2007 at 5:16 AM

  6. thank you independent

    frombrooklyn

    March 1, 2007 at 5:57 AM

  7. […] March 1, 2007 at 7:31 pm | In Uncategorized | Lots of j-bloggers are taking on the issue of drinking on Purim. Looks like most (but not all) of them are heartily opposed to getting […]


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