New York – Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski: Yeshivas Must Speak Out, Drunk On Purim is Not a Mitzvah!

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    Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski: Please Speak Out, Drunk On Purim is Not a Mitzvah!New York – In the Talmud, there are differing opinions on some halachos, and we must conduct ourselves according to the rulings of the poskim. For example, R’ Yosi Hagelili believe that the issur of meat and milk does not apply to fowl, but the psak halachah is otherwise. Anyone who eats butter-fried chicken is a treifniak.

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    After the early poskim there were the later ones, and because they were in the position to weigh all the earlier opinions, we follow their psak, which is essentially in the Shulchan Aruch. There were great poskim after the Shulchan Aruch, and for all intents and purposes, klal Yisrael has accepted the Mishna Berurah by the Chafetz Chaim as our halachah today.

    In regard to the mitzvah to drink on Purim, Ramah says that one need not get drunk, but to drink just a bit more than one usually does, and take a nap. The Mishnah Berurah (695), says “This is the proper thing to do.” This is the halachah we must live by today. Getting drunk is improper. That is the halachah.

    Experience in the past several years has been that particularly young people who drink to excess on Purim get into both shameful and dangerous behavior. Hatzalah cannot keep up with the calls to take these young men to hospital emergency rooms! Can anyone conceive that this is a mitzvah?

    Beis Yosef quotes Orchos Chaim: “The mitzvah to drink on Purim does not mean to get drunk, because being drunk is a total issur, and there is no aveirah greater than this!” I believe that based on this, and the observation of the tragedies resulting from excess drinking on Purim, Hagaon Harav Shmuel Kamentzky made the bold statement that “Getting drunk on Purim is an aveirah, not a mitzvah.”

    Parents! Exercise your authority to prevent your children from harming themselves or others! Make it abundantly clear to them that you will not tolerate excessive drinking, regardless of what their misguided friends may do.

    Baale batim! When bachurim visit your homes on Purim, do not serve them alcohol. Neither wine, beer, nor liquor. They can have the permissible amount (no more than 4 ½ ounces of wine) at home, under their parents’ supervision.

    Remember this! If you serve a young man alcohol, and it has a harmful consequence to him or others, you are responsible for that mishap!

    Rabbanim and Rebeeim! B”H, our children look up to you for guidance. Help them and the community stay healthy and well by speaking out unequivocally against getting drunk on Purim. They will listen to you more than to others.

    May we all enjoy a truly joyous and safe Purim.

    Dr. Abraham J. Twerski, an ordained rabbi is an internationally respected authority on the treatment of alcohol and other drug dependencies, and is the author of more than 60 books.

    The dangers and pitfalls of alcohol from Yehuda Mond Foundation on Vimeo.


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    140 Comments
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    he is right
    he is right
    14 years ago

    I hope this letter is sent to every yeshivah.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    After last week’s psak from rav Yosef that is is assur to become drunk on Purim and this article from such a gadol hatorah and expert on addictions, there should be no further discussion of the issue. Any rav who tries to somehow rationalize that excessive drinking is a mitzvah on purim should be stripped of any responsibilities for chinuch or leadership and put in charem. Such a rav is mamash an accessory to manslaughter if he encourges bochurim to drink till they get drunk l’shem mitzvah.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

    B”H we are bringing this shreklicha Aveira of getting drunk to the forfront and hopefully everyone will follow. VIN editor please do not publish any comments that try to argue this point. Don’t give these people the chance to spew their misguided and wrong opnions. This is Sakonas Nefoshos at the highest level and we need to keep this issue as an anti drunk movement in the strongest possible way.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I never asked his opinion?How come no one is asking others opinions? Who is bankrolling these people.I went to the Mirrer yeshiva, and people were blasted out of their minds.But it was a very holy thing.PEOPLe would dance and enemies would embrace.I was in eretz yisroel,The rosh hayeshiva was a real talmid chochom. He never said one word of protest as people also lost their seichel.I was by the ribnitzer rebbes house who looked like a malach elokim, same story there.Maybe this purim rabbi twersky and rabbi kaminetsky could get together and sniff some wine and take a little shluf. Also getting drunk is not so easy ,sometimes you throw up, and the next day you feel like garbage.But i remember my rabbi telling me in yeshiva about one person who got a headache from purim till pesach becase of drinking and did so anyway to be mikuyim the words of chazal.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Can we at least differentiate between bochurim and responsible adults?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    dont you get it, it does not matter what new decrees rabonin make, they are not taking seriously. a yeshivah bochur would never consider turning a light on shabbos, but smoking, which is a direct violation of the torah, thats for some reason is easy for him to do

    anonymous
    anonymous
    14 years ago

    I am sure there will be postings that we should not change a minhag shiker vi a goy. After all he is gadol b’torah but also a psychiatrist and that does not jive with some chushive yungeleit

    purim seuda drunkard
    purim seuda drunkard
    14 years ago

    I think that people dont know how to draw lines. We either go to one extreme or another. To say its wrong to get drunk once a yr when it pretty much is a mitzvah although you could twist that you dont have to is wrong. Plus once a yr our teenagers need it . everyone needs to let out a little bit. If we put too much restrictions everyone knows they run the other way chas vsholom. However they should only get drink by their purim seuda with thier parents watching to make sure that yes they can get drunk but not sick that hatzolah has to come and pump it out of thier stomach, not the whole day from the min they start collecting which is totally not a mitzva only the seuda is and not without supervision. Of course after the seuda if they are drunk its a sakana to go out. However to say dont drink at all just be yotzai by taking a nap is a bit too much the other way.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I would wish for an additional takanah. If bochurim come collecting and any of them are drunk, no tzedokoh should be given to them at all. This will encourage the yeshivos and other worthy organizations sending out bochurim to collect to mandate sobriety. I believe that rewarding the drunk bochurim is irresponsible, as is putting money into the hands of someone inebriated and irresponsible. This might sound mean spirited, but it is worthwhile. I would rather see a charitable organization out a few dollars and a life saved.

    minhag yisroel torah
    minhag yisroel torah
    14 years ago

    Purim aside, when you say that drinking is assur, what you are saying flies in the face of various mamarei chazal, e.g. ain simcha ela be’yayin and the gemara in Beitza that Rav did not pasken on Yom Tov because of shikrus. There are valid shitos who minimize the inyan of drinking on Purim, but to invalidate the practice (with much on which to be someich) of thousands of jews for at least hundreds of years is a very dangerous game. Tomorrow, when a group of ‘rabbis’ declares driving a minivan to be assur, will they be very different than you?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    lets say its not a mitzva but why is it an avereih

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Like everything else, 2 rabbis in a room gets you 3 opinons

    Missing the target
    Missing the target
    14 years ago

    From my sons I learned that many Rebbeim of the past thirty plus years believe and teach that it is a mitzvah to get drunk on Purim and anyone who says otherwise is an am haaretz or apikorus or worse, thinking like a baalebos!
    They are dismissive of any calls not to drink.
    It also takes only a few wise guy baalebatim (some of whom drink too much themselves) to serve enough to keep the drinking going.

    Mehu
    Mehu
    14 years ago

    In Baval, Europe and in America till the 60s and 70s average young adults did not have cars. So they would roll around drunk outside. Great. Nobody cared. But today they are taking a weapon when drunk, its called a car. Thats why its an avairah of Shefichas Domim.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    the torah demands us to get drunk every yom ton v’smachtu b’chagecha ein simcha ela b’yayin

    sometimes u need
    sometimes u need
    14 years ago

    as a former bochur: someone that sits and learns with the full schedule they have should have one day a year where they could get drunk lsheim shomayim . its very healthy for them ,unites the bochrim and brings out the simcha in them I was in the mir and I never heard any of the gedolim rav elyashiv rav chaim reb shlomo zalman aser this. have we become pc just to satisfy the leftwingers of the newsmedia? when the gedolim of eretz yisroel come out with a ban then ill listen til then lchaim! (in moderation )

    knowitall
    knowitall
    14 years ago

    Aren’t there more important things to discuss? This is a silly non issue. Not everything is a crisis. What is far more disturbing than drinking, and I think nothing is wrong with that on Purim, are the Yeshiva boys parading around loudly on the street late into the night and disturbing non-Jewish or non-religious people. If you want to get drunk in your shul or home – fine with me. But why are Yeshiva boys encouraged to go out and make a chilul Hashem? This really the only time of year they are seen by the outside world and – frankly – what is seen shameful behavior. If you need an outlet – do it inside – not in public!

    von nobale
    von nobale
    14 years ago

    Again why is it any ones buisness how the next guy does the religion

    yossie
    yossie
    14 years ago

    a debate or discussion is very healthy
    bur when people belittle the few gedolim that we have left and jump down their throat
    it shows how low weve become we have no emunas chachomim we bark at anything they say or suggest

    Lawyer
    Lawyer
    14 years ago

    Rabbi Dr. Twerski writes that as a result of “the observation of the tragedies resulting from excess drinking on Purim, Hagaon Harav Shmuel Kamentzky made the bold statement that ‘Getting drunk on Purim is an aveirah, not a mitzvah.'”

    Bizman ha’zeh, the halacha needs to lean in another direction. Today’s social conditions are different. Getting stupid drunk on Purim, and acting like a fool, is an aveira.

    Elliot Pasik

    Yonason Herschlag
    Yonason Herschlag
    14 years ago

    The gemora says that one should get so drunk on Purim, that one doesn’t know the difference between cursed be Haman, and blessed be Mordecai. The Bes Yosef brings rishonim that explain one need be really blasted to confuse Mordecai with Haman, and therefore one should only get so drunk that they could confuse Zeresh with Esther. And the proof they bring that the halacha is not to get sooo blasted as to confuse Haman and Mordecai, is that the continuation of the gemora tells of a Purim sueda in which Rabbah got so drunk that he slit Reb Zera’s throat, and then Rabbah had to revive him from the dead the next morning. The Bes Yosef then quotes the O.H. that says it is a sin to get drunk because drunkeness brings one to aldultery, murder, etc. In the Shulchan Oruch, the Bes Yosef finalized the ruling, one is required to attain the level of drunkeness that one can not differenciate between cursed be Haman, and blessed be Mordecai.

    The Rema adds that one can fulfill his obligation by drinking a bit and then sleeping, and whether drinking a lot or a little, the intention should be for the sake of heaven.

    Bottom line, if you can’t revive the dead, don’t drink so much that you kill.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    There is another pressing issues related to excessive drinking . It has become very popular over the last 5-7 yrs that bochurim actually get drunk every Friday night!. This happens especially in Eretz Yisroel where they are invited out to meals and the host who is trying desperately to show himself as being “a big bala bos ” as opposed to being the Ben Torah that he is being supported to be will bring out many different types of whiskeys etc .I am not sure what is happening to the current generation of yeshiva bochurim , (I am not generalizing , I admit there are still good boys around) it seems that all the so called torah etc they are learning is not even going in skin deep!. Where are the quality bochurim we used to have 15 yrs ago + , a bochur who would internalize what he had seen in yeshiva from his Rebeim etc . How many bochurim have no problem turning up to shachris at 9am ?? , how many come to shule and talk with their friends ? what are these boys doing on motzei shabbos ? . I think it is about time that something is reviewed in the system as maybe the system is just not working ?!.

    funny world
    funny world
    14 years ago

    Very interesting things r happening this days, something what chazal say “chayav” which Talmidei baal shem said that whenever chazal say “chayav” it means u need to have mesiras nefesh but in 2010 it became the biggest aveirah ever!
    I could understand when u try to discourage young ppl who don’t know how to control themselves from drinking but to say its the ‘biggest aveirah’?? Give me a brake!!!

    Sorry but this is legal acrobatics
    Sorry but this is legal acrobatics
    14 years ago

    With all due respect, I want to point out that the article states the following legal acrobatics:

    “In regard to the mitzvah to drink on Purim, Ramah says that one need not get drunk, but to drink just a bit more than one usually does, and take a nap. The Mishnah Berurah (695), says “This is the proper thing to do.” This is the halachah we must live by today. Getting drunk is improper. That is the halachah. “

    Let’s read this slowly:

    (1) Ramah says that one need not get drunk – there is no REQUIREMENT that one MUST get drunk, since one can do it in another manner, as follows.

    (2) Ramah continues that one has the OPTION to drink just a bit more than one usually does, and take a nap.

    (3) Mishnah Berurah (695), says, This is the proper thing to do. Namely, that it is proper to rely on this option, and one does not NEED to get drunk.

    It is quite a stretch to say that this halacha indicates that “getting drunk is improper”! The halacha is that getting drunk is not required, needed, obligated – but where do you get that getting drunk is “improper”? That is purely legal acrobatics!

    country boy
    country boy
    14 years ago

    i don’t know mitzvah no mitzvah through out the generations there were pretty big gedolim who got plastered on purim ויש ‏לסמוך ‏עליהם‏!‏

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    If a bochur comes to your house collecting and is drunk, not only should you not give, but take away the car keys so they can’t injure themselves or others!!

    Avi
    Avi
    14 years ago

    I sincerely wish that those who uphold the minhag of drinking to excess on Purim are victims of their own misguided ideas about Halacha. 2000 years ago it was not possible for a drunk Yeshivah Bochur to drive a 2-5 ton vehicle into a crowd of people.

    Yonason Herschlag
    Yonason Herschlag
    14 years ago

    If your seeing double, that is, you see two cars for every one on the road, if you can differenciate between the actual car, and the imagined car, then you need to drink more to fulfill the obligation of reaching the state where you confuse Haman with Mordecai.

    Purim Someach everybody!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I think driving should be assur and an aveireh a whole year more ppl die from car accidents then from getting drunk on purim

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I hope no one ever chokes on a matzah

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    In my opinion drinking “ad lo yadah” only applies to a buchar who learned the Meggilah with meforshim and truly is drinking to mekayim the mitzvah. Drinking to get drunk is a goyishe maaseh and is an aveirah.
    Drinking arbah koses on Pesach is mutar only because it is done betoch a seder where we are reading the sippor yetzias mitzrayim ad chatzos and we have daas to mekayim the mitzvah and the focus is not on the drinking, but being mekayim achilas matzah, marror, carpas, korech, and afikomen bizmano.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    what is with the haluche that if you mazik somebody in Purim ur putir ” Rabeh shchat es r’ Zyre” u can see that Purim u aloud to get drunk of cause not over the mus

    don't get it
    don't get it
    14 years ago

    We live in a crazy world what happen yeasterday does not go for today.Drinking is a problem and drinking on purim is a bigger problem.This is one reason why out town yeshivah’s send the boys home because the yeshivah’s don’t know how to deal with it.The other problem some organzation’s and yeshivah’s will send boys all over to collect for them and then the boy’s get drunk ,there parent’s try to track their children down to make sure they are ok. SO WHO HAVING SIMCHAS? I don’t think this is what purim is about.So all you people who want to say it’s ok why not or it’s not problem.Think about it. if it is your son collectng getting drunk in a strange city would you like that?If one person says they don’t mind or don’t care. You need Help.Why this mitzvah people have to be makpit you can’t find another mitzvah to be makpit.How about ben adam lchaveraw? work on that.We compare purim to Yom kippur think what you would do on yom kippur and would you do it on purim.

    chaim
    chaim
    14 years ago

    Funny I do not see gedolim getting drunk. Iwas with R Moshe zt’l on purim

    Kim
    Kim
    14 years ago

    51 is right . Someone needed to say the obvious there is always a underlying reason why someone would do drugs, often it is sexual abuse it’s definatly NOT because of the mitzva to drink on purim

    BinderDundat
    BinderDundat
    14 years ago

    So basically, this boils down to two sides. The normal people (yes, normal), agree with this and want this stupidity stopped. And the other side is all the drunken bums who cant control themselves. I’ll bet half of these guys get drunk alot more than just purim. I’ve seen teenage boys copy their fathers and get so plastered, it’s really a disgrace.

    levicool
    levicool
    14 years ago

    i dont know why a rabbi who knows so much torah would say this
    i never heard this from my always drunk rabbi and from my crazy hebrew teacher i know that when your 13 your aloud to drink on purim when i went to my rabbis house he let me have some wine if a rabbi says some thing like that i dont think hes a rabbi un less hes trying to tell under age of 13 kids not to drink

    Informed Consent
    Informed Consent
    14 years ago

    For those who are absolutely convinced of the halachic necessity to drink on purim, need not do so as the point is to attain a state of “Ad de’lo yoda” and this he has already achieved!

    We don't have true leaders
    We don't have true leaders
    14 years ago

    I am afraid, that the problem is bigger than Purim. Rabbanim today are loosing sight of a big picture, that halacha is to HELP Yidden live a life of Torah and Mitzvot and to ENABLE them to be members of our society. Today the new and new gezeiras and takanahs are flying everywhere. Soon breathing loud is going to be forbidden as well.
    The bochurim need to have a sense of real life. They need to be able to drink a little bit THROUGHOUT the whole year to learn the feeling of alcohol, the dangers of it and how to enjoy it without endangering themselves. All this ALL FORBIDDEN attitude that comes out IS what makes them VICTIMS. They are expected to live a completely sheltered life, than they become teenagers, and they see that the adults are not what they preach they are; some Rebbi’s in the Yeshivot are sexual predators and we cover up for them, some Rebbe’s are just fundraisers,and Gadolim are busy building their image.
    We should teach them that MRA’H is emet, vetorato emet. And people are just people. Alcohol is alcohol,you can enjoy it and it can make you sameach,and yes it can kill,be careful.
    Why are we trying to teach them LIES?! Drinking is not assur, or dangerous. Ignorance is

    yeshiva bachur
    yeshiva bachur
    14 years ago

    its a mitzva to get drunk on purim. i and all my underage friends will be getting drunk the first night also for the mitzva of be mismeach on purim. by the seuda its a mitzva to drink but the rest of purim is not an aveira. i drink only 3 times a year. purim, shabbos and chasunas. so evryone should just stop saying its an aveira to drink on purim when it says clearly in the mishna berura otherwise. and even if u say theres no mitzva, there is certainly no aveira

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I am appalled at the stupidity of some of the commenters. No one suggested a takanah to not drink on Purim. All that was said is that the poskim that are our guides in all Torah matters have spoken clearly and loudly, and their words are black on white (אש שחורה על גבי אש לבנה). Shikrus is NOT the mitzvah on Purim. It said nothing about drinking, only the way in which the alcohol is used. What is so hard to understand. The subject is CONTROL. If you can stop at the right time and experience the spiritual stuff, that is wonderful. And if you can’t, there is danger lurking. חמירא סכנתא מאיסורא. No one is forbidding anything that was ever permissible until now. It was never מותר. And drinking throughout Purim is an aveiro, just like our gedolim say. Stop being a smart aleck. Learn a little, and be mekabel the words of the gedolim who know more than you ever will.

    Dr. E
    Dr. E
    14 years ago

    It’s too late. Yeshiva bachurim of 20 and 30 years ago who did it are now the fathers of bachurim who are mikayeim the family minhag. If it was fun, cool, and OK to do it then, it is even moreso now.

    Interesting how drinking leads to smoking, smoking leads to other dangerous behaviors, the package evolves to Simchas Torah, Shavuos, and weddings. Mi K’amcha Yisrael.

    anonymous
    anonymous
    14 years ago

    These postings are the saddest comments I have ever heard. None of you is worried about gemilas chesed or shilach monis for sick , disabled and poor, believe or not there are. All you argue how to fullfil your taave of shikering. Maybe we should have a longitudinal study on present social behavior by religious Jews and the result would be dismal

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    once we’re at it, its also a terrible aveirah the way most people give mishloach manos today, chazal definately didn’t have in mind al the theme packed garbage people give today, most of it is not fit for consumption unless your idea of a seudah is chochlate covered roses & popcorn with some costume to match!

    ruth
    ruth
    14 years ago

    Our generation lacks spirituality. We are in the darkness and don’t have clarity. We are a generation that is confused. Its not about drinking on purim or not, thats not going to stop those kids / adults from drinking or doing drugs. Thats not the problem. We must get honest with ourselves and do a ‘cheshbon nefesh’. The kids reject our Holy Torah because they resent our phoniness. We must represent Torah not Macy’s, we must represent emes not Bloomingdale. We send our kids to rehabs that have no understanding of yiddishkeit and we get them back worse than the goyim in our block. why? For the sake of greed. Let all of us do teshuva with all our hearts.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Wait, I think that a HUGE portion of the Jewish people do not accept the Mishnah Berurah(i.e sephardim, real chasidim etc., although granted, misnagdim with a rebbe might pasken from it).. Once again, It is kodesh minhag yisroel to get shiker, bferush rashi, rambam, shulchan aruch and shulchan aruch harav and arba turim. L’chaim misnagdim stop trying to drain me a cup and keep the torah, I get it, you think you learned alot of torah, you don’t have to overturn shulchan aruch and rashi, it will be alright. If i want to buy a snaggy self help book though maybe I’ll listen to rabbi twersky.

    Buchwalter
    Buchwalter
    14 years ago

    Have you ever thought a little boy telling his friends “you should have seen how my Tatty got drunk, he vomited and he looked messy and did not smell so good amd my Mommy was really upset. Ah that what I call chinuch and memory of your father. Gevaltig

    boruch
    boruch
    14 years ago

    tell rebbe and rav zeira that drinking is assur on purim. I see where this Rabbi is coming from he doesnt want people to go crazy and chas veshalom land up in the hospital, but I think if you could control yourself and not make an idiot out of yourself I think theres no problem. On the other hand if your going to make an idiot out of yourself and start fights like i’ve seen people do when I was in israel than I think you shouldn’t drink. I say get drunk but not too drunk. I’m 21 so i’m legal to drink, but I think parents should observe they’re kids (teens) and give them a limit I dont know thats just my opinion your welcome to disagree no hard feelings.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I think that people should not get completely drunk because then you are getting into chillul hashem issues and a mitzvah haba baveira is not a mitzvah if you say that since it is a mitzvah to get drunk it is the same chillul hashem as wearing tefillin in public that is only true if it is not possible to do the mitzvah without the aveira but here you only need to drink to od dlo yuda which could be done by getting completely drunk (problem mentioned above) or by being asleep the issue with drinking a little and then taking a nap is that then that is not drinking until you don’t it is merely drinking and incidentally soon after not knowing therefore what I do is drink until I am tired because of the drinking and then take a nap please realize I am not paskening I am simply stating my view on this issue and all who would care to discuss it in a rational setting please email me at [email protected]

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    hi i was frum and have been going to aa for 10 years i just relapsed and dont know what to do on purim the rambam is a greater rabbi than dr twerski “one should get drunk untill they fall asleep mishneh torah” thats what the great jewish philosipher says.my friend wants me to drink wine with him on purim should i say no?