Purim: handle with care!

This week marks the festival of Purim, which has the potential to be a time of great joy and happiness, not to mention a sort of "final fling" before families throughout the Jewish world knuckle down to a month of preparation for Pesach.

A perennial Purim discussion point relates to the age-old question: "should I get drunk?" According to whom one asks, drunkenness is permitted, prohibited or obligatory. Among those who permit or require it, the degree of inebriation may be minimal, moderate or maximal. Then those who employ the test of confusing blessing Haman with cursing Mordechai have different yardsticks by which to measure this particular mental state.

Pirkei Avot gives no specific guidance as to how one conducts oneself on Purim and does not of itself advocate abstinence, moderation or abandoning oneself totally to the deep and meaningful spiritual experience that some of us seek. That is not to say that it has no general guidance that should be borne in mind before choosing to get drunk.

There is one particular piece of guidance from Avot that seems apposite to me here. At Avot 2:13 Rabbi Shimon ben Netanel describes the "good path" as that taken by the person who foresees the consequences of his or her actions.

The problem with drunkenness is that one's ability to foresee the consequences of one's conduct--and also one's ability to act responsibly where one can do so--seems to diminish proportionately to the amount of alcohol consumed. One of the foreseeable consequences of getting totally drunk on Purim is that someone has to clean up the mess afterwards. Given the effects of a heavy hangover, the person doing that cleaning up is often enough someone else -- and it is not pleasant. Shared spaces such as bathrooms and staircases can be especially sordid, as can hard-to-clean items such as carpets and bedding.

We live in a real world in which, whatever any of us thinks or says, some people will get drunk on Purim. Some will have had a wonderful time in doing so and will look forward to repeating the process next year; some may have had a spiritually elevating "out-of-brain" experience. Others, waking up with a splitting headache and a dry tongue, may croak "never again!"

My message to all of you is this: Purim same'ach! Have a wonderful time but, before you do, please give a thought for others who may be adversely affected by what you do. Think how strange or frightening you may appear to small children. Bear in mind that you share the pavements and the roads with other users. And do try to make sure that your fun and enjoyment are not at the expense of others.

Purim and Pirkei Avot 3: drinking wine at midday

This is the third and final short post that links Pirkei Avot to the festival of Purim (tomorrow for most of the world, Friday for Jerusalem and any city that was walled at the time of Joshua).

According to Avot 3:14:

Rabbi Dosa ben Horkinas used to say: "Morning sleep, noontime wine, children's talk and sitting in the meeting places of the ignorant drive a person from the world".

This mishnah makes no overt reference to the festivities of Purim. However, the se'udat Purim -- the generally alcohol-fuelled feast with which Purim concludes -- takes place during the day of Purim itself rather than in the evening that follows it, and before recitation of the ma'ariv (evening) prayers. This year, as inhabitants of Jerusalem are well aware, its celebrations will be taking place on Friday. To allow a little breathing space before Shabbat commences, Jerusalemites will be knocking back the alcoholic beverage of their choice in the middle of the day.

Does this mishnah cast a cloud of solemn sobriety over the fun-day which in Jerusalem immediately precedes it? The answer is probably "it all depends".

Jewish tradition adopts a variety of positions regarding wine. For example, in Psalms we learn that "wine gladdens the heart of man" (Tehillim 104:15). However,

“When a person drinks one cup of wine, he acts like a little lamb – humble and meek. When he drinks two, he becomes as mighty as a lion and starts to boast ‘Who is like me?’ When he drinks three cups, he becomes like a monkey, jiggling around, dancing, giggling and uttering obscenities in public, without realizing what he is doing. Finally, he becomes blind drunk and is like a pig; wallowing in muck and settling down in the mire” (Midrash Tanchuma, parashat Noach 13).

The Romans recognised the force of wine in loosening one's inhibitions, coining the Latin tag "in vino veritas" ("in wine there is truth"), which is reflected in the Hebrew tag “nichnas yayin yetze sod” (“In goes wine, out comes a secret": Eruvin 65a). But is truth a potential casualty of Purim? Many people follow the practice of drinking ad delo yoda -- up to the point at which they no longer know the difference between blessing Mordechai and cursing Haman. Needless to say, there are many opinions as to what this means, and as to whether "up to" means "up to but not including", "up to and including" or "up to and then well beyond".

Rabbi Dosa ben Horkinas would doubtless endorse the position that everything turns on a person's capacity to hold his drink and on how it affects his mood and intellectual cogency. Additionally, no-one's Purim alcohol intake should incapacitate them from performing further mitzvot. Rabbi Dosa's teaching suggests a downward sequence that commences with a person sleeping late and ends with him ending up in the company of people who will not elevate him in his religious commitment.

Happy Purim, everyone! Enjoy your drink, but do make an effort to drink sensibly.

Purim and Pirkei Avot 2: Citing a teaching in the name of its originator

This is the second of three short posts that link Pirkei Avot to the festival of Purim (this coming Thursday for most of the world, Friday for Jerusalem and any city that was walled at the time of Joshua).

A baraita at Avot 6:6 lists 48 things that are said to be ways of acquiring Torah. Of these, the 48th and final item is

"repeating a saying in the name of the one who says it".

The baraita concludes by making the only reference to the Book of Esther that can be found within Avot, adding:

"whoever says something in the name of the person who says it brings redemption to the world, as it is said: 'And Esther spoke to the king in the name of Mordechai'" (Esther 2:22).

What was it that Esther told the king? It was the information, overheard by Mordechai, that Bigtan and Teresh were plotting against him.

The idea of mentioning by name the person who originates an item of Torah learning is a conceptualisation of the same principle that opens the tractate of Avot, where the chain of tradition is charted from the Torah's Sinaitic revelation to the era of the Men of the Great Assembly and then down through the various rabbis whose words we find in the Mishnah and Talmud. It is important to know the name of the person who relates a teaching to others so that its authenticity can be verified -- or challenged.

Our baraita at Avot 6:6 presents us with a paradox: we learn that whoever cites the name of the originator of a piece of learning when he quotes it will bring redemption to the world – but it does not reveal the identity of its own author, of of the author of the statement about bringing redemption to the world.

Are there any clues as to its authorship? The name of Rabbi Yose is twice found in close proximity to citations of this maxim (at Chullin104b, Niddah 19b) but it is nowhere stated that he is its author. In Megillah 15b the same principle is taught in the name of later rabbis (where the Amora Rabbi Elazar teaches it in the name of an earlier Amora, Rabbi Chanina).

Regardless of its authorship and the reason, if any, for not citing it, the maxim retains its force: the correct citation of one’s sources can enhance both the transparency and the authority of one’s arguments, leading to their acceptance where they are correct and to their dismissal or refutation where they are not. The Babylonian Talmud does however preserve a number of examples where this principle is discarded in favour of false attribution, where the rabbis discern a greater good which only false attribution can achieve – this greater good frequently being framed as a means of persuading the Jewish population at large to accept an undoubtedly correct halachic ruling which, if learned in the name of its true author, would carry considerably less weight (see Marc B. Shapiro, Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History, in Chapter 8 (“Is the Truth Really That important?”).

Purim and Pirkei Avot 1: Rejoicing over the downfall of enemies

This is the first of three short posts that link Pirkei Avot to the festival of Purim (this coming Thursday for most of the world, Friday for Jerusalem and any city that was walled at the time of Joshua).

At Avot 4:24, Shmuel HaKatan ("Samuel the Small") is quoted as saying

"When your enemy falls, do not rejoice; when he stumbles, do not let your heart be gladdened in case God sees and it will be displeasing in His eyes, and He will turn His anger from [your enemy to you]"

This mishnah raises many questions, not least is that of why this teaching appears in Pirkei Avot at all since it consists of a couple of verses that have been cut-and-pasted from Proverbs 24:17-18. Or, as one commentator, puts it, if this verse comes straight from King Solomon, why should we be concerned with how big or small this particular Tanna happens to be?

Leaving that issue aside, there is a topical matter to consider. On the festival of Purim, Jews the world over engage in merrily celebrating the downfall of Haman -- the arch-villain whose rise and fall are described in the Book of Esther. How can we do this in the face of clear guidance about not rejoicing when our enemies stumble?

On Purim we celebrate in accordance with the mood of the moment, as expressed in the Book of Esther: (8:16):

“The Jews had light and happiness and joy and honour" (Esther 8:16).

Does this sentiment invite the celebration of the downfall of one’s foes? The context of this verse suggests that this is not actually so. The event to which this joyful verse refers is not the downfall of Haman at all, but to the issue of a royal proclamation that the Jews were allowed to take up arms in order to defend themselves against those who, in accordance with an earlier and irrevocable proclamation (at 3:13), were ordered to exterminate them and plunder their property. It is clear, therefore, that the celebration of Purim does not contradict the substance of our mishnah. Rather, it marks the turning point in the tide of Jewish fortunes; it was a sign that, since they had not deserted God, God had not deserted them.