Why Is It Important To Drink On Purim?

During the Jewish holiday of Purim, there are many mitzvahs, but the most important of all is drinking. This harmless topic of drinking on Purim has to lead to a huge argument of many Rabbis saying their views on the issue as well as disagreeing with other scholars. All of this argument started just with five words which were “לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת אוֹתָ֗ם יְמֵי֙ מִשְׁתֶּ֣ה וְשִׂמְחָ֔ה”, which was from the Book of Esther 9:22. This phrase means “They were to observe them as days of feasting and merrymaking”. Also the words “משתה ושמחה” say that you need to drink to be happy. The controversy began because many rabbis were confused whether this phrase was saying to drink a lot of wine, a little bit of win, or just to celebrate. Although there were many
rabbis at different times stating their views on drinking, most of them have somewhat of the same opinions. The first work to try and unravel the true mitzvah of Purim was the Gemara, which was written by the Amorim around 690.
The Gemara says “Rab said that you are obligated to drink on Purim until you can’t tell the difference between the blessed Mordecai and the cursed Haman”, which shows that the Gemara thought that you should get very drunk on Purim so that you can’t tell the difference. The Gemara then tells a short story of the Rab and Rabbi Zerah where in short the Rab got very drunk, killed his friend Zerah and then the next morning he came back to life because the Rab had mercy. This story shows the extent of drinking on Purim. Showing that on Purim people should not drink too much to the point that you should kill one of your friends, but you should still drink to the point where you are drunk. I think this story is very important because it shows that people should be careful of drinking too much because you won’t only hurt yourself, you could hurt one of your best friends. The next important work on this topic was Sefer
Halachot. Sefer Halachot written by the Rif during 1040 was the first recognized law code. This work took out the arguments from the Gemara and just stated the facts. The code says, “Rab said that you are obligated to drink on Purim until you can’t tell the difference between the blessed Mordecai and the cursed Haman.” This shows that the opinion of drinking still has not changed because this is the same opinion as the Gemara. Although many rabbis thought this way, there were other rabbis that thought differently. Rambam a very important philosopher and doctor during the twelfth century wrote his interpretation of the phrase in his Mishneh Torah written around 1170. The Mishneh Torah also was known as “Repetition of the Law” was just another code on Jewish life, which talked about topics from Torah law to korbanot. Rambam tries to give another way to translate the phrase. Before talking about drinking on Purim, Rambam asks himself exactly what are the mitzvahs of the holiday. He said that the mitzvahs are having meat at the feast because it is expensive, making the meal as lavish as possible, decorating the house as a festival, and finally drinking. He thought that instead of getting drunk to the point where there is the possibility of killing your friend, you could “drink wine until you get drunk and you start getting sleepy.” Even though Rambam is saying an alternative thing then other philosophers, he still comprehends that drinking is a very important mitzvah. I understand what Rambam is saying because there is no point of getting completely drunk and not being able to enjoy the celebration of Purim. The best thing to do is to stop drinking when you get drunk and a little sleepy. After Rambam’s Mishneh Torah another code went back to the opinions of the Gemara. In Jacob Ben Asher’s Arba’ah Turim, which was written around the years of 1300-1340 discussed the topic as well. The Tur stated that “you need to get drunk until you don’t know the difference between Haman and Mordecai” (Gemara). Asher feels a need to cite his work, while Rambam doesn’t, so that is why Asher hated him. That might be why Asher did not agree with Abraham’s case. Another code that agreed with this philosophy was the Shulchan Aruch. Rabbi Yosef Caro and Rab Moshe Isserles, two major rabbis during their times wrote the code Shulchan Aruch. Even though they did write it together they did not agree on the topic of drinking on Purim. In halacha ב, which Yosef Caro probably, says, “you must drink until you don’t know the difference between Mordecai and Haman” (Gemara). This exactly like most rabbis views, but Moshe Isserles did not have the same belief. He later said that there are other people who say that you don’t have to drink that much. You should drink more than you are accustomed to, to go sleep, which was quoted by Rambam. Also when you are sleeping, you don’t know the difference between Mordecai and Haman. For one person it will require more and for another less, but in the end, everyone’s actions should be holy and for the sake of heaven. If I were to choose between one of the rabbi's side I would probably choose Caro’s idea because I feel the same that everyone is different, so people should drink with what they are comfortable with, but just a little bit more for the celebration of Purim. Shlomo Ganzfried’s Kitzur Shulchan Aruch also has the same views as the Shulchan Aruch, but it is shortened as well as give some new information. The code talks about how many of the Purim miracles happened because of wine, with Vashi’s lost of life because she was drunk and everyone was drunk when they were hanging Haman. It then says that they said to drink until you can’t tell the difference between Haman and Abraham, but Ganzfried said to drink enough until you get sleepy because when you are asleep there is no way to tell the difference between Haman and Mordecai. If you know that you can’t hold your liquor well and it will affect fulfilling the other mitzvot of the holiday it is just better not to drink, but you should still make sure your actions are for the sake of God.

In conclusion, the law of getting drunk on Purim has evolved so much from the time when it first began.
Also, this shows that everyone can have their own interpretation of this topic even I have my own opinion. I believe that drinking is a very important part of Purim, but it should not overpower all of the other great celebrations and mitzvahs of Purim. I think if I were to really agree with any of the famous rabbis of the time I would choose Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried. People who are planning to drink on Purim before should limit themselves to how much they should drink, so they don’t get extremely drunk. You should still get drunk because it says in the Gemara to get drunk so you can’t tell the difference between Haman and Mordecai, but instead of getting drinking a lot you should just drink until you get drunk and sleepy because I agree that when you are sleeping, you can’t tell the difference between anything especially Haman and Mordecai. Limiting how much to drink is actually helping to complete the mitzvah because the mitzvah is to have fun and if you get really drunk you might not enjoy the
celebration.