Parshat Shemini, meaning “Eighth,” picks up after the seven-day ordination period of Aaron and his sons as kohanim (priests). 

Upon officially becoming the kohein gadol (high priest), Aaron performs the offerings we learned about in our previous parshah, and this is pleasing both to God and to the Israelites.  

Then, in a jarring turn of events, Aaron’s two oldest sons, Nadav and Avihu, offer unprescribed incense to God, and do so with “alien fire.” As a result, God consumes the sons with fire, and they thus die bringing their un-commanded offering. ¹

Moses informs Aaron and his remaining sons that “all the house of Israel” ² will mourn Nadav and Avihu. And from this incident, a commandment emerges. Leviticus 10 tells us: 

And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying: 

Drink no wine or other intoxicant, you or your sons, when you enter the Tent of Meeting, that you may not die. This is a law for all time throughout the ages, for you must distinguish between the sacred and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean; and you must teach the Israelites all the laws which the Lord has imparted to them through Moses. ³

Most broadly, this passage teaches us that the role of the priests, and the Jewish people as a kingdom of priests, involves separating the holy from the unholy. In fact, the parshah later spends a good deal of time on the laws regarding clean and unclean animals, “to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between the living things that may be eaten and the living things that may not be eaten.” ⁴

Perhaps our most familiar example of marking separation is the havdalah ⁵ ceremony, in which we separate Shabbat from the six workdays. 

Regarding alcohol, traditional interpreters agree that the commandment in Vayikra chapter 10 applies not only to kohanim entering the Tent of Meeting, but also to judges and teachers making legal rulings. ⁶

That’s not to say that this is a commandment toward asceticism. Instead, our takeaway is that we cannot drink alcohol while in our service. While the tradition makes ample space for the enjoyment of alcohol within Jewish life, provided that it does not lead to drunkenness and irresponsible behavior, some forms of service are so serious that they require our full mental function, leaving no room for even the slightest impairment. Today, for example, kohanim are forbidden to drink alcohol prior to their blessing the congregation with the traditional birkat kohanim ⁷. Indeed, we must have a sober approach to the work we set out to do.

With that in mind, we must address the concrete realities of alcohol in the Jewish community, as the intermingling of alcohol and service is something the Torah asks us to take with utmost seriousness. 

One necessary area for reflection is how we make it functionally virtually impossible for someone to engage in Jewish life without frequently being offered wine and other drinks. This puts those who battle against alcoholism, or have a family history of alcoholism, or even those who simply prefer not to drink, in repeated situations that are at best uncomfortable and at worst dangerous. 

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, 5.3 percent of people ages 12 and older suffer from alcohol use disorder. ⁸ It is therefore extraordinarily likely that these infinitely valuable human beings are present in our communities and at our events. 

Our holidays that encourage heavy drinking, such as Pesach and Purim, present the most visible instances of the danger of blending drunkenness with spirituality. In 2012, a 28-year-old named Jesse Allen died of what was reported as alcohol poisoning after a Chabad Purim party in Florida. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency report of the tragedy ends by saying, “Allen’s mother, Lynn, said her son loved Jewish tradition and was struggling to overcome an alcohol problem.” ⁹

Deaths such as this one, in conjunction with the dangers of drunk driving, should make us exceptionally cautious about alcohol consumption and conscious of our obligation to preserve life. No one should have to choose between Jewish activities and their own safety and/or the safety of others.

While there is perhaps a mitzvah to get drunk on Purim “to the point where one does not know [the difference] between ‘accursed is Haman’ and ‘blessed is Mordechai,’ ¹⁰ ” there are alternatives to taking this literally. 

The Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law, contains two views from the Rema ¹¹ that we can embrace:

1. That one can simply drink more than one normally drinks at an everyday meal, which for most of us can be a few sips.  
2. That a nap is sufficient in place of getting drunk, because someone taking a nap also can’t tell the difference between “accursed is Haman” and “blessed is Mordechai.” ¹²

To take the commandment from this week’s parshah on a more spiritual level, we ought to additionally see it as a reminder to do all our service from a psychological state of sobriety. In our work to repair the world, we must remember that we are not in it for the high; we are in it for the impact. 

We must reject the outreach approach to young Jews that makes food and drink central. Pizza and vodka should not be our only tools towards engagement. To be sure, there is a place for food and drink in Jewish life. But if those things are our selling points—rather than our nurturing of the mind, soul, and community—we’re not going to attract the right people we need to sustain Jewish life with its full richness, nor will they be attracted for the right reasons. We need to sustain Jewish life by attracting people who are looking to serve and to be genuinely involved in their Judaism. 

In activism and spirituality, we shouldn’t promote the thrill of the high, but consistency in observance and activism. Spirituality gives us the sustaining energy we need in order to keep up our activism. Just as God wants us to approach God’s presence while physically sober and spiritually high, so too, in our service to the world, we need to be deeply sober, conscious, and thoughtful. If we try to serve incorrectly, we will, in the manner of Nadav and Avihu, bring in a “foreign fire.”

The commandment prohibiting intoxication in service shows us the danger of wanting to do good while failing to completely discipline the self and the inner life. The Torah enjoins and bounds us to be cautious in this matter in order to better serve God, the Jewish community, and the world at large.

Sources

1.  Leviticus 10:1-2
2.  Leviticus 10:6
3.  Leviticus 10:8-11
4.  Leviticus 11:47
5.  The word havdalah means separation or distinguishing. The above quoted verse, “…to distinguish between the unclean and clean,” uses the same root, bet/dalet/lamed, in the original biblical text: “lehavdil bein hatamei uvein hatahor.”
6.  Rashbam on Leviticus 10:10:1
7.  In the diaspora, birkat kohanim is only recited in the musaf service of the holidays. In Israel, it is recited daily in the shacharit service and twice on shabbat and the holidays (in shacharit and musaf).
8.  Table 5.1B: Substance Use Disorder for Specific Substances in the Past Year among Persons Aged 12 or Older, by Age Group: Percentages, 2018 and 2019.
9.  Jewish Telegraphic Agency: Alcohol poisoning suspected in death after Fla. Purim celebration.It must be noted that this is not a condemnation of Chabad. Rather, it serves as but one example of how societal pressure often plays a heavy role in one’s choosing to drink.
10. Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 695  
11.  Rabbi Yosef Karo, the author of the Shulchan Aruch, was a Sefaradi rabbi, and hence his halachic rulings reflect sefardic practice. Rema (an acronym for Rabbi Moshe Isserlis) was an Ashkenazi, and his glosses are included alongside the rulings of R. Karo.
12.  Ibid.