Parashat Shmini
Rabbi Goldin
After Nadav and Avihu’s death, Hashem tells Aharon about the prohibition of drinking wine while the Kohanim are doing their jobs. Rabbi Goldin says that this is obvious; of course a Kohen can’t do his jobs while intoxicated because he won’t be able to think clearly or do his job well, so why is the Torah saying the obvious? And why is the Torah singling out wine, shouldn’t it be all alcoholic beverages?
Rabbi Goldin asks very good and interesting questions. If the Torah is telling us something obvious, then there is a deeper meaning to it which I would like to continue reading the Divar Torah to find out and it’s also very interesting that the Torah singles out wine because there are a lot of other drinks that have the same effect.
Rabbi Goldin answers by saying we can infer from findings what was common during that time. So when the Torah singles out wine, we can infer that wine drinking was very common at that time. However, there is another answer as well. Wine is found in some of our rituals and services to Hashem. So, if wine is used in moderation, it can be positive in Jewish practice. However, wine can also be used to worship idols and is prohibited to us (yayin nesech).
So if the Torah was only concerned about the Kohanim making a mistake, all alcoholic beverages would be treated equal. However, wine is singled out to show that if used in moderation, it enhances our connection to Hashem. However, if used too much and used to escape reality, it ends up being a bad thing and a separate prohibition.
This Divar Torah by Rabbi Goldin is very good. He shows us a very important message that one thing can be used for good and bad, depending what it’s being used for. And he shows us the Torah has a reason for singling it out which shows it’s separate prohibition that it can have.
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