Q&A: Drinking Wine on Purim
Drinking Wine on Purim
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I wanted to ask: every year I run into discussions about drinking wine on Purim—whether one should drink, whether one must not drink, and so on and so forth. My question is: seemingly, since most people in the world (if I’m not mistaken) drink on Purim, and many actually get quite drunk, that would make it an obligation by force of custom. Do you agree with that?
Answer
Obviously there is no prohibition against drinking. As for an obligation, it is commonly accepted that there is one. But some disagree (see, for example, here: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A9%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%99%D7%AA_%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9F_%D7%91%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D)
In my opinion, there is no obligation by force of custom. Some do not drink, and if it is actually prohibited, then custom cannot override that.