Q&A: Drinking Alcohol from a Torah Perspective
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Drinking Alcohol from a Torah Perspective
Question
Does the Torah / the Sages have anything to say about excessive alcohol consumption? Or is there no reference to it at all?
Answer
Yes. There is a prohibition on those who are drunk from wine entering the Temple, performing the service, or judging. And Nachmanides, on “You shall be holy,” wrote that this is reprehensible (“a degenerate within the bounds of the Torah”).
And also, pretty much every time it appears in the Book of Proverbs, it’s in a negative context, condemning drunkenness.