Q&A: A person is obligated to become intoxicated
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
A person is obligated to become intoxicated
Question
Is this custom supposed to be fulfilled specifically with wine (as they said that the miracle unfolded through Esther’s wine-feast), or can it be fulfilled with any intoxicating drink?
Answer
The halakhic decisors wrote that even if one falls asleep, that counts as being intoxicated for this purpose. Personally, I don’t know how to adjudicate a question like this. Anyone can say whatever comes into his head.
Discussion on Answer
For some reason, my reply from this morning was omitted. What I meant to say was that the main thing is to reach intoxication, and there is no special value specifically in wine.
That’s not accurate. They said that if he drinks a little wine and falls asleep from the drinking, then he has reached the point of “until he does not know.” It’s not enough just to go to sleep ordinarily. Isn’t that so?!