(1) Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before Adonai alien fire, which He had not enjoined upon them. (2) And fire came forth from Adonai and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of Adonai.
(ט) יַ֣יִן וְשֵׁכָ֞ר אַל־תֵּ֣שְׁתְּ ׀ אַתָּ֣ה ׀ וּבָנֶ֣יךָ אִתָּ֗ךְ בְּבֹאֲכֶ֛ם אֶל־אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵ֖ד וְלֹ֣א תָמֻ֑תוּ חֻקַּ֥ת עוֹלָ֖ם לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶֽם׃ (י) וּֽלֲהַבְדִּ֔יל בֵּ֥ין הַקֹּ֖דֶשׁ וּבֵ֣ין הַחֹ֑ל וּבֵ֥ין הַטָּמֵ֖א וּבֵ֥ין הַטָּהֽוֹר׃ (יא)
(9) 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, (10) for you must distinguish between the sacred and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean.
A popular rabbinic exegetical move, known as smichut parshiyot ("joined sections"), uses two closely occurring verses that seem to speak to different topics as a tool for interpreting either verse.
WINE NOR STRONG DRINK. Do not drink wine in a manner that brings out its intoxicating force (Sifra).
AND TO DISTINGUISH. In order that you may be able to distinguish between a holy (valid) sacrificial act and one which has become profane (invalid). Thus you may learn that if one performed a sacrificial rite in a state of intoxication his ministry was invalid (Sifra).
היין משחית הדעת לשותיו ויתערבו לו הדברים. על כן ולהבדיל כי אתה כהן גדול ותבדיל בין מקום הקדש ובין החול והוא מלשון חלול גם יתכן בין יום קודש לחול:
Wine destroys the understanding of him who drinks it, and he becomes mixed-up. You are the High Priest, and you must be able to distinguish between holy places and unholy places, as well as between holy days and unholy days.
DO NOT DRINK. Even though in according to Jewish custom other mourners are given wine to drink, as is written (in Proverbs 31:6), “give liquor to those who are about to perish, and wine to those who are embittered,” YOU AND YOUR SONS MUST NOT DRINK IT is as you are not used to it as you do not observe the customs of mourners. Furthermore, you are prohibited from imbibing on pain of death when you are on duty in the holy precincts to the Temple. It is simply not befitting that a drunk person should perform sacrificial service.
YOU MUST DISTINGUISH. We know from Hosea 4:11 that “wine and new wine destroy the minds of My people.” Issuing decrees, verdicts or religious rulings while intoxicated is therefore not tolerable. Solomon, in Proverbs 31:4-5 is similarly critical of such a practice writing: “wine is not for kings, O Lemuel; not for kings to drink, nor any strong drink for princes, lest they drink and forget what has been ordained.”
DO NOT DRINK WINE OR OTHER INTOXICATING DRINKS. This commandment applies when on that day the priest is called upon to perform service in the Temple. Seeing that the High Priest is called upon to do so daily or at least to be ready to do so daily, it is addressed here to him in the singular mode. It is a cautionary commandment, to protect him against becoming inebriated. We know that normally there are many occasions when the consumption of wine is not prohibited, but is part and parcel of our rituals, and the priests are included in this also.
We know already from Noah’s experience how overindulgence in alcoholic drink can cause man to lose his dignity not only temporarily but permanently.
Solomon, in Proverbs 23:29-31 dwells on the manifold evils that can beset anyone who drinks to excess, so much so that the red color of wine is used by him as a symbol of blood..
Solomon continues with, “only he who will look at the cup will walk upright.” This sounds somewhat peculiar at first glance until we notice that the word כוס for “cup” is misspelled as if it were referring to כיס, "pocket.” What Solomon means is that drinking too much may result in the drunk becoming a thief, desirous of obtaining by illegal means what is in someone else’s pocket.
This is why he continues with, “in the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.” He who aims at illegal gain will wind up walking upright, as he will have lost what was rightfully his and therefore can walk upright having nothing to carry that would force him to stoop under its weight.
Some commentators understand the comparison Solomon makes with the snake as referring to the original serpent, and they explain Adam’s having drunk too much wine when celebrating his nuptials as the cause of his eating from the tree of knowledge as the result of his having been drunk. They suggest that the word כנחש be read as בנחש, that Adam transgressed God's commandment as he too had been seduced by the snake by means of drinking too much wine. Eventually he had become cursed through the serpent. (Proverbs 23:32) This is what the Torah meant when it wrote in Genesis 3:15, “and you shall bruise its heel.”
Seeing that wine had become the means through which man had been led into sin, when we use wine at joyous occasions, we do so after taking permission to do so from the people present by saying: סברי, to which those present respond with the word לחיים, “may this occasion of drinking wine be an auspicious one, leading to constructive life.”
There is an interesting story in the Talmud, Shabbat 66, about Rabbi Akiva having made a festive meal for his son, at which he pronounced the words, “wine for the good life of the scholars and their disciples!”
When Solomon says in Proverbs 23:33, “and your eyes will see strange things,” he means that when under the influence of wine you will imagine that things which are forbidden are in reality permitted. This leads you to commit adultery, and to abuse the power of speech by speaking in a manner unworthy of a sane human being. Not only this, but ultimately it can lead you to commit idolatry. He bases himself on Exodus 32:6, “the people sat down to eat; they drank, and they got up in order to make merry.” Our author quotes a similar verse from Psalms 81:10, the psalmist saying, “you shall have no foreign god and you shall not bow down to an alien god.” In both instances the reference is to the golden calf to which the Jewish people bowed and around which many of them danced.
When Solomon in Proverbs speaks of, “your heart will speak perversities,” he refers to four such perversities; 1) idolatry, 2) forbidden sexual unions, 3) shedding innocent blood, and 4) slander.
In verse 20 of the same chapter in Proverbs where we read, “do not belong to the category of people who guzzle wine, or to those who glut themselves with meat!,” he hints at the ben sorrer umoreh, the wayward son whose end is execution based on the testimony of his own parents. (Deuteronomy 22:18-21) This lad’s corruption had begun because he drank to excess.
On the subject of drinking wine, we have another comment in the Talmud, Eiruvin 65, by Rabbi Chiya son of Ashi, according to which anyone who can drink wine and whose faculties are not negatively affected by this, is on a mental/spiritual level equivalent to the seventy elders who helped Moses look after the Israelites in the desert. He bases himself on the numerical value of the word יין, wine, which is 70. The word סוד, secret, also has a numerical value of 70. Overindulgence in wine, loosens one’s tongue and makes a person unable to keep a secret. One of the outstanding features of the seventy elders was their ability to remain discreet and not reveal what was supposed to be kept secret. Our sages coined the phrase therefore that “when wine enters a person’s body his secrets become revealed.” [One ‘seventy’ is replaced by another ‘seventy.’ Ed.]
Rabbi Chaninah, on the same folio, states that anyone who while under the influence of wine is more open to view his companions agreeably, proves that he possesses some characteristic displayed by his Creator. He bases himself on Genesis 8:21, where God is portrayed as becoming receptive to the fragrance of Noah’s offering. [The Talmud had previously shown that ריח, customarily translated as smell, is also used as a term describing imbibing. In the quote cited, God undertakes never to bring on a deluge again as a reaction to that fragrant odor. Ed.]
When examining why wine was created, seeing that it is potentially destructive in its effect, the Talmud states that Solomon has provided the answer in Proverbs 31:6, where he advises, “give liquor to one who is about to perish and wine to someone who is embittered, (in mourning for a relative). [Our author continues about the subject of wine and its advantages and disadvantages. I have omitted the balance of this paragraph. Ed.]
An alternate interpretation of the introductory words of our verse: the priest is advised not to indulge in intoxicating drink (even when not called for duty in the Temple, and even when in mourning;)