Esther 7: Drinking Games

Wine and "wine-feasts" play a crucial role in the book of Esther. In the first chapter, Achashverosh ordered Vashti to come out when he was "merry with wine". In this chapter, the crucial chapter where Esther reveals to Achashverosh Haman's treachery and Haman is executed, the action takes place at a "mishteh yayin", a "wine-feast" - and one can assume that Achashverosh had once again imbibed a fair amount - in one paper I looked at, "The Function of Mishteh-Yayin in the Book of Esther", by Josh Speolstra, the author argues that the reason for a second feast being necessary after the first one in Esther 5 is that Esther needed for Achashverosh to have reached a certain level of intoxication before she made the reveal, and so when it didn't happen in the first one, she arranged a second one. He argues that Esther was, in fact, extremely skillful and expert at knowing how to handle Achashverosh (and Haman) and use that skill to obtain what she wanted in defense of the Jewish people.

The commandment to drink heavily on Purim is pretty well-known - one is to drink until one cannot distinguish between "Arur Haman" and "Baruch Mordechai". (Intriguingly, the gematria for both is 502!) Of course, this should not happen until after the megillah reading, which one is obligated to listen to intently. But can this really be done without problematic consequence?

Here, we see a very negative result of the intoxication - one sage killing another (fortunately, there was a miracle to reverse it) - but the following year, precautions are taken to avoid the negative consequences. Here is a set of instructions and prayers by Rabbi Shalom Arush, a prominent Breslover rabbi:

Prayer before drinking each glass of wine on Purim
Make sure to say this prayer with true intention from the heart and to not drink even a drop of wine without saying this prayer.
The Entire Purpose of drinking wine, and all of the rectifications dependent upon it, is only if we do not break Jewish Law in even the slightest fashion, and do not cause pain or suffering to anyone else.
You May Only Drink another Cup of Wine on the condition that you know and feel that you can handle it, and that it will only help you and not G-d Forbid the opposite!
(Translator’s Note: Harav once commented that some people can only drink one cup! If there is the slightest chance that you will become a “bad drunk” if you drink more, don’t!)
This tikkun is ONLY through drinking WINE and not through any other alcoholic beverage.
I Hereby Connect Myself, through drinking this wine, On this day of Purim, to all the true Tzaddikim in this generation, and to all the true Tzaddikim who have departed, “The Holy Ones who are in the earth” (and to Mordechai and to Esther), and in particular, to Our Holy Rebbe, Tzaddik, Foundation of the World, “Flowing Brook, Source of Wisdom,” Rebbe Nachman, the son of Faige from Breslev; may their merit protect us, and all of Israel. Amen.
For the Sake of the Unification of the Holy One, Blessed is He & His Divine Presence, with fear & love, and with love & fear, to bond as One the Name of ה ו י "ה (hovaya) blessed is He. The letter “Yud”(י) with the letter “Heh”(ה) and the letter “Vav”(ו ) with the letter “Heh”(ה), with a complete bonding, through the One that is completely hidden, in the name of all Israel.
I am Hereby Prepared and ready to do the will of Hashem, Blessed Be He, to heed the words of the Sages, who commanded us to drink wine on Purim, in order to be worthy to become close and know Hashem, Blessed be He, and the raise up the Shechina from the dust, and to arise the Shechina, our power.
Master of the World, enable me to awaken the great and awesome et ratzon – special time of Divine favor – during the time of drinking wine at the purim feast, to fulfill all of the desires of my heart for the good, and let the verse be fulfilled in me: “And the King said to Esther at the feast of wine: What is your request? It will be given to you! And what do you want? Up to half of the kingdom, and it will be done!”
Enable me to remember very well that this is an awesome and huge time of Divine favor, that there is no time like it the entire year. Let me remember that during this time it is possible to cancel all of the harsh decrees, and subdue all evil, and merit all of the salvations, especially of the soul. Enable me to pray a lot, and plead before you. Don’t let me be a fool and lose this holy time on drunkenness and foolishness.
“May it be Your Will, Hashem, my God and the God of my forefathers, that through drinking this wine I shall become worth of ”one who is worthy will become a head (the Tzaddik).” enable me to always be connected to the “Head” of the Nation of Israel, and be worthy to correct my mind and thoughts, and give me wisdom, understanding and knowledge, to know you and come close to you. give me perfect and complete emuna, and perfect holy knowledge (daat). Enable me to know that all of the “bad” in my life is for my ultimate best. Enable me to constantly praise and thank Hashem, Blessed be He, for the good and the bad.
Through Drinking This Wine…
May I be worthy to go up to the highest intellect that is very high and to sweeten all the judgements in the world.
May I be worthy to mochin d’gadlut – expanded consciousness.
May I be worthy to know that Ein Od Milvado – there is nothing besides You, and to live the truth that I am zero.
May I be worthy to true humility, to forgiveness of all my sins and to correct the Brit (personal holiness).
May I be worthy to rise to the aspect of “remembrance” and always remember the World to Come.
May I be worthy to raise myself to a place that is all good.
May I be worthy to be saved from the aspect of “those who are not worthy become unfortunate.” Enable me to never fall into constricted consciousness, and to never feel sadness.
Completely eradicate from within me the evil of Haman-Amalek, and enable me to never be arrogant or feel better than anyone in the world.
Completely cancel from within me all heresy, and completely cancel the evil of Haman, which is the evil of not appreciating the good, which is the aspect of “All of this is nothing to me,” and may I be worthy to receive the light of thanking and appreciation, and to always be happy with my portion.
May I be worthy to merit true happiness, and to wine that makes one happy.
May I be worthy through this wine of Purim to enter great happiness and tremendous love, within the happiness of Purim.
May I be worthy to always be happy with all my heart and to make others happy.
Through filling my heart with wine, enable me to dance, sing, and praise hashem without end, and thank and praise Hashem with happiness.
Have mercy on me and save me and all of my offspring, and all of the Jewish people, from all forms of drunkenness from wine or other alcoholic beverages, and let me never, ever become drunk, because you revealed through your holy Sages the great blemish that comes from drunkenness, God forbid.
Have mercy on me and save me in your mercy from “wine which makes one drunk” and from “The one without merit goes crazy.”
Save me from sadness and the imagination which brings a person to be crazy, which is drunkenness.
Save me from “wine that makes one drunk” and completely erase from me the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge.
May I be worthy through drinking this wine, to clarify and rectify the imagination, that I have an imagination that is included in holiness and switches over from bad to good.
May I be worthy to complete and straight emuna.
Save me from the “strange fire” and excitement of the evil inclination that comes through drunkenness, and let me never have any desire or excitement from the evil inclination for any lust whatsoever.
May I be worthy that I should have the power to awaken the root of “wine which makes one happy,” and in Your mercy, bring upon me the root of the firstborn and the blessing. Fulfill in me the verse: “My first born nation, Israel” as it says: “Even though I am a firstborn, my roots are high, from the kings of the land.” Shower upon me abundance, good, blessing, mercy, life, peace and every good, Amen.”
May I be worthy through drinking this wine to rectify the sin of Adam the first man, which he sinned through drunkenness, and through this he mixed the good and the bad, and blemished the imagination.
May I be worthy to completely cancel within me the sin of eating the tree of life, and enable me to clarify between the good and the bad. Enable me to rise to the level of the “Tree of Life” and enable me to reach the level of Adam the first man before the sin.
May it be Your will that through drinking this wine, it should be considered as if I fasted from Shabbat to Shabbat.
May I be worthy to come to elevated fear of Hashem.
May I be worthy awaken from my sleep physically and spiritually. Guard me that I should not fall asleep physically or spiritually.
Have mercy on us so that drinking this wine will not harm us either physically or spiritually.
May we be worthy to subdue, divorce, uproot and obliterate the evil of Haman-Amalek and his great filth, to wipe away his name and all remembrance of him from this world.
May we be worthy to draw upon ourselves the holiness of Mordechai and Esther, the holiness of the fiftieth gate.
May we be worthy to draw upon ourselves the happiness of Purim throughout the whole year, and to be happy together with Hashem, the Blessed One, with great happiness always.
May we be worthy to the holiness and purity of the “Red Heifer.”
May we be worthy to the true holiness of Pesach, and not stumble at all in the sin of chametz throughout all the days of Pesach.
“May the pleasantness of Hashem, our God, be upon us – may He establish the work of our hands for us, and the work of our hands may He establish it.” (x2)

Rabbi Arush clearly has the OPPOSITE view of the Rambam, through this prayer over the wine, one should NOT FALL ASLEEP!!!
What are we to make from all of these views of wine and drunkenness in connection with Esther?
I'm going to bring in a popular saying, "In vino veritas" - "In wine is truth" - the idea that when one is drunk, one's true character comes out. Many years ago, a friend of mine would get together, drink, and discuss theology - and she remarked that after a couple of Long Island Iced Teas, I became both more convincing and more insistent in my theological arguments! Achashverosh, in the first chapter, when he became drunk ("merry with wine"), became more evidently a misogynistic sexual harasser of his wife (in particular - and women in general).
Purim is a time of wearing costumes and masks and hiding one's true identity - indeed, some have interpreted the very name Esther as referring to G!d's concealment, referring to this past Shabbat's parshah.

WEIRD NOTE: I always use the format feature of Sefaria to change the Divine name to the substitutes (e.g., Elokim for Elohim in the Hebrew). For this sourcesheet, given that Esther does not contain the Divine name, I realized there would probably not be any instances, but turned on the feature anyway - until I noticed that it changed "elohim acherim" - "other gods" - referring to false gods - to "elokim acherim" - so I turned off the feature, since changing that instance would seem to imply that the false gods were the true G!d!

But maybe, in the enhanced/impaired consciousness that the wine brings, there is an end to concealment, and our true character is revealed - much as Haman's true character was revealed by Esther at the wine-feast in tonight's chapter. And, of course, there are other, healthier ways (both physically and spiritually) to reach this revelatory expanded consciousness, as Rabbi Arush's prayer indicates - prayer, learning, self-reflection.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What has been your experience of the drinking that takes place on Purim? Positive, negative, both?
2. Have you had experiences of expanded consciousness in which you understood yourself more clearly?
3. What do you make of the interplay between G!d's concealment (no mention of G!d's name in the megillah) and G!d's revelation of G!d-self (the miraculous deliverance that occurs from Mordechai and Esther being in exactly the right place at the right time?
4. Will your experience of Purim be changed by our 929 study of Esther? How do you anticipate it changing?
5. What is your ideal Purim costume and why? Is there a spiritual meaning to this costume?