שתיית אלכוהול וקידוש על משקה

00:00 Speaker 1 This is Igros, and today we are going to tackle a subject, or at least, uh, begin to tackle a subject that I cannot believe we've never talked about before. At our Gimmel Tammuz farbrengen this year, the subject of making kiddush on mashke came up. Mashke, for those of you listening at home and are, uh, maybe, maybe in a good way, not connected enough to our culture to know the word mashke, that is hard liquor like vodka or whiskey. Uh, the conversation about it came up whether you can make kiddush on this substance. And in general, th- there's always talk about the Rebbe's position on saying l'chaim, so it's a subject that I'm surprised we've never covered. Uh, from the year nineteen sixty-three onward, chaf gimel, that would be sixty-three, right? You know me and dates. But from the year nineteen sixty-three, I think, onward, the Rebbe issued a decree essentially banning alcohol consumption. Uh, and more precisely, he limited it to a maximum of four very small cups drank in one sitting. At that same talk, as we're going to see today, he completely outlawed kiddush on mashke, and, uh, kiddush on mashke. And th- this is a theme that continues throughout the subsequent years. We have a handful of anecdotal stories about exceptions the Rebbe may have made, but all of our primary sources indicate that the Rebbe not only did not reduce this decree, but that if anything, he would like to see it strengthened and would like us to drink a whole

01:03 Speaker 1 lot less. So today I have some letters, some sichas, some private audiences. Uh, all of it together paints a pretty clear picture. Um, let me just give you the, uh, the headlines, and then we'll go through it, and then you'll decide if those headlines are what you draw from the letters, the sichas, and the yechidias as well. But here are my headlines. I wrote some down in my own notes, and that is, uh, number one, uh, drinking until drunk is off the table, or maybe it's under the table. I don't know. That's a good joke. Maybe it's under the table. Even if it's, uh, less than four drinks, the Rebbe has a couple letters where he says this explicitly, or sichas where he says this explicitly, that the four-drink limit has nothing to do with, uh, nothing specifically to do with drunkenness. That is, that it becomes very clear that a Hasid is never allowed to be drunk under any circumstances. And when I say any circumstances, I don't mean that. Uh, the Rebbe makes a clear exception on Purim. But outside of Purim, drunk is not allowed no matter how much. So if a l-- if a little, if a little drop of mashke makes you drunk, it seems the Rebbe doesn't want it. We'll see a letter to that effect first today. Uh, drinking more than four drinks is off the table. I, I don't see a clear exemption to that for anybody, including people over the age of forty. We'll see that

01:57 Speaker 1 inside, you know, talk to your mashpia. Um, making kiddush on mashke, as far as I can tell, is off the table with the possible exception of Simchas Torah and Shemini Atzeres, where the Rebbe leaves some room for it. But even then, he doesn't leave any room for it for people who are under the age of forty, even in the anecdotal sources. The only time it seems that Hasidim should be drinking excessively is on Purim. So those are my headlines that I pulled out of all of this. Uh, if this is not the shiur for you, and, uh, that is not what you want to hear today, now is a good time to leave because we are about to prove it. Uh, here we go. This is the first one we're gonna look at is the letter. This is labeled Hey Taf Taf Samech Alef. I'm gonna take my time today, so, you know, obviously feel free to leave after thirty minutes, but if these take us a little longer, let's do this right. So the letter is Hey Taf Taf Samech Alef. This is from chaf meh hesh van taf shin yud heh. So this is before the gezirah, and the Rebbe writes, "V'eneh, vayeidun divrei rabbeinu haziyanu hakodeshim," with a whole bunch of honorifics, "neged inyam k'eilu." The-- is well known already that our Rebbeim have spoken at length about, uh, against these sorts of things. That is, that these things are against the wishes of our Rebbeim. Zeis ameres, "neged shtias mashke bechalal,

02:55 Speaker 1 milvad bizman simcha." That is, our Rebbeim, as is well known, are against drinking mashke in general, unless it is a time of simcha, unless it is, you know, a wedding, a bar mitzvah, I don't know, a, uh, a farbrengen. But not to just, you know, go home and drink, obviously. That's not something we do. "V'gan az b'midah mugbala, m-m-mugbala." And even then, our Rebbeim were very specific about the fact that this should be done in a limited way, even in a time of simcha. "V'kol achei v'acheis b'even ha'mati meilav," and everybody should do exactly what is fit for them, zeis ameres. And that is to say, "Im yesh chashash omer sheyshtakar afil b'midah ktanis halmashke." That is, if there's even a concern that somebody might get drunk from even a very small amount of hard liquor, "gam b'midah zu asur inyan shtiya." Even in that, even in that amount, it would be asur to drink. So this is the Rebbe explicitly saying that if you are a lightweight like me and, uh, a sip or two of mashke and you are out, then you can't even have a sip or two. I'm not really a sip or two. I can do a little more. Don't worry, Sarale. I see you. I see you saying I'm ruining the farbrengen. We can have a little. But, uh, the Rebbe is saying here that the amount that makes you drunk is already off-limits to you, and the lashon he uses is asur. "Gam b'midah zu asur inyan shtiya."

03:54 Speaker 1 That it is forbidden to drink at all the am-- a-any, any amount that would get you drunk. "Im afil u'inyan shleima beharsi darshahu az dah." If even in private we would say that this is the requirement, "al achas kam, kamah b'eitzis tzibburam." This would certainly apply at a public farbrengen, that you absolutely cannot be drunk. "V'ina rabbeinu darshahu az dah," our Rebbeim, they demanded this. They sought this out and demanded it. "Zeh sdos meshanem u'kamah deros." They demanded this already for tens of years and for many generations. "V'yam eleh drisha zu oit kivah v'chamur yeser." And in our days, says the Rebbe, this is more important. This is something that, uh, is actually a recurring theme, uh, that is worth pushing back on. I mean, it's worth telling people what the Rebbe has to say about this because people really do get this point more than any of the other points wrong. I've heard many times people make the claim, I know I'm editorializing, but I've heard people make the claim many times that, uh, that whatever the Rebbe had to say about not drinking or about not using psychedelics or about not using certain drugs back then, uh, as we get deeper into galus, it becomes necessary to use them because the world is getting more, uh, coarse and it requires things to lighten us up. The Rebbe here very specifically says that it's the opposite, that in these generations, we need to be more careful about controlled substances. You'll see that specifically here.

04:57 Speaker 1 "V'ina rabbeinu darshahu az dah," our Rebbeim demanded this, "zeh sdos meshanem u'kamah deros," already for tens of years and many generations. "V'yam eleh," and in our days, "drisha zu oit kivah v'chamur, v'chamur yeser." In our days, this demand is even more strong. It's even more important to make sure not to be drinking too much. "Keyven shemechad gisa kol achei v'achem oter l'sachev v'lachfitz m'ayanes chutzah." Number one, it's more important now to be sober because we now all have the sacred obligation of spreading the wellsprings outward, that is influencing our fellow Jews positively. "L'chein al avdi zar b'yes v'yes v'kol inyan sheyakol sheyakol likalkel azah." Therefore, a person has to be very careful to avoid anything that could get in the way of that. And obviously, it's not great for PR and also not great for, you know, it's hard to put tefillin on somebody when you're falling on them. Uh, it's, it's not great for our mission to be drunk. "Lech gisa," and in addition to that, from the other end, the Rebbe says, "hine davka b'ikvah d'mashicha mistaber cheshech halgalus." In these days, the, uh, final moments before Mashiach comes, "mistaber cheshech halgalus," the darkness of the exile has gotten stronger. "U'vemeilah gam chemei haguf," and therefore the, uh, I don't know, the coarseness, the, uh, physicality of the body has also gotten stronger. "Shelechain inyanam ohr lagmah meibi l'shtaka, l'shtiya bechalal." That it's the entire thing we're talking about, not just drunkenness, drinking in general. "Alulya gibir es hachemer" that will make the

06:08 Speaker 1 coarseness, the physicality of the body stronger. "Lehavia lezeh v'lakamut yitasht lilius v'ahasurus," and will lead more inevitably than usual to all sorts of things that are not ideal and maybe even asur. The Rebbe doesn't say maybe even. He says, "and asur." So what the Rebbe's saying here is that in these final days of galus, where our body is more coarse, a lot of people would argue that in a time of coarseness, you need more l'chaim to lighten you up. That is not at all what the Rebbe's saying here. The Rebbe's saying here that in a time of galus where the body is more coarse, you have to be more careful about controlled substances because your body is better than it was in prior generations at twisting you in the wrong direction and causing you to do something asur with your drunkenness. So, uh, we have two big ideas here that I've heard, I've, I've heard the opposite of what's in this letter so many times. So I really think this is a sadistic letter, a fundamental letter I've heard before many times that in the modern era, we can be a little more lenient with the mashke because we need to loosen up. The Rebbe says the opposite. We should have even less nowadays. I've, uh, I've heard many times that the Rebbe's decree of four applies to everybody equally, um, and that, uh, and that even if that gets you-- even if, even if you're drunk at two, you've got another two in you.

07:05 Speaker 1 The Rebbe here very clearly says that even if a very small amount gets you drunk, you're done. You're done far before that. Uh, this really pushes back against a lot, at least of the culture that, uh, that I've heard about, and it's a, you know, it's a letter. It's a letter. It's, uh, one of our primary sources. I have a sicha I'm very fond of. This is the one that I quote most often when talking about alcohol. So this is one that I had at my fingertips. That letter I just found today for the first time. I love that letter. It's going into the repertoire. But this one, uh, the Rebbe talks about having l'chaim at a farbrengen, and here the Rebbe says, “Afshi iz var iz geshunren bian gashmi.” Even though it's true that a farbrengen does need to be attached to physical matters. “Ach in a veshtia,” that is, you're supposed to eat and drink at a farbrengen. And by the way, you're supposed to have a little l'chaim at a farbrengen. The Rebbe says, “Mumen hapashut shatsartlich iessen tantes a hirus shehashtia la, shehashtia la savi lebilbul hadas.” The American can do a common comment. The Rebbe says it is mumem hapashut. It is very well understood that this needs to be done with incredible carefulness, that the drinking will not lead to bilbul hadas. Now you tell me what bilbul hadas is. Bilbul hadas means, uh, confusion of the mind. I would translate that as drunkenness. I might even translate that

08:02 Speaker 1 as tipsiness. So this cannot lead to bilbul hadas. As we've spoken about many times, we've said many times over that a farbrengen should not lead me to the place where I am tipsy. That would be completely inappropriate or at least, at the very least, drunk, and I think even tipsy this applies to. “Amal idach gisa,” on the other hand, “snichlis veis mashke,” at the same time, you gotta have some mashke at a farbrengen, right? You gotta have something there. “Mesameach lekim la-Hashem,” brings joy to God and man. Uh, “Rak shehashitia yihiye bekamos ksan avieses.” But look at that lashes. The Rebbe says the drinking, however, should be the absolute minimum quantity. “Im kol hagbolos zeze,” with all limitations about this. “Kemaduva kamei palmim,” as we've spoken about many times. “Shedavar talui be'etzone,” that the entire-- What he's gonna mean is, if you look at the end of the sentence, what he means here is that enjoying a farbrengen and feeling a sense of simcha and being able to dance, this is all dependent upon somebody's will. It's not dependent upon what they drink. It's talui be'rotze, be'etzone. It's dependent on your willpower. “Shebe'midoytze be'emes,” if you truly want to tap into the farbrengen, and if you truly wanna feel joy, “lei nagia kamos hamashke,” it's not gonna matter how much you drank. Uh, "Ve gam aye be kamos ksan afshehu defail im yuna simcha." Even with a very small drop, you put a little mashke on your tongue, and with that alone you'll be able

09:03 Speaker 1 to have the same joy as someone who is-- probably much better joy than someone who is rolling around under the table. Uh, so the Rebbe here is saying that, uh, taking-- reducing our amount of mashke should not impact the farbrengen. There should be a little mashke at the farbrengen, but if a person has a little sip, it's not gonna get in their way. Now, where is all this coming from? Uh, whether this comes before or after the year nineteen sixty-three, this all comes from nineteen sixty-three. In nineteen sixty-three, we have a foundational sicha. The foundational sicha is from Parashat Shemini. It's, uh, from Mevarchen Chides iyar tav shin chuf giml. And here the Rebbe put out the gezeirah, the great decree. Um, something that, uh, a, a joke that might not land so well with you guys. I'm gonna look at your faces and see how it happens. But, uh, uh, it occurs to me that outside of Lubavitch, when somebody says the word the gezeirah, they usually are referring to a time of like a pogrom or something, or a time of horrible pain and suffering for the Jewish people. In Lubavitch, if you wanna know everything we think about alcohol in one moment in our hearts, uh, you-- all you need to know is this, that in Lubavitch, if you say the word the gezeirah, everybody goes, "Oh, the time the Rebbe told us to drink a little less." He didn't even say to drink that much less. He limited us to four

10:03 Speaker 1 l'chaims, and that's the gezeirah. So, uh, but this is a, this is a period of time people talk about. This is the famous sicha, and the part of the sicha that I wanna focus on, up higher in the sicha, the Rebbe says alcohol is disgusting and people shouldn't be involved in it, and our rebbeim didn't like it, and the Friediker Rebbe, uh, told stories of Hasidim farbrengen with a bottle on the table that they never drank. But then the thing that I wanna mainly talk about today, I don't wanna spend much time at all today on the actual, uh, gezeirah. I wanna spend the rest of our time together on one prat of the gezeirah, one point, which is kiddush on mashke. So for that purpose, I'm showing you only the bottom of the sicha where the Rebbe spells out exactly practically what he wants people to do, especially regarding kiddush. Uh, and we have here, this is a entry. This is, uh, chuf. “B'degeulei pail,” practically speaking, says our Rebbe, “kiddush.” Kiddush should be made, uh, only on wine or on bread if you don't have wine available, but not on mashke, hard liquor, not for kiddush. As you see, there is an enormous footnote down there that lists a bunch of other sources. We're gonna see some of them in a moment. Don't get too excited. The Rebbe continues. It's true. The truth is that al pi halacha, halachically, it is dead. There's definitely room for kiddush on mashke. “Al yeheesecha chamer medina,”

11:10 Speaker 1 since it is considered the national drink, especially of Russians, but it's a national drink. It's a chamer medina. It's a local beverage, and you're allowed to make kiddush on local beverages. “Uvnei chami busa,” another reason why you're allowed to make kiddush on mashke according to Jewish law is because it is, uh, beloved. People like mashke, especially right after Pesach. That's where it's brought in halacha. That right after Pesach, there was a minhag in some communities to specifically make kiddush on beer right after Pesach because of how much they loved the beer. There was special chavivos, a special, uh, dearness of it that, uh, made people, um, that made people more likely to, uh, I guess take-- uh, to, to have something that would be, uh, honor for kiddush. So there definitely is room in halacha, in Jewish law, for having kiddush on mashke. The Rebbe says despite that, “Hareh ki she'ifal be'atzmeich mashkia et leivavem moies.” But if you work on yourself the way I want you to, to, says the Rebbe, and you convince yourself that it is a disgusting thing, as the Friediker Rebbe said it was, “Memale yispatel imina chavivos.” It will-- That will get rid of any sort of appeal that you have for it. So the whole theory in Shulchan Aruch of why one could make kiddush on mashke is 'cause people like it. And the Rebbe's saying, "I don't understand how a Hasid could like it. The Friediker Rebbe told me it's something disgusting. I want you to work

12:09 Speaker 1 on yourself till you find it so disgusting you can't make kiddush on it. If you find it appealing, you're missing out on what, on what it really is." The Rebbe then continues, “Ki shemakayim al yayin,” when a person makes kiddush on wine, “ein lishtis es kol hakos.” They shouldn't drink the entire cup. They shouldn't drink the entire cup. “Eller eig kos dilo,” only the majority of the cup. So he's limiting even our wine consumption, except for Pesach, where you do need to drink the entire cup. “B'degeulei meris simcha,” that's the Rebbe's words. When it comes to, uh, happy occasions, “b'filu simcha.” “Chas chasen,” even when it comes to a-- the joy of a chasen at his wedding, “She'alah amru b'Gemara shechomas meichas chas chasen zecher l'Torah shnitnech hamisha pelis.” The Gemara tells us the incredible reward that comes from rejoicing with a chasen, with a, uh, with a-- What, what is a, what is a chasen? A groom? With a groom. “V'aden zeh b'degeulei sefadas chasidus staam,” and also regarding farbrengens, “lo yamru yeisim migimar palm l'chaim.” Nobody can say l'chaim more than three times. But okay, this is specifically over small cups, not over big cups. People try to get around this by having these giant cups with a limitation, uh, specifically small cups. And when you put all of them together, you should not have more than the measurement of a Reviis, which is the size of a small kiddush cup. So we have here the Rebbe placing a pretty strong gezeira down

13:13 Speaker 1 where he wants us drinking a lot less, and specifically no kiddush on mashke. I kept reading mainly because I wanted you to see this part on Chaf Alef. As we spoke about earlier in the sicha, everything he's saying is people who are younger than forty years old, and we have some people older than forty years old on the call. So I'm sure you're feeling pretty good right now. Uh, the Rebbe, I don't think gives you as much latitude as you think he does. Look at the next paragraph. As for those of you who are older than forty, about then the Gemara says drinking is good for them. Absolutely, says the Rebbe. I would love you drinking more. And you know what drinking more is? Drinking more of the wine of Torah. I would like you to study the Torah. I want you getting more into Kabbalah and more into Hasidus. The Rebbe does not anywhere in the sicha, as far as I can tell, say that the people over forty should be drinking. He says the people over forty should be learning more Hasidus. This particular kind of drinking they should do a whole lot of. The drinking of learning Torah is a Hasidus, learning Kabbalah. That person needs to dip themselves in the waters of knowledge of Torah. That everything I'm telling you applies to all places. It applies here in America. It applies in other countries. Or maybe they like drinking more. I know it applies in Russia. You guys are going to--

14:26 Speaker 1 going to spread around-- Just gonna spread the word. You're gonna let everybody know and hand over this information, uh, to everybody who is not here right now. And then the Rebbe says, "There is one day that I'm not gonna touch." He goes regarding one day of the year, Purim. I don't wanna mix in with Purim. And he says there's two reasons I don't wanna mix in with Purim. So the gezeira, the decree against not drinking more than three or four cups is, uh, not going to apply on Purim. And the Rebbe says why. He says two reasons. Number one, because on Purim we have to reach the level of ad d'lo yada. We have to reach a level that transcends intellect. When you reach that level, when you reach the level ad d'lo yada, the yetzer hara is not going to try to tempt you to take mashke in the first place. So the Rebbe basically says, if you do Purim right, you're gonna come into Purim with the kind of ad d'lo yada that doesn't want to drink, which is just wild to read. And the second reason he says is the main one. By Purim time, Mashiach will come, and then it'll be a time that is all mashke, which is an expression, that the entire world will be full of Torah, uh, be full of, uh, godly knowledge. And so the Rebbe says, number one, I'm not canceling mashke on Purim because if you're doing Purim right, you won't want it anyway.

15:37 Speaker 1 And number two, I assume Mashiach will be here by Purim time, so I put in place a gezeira for Purim when you're going to be celebrating with Mashiach in a time that is entirely drunk. From this sicha alone, if this is all we had, I think everybody would agree that there's no room for kiddush on mashke. This is not all we have, though. The story continues, and it gets a little more complicated, so let's look at the other sources. But from this sicha alone and from the letters we saw, we saw a letter where the Rebbe says, "I never want you drunk." And honestly, I, I know that some people have a high tolerance, but kiddush on mashke is, uh-- it's, it's hard to imagine somebody making kiddush on mashke and not getting to the point that the Rebbe says he doesn't want people at bilbul hadaas, which is some sort of a confusion of the mind. Uh, but then you have this sicha over here the Rebbe says specifically, "I don't want it." It seems like the story should be over. I think more or less the story is over, but let's look at some of the other sources just to be fair. As long as we're on the topic of the sicha, I will draw to your attention. This is famous. People have heard about this. I've heard, I've heard this repeated at farbrengens. This is a, uh, a hazhora. This is a warning. I wish I could find the year. Did I

16:25 Speaker 1 write down the year? I should have written down the year. This was shortly after, I believe, the, uh, the gezeira. I wanna give the name Rabbi Schneur Zalman Garelik of Kfar Chabad put out the following statement. He said, uh, right now it seems that it's very urgent for me to mention and to, uh, encourage you and to strengthen things that you already knew, uh, from the writings, from the letters of the-- of the Rebbe. So says, uh, Rabbi Garelik that, uh, this is already in a letter. Not only is this in a letter, I heard this from the Rebbe's own-- The Rebbe told this to me when I was by him. The following. This is a quote according to Rabbi Garelik from both letters and from him sp-personally speaking to the Rebbe. Quote, "That is that somebody should only make kiddush on-- Excuse me, should not make kiddush on hard liquor, only on, uh, grape wine or, um, or bread." I want you to let me know who's violating this. The Rebbe wants a report. Obviously, after kiddush you can have l'chaim. As long as it's the right amount for a Hasidish farbrengen, the kind of drinking that will come to good outcomes and not to get a person drunk, God forbid, or to lead to those known outcomes that are not so great. Um, this is something we all have to listen to with This is something we all have to listen to with kabbalas ol. We will do and later on we will

17:46 Speaker 1 understand. He pushes this really hard, this idea that the Rebbe also in private correspondences and also in personal meetings, made it very clear that we should not be making kiddush on mashke, uh, or on bread, and that anybody who is, uh, violating this, we should let him know about that. Okay. There is one story of the Rebbe strongly encouraging, or at least I don't know, strongly encouraging, the Rebbe encouraging making kiddush on mashke on Simchas Torah slash Shemini Atzeres, on Leil Shemini Atzeres to one individual. Um, I will couch this by saying, number one, compared to all the sources we have with the Rebbe saying, no, I'm not sure how reliable this is. This is published, but you will note this is published as a Reshimo Pratis Bil'ti Muga. That is the lowest designation we have in Lubavitch. That is one person wrote this down, and no one checked it. It's not a-- You know, we have plenty of these that are Bil'ti Muga, but the things that have not been checked by the Rebbe are usually also checked by several people. This is the account of one person that was never checked over by anybody else. So that said, this is our lowest bar in Lubavitch, and this is our one source as far as I can tell, where the Rebbe seems happy about kiddush on mashke on Shemini Atzeres. That's the weight of the evidence. Anyway, we will read it because it does exist, and it does make some sense. Leil Shemini Atzeres.

18:46 Speaker 1 One of the people who was, uh, present there said kiddush on, uh, mashke

18:51 Speaker 2 The Rebbe said, "Dover Nachman, glei gezacht." The Rebbe said, "Good job. That's a good thing. I like that you made kiddush on mashke on Leil Shmini Atzeres, because it's Shahares de'Shmini Atzeres, because tonight is Shmini Atzeres." Number one, the Rebbe congratulated him, but only because of Shmini Atzeres. Then the Rebbe added, "Veheys it." The Rebbe added, "She iz b'havir she hu kfar akharai gil arbayim," that he should make it very clear to everybody that he's already over age forty. "Ke'ne shlo yimdu mimenu acherim shlo yigia agayin l'gil arbayim," so that people who are under forty won't, God forbid, learn from him and think that they're supposed to be making kiddush on mashke themselves. So the one case that I was able to find of the Rebbe, uh, be-- of the Rebbe encouraging kiddush on mashke was number one, on Shmini Atzeres, and specifically on Shmini Atzeres, and number two, was meant-- was, uh, was for somebody who was over the age of forty, and the Rebbe said at that point, "Please make sure to let everybody know that you're over the age of forty so that other people don't learn from your deeds." is very, very interesting. They used to make kiddush on mashke in front of the Rebbe in Simchat Torah by day. Chazzan Naftul Shacharis would make kiddush on a full cup of mashke right in front of the Rebbe's face. Many times the Rebbe would smile. The Rebbe never showed it being a displea- displeasing thing at the moment. He was not

19:53 Speaker 2 forty years old. He was over forty years old and used to make kiddush on mashke. But, uh, yeah.

19:58 Speaker 1 Yeah, I think there's pretty-

19:59 Speaker 2 Or one more thing

19:59 Speaker 1 ... there's pr- there's pretty good evidence that over forty the Rebbe's okay with kiddush on mashke on Shmini Atzeres Simchat Torah. You know what I haven't found anywhere besides that this one's the only anecdote. When the Rebbe says the glei gezacht, that's one Rebbe's practice. I, I haven't seen that. People seem to, uh, on some-- on Shmini Atzeres Simchat Torah, people seem to think that the Rebbe is particularly, uh, wants it. Uh, allows it and wants it are different things. I, I don't see much evidence that this is, uh, that this is a derech and it's kashrus. Uh, over here, I have a mind now. This is from Adar Sheni taf shin chaf gimel. It's a letter, and the Rebbe writes. Let me make it nice and big so you can see. I-- this has not been published in Igris yet, so right now it's in Shaarei Halachot Uminhagot. It's brought in a lot of, uh, kontrasim, but it has not yet made its way into Igris, and I don't know why. It's a letter from taf shin chaf gimel. Uh, so I, I don't know why it's not there, but I was unable to find it. In any event, the Rebbe writes, "Ki ein liv hafi la'asvara leKadesh al yayin tzaraf." The Rebbe says, "I am shocked by the, uh, dis..." Shocked in a bad way, shocked and dismayed by the idea to make kiddush on mashke. "Ve'al kupah leKadesh es shtiyas hayayin leKadesh es shtiyas hayayin tzaraf heyfech gamur mitzvas haKodesh haMelech haMelachim

21:00 Speaker 1 derenu." Certainly to make kiddush and then to drink the yayin tzaraf, whiskey, vodka, liquor, the hard liquor. Uh, certainly to make kiddush and drink the hard liquor is the opposite of the command of the Friediker Rebbe, the Nasi of our generation. "Bevadei teikeh lekabolas mechtav zeh," certainly as soon as you receive this letter, "yenaktu ben tzo'em achim uchlat min ha'tikun kol zeh." You will take the most, uh, the most available and most readily available ways to fix this. So the Rebbe says, "When you receive this letter, I expect you to fix what you're doing right now and that this shouldn't happen again. You should send me good news about this bechezer. I want you to write back and let me know that it's been done." "Pashut, shekol ha'nam uchovin lechol echad ve'echad mehem sh'nag kanal." This is one of the keywords we look to in our Igris here. Lest you think this is a letter written to one individual, the Rebbe says it is simple, that everything that I just told you applies to every single person who is doing this up until now. So anybody who has been making kiddush on mashke, tell them that I consider it the opposite of the command of the Friediker Rebbe. It is absolutely something that shocks me as a savara, and I would like you to stop immediately. So these are pretty strong words. Now, there was somebody, this is a very famous story. This one I'm sure you've heard before. Maybe you haven't seen it in

21:57 Speaker 1 writing, though. This is from the Torat. This is the best source I could find. Um, I looked up a couple different sources. This seems to be the one that had the most reliable version. Rav Zamman Butman told the following story. "Shehashai b'yichidis achad m'cheid she'hakayis." He was in a yichidis one time in one of the summer months of the year taf shin chaf gimel. That was the year of the gezera. "Tefufa katzar al achar she'reva hichris al gezera s'mashke." This was shortly after the Rebbe had made the decree about mashke. The Rebbe-- He, he told the Rebbe that he made kiddush every Shabbos day on mashke, and he'd been doing this for years. And the Rebbe said back to him, this is the quote that we have: "Gam Yehudi bigil shivim u'chamesh shana." Even a Jew who is seventy-five years old, "ein lehi la'asot kiddush hayin tzaraf el al yayin." Even a Jew who is seventy-five years old, I do not want them making kiddush on mashke. I only want them making kiddush on wine. "Levad miSimchas Torah," with the exception of Simchas Torah. So Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, there does seem to be some gray area when it comes to people over the age of forty specifically. But outside of that, the Rebbe does not want people making kiddush on mashke on any kind of regular basis. I've seen no heter for it anywhere outside of Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah. Are you all mad at me yet? We're gonna keep on going.

22:55 Speaker 1 I'm gonna get so much hate mail. Um, I have some more things I wanna show you though. This is, uh, from taf shin chaf ches. This is printed in Terias Menachem. Th-those of you who don't like going on taluka will appreciate this one. "Tzedek shabos kades, haves l'chag haShavuos." Since we're getting close to the holiday of Shavuos. "Shaz, uh, heilkim taluka." We're now going on taluka. The custom is for a Hasidim to visit other communities, bring them joy, dance and sing with them a little bit, and of course, share some Torah with them. "Nehdeli," the Rebbe says, "It's been known to me." "Sheyesh m'kehillah," there are some people among the students, "shechazru v'shkilu l'hakel niguel hamashke." They've gotten lenient about the mashke. I'm not sure if this is specifically about the students. You know what? Let's drop it from students. The Rebbe doesn't say it, so let's say it the way it's said. Uh, that there have been some people who have been lenient about the gezera, about the decree about mashke. And of course, they want to go on taluka. "Uvechem, b'niguel halachas shel kol echad," when it comes to the, uh, actual actions of every single person, "yesh l'cha echad b'chir la'asot kedatzonah." Everybody has free will. You can do whatever you want. "Hey bev makash yibaze." You can do the opposite of what I'm asking, says the Rebbe. You, you, you can violate my will. "Aval, b'niguel hataluka b'chag haShavuos," when it comes to the mission of going to other shuls on

23:55 Speaker 1 the holiday of Shavuos, "shezeh hi shlichus shali," that is my shlichus, that is me sending you. "Hine mevakesh lehi di," I would like to let you know. "She'ilu she'einem shomer al tikanos b'niguel al tikanos al tikanos b'niguel hamashke." That those who are not keeping the rules that I've set in place regarding mashke, "einem shluchim shali." They are not my shluchim. "Hine mevakesh lehi she'at taluka." And I'm telling you, I do not want you to go on taluka. Says the Rebbe, I'm asking you not to go on taluka. Don't go. Because of course, you have your own free will to do whatever you want in your private life, but don't act as my shliach if you're not keeping my rules. "Vechem b'niguel l'nitzi v'kays v'shlichas." Similarly, when it goes to the summer, to the summer shlichas, going out to the, uh, the Rebbe does not consider mitzvah tefillin his innovation. Just note to self, the Rebbe does not consider mitzvah tefillin his thing. He says that's a, that's a, that-- putting tefillin on your fellow Jews, that's a, uh, that's a Jewish law thing. But things that are mine, like talucha, "hinim vakeshem leish tavu vazem," I'm asking you not to participate. "Vechola mora hein nagele tamidim, hein nagele avrechem, hein nagele uvogar." And I guess that was a good idea f-earlier, right? The Rebbe says everything that I just told you applies to the students, it applies to the Avrechem, and it applies to the adults. That is, don't take part in my shlichas if

25:41 Speaker 1 you are going to drink beyond my gezeiras. "Yesh ken l'mashivim terutzim." Now, in answer to those of you who are already coming up with answers, the Rebbe goes, "I have you covered." "Yesh ken l'mashivim terutzim." There are those of you who have all sorts of answers to this. "Amas leshenas," all kinds of excuses. "Aval," but, "einei mechapes terutzim," I'm not looking for answers, says the Rebbe. "Kavana ki pashut, ki pashut legamla. Gar bepashut." The Rebbe says, my intent here is specif-- is to be understood in its simplest sense, without any pshatlach. So I-I've heard many times people come up with many, many reasons, side stories and fabregens and ideas why they would be the exception or why this generation, why people should be the exception to the Rebbe's rules. The Rebbe in this sentence over here says, "I know you're doing that. I know you're coming up with answers and excuses and all sorts of ways that you should be the one who's allowed to drink or that people should be allowed to drink under certain occasions that I have not allowed." And the Rebbe says, "I'm telling you." Uh, I, I, I-- the Rebbe cannot, uh, forecast what people are going to come up with. The Rebbe can't forecast every yetzaha. So the Rebbe's saying here, "Let me just let you know, kavanah si bepashut legamla." My kavanah about this is the simplest reading of what I'm telling you. "Lechetlach." Don't give me explanation. No, don't give me your pshat. Don't give me your,

26:42 Speaker 1 uh, your drashah. "Ve'negele avar." However, if you feel right now, if you're feeling charata, don't be afraid. "Ve'negele avar," the Rebbe says regarding the past, "en k'venimitziti." The Rebbe says, "I'm not mad at you about the past. Don't worry about it." "Chas v'shal," God forbid, "I'm not gonna hold it against you." "Klala, klala," not at all. "El eilish nechshil bezezreich lashil b'teshuvah." But if you w- did, if you did, uh, if you did fall in this particular-- if you stumbled in this area, you need to do teshuvah. "Vecholi yesh kav la'atzmi v'kav la'baveh anal," and anybody who resolves from now on to act appropriately, "ein adarav," to the contrary, "v'kach shish tav b'shlichusa, b'shlichus-- b'shlichosios, b'shlichus, in shlichos." Uh, that is, that it's my, uh, I'm asking. I'm saying that if, if you are going to do that from now on, keep my rules properly. "Adarav," to the contrary, I'm asking you participate in the shlichusin that I'm putting together. "Vi'atzin shehav atlah harav," and it should be God's will this is with incredible atlah. So this would apply to making, uh, drinking more than, uh, drinking more than the minimum three slash four. This would apply to drinking until drunk. This would apply to making kiddush on mashke outside of the circumstances we've seen permitted, which is simchas toirah shmini atzeres for people over the age of forty, maybe. It gets a big maybe 'cause both of those accounts are anecdotal accounts. I was unable to find the sichah because it wasn't printed in

27:45 Speaker 1 my Etzer HaChachmah, and I don't have my books with me at work, so I'm giving you a, uh, a version of it that was printed somewhere else. This is from Shabbos Parshas Devarim, Taf Shin Mem, and it's in Sichas Kodesh of the year Taf Shin Mem nineteen eighty. And here the Rebbe writes. We're just gonna do a little bit down here. Um, "V'mashle be-de-davram al zeh bechol isvadis." The Rebbe says it's now nineteen eighty. The Rebbe says I've not spoken at every farbrengen about not drinking so much. So people think because I don't speak about it so much that maybe that means that I've lessened my decree over time. So the Rebbe writes, "Mashle be-davram al zeh bechol isvadis." It's true, I haven't spoken about not drinking so much, the, the decree, the decree against the drinking at all of these farbrengens. "Lo hu biglal k'vi shachem teim u'matim ve'sheitim u'cheifim." Not like those who are incorrect and causing other people to be incorrect and like the fools think. "Sh'ni havazeish ni le kula," that this is because I have changed, and now we're gonna get more lenient. "El adarav," to the contrary. "Ni havazeish ni." If I do change anything about my decree regarding drinking, "hu rak lechumra." I'll only make it more strict, says the Rebbe, that if I change anything, it will be lechumra. You'll, you'll get a note from me saying that we're drinking less. "Sheilakam ishi yu matan le'kahas ava keisis ifru ak shalos keisis." The Rebbe says it could

28:49 Speaker 1 be that I'll go from four down to three. I might update the decree and say that it used to be four, and now it's three. "Ve'shle yasushum kuntzim." I don't want you making any, uh, kuntzim or tricks. I don't want any trickery. It was very much like what the Rebbe said earlier. No kuntzim. "Vi k'shalos keisis b'delis." Don't come to me with three big cups and say you're fulfilling my decree. You know what I mean, says the Rebbe. "Afi le shalos keisis untzais." Not even three medium-sized cups. "El akavanah hi asher achain le shalos keisis k'tanis." The Rebbe says my intent has always been three very small cups. So the Rebbe's now told us twice, uh, please don't get cute. Uh, I think I even named one of my letters. You know, we talked yesterday about the fact that sometimes I name my letters. I named the previous, uh, statement "Don't Get Cute." The Rebbe's saying don't get cute. Um, you know what the Rebbe means. You know that the Rebbe doesn't want more than that amount, and he's saying twice specifically, "I know you're trying to get around it. Please stop." The last thing that I wanna show you, and then we are finally, uh, then, then we're done with this, and we can move on to things that-- more, more pleasant topics. Uh, the last letter I wanna show you is in, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful letters in the entire Igros Kodesh. Uh, it has been, uh, quoted in

29:45 Speaker 1 some of our prior discussions, I believe, but if not, then, uh, it's about time you see it. And one of my favorite things about it is it's written to somebody named Peretz. Look at that. Hey, Peretz, your name is in the letter. It's not you, I don't think, but, uh, I don't think it was you. I'm just kidding. Uh, this is in the year Taf Shin Yud Gimel. It is, uh- Peretz Mutchkin it was. Very, very well could have been. Uh, you-- do you know for sure? Does it say down here? Yeah. Oh, look at the bottom. It is Peretz Mutchkin. Uh, so there you go. Okay. So it's written to the Peretz Mutchkin, and the Rebbe writes, "Shalom u-bracha. I received your letter," et cetera, et cetera. Okay. "Mashkazon moskar al inia mashke." You wrote to me about the subject of mashke, about drinking hard liquor. "Ashi kanir, sh'zeh vehem sh'chem asher dibarti im harav hachasid." Um, I don't know who that is. Does anybody know who that is? Does it say down here? Rav Benzion Chemta. Good job. You- Ben Zion Chemta. Yeah, you, you know me and abbreviations. That's Rav Ben-- that's Rav Benzion Chemta. Very good. "Ve'shadar. Hine kanir." So, uh, he passed on the fact that I'm not-- I don't want people drinking so much, and clearly you got that message, and you're asking me about it. So the Rebbe continues. This letter is from the year Taf Shin Yud Gimel, so this is well before the decree. This is

30:44 Speaker 1 ten years before the gezeira. It's already-- the word is spreading that the Rebbe is not big on mashke, and the truth is the Friediker Rebbe wasn't either, but I don't think the word spread. Here, the word is spreading that the Rebbe is not big on mashke, so, um- So, uh, the message got from Bet Shem Tevet, got all the way to, uh, to Peretz Mushkin, and now they're having a conversation. So the Rebbe says, "Hine, kamira, shle moser anales nimukin gankin." It seems like he didn't hand over the details. So let me give you the details. I want you to understand clearly what we're talking about. "Hu asher ledaiti," in my opinion, the Rebbe says, "nimitz ha'shnei yanu mishdana matza meaz." That for two reasons, the situation has changed from what we used to have back then. "Shehayah mineg reva chinien shityas mashke be shofi." The Rebbe says, and he admits, there definitely was a legitimate Chabad custom to drink a ridiculous amount of mashke, mashke be shofi. So, uh, th-this, this should answer a question that I guess is probably in the back of some of your minds, is that this does not sound like the stories we heard of Lubavitch in Russia. Uh, the stories of Lubavitch in Russia have people, you know, ending up under the table, and it seems to be a positive thing. Is the Rebbe changing the customs of Lubavitch? So, uh, the Rebbe says it absolutely is the case that the widespread custom was to drink a ridiculous

31:41 Speaker 1 amount of mashke in the, uh, shofi, a ton of mashke in the olden days, but things have changed, and I wanna tell you why. And the Rebbe explains himself. "Alef, kininu kvar akeches le'anash." Because already the energy, the strength has been given to the anash. "Ayin dei reva meimar bakalin" through the publication of many simple meimarim and sichas b'yerushalm hasvara, and the publication of many sichas in ar- in areas that-- on subjects that can be understood, b'yerushalm hasvara, ve'avona lepoel. Uh, excuse me, ve'avona period. Lepoel, Hashem b'li shiyus kukin l'mashke be shofi. That is, we've already published enough of these simple meimarim and sichas that are easy to understand and are on topics that the mind grasps, that we no longer need a ton of mashke. "Vedai maspik gam atchaviza," and it's already sufficient, a very small amount. What the Rebbe's saying here in the year, what, nineteen fifty-three, is that as of nineteen fifty-three, we had already published so much easily accessible chasidus that mashke was essentially irrelevant to avodas Hashem, and that was in nineteen fifty-three. Since nineteen fifty-three, I'm editorializing, but allow me for a moment. Since nineteen fifty-three, we have obviously published far more simple meimarim. We have obviously published far more sichas that are easy for people to understand. At this point, the entire thing's translated, explained twenty-five times over. There are forty-five books on every subject of chasidus, all of them, uh, on top of each other. I mean, really, at, at this point, at this point, uh, the

32:52 Speaker 1 idea that, uh, that we would need to drink mashke, the Rebbe has no i-- the Rebbe cannot relate to. The Rebbe says here, "The keychos were already given to Anash through the my ma'am that were published as of nineteen fifty-three, and certainly now we need it even less." The Rebbe continues, "Beis, kemich shubana achmed, in these recent years, v'achon nidrash meitan avgad shi y'seire inda afatz mayalas chutzon, especially since in these, uh, more recent times we have been given the task of afatz mayalas chutzon, of spreading the wellsprings outwards. Hineh, alul in yashofi damashke," the biblical says, the, the, the Yehezkal. This could mess up our holy task of bringing Torah and mitzvahs to our fellow Jews. "Ma shelaav nigah kokach k'afatz zaza haya se matzuya v'adala namas shel chasidim v'anash b'vlad." It used to be that spreading chasidus was in the dalet amas of, uh, the immediate area of chasidim and Anash alone. But now the idea of spreading chasidus is spreading it to the entire world. And given that our job is now a global job of spreading chasidus, not to Anash, who are somewhat tolerant of our drinking, but to the entire world, which is less tolerant of our drinking and less able to be reached if we are drunk, God forbid, uh, it is not appropriate anymore. The rest of the letter is definitely worth reading, but I just wanted to point out these two big reasons and really emphasize that top reason. The top reason the Rebbe is saying that

33:54 Speaker 1 we don't need mashke, that we don't drink mashke anymore, is because we don't need mashke anymore. We saw letters where the Rebbe said it leads to negative things, and in these times it can lead to even more negative things than it used to lead to. And we certainly are concerned about our ability to reach out to our fellow Jews, as the Rebbe mentions in entry Beis here. But really, at least for me, the biggest takeaway is entry Alef. The notion that a Hasid would need mashke is completely foreign to the Rebbe. The Rebbe said in the sicha earlier that a very small amount of mashke touching your tongue, kamas k'tana v'yezer, is enough to get into the farbrengen if you truly desire it. The Rebbe says that a person should work on themselves until mashke is considered a dava moeis, something that they truly consider so disgusting that they can't make kiddush on it. The Rebbe here says that as of nineteen fifty-three, we already had everything we needed to be fully inspired without drinking because he'd already published enough chasidus to do that, and now we have so much more since nineteen fifty-three. The notion that we needed mashke in nineteen fifty-three, nineteen sixty-three, or now, and the notion that we should be indulging in it at all, is as far as I can tell, completely foreign to anything, have anything even vaguely resembling the Rebbe's shita. Uh, we found some room for kiddush on mashke for people over the age of forty on

34:54 Speaker 1 Simchas Torah and Shemini Atzeres, and both of those get a maybe because both of those are not things the Rebbe wrote. Both of those are based on testimonies of people who say the Rebbe said that to them. As far as the Rebbe's actual writing goes, I'm not seeing much here to get anybody out of the Rebbe's basic rule, which is to absolutely limit mashke during farbrengens and certainly not make kiddush on it. Uh, I absolutely would welcome a follow-up class on this if people wanna send me their sources. Uh, but I would ask you, please, if you do send me your sources, uh, saying that you should be drunk every Shabbos, uh, and that you should be making kiddush on mashke regularly, and that it's fine if you're under forty, uh, please don't send me your anecdotal sources. Uh, I'm not particularly interested in hearing other people's stories of what they think they heard from the Rebbe. I'm looking for stuff in writing, letters, sichas, my ma'am, and that sort of stuff. If you've got it, please present it. We'll give a follow-up shiur. Otherwise, I think, uh, I think we'll need less mashke going forward. Uh, that's it. Thanks.