is it assur to drink? or get drunk?
not as a habitual kind of thing but as a one time type of thing?
drinking
Started by
LL3
, Mar 15 2012 12:08 PM
9 replies to this topic
#2
Rabbi Shapiro
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Posted 09 April 2012 - 07:49 PM
It is assur to do anything that increases your Yetzer Horah, or to damage your health. Drinking and getting drunk comes under both of those categories. For an occasional Mitzvah celebration, such as at a Kiddush or a L'Chaim, it is OK to take a drink, but even then, one may not drink to the point where they lose even a little control of themselves, and certainly it would be prohibited to get totally drunk. If taking one drink gets you to that point, use grape juice. Jews under no circumstances engage in social drinking. That is a low and vulgar non-Jewish behavior.
#4
Rabbi Shapiro
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Posted 15 April 2012 - 12:43 PM
That's worse than social drinking. I'm not talking Halachah; I'm talking from a common sense perspective. People who drink socially have a problem, but people who drink to calm themselves down have two problems: One, the drinking, but also two, they cannot handle stress in a healthy way. Problem number two is worse than problem number one, and much more likely to get you into trouble with addiction.
#7
torah613
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Posted 09 January 2014 - 06:41 PM
It is assur to do anything that increases your Yetzer Horah, or to damage your health. Drinking and getting drunk comes under both of those categories. For an occasional Mitzvah celebration, such as at a Kiddush or a L'Chaim, it is OK to take a drink, but even then, one may not drink to the point where they lose even a little control of themselves, and certainly it would be prohibited to get totally drunk. If taking one drink gets you to that point, use grape juice. Jews under no circumstances engage in social drinking. That is a low and vulgar non-Jewish behavior.
How does drinking "increase your Yetzer Horah", what's wrong with having like one drink a day?
And " to damage your health", check this out:
http://www.mayoclini...ol/art-20044551
http://www.medicinen...rticlekey=56016
It seems that "moderate drinking" (one or 2 drinks a day) is fine for most people?
If it relaxes a person, and he keeps it moderate, then whats the problem?
#9
boruchsiper
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Posted 08 April 2014 - 11:15 PM
How does drinking "increase your Yetzer Horah", what's wrong with having like one drink a day?
And " to damage your health"
Everyone has a different tolerance to alcohol. What maybe ok for one person is not for another.
Alcohol, like any other psychoactive drug, changes the way you perceive the world around you by doing some elaborate chemistry inside the brain. Therefore, it can lead you to behave in a way that's totally uncharacteristic of yourself. That's how drinking "can" increase the yetzer horah. Again, the amount that will accomplish this is different for everyone.
As far as health is concerned: There are approximately 88,000 deaths attributable to excessive alcohol use each year in the United States.
I don't think it's a stretch to say that most of those who end up dyeing started with one or two drinks a day. One should be very cautious with alcohol even under "kosher" circumstances.
On relaxation and keeping it modest:
- it relaxes you but doesn't resolve what's causing you to become tense
- it increases the release of dopamine in your brain’s “reward center.”
For the above reasons -- you're less likely to resolve your issues, and more likely turn to booze to help make you indifferent to your problems while making you feel good with the extra dopamine. That's partly why it's so addictive.
I think I'm just echoing what a lot of others answered here, albeit in a little more detail.
