A Prohibition Regarding Being Drunk

It is Rosh Chodosh Adar today and that means that Purim will soon be upon us. And with Purim drawing nearer it is also time to bring up yet again the huge problem that comes in Purim's train: alcohol abuse. I don't usually repeat postings from a prior time, but frankly, I don't think I'm going to do better than last year's pre-Purim rant on alcohol. http://conversationsinklal.blogspot.com/2008/02/take-cover.html Just a little addendum to the posting: last year Purim was on Friday so some people had a little control, or control was forced onto them. This year Purim is on a Tuesday. And from past experience some of my students are going to walk in on Wednesday looking more than a little green around the gills, if they can make it at all. The aftermath of Purim isn't pretty to see.

The problem is bad enough when it is grown ups who are getting drunk; it's unconscionable that we allow teenagers to get into this condition as well. And there is no halachah that requires this drunkenness--see Matt's guest discussion of the Rambam and drinking here http://conversationsinklal.blogspot.com/2008/02/rambam-on-drinking-on-purim.html

There are enough bad things that can happen to us no matter how careful we are to avoid them. To purposefully put ourselves into harms way--and, not so incidentally, to ruin what is my favorite holiday--makes one wonder about the vaunted intelligence of the human race.