Groggers and beer, two important elements of a Purim celebration (Edmon J. Rodman)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Traditionally, this rabbinic license to party, derived from the Talmud, has been taken to mean one should drink until he or she no longer knows the difference between the two prime Purim players, the wise and brave Mordechai, and the evil schemer Haman, who had plotted to kill the Jews.<\/p>\n
But Haman and Mordechai are characters in an ancient story read just once a year. What about confusing a duo who are higher up in our news feeds? Should we drink so much that we\u00a0confuse the differences between Hillary and Bernie? Cruz and Rubio? Trump and anybody?<\/p>\n
Is the Talmud asking us to enter a wasted state of \u201cI don\u2019t care”? Is it saying \u201clighten up\u201d and forget the battles, political or otherwise, of the day? Or is there some other message here about the morning after?<\/p>\n
Trying to poll my own feelings on ad lo yada, I called Rabbi Drew Kaplan, a self-described “Jewish life engineer” from Long Beach, California. Kaplan said his work at the SoCal Jewish Student Services and SoCal Jewish Young Adult Enrichment is \u201cto help construct and facilitate ways for young Jews to live Jewish lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also, since we’ve had several conversations over the years, I knew this was one rabbi with a discerning taste in spirits.<\/p>\n
I asked him straight out, no chaser:\u00a0\u201cAre we supposed to get blotto on Purim?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaplan, who is keenly aware of the dangers of excessive drinking, responded that there is a \u201cwhole spectrum of answers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some, he said,\u00a0\u201ctake the statement literally and say, \u2018Yes, you must absolutely get so drunk you don\u2019t know.’ And then there\u2019s the exact opposite, which I think is from Rambam, which says, \u2018You just drink a little, take a nap and you\u2019re good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
As for getting sloshed enough to not tell the difference between Haman and Mordechai \u2014 or The Donald and Bernie, for that matter \u2014 Kaplan cautioned that people have vastly different levels of tolerance.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people might get really drunk but still be able to maintain those moral distinctions,\u201d he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of the ethos of Purim is switching everything around, of turning things upside down. It\u2019s the sort of topsy-turvy day of the Jewish calendar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unknowingly, Kaplan was providing\u00a0rationale for my idea to turn\u00a0Purim upside down politically, and party\u00a0until\u00a0I couldn’t tell the difference among the candidates. To get into what the rabbi referred to as \u201cmental flipping,\u201d I wondered: Should I alternately wear Trump and Clinton masks? Should I sip wine and switch back and forth between Fox News and MSNBC until they become blurred into one?<\/p>\n
Snapping me from my fantasy, Kaplan wondered about \u201cpeople who are unable to distinguish and discern,\u201d as he put it. That is, people who without the benefit of alcohol are already\u00a0confused between Haman and Mordechai, between curses and blessings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can\u2019t see the difference between curses and blessings, maybe Purim should be a day when you are going to straighten that out,\u201d I\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like that message,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0responded.<\/p>\n
Maybe this could apply to the election season as well, I thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you suggesting that Purim is a good time to take a rest from politics?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure, Purim is as great a time to let our political affiliations take a rest as ever,” Kaplan said. “One of the messages of Purim is coming together as a people, while politics has a divisive element to it.”<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat will you be drinking on Purim?\u201d I asked, searching\u00a0for something for which we could both\u00a0campaign.<\/p>\n
As a fan of Southern California\u2019s craft brew industry, he acknowledged a preference for \u201cIPAs, sours and barleywines.”<\/p>\n
“What does it feel like when you can\u2019t tell the difference between Mordechai and Haman?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tend to retain my intellectual faculties when drinking,\u201d Kaplan\u00a0answered. Yet Purim is a time when someone\u00a0\u201ccan just experience a carelessness,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
But then, of course, there’s always the specter of the morning after.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tend to recover well off of whiskey and beer,” Kaplan said, “but tequila is another story.”<\/p>\n
Purim may be a celebratory holiday, but this got me worrying: Are we experiencing a carelessness in our current political climate? Is there a benefit from blurring the distinctions among candidates and parties? Or are we just barreling toward a massive\u00a0hangover come the first Wednesday in November?<\/p>\n
Come the morning after Election Day, I started envisioning the kinds of tequila sunrises we might see. And I\u00a0hope, by then, we’ll have\u00a0figured out the difference between curses and blessings.<\/p>\n
(Edmon J. Rodman is a JTA columnist who writes on Jewish life from Los Angeles. Contact him at <\/em>edmojace@gmail.com<\/span><\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n
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