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Police Officer, I Was Obligated By Religion To Run The Traffic Light

As I've posted before, Purim is the Jewish equivalent to Mardi Gras in terms of the shit-faced factor. Being mandated by religion to drink and be merry absolves of us some measure of guilt and accountability in our uninhibited actions. But how much is too much?

The New Jersey Star-Ledger takes on this question in an editorial today.

Two? Four? Seventeen? How many glasses of wine, or shots of whiskey or vodka, is an observant Jew to drink Sunday for the festive holiday of Purim?

That sacred Jewish writings demand at least some alcoholic indulgence on this day, there is no doubt. The best-known passage of Talmud on the subject favors drinking until good and evil are indecipherable.

So when should a Purim-observant Jew stop drinking?

A popular explanation, endorsed by Maimonides, that happens to give rabbis a way to deter excess drunkenness, is that a person should drink just enough to bring on sleep. When a person is asleep, the theory goes, they can't hear the difference between Haman and Mordecai.

"I've always told people that the obligation can be satisfied by going to sleep," said Rabbi Yaakov Wasser, of Young Israel of East Brunswick. "It would be irresponsible for me to tell people to get drunk."

Another answer given is that a person should not drink if they know they can't handle it, or if they won't be able to say their evening prayers.

"You're not to become to the point where you don't know what you're doing and you're wild," said Rabbi Moshe Herson, of the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown. "That removes the purpose, defeats the purpose. The purpose is to maintain a certain sanctity of the holiday so you come to a position where you're elated, with happiness."

So there you have it folks. Drink till you drop, but don't go and beat your spouses or TP your neighbor's houses.

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