Don’t be a Drunk
Rebbe Nachman commanded us to steer clear of any intoxicating beverages, including arak, whiskey, cognac, brandy, vodka, liqueurs, beer, wine, and everything else alcoholic…
Translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody
And on the last day you will be allowed to eat. Only you must not sleep, and must not drink wine, so you won’t fall asleep. For the essential thing is not to sleep.” So he went and did accordingly…
As we mentioned earlier, the princess eased the demands on the viceroy and this time allowed him to eat. She warned him, though, to stay clear of intoxicating beverages that sink a person into slumber, for the main thing is to stay awake. Rebbe Nachman teaches in several places that intoxication confuses one’s powers of imagination and reduces a person to a state of material and spiritual slumber.
Our holy Rebbe commanded us to steer clear of any intoxicating beverages, including arak, whiskey, cognac, brandy, vodka, liqueurs, beer, wine, ale, and everything else with an alcoholic content except in the fulfillment of a mitzvah, such as drinking wine on Purim or Passover, when we make extensive spiritual preparation so that we can fulfill the mitzvah in complete holiness. Drug use is also out of the question, for heavy-drug users lose their human image.
Light Drugs
Particular dangerous are the so-called “light” drugs, which in certain respects are more harmful than the life-threatening heavy drugs. Users of light drugs think that they can still function normally, hold a job, maintain a marriage and family, and the like. The truth is that they destroy everything in their path including themselves. A person in the self-destruct mode can’t stand the slightest challenge, stress, or pressure. He or she seeks a head-in-the-cloud existence with no demands and no responsibility. Light-drug users lose their inner strength and resolve, self-image, and motivational powers. They ultimately lose their jobs and their marriages, sowing seeds of misery wherever they go, Heaven forbid.
Unfortunately, light drugs have become so widespread that some people insist that their various substances help them attain sensations of uplifting, inspiration, and other nonsense. Any drug-induced sense of being uplifted or inspired is none other than the alien fires of the Sitra Achra, or dark side of spirituality.
Alien Fire
We learn in Parshat Shemini (see Vayikra, chapter 10): “The sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, each took his fire pan and they put fire in them and placed incense on it [the fire – LB], and they brought before Hashem an alien fire that He had not commanded them. A fire came forth from Hashem and consumed them, and they died in front of Hashem.”
Our sages examine the sin of Nadav and Avihu, and write that Nadav and Avihu wanted to serve Hashem under the influence of alcohol. They certainly weren’t drunkards; on the contrary, they were tzaddikim of the highest level. Their mistake was that they believed they could attain even higher spiritual heights by way of substance usage.
Hashem doesn’t want “spiritual heights” that result from the alien fire of outside substances like wine, liquor, and drugs of all sorts. These are the alien fires that Hashem doesn’t want. Hashem wants our spiritual gain that results from yearning, dedication, perseverance, and hard work. With proper effort, we merit a fire from Heaven that kindles in our hearts in the holy love and enthusiasm for Divine service. Such a fire is complete holiness, free of any impurity or alien influence.
No to Tobacco
Even cigarettes are light drugs, for nicotine is a habit-forming substance. Smokers have the illusion that smoking calms them and helps them to think. Spiritually and physiologically, nothing could be further from the truth. Smoking seriously constricts blood vessels, and hampers the flow of blood to the brain and heart that is so necessary for a calm and a clear mind. Smoking destroys the heart and the lungs and endangers a person’s health. Hashem has no gratification from a person smoking.
Cigarettes, like other light drugs, enslave people, consuming both their money and their health. Rebbe Nachman forbade tobacco consumption on behalf of his disciples. He said that it’s not befitting for a servant of Hashem to smoke. He asked rhetorically, “Don’t we have enough bodily urges without adding tobacco?”
The thought of a servant of Hashem that requires inhalation and exhalation of smoke to attain vitality is disparaging. It’s also a defamation of Hashem’s Name and a gross insult to Torah and mitzvot, as if to say that Torah and mitzvot are not enough to satisfy a person, Heaven forbid. Also, the smoker violates the commandment to protect and preserve his own health. Even worse, researchers have proven that smokers endanger others, forcing them to inhale secondary smoke. What gives them the right to cause damage to other people, oftentimes to their own spouses and children?
Even if a person doesn’t see himself as a servant of Hashem, anyone with the slightest common sense realizes that smoking holds no benefits, only damage. Any smoker should take an honest look at himself and say no to tobacco. Suffering a few days of nicotine withdrawal is far preferable to a life of suffering and enslavement to tobacco.
To be continued.
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