Drinking In/Out of Sukkot [The Jewish Drinking Show episode 142]
Intro With the holiday of Sukkot only days away, a question that arises is which drinking is one allowed to do outside of the sukkah and how much does one need to drink within a sukkah? In this fourth “Drinks and Discussion”-style episode, Rabbi Drew Kaplan leads a text-based discussion on the topic. Previous “Drinks […]
Finding One’s Mate in a Vineyard: Connecting Tu b’Av & Yom Kippur🍇
A fascinating text we read describes something quite fascinating for this time of year: אָמַר רַבָּן שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל, לֹא הָיוּ יָמִים טוֹבִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בְּאָב וּכְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, שֶׁבָּהֶן בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם יוֹצְאוֹת בִּכְלֵי לָבָן שְׁאוּלִין, שֶׁלֹּא לְבַיֵּשׁ אֶת מִי שֶׁאֵין לוֹ. כָּל הַכֵּלִים טְעוּנִין טְבִילָה. וּבְנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם יוֹצְאוֹת וְחוֹלוֹת בַּכְּרָמִים Rabban Shimon, son of […]
Preparing for Passover Begins Now
Last month, during the course of Passover, a couple of buddies and I were reflecting upon kosher for Passover liquors, both those that others held, as well as our own modest collections. While we had modest arrays of options for consuming for the duration of the holiday, we realized preparing for Passover begins now. While […]
The Custom of Drinking Beer on Shavuot
Years ago, a predecessor of mine composed an essay, “Why I Drink Beer On Shavuot” in the Jewish Journal (subsequently re-posted on HuffPost), in which he writes: While conducting some research on Shavuot a few years back, I came across an important footnote in the Netei Gavriel, a encyclopedic series of books on Jewish laws and […]
What to Drink at the Seder During the Holocaust? [Video Clip]
In this clip from the 131st episode of The Jewish Drinking Show, Professor Samuel Levine shares about Rabbi Ephraim Oshry’s rabbinic responsum on what Jews in the Kovno Ghetto could use for their four cups at the Passover Seder:
Four Cups and the Holocaust, featuring Professor Samuel Levine [Episode #131 of The Jewish Drinking Show]
Introduction While the Passover Seder is a celebration of the freedom of our Jewish ancestors from Egyptian slavery and becoming a nation, it is hard to picture this in terms of what the experience of being in the Holocaust, as it was very much not an experience of freedom. Moreover, a cornerstone of the Passover […]
The Innovation of Ḥametz-Selling and Its Aftermath, featuring Dan Rabinowitz [The Jewish Drinking Show Episode #130]
Intro Having previously published episode #24 of The Jewish Drinking Show on “Whiskey As the Catalyst for the Selling of Chametz, the 130th episode of The Jewish Drinking Show delves more deeply into this topic, for which we are excited to have Dan Rabinowitz on the show to discuss this topic. Biography of Guest In […]
Four Cups at the Seder and Consciousness, featuring Rabbi Zac Kamenetz [The Jewish Drinking Show, episode #129]
Introduction With Passover only a couple of weeks away, including the four cups minimum of wine at the Passover Seder, how has the transformative experience of alcohol-consumption been considered in the Jewish tradition? To share a teaching of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810), as written by Rabbi Nathan Sternhartz (1780-1844), on this topic is Rabbi […]
List of Kosher For Passover Tequilas 2023
{Please note that this list is for 2023 (for the 2024 list, see here)} The Greater Phoenix Va’ad HaKashruth has released its annual list of kosher for Passover tequilas, noting that these are silver/blanco-only tequilas, silver/blanco mezcals, and sotols, “even when KFP status is not indicated on the bottle”. This list is organized by manufacturer and comes to […]
Arukh HaShulhan’s Conclusion on Purim-Drinking [Clip from 127th Episode of The Jewish Drinking Show]
In this clip from the 127th episode of The Jewish Drinking Show, Rabbi David Fried and Rabbi Drew Kaplan discuss Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein‘s conclusion on Purim-drinking in his Arukh HaShulhan: