Exploring Jewish drinking wisdom
When Yoseph is sending provisions with his brothers back with them to their father (“וַיִּתֵּ֨ן לָהֶ֥ם יוֹסֵ֛ף עֲגָל֖וֹת עַל־פִּ֣י פַרְעֹ֑ה וַיִּתֵּ֥ן לָהֶ֛ם צֵדָ֖ה לַדָּֽרֶךְ Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had commanded, and he supplied them with provisions for the journey” (Gen. 45.21)), he provides his brothers with changes of clothing and Binyamin with silver […]
This week’s Pshats for Shots parashah sheet for Parashat Miketz is now available.
Following-up on the previous episode of Drinking on Hanukah in which the story of Judith arises in the Shulhan Arukh, this episode features Professor Caryn Tamber-Rosenau in discussing wine in the apocryphal book of Judith. Prof. Tamber-Rosenau has written extensively on the book of Judith in her book Women in Drag: Gender and Performance in […]
When attending a royal banquet or any sort of special feast, one would probably not want to get drunk. However, we see Yoseph’s brothers doing exactly that (Gen. 43.34): “וַיִּשְׁתּ֥וּ וַֽיִּשְׁכְּר֖וּ עִמּֽוֹ and they drank and got drunk with him.” Sure, they are all together, but they don’t know that Yoseph is their brother, nor […]
This week’s Pshats for Shots parashah sheet for Parashat Vayeshev is now available.
The newest episode for JewishDrinking.com: The Show is now up, featuring Rabbi Ben Shefter, wherein we discuss “Drinking on Hanukah”. Here is the podcast episode: Here is the video episode: Related to our discussion is this text in the Shulhan Arukh (OH 670:2): ריבוי הסעודות שמרבים בהם הם סעודות הרשות שלא קבעום למשתה ושמחה Increasing […]
We read of Pharoah’s drink-purveyor and baker as sinning to land themselves in prison in this week’s parashah: “חָֽטְא֛וּ מַשְׁקֵ֥ה מֶֽלֶךְ־מִצְרַ֖יִם וְהָאֹפֶ֑ה לַאֲדֹנֵיהֶ֖ם לְמֶ֥לֶךְ מִצְרָֽיִם the drinks-purveyor of the king of Egypt and the baker sinned to their lord, to the king of Egypt” (Gen. 40.1). What did they do to land themselves in prison? […]
This week’s Pshats for Shots parashah sheet for Parashat Vayishlah is now available.
For those of you interested in last week’s “Wine in the Mishnah” episode with Rabbi Dr. Avraham Walfish, I have now separated out four distinct videos for your viewing pleasure on Wine in Mishnah Berakhot, Wine in Mishnah Berakhot chapter 8, Wine in Mishnah Sanhedrin chapter 8, and Wine in Mishnah Pesahim, which are also […]
We read of Ya’akov setting-up a מצבה stone-pillar towards the beginning of last week’s parashah (Gen. 28.18), as well as later on in the parashah (Gen. 31.51-52). In this week’s parashah, we see him doing so a third time, yet he introduces an innovation into his stone-pillar setting-up: “וַיַּצֵּב יַעֲקֹב מַצֵּבָה, בַּמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר-דִּבֶּר אִתּוֹ–מַצֶּבֶת אָבֶן; […]
