Whisky Competition and Purim Shpeal

Whisky Competition (Status=Closed)

The competition is open to anyone living in the Yerushalayim and surrounding area.

Entries will be accepted up to Purim (2010)

I have two miniature bottles of J&B to give away as a prize to the first two who answer these simple questions:


1. How many bottles of whiskey does Scotland produce each year?

2. What would you call a Bottle of Scotch less than 3 years old?

3. How many countries produce Scotch whisky outside of Scotland?

4. Which of these is not a Scotch whisky?
Pig's Nose, Sheep Dip, Bushmills, Auchentoshan

(Answers at the bottom of the page.)

And now for something completely different...

Written by a close friend of mine. (He's actually about 2 meters away from me at the moment).

בס"ד

Hilchot Purim – what, and how much to drink on Purim

Compiled and edited by Rabbi Diskslipstein Shlita, The Giffnocker Rebbi

Question: What alcoholic beverage should I drink on Purim?

Answer: There is a major machloket among modern poskim about this question. This is neither the time nor the place to go into full details of all the various opinions, but I will try to cover some of the major ones.

The Admo”r from Chabbad (the L-bavicher Rebbi), in a psak halacha given 3 years after his death, claims that the ideal drink for Purim is vodka. He proves this from a pasuk in Shemot (15, 23) about the incident of the bitter waters of Mara. The Torah says:

וַיָּבאוּ מָרָתָה וְלֹא יָכְלוּ לִשְׁתּת מַיִם מִמָּרָה כִּי מָרִים הֵם עַל-כֵּן קָרָא-שְׁמָהּ מָרָה:

“And they came to Mara but could not drink water from Mara because it was bitter, therefore they called its name Mara.”

The L-bavicher Rebbi asks why the water was bitter – and answers that it was bitter because it was really vodka. He explains that the name of the place “Mara” is taken from two words – Ma Ra – What is so bad? In other words, what is wrong with drinking vodka? He concluded his tshuva with a directive to his followers to make sure that every Jew drinks sufficient vodka (with the proper kavana) on Purim, in order to speed up the coming of the M-shiach יחי א-דונינו מורינו ורבינו מלך המ-שיח לעולם ועד

Rav Mizrachi is of the opinion that ONLY wine may be drunk. Rav C. Mizrachi bases this on Ahashverosh’s feasts, where the Megilla itself tells us that Ahashverosh got himself drunk on wine.

The Rokeach adds to Rav Carmel Mizrachi by quoting the Gemara (Megilla, 7b)

חייב איניש לבסומי בפוריא עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי

He says that the word “libisumei” comes from the word בוסם meaning perfume, so the wine drunk on Purim has to be spiced or at least have a fragrant bouquet.

But the most ingenious answer is that of Rav Burns of Galloway, who quotes the first halacha of Hilchot Pesach:

שלושים יום קודם הפסח שואלים ודורשים בהלכות החג

“30 days before the start of Pesach we should start to study Hilchot Pesach.” He calculates that this comes out on Adar 14th exactly. As the first mitzva of Pesach that we perform is biyur chametz, Rabbi Burns tells us that we should start Pesach preparations on Purim by drinking Whisky. Rabbi Burns finds further support for this idea from Breishit (36, 39) where whisky is referred to as מי זהב. The opinion of drinking whisky is also supported by the Admo”r from Bells and Rav Yoynason Walker. According to Sefer HaMacabim, those who cannot drink whisky can still be yotze by drinking beer.

Question: What is the minimum amount of alcohol that one must drink on Purim to be yotze the mitzva?

Answer: Rav Mordechai of Barkan (known as the “ba’al ha-guide”) points out that on Seder night we are supposed to drink 4 reviot of wine, yet not get drunk. Therefore, on Purim, we must drink at least twice this much. Rav Mordechai gives various opinions as to the volume of a reviit, ranging from 86cc to 150cc (see appendixes 2-17 of his guide for the detailed calculation). Therefore the minimum amount that must be drunk on Purim is between 688cc (just over 2/3 of a litre or most of a 750ml bottle) and 1200cc (just over 1 and a half 750ml bottles). He explains that the quote from the Gemara (brought above) says “חייב איניש” – a MAN is OBLIGED to get drunk – therefore all adult males must go according to the more stringent opinion and drink at least 1200cc, while women and children may accept the lesser opinion and drink at least 688cc. He therefore recommends that you make sure you have at least 1 bottle of alcoholic drink for each female or child at the seuda and at least two bottles of alcoholic drink for each adult male.

Purim Sameach

Answers to the Whisky Quiz

1. Scotch whisky is spelt without an “e”. Therefore the answer is Zero!

2. British Law allows only Scotch that has matured for at least three years to be called Scotch whisky. Therefore the answer is “not Scotch”.

3. Although there are a few countries that produce whiskey, only Scotland produces Scotch whisky. So the answer is Zero.

4. They are all Scotch whiskies except Bushmills which is an Irish whiskey.