Purim Post Mortem

I'm reading all posts decrying the annual crisis of excessive drinking on Purim as dissected on several blogs, though mostly at Orthomom.blogspot.com. I commented to a post OM wrote, spurred on by one astute comment left in the string.

The quick and dirty intro is:

OM: drinking is bad. It's dangerous.
Comment: "What a chillul H'Ashem, kids drinking and vomiting all over the places."

Here's what I wrote.

OM, as far as the drinking goes, 90% of your post is an old story. As far as I'm concerned, if Rebbeim and yeshivas want to teach the students at their overpriced institutions that drinking to the point of hospitalization is a mitzvah, then let's just add that to the long list of misguided messages orthodox kids receive in yeshiva. The list is pretty long, so I imagine it will be quite some time before that pickle is sliced.

As far as I'm concerned, the bigger issue is that widespread public drunkenness is a boosha gedola.

I had the misfortune of visiting Brooklyn yesterday and was mortified to see drunken idiots dancing in pathetic circles on sidewalks, rocking and banging into each other, carrying on and making a pathetic spectacle of themselves to all who could see and know better. I was embarrassed.

One thing i didn't write in my comment was how I was standing on Ave. K talking to a family friend when we both noticed a drunken teenager weaving into the street, into a line of traffic. Because vehicular traffic in Flatbush grinds to a 3 mph dribble starting 11 a.m. on Purim and only dissipating at about 6 p.m., I knew the teen was in no danger of getting killed by a car. But knowing that a procession of aggravated drivers were being treated to the spectacle of a frum teenager dressed like a chassid, staggering like a derelict was humiliating.

I'm sure someone reading this will make a point to remind me or themselves that it's a Kiddush Hashem how the Am haKadosh celebrates on Purim to the point of inebriation and no one gets shot and no one fights, unlike the goyim. If that makes you feel better, then good for you. I know what I see.