A Purim Message of HaKoros HaTov and Appreciation

 

A Purim Message of HaKoros HaTov and Appreciation

This year I have seen an explosion of interest in my Kosher Whisky blog and whisky articles. I once asked a couple of professional writers for some feedback on my blog. They both independently told me that if I wanted to increase readership then I should cut my reviews and articles down to at the most a single page, as my entries were simply far too long and no one (in their opinion), would be bothered to read them.

Well, despite being excellent advice, I just couldn’t take it and instead continued in the style of writing which I enjoyed, that is, long and detailed articles / reviews. It’s been ten long years and suddenly, I see hundreds of people are reading my articles and commenting, whether in private emails or in the comments section.

So, I wanted to use this opportunity to thank everyone who, not only reads my articles but also have taken the time to send me your positive comments, thoughts, feedback and opinions. I really do appreciate it.

Rabbi Zecharia Wallenstein

As Rav Zecharia Wallerstein said in a shiur on Purim recently, not many people grasp the point that, at least in some sense, we actually owe the survival of the Jewish people to the fact that the evil Achachveirosh kept a Sefer Zichronos (a book of Records of Reminders). The Midrash explains that every day, the King would enter into this book, every favour or good deed someone did for him. This would remind him to thank these people at the appropriate time.

Without this act, the King would not have remembered that Mordechai had saved his life and still needed rewarding. This then set off a chain reaction which led to the tables being turned and Haman and his sons being hanged instead of the Jewish people being destroyed. That we can learn such an important message even from a Rasha, is truly amazing.

Not only this, but Rav Wallenstein explains that Achachveriosh only knew about Mordechai through Esther. Mordechai had told Esther to warn the king of a plot to assassinate him and Esther had not only re-laid that message but said it in the name of Mordechai, giving him full credit. So, we learn from this that we should always try to credit someone’s else’s Devar Torah, idea or work when using it ourselves.

Something else which Rav Wallenstein mentioned was that the Midrash mentions that the banquet to which everyone was invited to, was so lavish with no expenses spared, that the King gave as a present to everyone there, his or her own individually chosen bottle of wine. If the person was 27 years old, then they would receive an aged wine of 27 years. If the person was 57 years old, then that person would receive aged wine of 57 years, and so on.

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This matching the wine to the age of the person reminded me of a family minhag (tradition) of a friend of mine from my previous Shul, which he related to me once, and which I found most profound. Perhaps this Midrash might well be the source of this minhag?

David’s minhag was: Never give a whisky to someone who was younger than the age of the maturation of that bottle. For instance, don’t give a 20-Year-Old Single Malt to an 18-year-old person.

The idea seems to be based on obvious and basic common sense. A person who is younger than the whisky before him or her, would probably not have the maturity to fully appreciate it. Perhaps they would not have the patience to give it the amount of time needed to get the most from, what is probably a very expensive bottle. The older a whisky gets, often the more finicky it gets. Perhaps it would train a person to give Single Malt Whisky the respect it deserves and not to knock it back like an uncouth person would say, vodka or gin.

This leads me very nicely into the last point I wish to make:

A Word on the Halacha of When Purim falls on Erev Shabbos

This year, when Purim (outside of Yerushalayim) falls on Friday, i.e., Erev Shabbos, means that we have to eat the Seuda (festive meal) extra early in the day (and perhaps not eat as much as we would usually eat), so as not to go into Shabbos on a full stomach, which would lead to not giving Shabbos Kodesh and its Seudos the proper respect they deserve. [See Meseches Pesachim Perek Yud].

Moreover, the Rabbonim teach us that even though we are usually given the ishur (permission) to drink “a bit more” (ahem) on Purim, when Purim falls of Erev Shabbos however, we should cut our alcohol consumption down to the bare minimum to help generate simcha, so as not to go into Shabbos tipsy or even, Chas VeShalom, Shikor (drunk) and neglect the many preparations for Shabbos as well as (for the same reason we should not eat as much on the Purim Seuda as we usually eat), we should certainly not drink so much that it takes kavod away from the Simcha of Shabbos.

The message we can learn from this is, (as Ralfy Mitchel from Ralfy.com always says), “keep it quality and NOT quantity”.

Purim Samayach and Shabbat Shalom