Rabbi's Blog

Never in the history of mankind have Jews enjoyed the luxury of
kosher meats and wines more than today. This statement holds true for
many items that we enjoy in abundance and all year round, thanks to
technology and logistics. Modern man has ready access to foods from
all over the world within a day, something that was rare a century
ago. The import/export business is booming; kosher food markets are
now able to offer customers exotic delicacies shipped within a day
from all over the world, expanding the kosher culinary pallet,
introducing gourmet edibles previously unheard of. Perhaps it is
ironic that we were always able to share common spiritual nourishment
such as the observance of holiday mitzvos and learn the same Parsha
of the week no matter where Jews were living.. Daf Yomi, a daily
page-a-day of Gemara, is now a world-wide phenomenon which has caught
the enthusiasm of active Jewish learners, all of them learning the
same daf, page, of Gemara every day all over the world. The kosher
wine, particularly fine kosher wines, and kosher meat industries have
both experienced a boom in demand in both quantity and quality. The
kosher meat industry started in this country about a century ago and
has steadily grown to the extent that cardiologists are prescribing
more cholesterol medication to Jews than ever before. More recently,
probably within the last thirty years, the natural antidote to
potential heart failure has been the incredible explosion of kosher
wines available which are reaching a level of quality in taste and
price to its fanciest non-kosher counterpart.

America today probably has the most observant Jewish population ever
in its history. The United States is still considered the land that
has everything. Yet, with all that we have, and especially with all
the access we have to gourmet foods, fine wines and high-quality
meat, are we any happier? Doesn’t Chazal - the rabbis of blessed
memory- teach us, “Ein Simcha Ela B’Basar V’Yayin?” - “Only
true joy and happiness can come from eating meat and drinking
wine”, so why aren’t we happy? The Yom Tov of Sukkos is known as
Z’man Simchaseinu, the time of rejoicing. Must we eat meat and
drink wine to reach the level of true simcha? Perhaps the Jews in
America are not happy enough and must eat more meat and drink more
wine in order for Yom Tov to be V’Samachta B’Chagecha V’Hayisa
Ach Sameach.

It is interesting to note that the source of the notion that drinking
wine and eating meat brings joy and happiness found in Gemara
Pesachim 109a is not exactly the way we interpret it. The Gemara
states: Rebbi Yehuda Ben BeSeira says that at the time of the Beis
HaMikdash, when the Temple stood, joy only came through the eating of
meat. Now that we no longer have the Beis HaMikdash, the only way to
gain joy/happiness is by drinking wine. It was not necessary to have
the combination of both meat and wine, but rather meat was the
primary luxury food and drinking of wine is only a substitute today.
The Gemara gives two verses to suggest why wine and meat meet this
criteria. With regard to eating meat, the Torah states in Devarim
27:7 “V’Zavachta Shelamim V’Achalta Sham, V’Samachta Lifnei
Hashem Elokecha”.: “You shall also sacrifice peace offerings and
eat there, rejoicing before God your Lord”. The verse to express
what wine does to a person is found in Tehillim/Psalm 104
“V’Yayin Y’Samach L’vav Enosh”, “And wine makes the heart
of man rejoice”. Tosfos gives an explanation regarding n the verse
in Parshas R’ei, which describes the bringing of the Shelamim, the
meat sacrifice. This sacrifice was not referring to festival time,
rather it was mentioned in connection to the curses of Har Eval. The
warnings of curses described at the scene of Har Eval are immediately
followed by the command of “V’Samachta B’chol HaTov”: “Be
happy in a proper, correct way for all that Hashem has given to us,
the Jewish People”. We have a hekesh, a connection from this verse
to another verse, Devarim 16:14: “V’Samachta B’Chageacha Ata
U’Veisecha…. You shall rejoice on your festival along with your
son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite,
proselyte, orphan and widow from your settlements”. The word
V’Samachta, and you should be happy, is used in both verses and
therefore whatever applies in one area of discussion applies to the
other as well. We are actually commanded to be overjoyed to be Jewish
to be filled with joy as we observe the Mitzvot.

In today’s day and age is man obligated to eat meat on a Yom Tov?
Does the only source of joy to be happy on Yom Tov come from meat and
wine? The Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 529 describes and commands how a
person is supposed to celebrate and be happy. The Chofetz Chaim, in
his commentary Biur Halacha, rules that a man during the Temple time
ate meat, not just any meat but rather Shelamim (peace offerings).
Now that we no longer have the Temple and therefore have no
sacrifices, a person has NO obligation to eat meat on Yom Tov because
the mechanism to reach joy today is only through wine. The Chofetz
Chaim does conclude by saying that nevertheless it is still a mitzvah
to eat meat on Yom Tov since the word simcha is mentioned with regard
to eating of meat.

The Rambam, on the other hand, in Hilchos Yom Tov 6:18, declares that
even in our times without the Beis HaMikdash there is still an
obligation to eat meat on Yom tov and one should try to have beef and
not even poultry! All this of course is only if the individual enjoys
the meat or the wine. But if someone flatly just doesn’t like
either meat or wine, most authorities agree that there is no need to
drink wine or eat meat, particularly if it does not bring any joy.

I believe ‘happiness’ and joy are a state of mind; the meat and
or the wine are used to kick in or jumpstart that process of thinking
that we all should strive to be happy and joyful. American Jewry will
not become overly happy or sadly depressed solely due to the amount
of wine they drink or meat they eat. The stimulus to an existing
state of mind serves to help us focus on the happiness and joy we are
to experience during a YomTov.

May we all be Zocheh to eat of the Korban Shelamim during our
lifetime as we look forward to seeing the rebuilding of the third
Beis HaMikdash speedily in our day.

Ah Gut Shabbos/Yom Tov

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky