Dear Readers:

Please click on the link below to listen to (or right click to download to your computer) this important Pre-Purim Teleconference with a critical recorded message from Reb Shmuel Kamenetsky shlit"a, Rabbi Doniel Neustadt, Dr. Benzion Twerski, Rabbi Avraham Mifsud, a special guest - Yisroel, and me on. . . . .

The "Spirit" of Purim -- Smoking and Drinking on Purim

Listen in to gain more awareness about current trends among the youth of our community, and about the effects of drinking and smoking. Hear Yisroel's personal experience with alcohol and drugs that began with a single drink at the age of thirteen. In addition, learn some effective tools to help you open and maintain a healthy dialogue with your children on this topic. An open, loving, and respectful relationship with your children, together with making your children aware of the very real dangers of these substances, are two critical factors in protecting your children from substance abuse.

This telephone conference call was sponsored by The Center for Jewish Family Life/Project YES and NASO: National Association for Support & Outreach.

Below is an essay I wrote on the subject of Purim drinking in 2008.

I hope you will find it informative and helpful as well.

Yakov

Dear Readers:

Upon the request of the Jewish Press editors, I combined parts one and two of the two Purim Parenting Q&A columns. This is running in this week's Jewish Press.

Parenting Matters

Drinking on Purim

Dear Rabbi Horowitz:

As the parents of three teenage boys, we are frightened each Purim that our kids will drink heavily and chas v’shalom get violently ill, or worse get hurt in a car crash.

What are your thoughts on the entire drinking ‘scene’ on Purim and what can we do as parents when our kids tell us to, “Chill out, everyone is doing it (drinking)?”

Respectfully,

Dovid and Chanie

Rabbi Horowitz Responds

Dear Dovid and Chanie:

Allow me to begin by commending you for being hands-on parents and wanting to become more educated on this subject. I have found over the years, that many parents are blissfully unaware about the level of drinking and smoking among our teenagers. What is far more dangerous is that our street-smart teenagers are very well aware of that fact.

For more than a decade, The Center for Alcohol and Substance Abuse (C.A.S.A. – www.casacolumbia.org), has conducted dozens of studies on the dangers of teen smoking and drinking and what techniques are most effective in preventing these scourges. Here are two of the most powerful findings of their voluminous research:

“A child who gets through age 21 without smoking, using illegal drugs, or abusing alcohol is virtually certain never to do so.”

“Teens who smoke cigarettes are 12 times likelier to use marijuana and more than 19 times likelier to use cocaine.”

With statistics like this, it is unfortunate that we have not done more to stop the rising tide of teen drinking and smoking. Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski, shlit”a, one of the most visionary and courageous people of our times, has been speaking about this subject for decades, and pleading with educators and parents to put an end to this plague of drinking and smoking among our kids.

Thankfully, people are starting to take notice and over the past few years, there has been a trend towards alcohol-free Purim parties, less adults offering children drinks, and an overall awareness regarding the dangers of teen drinking. But we still have a very long way to go.

I would like to point out that when I mention drinking, I am not discussing having a glass of wine or even a small drink of whiskey. From my vantage point, there are two acceptable schools of thought regarding (older) teens and alcohol. One is to completely ban its use, while others claim that adults can show teenagers who are above the legal drinking age that drinking in moderation is okay, by modeling appropriate behavior. As far as I am concerned, either of those approaches is reasonable. But allowing kids, especially minors, to smoke and/or get flat-out drunk on Purim is another matter entirely.

From a standpoint of halacha and minhag (Jewish law and accepted practice, respectively), there is absolutely no basis for smoking of any kind as it relates to Purim. Case closed.

Drinking, on the other hand, does have a substantive source in halacha. Our chazal note that on Purim, one is, “Obligated to reach a state where one cannot discern (ad d’lo yoda) between [the wicked] Haman and [the blessed] Mordechai. Additionally, there are established minhagim in many kehilos for people – even distinguished talmidei chachamim – to drink heavily on Purim. So how can one arrive at the conclusion that one should not engage in heavy drinking on Purim? The answer is that our chazal (sages) clearly indicate that one can fulfill the requirement of “ad d’lo yoda” by drinking in moderation and then napping, due to the fact that when one is sleeping, he cannot discern between Haman and Mordechai.

In light of the challenging times in which we live and the dramatic increase over the past 10-15 years in the number of our teens who are drinking regularly, it may be appropriate for even those with the minhag to drink heavily on Purim, to strongly consider asking their Rav whether it is wise to continue this practice.

It is extraordinarily difficult to try to get your teens to buck peer pressure, and there is a stage in their lives when you cannot make these choices for them. That is why it is encouraging that so many Yeshivos have gone to alcohol-free Purim gatherings. As parents, research clearly indicates that the two factors that help children make good choices and resist the seduction of these dangerous vices are: 1) parents who ‘get it’ – those who are knowledgeable about the dangers that their children face, and, 2) parents who consistently speak to their children about avoiding these substances.

In a column I ran last year in The Jewish Press on Purim drinking, I mentioned a study on teen drug and alcohol use, that was commissioned by school district superintendents and elected officials in affluent suburban areas of New York City, who were alarmed by the growing incidence of substance abuse in their communities, and puzzled by the fact that during the same time period, drug use was dropping dramatically in the inner city.

Research revealed that the inner city parents and schools were succeeding in reversing the trend of rising drug use, because they were far more realistic in their assessment of the facts on the ground, than were the more affluent suburbanites. Inner-city schools had ‘healthy living’ curricula in the very early grades, and hard-hitting substance abuse prevention programs beginning as early as the middle school grades. Parents regularly spoke to their children – as early as ages five and six – about the dangers of smoking, drinking and drug use. Affluent suburbanites, on the other hand, were oblivious to the realities of drug use among the kids in their own communities. In fact, most suburban teens that were interviewed for the study felt that their parents were ‘clueless’ as to the number of kids who were ‘using,’ and the hard-core nature of the substances that were being used. Inner-city kids, on the other hand, reported that they felt their parents ‘really get it.’

Ironically, the fact that we, Baruch Hashem, shelter our children from the secular world, may add an element of risk to them taking up smoking and drinking. Why? Because we, as parents, may have the mindset of the suburban parents noted above, who think their kids are immune to these dangers. Additionally, our children do not hear all the public health commercials and school awareness campaigns alerting children to the dangers of smoking and drinking. I am certainly not advocating that we overexpose our children to the secular world so that they hear ‘Smoking-is-not-cool’ or ‘This-is-your-brain-on-drugs’ advertisements. But we need to be aware of the fact that our kids are not hearing this important information, and it is our job to share these messages with them – early and often.

For years now, I have been writing columns in The Jewish Press bemoaning the fact that we are paying a steep price for reducing or entirely discouraging recreational/sports activities for normal, healthy teenagers who need exercise so badly. One of the things that simply drives me batty is when parents and/or educators excuse away drinking and smoking by explaining that, “The boys have a brutal schedule and need to blow off a little steam.”

My response usually is, “HELLO! Did you ever hear of a basketball?”

Best wishes for a safe, enjoyable, and meaningful Purim.

Yakov