Posted to Op-Ed on

Op-Ed: Dangers of Alcohol Must Be Addressed

by Tzipporah Clapman

Most people in our community consider it chassidish to make a L’chaim at various occasions. Whether it’s an engagement, wedding, bris, yortzeit, farbrengen or gathering of any type – it’s an occasion to have a drink.

To take an occasional sip to be social is natural and to be expected. But alcohol has a very calming affect: it could be a mood enhancer, it can take our fears, phobias and anxieties away. At the same time it is addictive, it can make one abusive, it can remove ones sensible decision making processes, and can lead to risky behavior which is very threatening to our frum life style.

Alcohol usage in this community is not taken seriously, as one looks at all the Shabbos shul gatherings, farbrengens, kiddushim, and sees various “Rabbonim” slumped over and drunk on the benches and tables. People may be shocked when they hear about drug use in the frum community, but do they realize that this is another form of a dangerous addiction? This habit can be a prelude to drugs and abusive behavior, which can ruin the shalom bayis for an entire family.

Let’s look at the importance of our liver and its life giving functions. Our liver has many functions, but the major ones are:

1. It cleanses our blood stream from the digested foods materials that are no longer needed in our body. This is cleaned out by our liver and then put into our bowels which we eliminate on a regular basis.

Can you imagine what would happen to our blood if these waste products would not be filtered out by our liver? Well for one thing, our skin would turn yellow or jaundice by the poisonous toxins that would be circulating throughout our body. Our skin would become itchy, and last but not least, our brain cells would be killed out from the impurities.

2. Our liver puts a thickening agent into our blood which keeps our blood thick. This viscosity allows our blood to circulate throughout our entire circulatory system delivering oxygen to all our vital organs. If Chas-V-shalom our liver would not be working properly, it would not be able to keep our blood thick. This could cause thinning of the blood, which could lead to immediate hemorrhage throughout our entire body and can result in death.

Yes, there are many cases on college campuses and at alcoholic binging parties where young participants are found dead, laying in a pool of blood which is coming out of their eyes, ears, nose, mouths, and from every opening of their body. You see, large amounts of alcohol ingestion can shock the liver so drastically, that the blood will not be thickened enough to flow through our vital organs. This can cause the person to bleed to death on the spot. Some of these victims were new to alcohol, so their death had nothing to do with constant lifelong drinking.

I would like to bring this article to a close, but not before I ask every one of my readers these soul-searching questions: Are you doing anything positive to prevent your family from excessive alcohol consumption? Are you allowing your under-aged sons and daughters access to beer and mashke? Do you realize that you are not allowed to host a farbrengen containing liquor or alcoholic beverages for anyone under the age of twenty one, and if you are caught you can be heavily prosecuted? Can you imagine if a participant at such a gathering would become ill and need medical attention? the parents who allowed this to happen can be fined and sued for damage to the child’s health.

Let us all help keep a safe and healthy environment for our family and loved ones by educating them about the dangers of alcohol consumption.

For more information, and to arrange lectures geared to Yeshiva aged children, contact me at nursetzippy@hotmail.com

Tzipporah Clapman is a Registered Nurse with a Masters Degree in Family Medicine. She runs School Clinics for the Government, and has a private practice in her home by appointment only.

Related Articles

43 Comments

  • Keren hisvaddus

    In london rabbi gordon speaks about the alcohol satan. Then he lets hymie brov take ova! Just wondering, how does this female know about rabbonim being ‘slumped over’?! Is she at a co-ed farbrengen?

  • agree

    Tachlis:When my 15 year old son has a farbrengen supervised by his class mashpia who is drinking and allowing the boys a small lchaim as well, what can we do? It seems to be accepted by the Yeshivos.
    I have been complaining about this for years – fallen on deaf ears!

  • Use it or lose it

    The thinking is if Hashem made it (alcoholand tobacco)then it must be ok to use them.

    Hashem made brains they should use it also.

  • Survivor

    I agree. This is a must. It is one thing to say one or two lecaim. The attitude to keep on drinkin and the peer presure even amongs adults is NOT Chassidish.

    I grew up in a house that my father would drink every Shabbos all in the name of chassidishkeit. This is the biggest farse that can ever exist. Not only do I find this not being chassidish, it later leads to things that are opposite of chassidihkiet (i.e missing davening, krias shema etc.).

    I think we need to follow the Rebbes directives. Not to drink more than 3 lechaim and in general change our atitude. Like the Rebbe himself said “Maske is a Dovor Hamous”.

  • Agree, PA-C

    Great article! This is what we should teach our children in Yeshiva. I never understood where drinking in Yeshiva came from, having seen the Rebbe’s and Freirdiker Rebbe’s opinion about drinking (specifically about students).

  • Milhouse

    How do you get from the dangers of “*excessive* drinking” to railing against “*any* drinking” by those under an arbitrary age? Excessive drinking is bad. Massively excessive drinking is very bad. The Rebbe made a gezeira *limiting* drinking by those not yet mature enough to regulate their own drinking. But there’s a huge difference between that and advocating zero drinking.

    The Rebbe said that mashkeh is like mei ma’ayon, which is metaher bemashehu, so that one doesn’t need huge quantities, but one *does* need that mashehu. Yes, it is appropriate even for bar mitzvah boys to say lechayim, and even for *much* younger children to have a sip. The Rebbe used to offer lechayim to 3-year-olds at their opsherenish. Can you imagine that? I wonder whether this author would ch“v have called the police on him.

    The binge drinking problems on campus come from young people who didn’t learn at home how to drink responsibly, because they weren’t allowed to drink at all. Then they get to college and they don’t know their limit. Rather than trying to wipe out ”under-age” drinking, bochurim need to be taught and reminded of the Rebbe’s gezeira, and learn to limit themselves.

  • Naftoli

    Even strong people can fall prey to addictions r”l. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that it can only happen to others.

  • I also agree

    I also agree with Mrs. Clapman who I think is more of a doctor than a great Nurse Practitioner.
    However I think this post does no good. I think that the drinking situation has to be brought up to the people in charge of the kidushim. Also understand many of those people usually not rabbis who are effected by the alcohol are usually at witz end to some situation in their life.
    I think as a preemptive strike to slow the booz down, we must offer our community residents more support in different areas both emotional and financial.
    How many families have 8 or 9 children bli ayin hara and live in a 2 bedroom. Can you imagine the shalom bayis issues, the financial strains???? (The rebbe stood up for this and (created the no longer existing chebro.
    Can you blame the father who took an extra sip too much when going through so many tzoros???
    I totally read the frustration are visible in between the lines. However I think the solution needs to be multi faceted.
    Kol Hakovod for writing and people should listen to the takonos of the rebbe not more than 4 keltchkelach.

  • in short

    Like you said “there are many cases on college campuses and at alcoholic binging parties where young participants are found dead, laying in a pool of blood which is coming out of their eyes, ears, nose, mouths, and from every opening of their body”. but although our youth have been drinking alcohol since as early as their bar mitzvah such occurrences rarely happen even among lubavitch youth. (these happen much more among the litvish that binge on purim as a reaction to their repression the whole year. in lubavitch kids rarely get “wasted” in that sense since they know how to control their alcohol intake).

  • To #2

    You got that wrong. Alcohol is also addictive for those who think they won’t become addicted.

  • Chaim Ber

    I really enjoy Mrs.Clpmans articles, I love reading her column in the Nshay Chabad.
    With that being said, I went to Yeshiva all my life,and we always drank Mashke starting from Mesivta ( 14 years old ) and I never thought about it, however it’s pretty crazy.

    Imagine the Hanhola is placed in Jail for a Bocher getting a bad reaction to medicine he’s taking, and this can even be a issue for a 19 year old Shiur Gimmel Bocher in Zal.

    We need to sharpen up and do some thinking.

  • Malka R

    Every single year my husband gets smashed Simchas torah, and I’m stuck with cleaning all the vomit and taking care of all 5 kids.

    Not to mentok that my 9 year old wants to know why Tatty is acting silly.

  • Enough

    This Shabbas a young drunk man came up to me trying to kiss me on the cheek. I refused, smelling the beer all over him and told him to get away from me. After I my rejection he yelled treated to “beat the —- out of me”, “kill me” and call me horrible names. This was on Kingston, with Jews walking around.

    It was the most sicken event I’ve experienced with another “Chassid” in Crown Heights. We are no longer in Eastern Europe…we need to move on from binge drinking.

  • YR

    Great. Time that someone stood up to protect our kids from this “chassidishe” behavior. Mashkeh is not used appropriately in our circles and is becoming a real hazard.

  • mp from la

    sorry,you contradicted yourself

    “Some of these victims were new to alcohol, so their death had nothing to do with constant lifelong drinking.”

    “Are you allowing your under-aged sons and daughters access to beer and mashke?”

    if we want them to live through the age of a bochur(which will come no matter what you say) start them making l’chayim young, and teach them to be responsible = no more then 4- whatsoever!!!! till they are 40

  • la resident

    a lot of eltere chasidim drank about the amount of mashke consumed by a farbrengen by themselves by a single farbreingen and lived very long and successful lives-chozrim,magidei shi’urim in tomchei tmimim ect.

    and about the brain cells, we only use about 2 1/2 percent of our brains so we got plenty to “kill” if it even dose!!!!!

  • pleeeeaseeeeeeeeeee

    you mean to say that your announcing to the world that our Rabbonim are drunks and slumped over and drunk on the benches and tables.WOW thats great advertising everybody should flock to crown heights to see the show and stay over at the clapmans. I guess you owe someone or many an apology think it over.

  • Avorahom

    It is about time that someone spoke out about the drinking problem in the frum communities. Per the suggestion of one of the Chabad Rabbonim in Crown Heights, the Chabad Staten Island Yeshiva only allows wine by farbrengens. Other Yeshivas and Shuls show follow their lead

  • Lubavitch

    “Rabbonim”!? (In quotations) Learn respect!

    Also, stop mocking Chabad’s customs. Those who have light-moderate lchaims (not sipping socially but actually making a lchaim), it’s a healthy thing b’gashmius uvruchnius. Yes, b’gashmius! Light alcohol consumption cleanses the toxins in the body. My grandfather’s doctor refused to honor my grandmother’s request to tell him to stop drinking, because he felt that as long as alcohol isn’t overdone, it’s healthy and he lived well into his nineties. So, stop generalizing that alcahol is bad, when in fact ALCOHOL ABUSE is what’s bad.

  • most mesivtas give wine to kids

    the problem is that the hanholas drink vodka, and this is the image of a chosid.

  • Mendel

    Ms. Clapman fails to mention that it has been medically proven that one mid-size authentic Cuban cigar, e.g. a Montecristo No. 2 or a Cohiba Edmundo, is known to neutralize all the negative effects of 4 to 5 shots of vodka, bourbon, scotch, etc. Unfortunately in Brooklyn these cigars are unavailable (beware of fakes), but Boruch HaShem here in EY this is the ideal solution to the alcohol problem. I just wish they would lower the price.

  • Zalman der Shikker

    30-50 grams of vodka for a 15 year old boy IN A SUPERVISED SITUATION is nothing terrible.

    On the other hand, if the mashpia himself is getting shikker in front of the boys, he sets a very bad example and can no longer be trusted to supervise himself, let alone others.

  • THANK YOU

    THANK YOU!
    to the haters, i believe she is trying to show that the ones who drink EXESSIVELY make it look bad. a regular drinker has as much chance of danger as a beginner, again it all depends on how much the kidneys can handle, BUT WHY RISK IT?
    it has been proven that OCCASIONAL drinking is ok, even healthy things can be dangerous if done/taken exessively
    as a young girl, a drunk gabai came up to me acting stupidly,
    WHY SHOULD RABANNIM EVER PUT THEMSELVES IS SUCH DISGUSTING POSITION???
    they are suposed to be there as a good dugma, but when someone in position shows stupidity, it gives the young, unknown, impressionable boy/girl a bad lead in life

  • ...and not just veibershe shnaps...

    Hey, why not let the ladies make l’chaim like the men do? That might help some people ‘see the light’.

    If, as some have commented, alcohol is good for you; if it’s acceptable to drink in moderation, so that the drinker’s behavior is not negatively affected — why not encourage the women to enjoy the benefits of l’chaim, too?

  • How coinsidental

    Just Today in the Dailey news paper, page 31, a New Jersey
    college kid dies after drinking binge. He was nineteen
    years of age. He was drinking in honor of his birthday and
    went on a binge. Lots of our bochurim binge drink on certain
    yom tovim, and if I can recall one of our bochurim in the community was found dead several years ago right after such a yom tov.

    This really can Chas Veshalom happen to us!!!

  • just a jew

    just this weekend in beersheva and rechovet 2 people were murdered the attacters were under the influence of alchohal.israel has a terrible problem of youth drinking.hard alchohol should be illegal.it is ruining our youth.they are unfit to enter the army.who will protect the country. chabad

  • Nobody

    “Are you doing anything positive to prevent your family from excessive alcohol consumption? Are you allowing your under-aged sons and daughters access to beer and mashke?”

    One follows the other. I prevent excessive alcohol consumption by exposing my children to it at an early age in an appropriate way. There is absolutely no evidence that delaying exposure to alcohol will reduce alcoholism. There is some evidence to the contrary.

    “Do you realize that you are not allowed to host a farbrengen containing liquor or alcoholic beverages for anyone under the age of twenty one, and if you are caught you can be heavily prosecuted?”

    Yes – I also realize that I can be fined for building a Succah on Succos. Doesn’t actually stop me, though. Do you realize you can be prosecuted for sending your young kids to Ohlei Torah?

    “Can you imagine if a participant at such a gathering would become ill and need medical attention? the parents who allowed this to happen can be fined and sued for damage to the child’s health.”

    That can also happen if they trip on your front steps. Best to avoid all guests.

  • No Cigar!!!

    25 Mendel – That is a very bad joke if you are joking, and you’re way off base if you think it really works.

    I used to go to a cigar bar to smoke a mid-sized or even large sized Cuban cigar and enjoy a shot or two of whisky every Sunday afternoon when I lived in a major European city. If anything, the cigar AMPLIFIES the effects of alcohol.

  • don-t understand

    So Mrs. Clapman, we should shelf the alcohol and take out the s-x ed book to teach our children?

  • It-s All Story

    In the story of your upbringing, alcohol is a bad thing. It’s associated with violence and illness.

    In the story of my ancestors’ upbringing, alcohol is a good thing. It’s associated with friendship and with prayer.

    So it’s not good to bash another culture’s view points.

  • Levi

    This article brings up some good points about the dangers of extreme and/or excessive alchohol consumption, but largely fails to mention the positive effects it can have when used responsibly and in relative moderation. Yes, alchohol can be destructive and dangerous when used/abused excessively, but let’s bear in mind that – whether you like it or not – alchohol has always been an integral part of Jewish tradition; from Kiddush to Havdalah to drinking four cups of wine on Pesach etc. It has also been an ingrained part of Lubavitch culture for hundreds of years… Alchohol helps people to relax, relieves stress and anxiety and lessens social inhibitions which allows people to connect with one another on a higher, deeper level. It is primarily for this reason that people drink at Farbrengens and Simchas etc. If it is an entirely negative and destructive thing (whuch seems to be the implicit message of this article) the Rabeim would have discouraged and/or banned its use years ago… The bottom line is: it’s like anything else in life, it can be good when used in moderation and responsibly and it can be bad when abused and used excessively. From my experience, people in CH and Lubaitch communities who are so adversely affected by alchohol use that it negatively affects or destroys their lives or health is extremely rare. The vast majority drinks responsibly for the most part. Granted, some people do go a little crazy on Simchas Torah and Purim, but that’s just twice a year… Personally, I think it’s OK and healthy for people to let loose every once in a while… Let’s please keep this in perspective and not get carried away with this across-the-board demonization of alchohol which is largely unfounded and seemingly based on a few instances of sensationalized anecdotal evidence…

  • everything but

    a good structured education is the answer to most society evils. we don’t teach kids basics, let alone biology, chemistry. if all you’ve got is an empty head and life, you’ll fill it with the fantasy provided by mind altering substances.

    and no, today chazzergin a maamar does not fill a head.

  • to #1

    We need more people like Hymie brov and show everyone how important mashka is

  • shmuel munkes

    As a bochur in yeshiva, I can relate to the importance of saying l’chaim by a farbrengen. L’chaim opens up the bochurim and the mashpia, thereby bridging the gap between them and allowing them to relate to one another.

    Bottom line: If you want to bring the most out of a bochur, farbrengens WITH mashke is essential!

  • 13 year old girl

    why am i seeing drunk bochrim onthe streets of kingston?

  • to shmuel munkis

    to a lmmit its fine to a limmit. the one set by the Rebbe

  • chesky

    a very wealthy serian jew in Deal NJ spent days in jail for a 17 year old ending up in coma. in the end the guy paid the family 2M for the problem to go away.

    YES its a matter of time (if we don’t take action) were a family will walk into there living room at 4am and find a 10 year old with foam coming from his mouth and before long they are jailed and in court for months fighting charges and losing there home to the victim or legal team all because 17 yearol old chaim’ke drank 2 cups of smirnoff at there table while the parents were resting.

  • Nobody

    #42, it is more likely that that 17 year old will drink those two cups of smirnoff when the parents are resting when they aren’t allowed to drink any at all and have this built up imagination about what they are missing. Mayim Ganavim Mutaku.

    I’m sure when that happens to parents who take Tzipporah Clapman’s advice she will take full responsibility and repudiate her views. Right?