Introduction: The Conclusion of Chapter 23 - The Warning About Wine
In the final part of chapter 23, Shlomo HaMelech continues his rebuke concerning wine. After he said "My son, give your heart to Me, and let your eyes guard My ways," he comes and warns: wine is the very thing that will prevent you from giving your heart to Hashem. The last four verses of the chapter form a complete portrait of warning: from the initial enticement of its appearance, through the venom that reveals itself at the end, to the image of the drunkard who no longer even feels the blows struck against him. Let us proceed according to the order of the verses.
Verse 31: "Do not look at wine when it reddens"
אַל־תֵּרֶא יַיִן כִּי יִתְאַדָּם כִּי־יִתֵּן בַּכּוֹס עֵינוֹ יִתְהַלֵּךְ בְּמֵישָׁרִים׃ - Do not look at wine when it reddens, when it gives its color in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.
Rashi explains: do not set your eyes upon it. And "when it gives its color in the cup, it goes down smoothly" - a person who sets his eyes upon the cup, the world appears to him as a level plain, the sins appear to him as a level plain, all paths seem straight in his eyes.
Notice that there is a keri and ketiv here: the keri reads "in the cup" (bakos) and the ketiv reads "in the purse" (bakis). One can say there is a recurring balance here: you set your eyes on the cup, and the wine seller sets his eyes on the purse - you are interested in the cup and he is interested in the purse, and you each make a living from the other. And one can explain "he gives his eye into the purse" in another way: that he sets his eye also upon the purses of others, in order to rob them of money in order to fulfill his craving. In today's terms this is very tangible: what was once wine is today drugs. Wine was the instrument that drew a person in and caused him to become addicted, and it is hard for him afterward to get out of it. One of the well known things about drug addicts is that they are capable of stealing even from their own mother, and they have no problem doing the most terrible things to the people closest to them - he needs a dose now, and for the dose everything is permitted and acceptable. Wine here is a parable: someone who has a craving, in order to satisfy his craving, will have no problem even stealing.
Rabbeinu Yonah: Do Not Gaze - Lest You Increase Craving
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: "Do not look at wine when it reddens" - do not gaze at its appearance when it reddens. The redness is what entices you, as if this were fine and superior wine. And why should you not gaze at it? Lest you add craving to increase your drinking. You tell yourself "I am not drinking, I am only looking" - and in the end you drink. This is the advice that recurs constantly in the words of the Sages, and we have spoken of it several times: do not draw near to sin at all. Do not say, "I will draw near but I will not touch."
The Drunkard and the Fly
They tell of a chronic drinker for whom no method they tried to prevent him from drinking helped. Finally they persuaded him to accept upon himself one condition: that he would never drink alone, but only when there was someone else with him. They thought that perhaps this way the other person would watch over him, and perhaps also moderate the quantities and the timing. He accepted it upon himself with an oath. One day he felt like drinking, he really felt like it. He looked around - there was no one within a kilometer. He said: meanwhile let us take out the bottle, so it will be ready, someone will come and we will raise a glass. He took it out, and no one came. He said: meanwhile let us pour, so the cup will already be ready. And since he is forbidden to drink alone, he poured two cups. He sat and gazed at them at length, waiting from where his help would come, from where the companion would arrive with whom he could drink. Suddenly he heard a buzzing - a fly landed on the cup across from him. He jumped up and said: wonderful, you have arrived! L'chaim! And he took a good swig. Baruch Hashem, I am not alone, there is someone else. This is exactly the point. Therefore they tell you: do not look at wine when it reddens - do not even begin with a glance. For the moment you set your eye on the cup you crave, you lose control, and you are no longer managing yourself but the wine controls you. And in the words of Rabbeinu Yonah: a person will want to crave and increase his drinking when he sets his eye on the cup.
The Gra: It Is the Cup That Beautifies the Wine
The Gra makes a wonderful precise observation. You tell yourself: if the wine is so red, surely its taste is especially fine. Says the Gra: this is not so - the redness is no proof at all of the excellence of its taste. And why then does it appear beautiful to you, red and gleaming? "When it gives its eye in the cup." Notice that the verse does not say "when it gives its eye in the wine" but "in the cup." The fine cup, the beautiful clear glass, is what gives the wine its gleaming and enticing appearance. That is, the "when" (ki) here is a cause: why does it appear to you that it reddens? Because you set your eye upon the cup.
And "it glides down smoothly" (yithalech be-meisharim) - do not imagine that wine will cause you to walk along the straight path. Why would one even imagine such a thing? Because the Gemara states: "Wine and fragrances made me wise" (chamra vereichanei pakchin). That is to say, wine does possess the power to grant a slight mental clarity and sharpness, but only in very small doses; after all, one who has drunk a revi'it of wine may not render halachic rulings, lest he err in judgment. Regarding this, the Gra explains: Do not say, "If a little wine made me wise, I will drink all day and emerge a great talmid chacham." All of this is merely the counsel of the yetzer hara, which lies in wait for you.
This Is How the Yetzer Hara Seduced in the First Sin
The Gra shows that this was also the case with the first sin, the eating from the Tree of Knowledge: "The yetzer hara smeared the woman's eyes from seeing." How did it seduce her? It told her that this tree imparts wisdom - "And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise." Incidentally, this aligns remarkably well with the opinions that the Tree of Knowledge was a grapevine: here, through wine one gains understanding, one acquires wisdom, "wine and fragrances made me wise" - so take another cup, and who knows what wisdom will emerge from you! And the outcome of that seduction was that through its counsel and smooth talk, it misled her with false illusions; she ate - and brought wailing upon the entire world. So too here: the yetzer gives you an illusion, shows you something gleaming, red, and beautiful, but that is only the cup. Do not be seduced, and do not let your yetzer mislead you into thinking that the taste and appearance of wine lead to wisdom and walking along the straight path, for its end is exceedingly bitter, as we will see in the next verse.
The Yetzer Hara's Method of Deception
The masters of Mussar discuss this at length: the yetzer hara's method of deception. It takes every transgression and paints it in glowing colors, presenting it to you in vivid hues, neon, and flashing lights, until you are convinced that who knows what awaits you there and how sweet it will be. Yet ninety percent of it is mere allure, and only ten percent is the thing itself. This is exactly how advertising agencies work. They sell you chocolate chip cookies, and on the box it is "a delight to the eyes"; you open the package and think: apparently those inside did not get photographed, for otherwise there is no explaining why there is zero connection between them and the picture. You see a picture of cereal with pecans, generously heaped; you open the bag and need a magnifying glass to find them. A person goes with a child to buy something, and the child picks out a snack: the bag is thirty centimeters long, but the contents take up only seven or eight centimeters, and the rest is air. See what an alma de-shikra (world of falsehood) we live in - and this is precisely the yetzer hara. It shows you the pizza as it is sliced and the cheese stretching, and you feel you must have it; but afterward, the reality is that the picture looked far better. That is why after a sin there is heartbreak: a person thought the sin would fulfill him, but it only empties him out, bringing disappointment and the realization that he gazed into the cup and thought it would glide down smoothly, yet in the end nothing remained of it - except what the next verse describes.
Verse 32: "At the End It Bites Like a Snake"
אַחֲרִיתוֹ כְּנָחָשׁ יִשָּׁךְ וּכְצִפְעֹנִי יַפְרִשׁ׃ - At the end it bites like a snake, and stings like a viper.
The ultimate outcome of wine is like the bite of a snake. You were seduced, you craved it, it drew you in - and what is left? Rabbeinu Yonah explains: at the time of drinking wine, a person does not feel the damage, but in the end it bites like a snake, and only afterward does the severity of its wound intensify.
Why the Effect Is Delayed
One of the less pleasant phenomena among yeshivah students on Purim stems from this very trouble, precisely because - thank God - yeshivah students do not know how to drink; they are not accustomed to vodka, whiskey, and arak, and there is no alcohol in the yeshivah. And may Hashem have mercy, the drinking culture among youth today is terrible: groups hanging out outside clubs, buying a cheap bottle at a corner kiosk and finishing it off as a team, passing the bottle around - each taking swig after swig, and then staggering on their way to the club. A generation of young alcoholics has developed. But one who does not know how to drink falls into a simple error: he drinks a cup and feels nothing, drinks another and still feels nothing, and drinks yet another. The reason is that the effect of alcohol is not immediate: it takes several minutes for the alcohol to enter the bloodstream and affect the brain. One who understands drinking knows to drink slowly, little by little, allowing it time to take effect. One who does not understand downs the entire bottle at once, and then comes the crash: suddenly he collapses, speaks nonsense, throws up uncontrollably, or lies sprawled in the middle of the street.
Incidentally, the exact same principle applies to eating. The Holy One, blessed be He, created a mechanism whereby the sensation of fullness arrives about ten minutes after the stomach receives food; there is a delay of ten to fifteen minutes before the stomach signals this to the brain. Therefore, if a person was in the middle of a meal and was interrupted by a phone call or someone knocking on the door, speaking with him for ten minutes - when he returns, his appetite is already gone; that was precisely the interval in which the stomach signaled the brain. What does this cause? During the meal, a person does not feel full, so he eats until his stomach is nearly bursting, and only afterward does the feeling of satiety arrive. This is why children finish eating and say, "Mom, I'm still hungry." One must tell them: wait ten minutes, and if you are still hungry, I will give you more. Usually, the child is not truly hungry - for if you offer another slice of bread, he will refuse; he wants a cookie, a fruit, or candy. If he waits fifteen minutes, he will suddenly realize he is full. This very same reality, that the effect is delayed, exists with both food and wine. Therefore, "at the end it bites like a snake": during the drinking, one does not feel its harm, and only afterward does he feel it.
An Outcome of Years
This can be explained in two ways. The first is as we explained: that the effect is delayed during the drinking itself. The second is long-term: a person says, "I have no problem at all; I drink, I enjoy myself, and everything is fine," but we know that such people do not live long lives. One of the severe diseases they reach is cirrhosis of the liver: the liver is destroyed and can no longer function, and then they wait for a transplant, and many times their medical condition no longer allows for a transplant. These are realities seen firsthand from people who fell ill with this. You drink in your youth and feel good, and at age forty you suddenly discover that you have no liver. This is its "end" (acharitah), and whoever does not open his eyes in time reaches it.
"And stings like a viper (u-khetzif'oni yafrish)"
Rashi explains that this is an expression of biting or stinging, like the bite of a viper (tzif'oni). He also cites another explanation: some interpret it as "separating him from life" - the wine separates you from life, meaning it brings about death.
The Malbim explains that the tzif'oni is a species of snake whose dung and excrement are also venomous and harmful, and its eggs are harmful as well, as it is written: "They hatch vipers' eggs." Therefore, the verse describes two stages: initially, the wine injects venom into him, "it bites like a snake," and afterward, "u-khetzif'oni yafrish" - from the word peresh (dung), as in "and I will spread dung upon your faces, the dung of your festival sacrifices," which denotes excretion and indicates dung. And the Malbim adds a great novelty: Why is the snake called a "tzif'oni"? Precisely because of this nature. "Tzif'oni" derives from "tzefi'ei bakar" (cow dung), meaning a snake whose very dung is venomous. So too with wine: first comes the bite, and afterward the venom remains inside and leaves lingering aftereffects for years, like the dung of the viper that continues to cause damage - like those illnesses a person brings upon himself.
Verse 33: "Your eyes will see strange things"
עֵינֶיךָ יִרְאוּ זָרוֹת וְלִבְּךָ יְדַבֵּר תַּהְפֻּכוֹת׃ - Your eyes will see strange women, and your heart will speak perverse things.
The Malbim explains that this verse is a continuation of what was stated earlier: "My son, give your heart to Me, and let your eyes observe My ways." Concerning this, it comes and warns: Know that wine will prevent you from doing so. Wine will not allow you to give your heart to Hashem; on the contrary, through it, "your eyes will see strange things (zarot)" - your eyes will wander after immorality and you will look at forbidden women (nashim zarot) to engage in sin with them. Rashi and Rabbeinu Yonah interpret it this way as well.
It is the nature of wine to tear down all barriers. Every person has inhibitions, boundaries, and limits, and wine blurs everything. Therefore, someone who remained silent until now, once wine enters, the faucet opens and he talks non-stop - "When wine enters, secrets emerge." And in that very same way: every person has boundaries regarding forbidden sights and prohibitions of immorality, but when he drinks wine, his eyes roam freely. "And your heart will speak perverse things (tahpukhot)" - after wandering after forbidden relations, his heart speaks perverse things, which are words of heresy that are the opposite of words of wisdom. Thus, there are two matters here: a sin in action, through the eyes and immorality, and a sin in the heart - for the heart is the domain of proper hashkafah and correct thought, and here the person becomes corrupted as a result of the wine, following after vain notions, heresy, and disbelief.
The Vilna Gaon explains that "tahpukhot" (perversities) refers to contradictory matters that have no connection to one another, yet the drunkard speaks them together according to the internal logic of his heart. A person who has been drinking rambles about unrelated things, while to him everything seems connected and fascinating, and if you ask him what the connection is, he will explain it according to his heart's distorted logic. "Your heart will speak perverse things": the heart suddenly perceives backwards things as straight, and it is the wine that has warped it.
Knowing When to Stop
We have already mentioned the story of the man who went to teach his son how to drink. He told him: The wisdom in drinking is knowing when to stop. After a few drinks, he said to him: Do you see those two men over there? When you see four of them, it is a sign that you are already seeing double, and you need to stop and go home. The son said to him: Dad, come on, let's go home; there aren't two over there, there is only one! And this is "your eyes will see strange things": when you start seeing strange things, know that it is time to go home.
Verse 34: "And you will be like one lying down in the heart of the sea"
וְהָיִיתָ כְּשֹׁכֵב בְּלֶב־יָם וּכְשֹׁכֵב בְּרֹאשׁ חִבֵּל׃ - "And you will be like one lying in the heart of the sea, and like one lying at the top of a mast."
One can explain that "lying in the heart of the sea" refers to passengers on a ship sailing on the open sea. When the wind blows hard, their practice is to lie down, since one who stands risks being thrown overboard by the wind and the pitching of the vessel. And as the wind tosses it, with the ship rising and falling, he lies down below and waits until the storm passes. Such is the condition of the drunkard: the wind tosses him - not an external wind, but an internal spirit, the alcohol churning within him.
"And like one lying at the top of a mast" - all the commentators explain that chevel refers to the mast of the ship, so called because the ropes (chavalim) are bound to it. Anyone who has seen pictures of ancient sailing ships knows the intricate system of sails (in the language of Chazal, a ship's sail is called a vilon, a curtain) that were unfurled or reefed with pulleys and ropes. This allowed the ship to harness the wind, and when the wind was contrary, they would roll up the sails. Someone lying at the top of the mast has his senses disoriented by what he sees: the sea heaves before his eyes, throwing him off balance and stripping away clear, coherent thought. So too with the drunkard: he is like someone swaying at the top of a mast, seeing everything spinning, entirely incapable of straight, lucid thinking.
The Malbim, by contrast, explains that "lying in the heart of the sea" does not mean aboard a ship in the middle of the sea (as most commentators hold), but literally in the heart of the sea: floating on the water's surface, battling the ocean waves. Afterward, he will feel as though he is lying at the top of a mast - not from visual dizziness, but from sheer terror. For one who perches on a mast lives in constant dread that at any second he will fall, especially since the mast sways unceasingly and the ship is in motion, fearing a plunge from the highest peak to the deepest pit. As we find regarding that sage who hung himself from a mast (iskarya) and declared that if anyone asked him a question for which he could not find a source in the Mishnah, he would cast himself down and die; clearly, the vantage was so high that anyone falling from it had virtually no chance of survival. Says the Malbim: so too, one who drinks wine is like one lying atop a mast; he tumbles from his elevated standing into the depths of a pit and drowns in an abyss of ruin. Wine casts you down just like a fall from the top of the mast.
Verse 35: "They Struck Me, But I Did Not Feel Sick"
הִכּוּנִי בַל־חָלִיתִי הֲלָמוּנִי בַּל־יָדָעְתִּי מָתַי אָקִיץ אוֹסִיף אֲבַקְשֶׁנּוּ עוֹד׃ - "They struck me, but I did not feel sick; they beat me, but I did not know it; when will I awake? I will seek it yet again!"
Rashi explains: when he awakens from his wine, he does not feel any of the misery that befell him while he was intoxicated. Just like Achashveirosh: he wakes up from his wine feast and suddenly finds himself a widower. "Where is my wife?" "You flew into a rage and had her executed." "Really? She is dead?" He was head over heels for her, and now it turns out she was gone! That was precisely why the Sages of Israel refused to give him counsel at the time. They said: later he will sober up, regain his senses, and realize he is left without a wife - do we really need to bear the brunt of his rage? So they sent him to consult Ammon and Moav, of whom it is said, "Moav has been at ease from his youth, settled on his dregs..." - they understand the ways of drunken feasts. "We are in exile; the wisdom of the wise has perished, and the understanding of the prudent is concealed" - for the drunkard has no idea what is happening to him. "They struck me, but I did not feel sick" - people strike him, and he feels no pain from it.
Rabbeinu Yonah explains similarly: because the craving for wine banquets overpowers him so completely, he pays no mind to its harm; instead, he sings wine's praises and forgets all the trouble it causes him. He forgets the harm and remembers only the "benefit." And what is this supposed benefit? "They struck me, but I did not feel sick; they beat me, but I did not know it" - they beat me up and I didn't feel a thing! Moreover, through wine, he loses all awareness of time, and if he has troubles, he forgets them. As people say of someone weighed down by suffering: he drowned his sorrows in wine, because wine dulls one's grief. But he forgets that waking up brings him right back to reality. "When will I awake?" - Rabbeinu Yonah notes that this person has no desire to awaken from his drunkenness at all; he is comfortable in this stupor and wishes only to remain in it.
The Gra: "Let's Just Try It" - A Dangerous Mistake
The Vilna Gaon explains that Scripture is delivering an explicit warning here: do not say, "I will go and indulge myself in wine, and test whether it is good - if it is good, I will hold onto it, and if it is bad, I will abandon and discard it." What harm can there be in a small experiment? Consider this: if your son were to say, "Dad, I heard there is such a thing as drugs; let me try them just once, just to know what it is like" - would any sane father hand him money, or even grant him permission to experiment? The same applies to cigarettes: "Dad, I'll just buy one pack, no big deal." Every heavy smoker, both those who are still with us and those who are no longer alive - how did they begin? With "no big deal," with a Purim party. "And the reverse occurred" - it turned the person inside out; he became addicted and could no longer break free. The Gra explains: why must one never test it? Because once you become attached to it, even its harms and beatings (haka'ot with a kaf - or, as drunkards know well, haka'ot with a kuf, vomiting) will taste sweet to your palate. Even the blows people rain upon you will feel like gentle caresses, and you will not feel them at all.
The Midrash of the Drunkard and His Son
The Gra cites a famous Midrash on this theme. There was once a man whose father was a chronic drunkard. One day, the son saw another drunkard lying sprawled outside in the dirt in a state of stupor, while passersby beat him, mocked him, and made fun of him. When the son witnessed this disgraceful scene, he went and fetched his father, hoping it would inspire him to give up his drinking: let him see this drunkard wallowing in dirt and mud, with crowds of people beating him. As luck would have it, he caught his father in a fleeting moment of sobriety, between one bottle and the next. The father came, looked upon the scene, bent down to the drunkard on the ground, and asked him: "Where is the wine that you drank to get this intoxicated? Tell me as well, so that I can go and get just as drunk as you!" The son said to him: "Did I bring you here for this - to supply you with more tavern addresses? Look at how disgraced he is, how everyone is beating him, laughing at him, and spitting on him while he wallows in his vomit and mud!" The father replied: "My son, know that even these beatings feel wonderful to me. When I drink wine, even the blows taste sweet." So says the Midrash: to a drunkard, even blows feel good; and if you tried it and found that this wasn't the case, you probably just didn't drink enough.
And this is what is written here: if you cling to wine, even its blows will be pleasant to you, to the point that you say, "How pleasant! I will keep my wine within me and cling to it, and this package deal is acceptable to me." For had they beaten me like this without wine, my body would ache and I would fall ill; but while drinking wine, even though they struck me - it feels pleasant to me and I did not feel it: "They struck me, but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not know it."
His Body and His Wealth
The Vilna Gaon explains halmuni here as related to mamon (wealth): they robbed me of money as well, and I did not feel it at all - he did not notice that someone picked his pocket. The verse alludes to the two things over which a person grieves: his body and his wealth. Therefore, when Chazal want to describe something especially dear to a person, they say, "His wealth is dearer to him than his body," for these are the two things most precious to him. What does a person hate? Affliction - physical pain is severe; and having money taken from him. There are some people for whom having money taken from them is like having a hand cut off. They tell of a wealthy man whom people always tried to approach for donations without success; they said, "There is no chance, he will not give a penny." One person said, "Let me try." He tried, but made no headway. This was before Pesach, when he went collecting for Kimcha DePischa. He said to him, "If I did not merit to receive money from you, at least you can merit to receive a halachah from me." The wealthy man asked, "What is the halachah?" He replied, "The halachah states that a person must check his pockets for chametz; but I want to tell you a halachah that does not apply to you - you are exempt from checking your pockets." He asked, "Why?" He answered, "Because it is taught that a person checks as far as his hand can reach, and your hand never reaches into your pocket, so you are completely exempt! At most, you put money in, but never take it out." In any case, this is what the Gra explains: a person grieves over two things, harm to his body and the loss of his money, and to this drunkard, both happened - both physical damage and monetary loss - and he does not feel either of them at all.
"When will I awake?" The Gra explains: as a result of the wine, the person falls asleep, and he says - it is a waste of time that I am sleeping, when will I finally awake so that I can go back to drinking? And not only that, but "I will seek it yet again" - even more, more than I drank before; whatever happened until now was just minor, and now I want a much larger amount.
The Malbim: Two Stages in the Loss of Sensation
The Malbim explains that there is a progression here. At first, "They struck me, but I was not hurt" - I felt that they struck me, but I did not become sick from it. "They beat me [halmuni]" - in his view, this does not refer to money, but to a blow far harsher than an ordinary strike, for striking with a hammer-like blow (halimah) is more severe than a simple hit - yet nevertheless, "I did not know it," not only did I not fall ill, but I did not even feel it. The first time, I still knew of it but did not fall ill; and the second time, evidently after he drank even more, he felt nothing at all. And then: even though I am in a constant slumber, I think, when will I awake - not in order to break away from the wine, but rather, "I will seek it yet again," in order to seek it out once more.
And how is it truly possible that a person feels nothing? Chazal already addressed this in their exposition on "Give strong drink to him who is perishing": one who was condemned to death was given wine to drink (mixed with other ingredients, but the main component was wine), and once they gave it to him to drink, he no longer knew what was happening around him and lost his presence of mind. This allowed them to lead him to his execution without him thrashing and screaming. This is what is stated here: "They struck me, but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not know it" - because I drank wine. Wine scrambles the mind, and as a result, the person is unaware that in his final moments he is walking to the gallows. Such is the nature of wine: a person who drowns his sorrow in wine completely loses his composure and clarity of mind, and even if they beat him or kill him, he does not sense it and feels no threat.
On the Other Hand: The Virtue of Wine
Let us conclude the chapter on a positive note, for wine is indeed necessary. Chazal say that wine is required for mitzvos: every significant mitzvah was instituted over wine - Kiddush over wine, Havdalah over wine, Kiddushin and the Chuppah over wine, Bris Milah over wine, Sheva Berachos over wine, Birkas HaMazon over wine. And why? Because wine is an important and precious thing, in which the grape is elevated and transformed into an exquisite drink; and when we wish to bless, thank, and praise Hashem, we do so over a cup of wine. Furthermore, when a person drinks in moderation and appropriately - it is also healthy, as many studies have shown that a glass of wine a day is beneficial and protects against heart problems and illnesses, and it also contains a mitzvah and significance in praising Hashem. But when a person is drawn after wine, all the warnings stated here are fully valid, firm, and enduring.
In summary: The conclusion of chapter 23 is a precise description of the descent into desire. Its beginning is with a glance - "Look not upon the wine when it is red," as the Yetzer Hara paints the transgression in glowing red and pink hues, and the beautiful cup beautifies its contents; it continues with the false illusion that "it goes down smoothly," just like the temptation that "the tree was desirable to make one wise" in the primordial sin. Afterward comes the end, "at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper," where the damage is not felt at the moment of the deed, but is delayed and continues to cause harm for years to come. From there, "Your eyes shall behold strange women, and your heart shall utter perverse things," for wine breaks down all boundaries and corrupts both action and outlook; and "like one that lies down in the midst of the sea, or as one that lies upon the top of a mast," where a person falls from his stature into the depths of a pit. And the final stage is the most terrible of all: "They struck me, but I was not hurt" - the loss of sensation itself, to the point that the blows feel pleasant to him, and he only asks when he will awaken to seek more. Yet on the other hand, wine itself is important and precious, and all the mitzvos were instituted over it - provided that man rules over the wine, and the wine does not rule over him.