From the Kotzk Blog:
I always wonder why some religious people, besides their wonderful virtues, often fall for vices. In a previous article, we looked at the question of smoking and Halacha [see Kotzk Blog: 069) Cigarettes and Halacha Don’t Mix:]. I concluded that article by suggesting that we also need to address the incidence of drinking alcohol which is quite endemic in many communities. Alcohol is ubiquitously accepted as the norm, sometimes to the extent that it is abused. Some battle to get home after shul on Shabbat mornings.
Sadly, it now seems another scourge is sweeping through our religious communities and that is the use of drugs and other substances, of course, presented in more acceptable terms like psychedelics, mood enhancers and the like.
Some rabbis I know turn a blind eye; some ‘understand’ the value of these substances but refrain; and others participate. Today, you can go to a pre-Shabbos ruach (spirit) session, to prepare for the onset of the holiness of the day. Music will be provided but you must “bring your own mood enhancers.” You can even go to talks where speakers will try convince you that hallucinogenics are an integral, de facto part of Halachic Judaism as if they were just another of the mitzvot Jews are required to do “to get close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.” I often hear it presented through the lens of technical Chassidic terminology. And, so I’ve been told, “every professor today” is researching and endorsing the benefits of these substances (this from religious people who don’t usually like what professors say).
The problem is that, in the past, drinking in shul was usually the proclivity of the men, but now women also want to be inspired and uplifted like the men-folk and, while reciting Tehillim, “experience what the psalmist is really saying.”[1] Today, gummies are often passed around the other side of the mechitzah as well, as substances become egalitarian. At a Bar Mitzvah celebration, one mother was not sure how she arrived or how she was going to get home to her family. In another case, someone was given substances at a shul Kiddush without knowing what it was and landed up in the care of paramedics.
These are all people who are religious and many have been brought up in religious families so we can’t blame it on the outside influences of Baalei Teshuva. When I hear of such events, I always wonder what is wrong with Judaism that it needs to be enhanced by drink and substances. Where does this emphasis on the need for artificial, automatic, non-internalised and intense “experiential” Judaism come from? We have the Torah, we have Halacha, a huge literature and many good rabbis. Why is this not enough? Why do we need to stoop to the level of common folk who don’t have Torah, and who are looking for shortcuts to experiential nirvana to escape the drudgery of a meaningless life? Has Torah and Judaism stopped working and lost its meaning that it needs to be enhanced? The number of people I know who need to be “enhanced” is astounding − and growing − as hallucinogenics are becoming the new and improved formulation of Jewish mysticism.
[1] These quotations are from what I have personally seen and heard.
The author then goes off on a historical perspective. Read the rest here.