In this page of Talmud we begin a long digression about the effects of wine, both good and bad. There is a dispute whether wine precludes a rabbi from rendering a legal decision. Rabbi Yehuda thought it did, but Rav Nachman thought the idea ridiculous. He claimed that he could only render a legal ruling after he had drunk some wine.
עירובין סד, א
אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל שתה רביעית יין אל יורה אמר רב נחמן לא מעליא הא שמעתא דהא אנא כל כמה דלא שתינא רביעתא דחמרא לא צילא דעתאי
Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel: If one drank a quarter-log of wine, he may not issue a halakhic ruling, as the wine is liable to confuse his thinking. With regard to this second statement, Rav Nachman said: This halakha is not excellent, as concerning myself, as long as I have not drunk a quarter-log of wine, my mind is not clear. [It is only after drinking wine that I can issue appropriate rulings.]
What are we to make of Rav Nachman’s statement that he could only render a legal decision after he had some wine. Does alcohol indeed sharpen the mind?
Nope.
In study after study, alcohol actually impairs you cognitive function. (You can see more evidence of this if you joined me in the Emergency Department on a Saturday night.) For example, one study, published in 2000, demonstrated that alcohol impaired both the speed of information processing and as well as higher order cognitive abilities. While the study only used twenty subjects, I think we can all agree that these findings would be replicated in a larger population (see above regarding the ED). The authors concluded that
Alcohol administration resulted in impaired performance on perceptual organization, synthesis of thought, abstract thought, decision making and attention to detail, but not on short-term memory, visual memory, freedom from distractibility and anxiety and visuo-motor coordination.
It is of course, precisely the powers of abstract thought, decision making and attention to detail that are needed in order to render a fair legal decision of any sort. Another review of the action of alcohol on vigilance concluded that “nonverbal, spatial information processing are very sensitive to low doses of alcohol.” Alcohol is involved in over half of all fatal car crashes in the US and so on and so on. Alcohol does nothing to sharpen the mind.
“...results show that alcohol impaired visual information processing, attention, abstract reasoning and visuo-motor coordination...
...the results indicate that all stages of information processing are impaired independently...”
Rav Nachman and the CAGE Questionnaire
Why then did Rav Nachman believe that he could only render a legal decision after he’d had some wine? Here is one possibility: for people who have a drinking problem, the addiction to alcohol can lead to nasty withdrawal symptoms, that can only be alleviated with …more alcohol. Today, one of the four screening questions that are asked using the CAGE questionnaire to detect a possible drinking problem is “have you ever felt the need to drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves?” It is precisely the need for alcohol in order to “think straight” (or to have the illusion of thinking straight) that is a warning sign of potential alcoholism.
Rav Nachman (d.~320C.E.) was a wealthy man, who had high self-esteem. He claimed that if anyone was worthy of being the Messiah in his generation “he must be like me” (אמר רב נחמן אי מן חייא הוא כגון אנא, see Sanhedrin 98b). He also owned an enormous wine cellar (see Berachot 51b). Of course none of this proves that Rav Nachman had what today we would call alcoholism, but it is an interesting idea to ponder.
Does Exercise help eliminate alcohol?
Elsewhere on today’s page of Talmud we read that exercise can increase the elimination of alcohol.
עירובין סו,ב
אמר רמי בר אבא דרך מיל ושינה כל שהוא מפיגין את היין
Rami bar Abba said: Walking a path of a mil, and similarly, sleeping even a minimal amount, will dispel the effect of wine that one has drunk.
These observations are perfectly reasonable. Alcohol is eliminated in the body by the liver, although the rate at which it does so varies. It is faster in those who drink regularly, and slower in those who are alcohol naive. In general, the elimination rate is around 10-15mg/dL/hr in alcohol naive people and around 20mg/dL/hr or higher in those with chronic alcohol use. Try as you might, there is really nothing you can do to speed up this rate of elimination.
Does exercise help, as Rami bar Abba suggested? Well, there is one study that looked at this very question. In rats, which were fed alcohol mixed into their liquid diet “with use of a kitchen wire whisk and bowl.” They were then made to run on a little rodent treadmill and blood was removed from their tails at various time intervals. The researchers, from the University of Texas at Austin, concluded that “…running exercise for periods of at least 60 min will increase rates of ethanol clearance compared with rates measured at rest.” So if you are a rat with a hangover, a vigorous run for an hour might help you feel better. But what about us?
Well, it depends how much you exert yourself. A study published in 1982 tested the rates of alcohol elimination in a very small group of volunteers, who got drunk and hopped on an exercise bike. It found that
prolonged physical exercise produces an enhanced ethanol elimination if the intensity and duration of exercise are sufficient. But this finding has hardly any pathological meaning.The reasons for the enhanced elimination of blood alcohol are probably to be found in the elevated body temperature caused by physical exercise and in a supplementary loss of alcohol by perspiration and exhalation. The muscles are not able to utilize ethanol either directly or indirectly.
Time-dependent elimination of alcohol
Sleep does nothing to speed up the metabolism of alcohol either. But what if Rami bar Abba was not suggesting an activity, but rather a length of time? Perhaps he is in effect saying that the alcohol wears off in about the time it takes to walk a mil, or have a short nap. That certainly makes physiological sense. To which Rav Nachmun pointed out that this time period only applied after a small amount of wine (“a quarter log”). Any more than that could not be eliminated in such a short period. Also physiologically correct.
But Rami bar Avuha (not the same Rami as before) noted that if you are really intoxicated, you would need more time to sober up.
אָמַר רַב נַחְמָן אָמַר רַבָּה בַּר אֲבוּהּ: לֹא שָׁנוּ אֶלָּא שֶׁשָּׁתָה כְּדֵי רְבִיעִית, אֲבָל שָׁתָה יוֹתֵר מֵרְבִיעִית — כׇּל שֶׁכֵּן שֶׁדֶּרֶךְ טוֹרַדְתּוֹ וְשֵׁינָה מְשַׁכַּרְתּוֹ.
Rav Nachman said that Rabba bar Avuh said: They only taught this with regard to one who has drunk a quarter-log of wine, but with regard to one who has drunk more than a quarter-log, this advice is not useful. In that case, walking a path of such a distance will preoccupy and exhaust him all the more, and a small amount of sleep will further intoxicate him.
Of course so long as you stop drinking, there is no way that a nap will further raise your alcohol level, but again, if you have drunk enough and take a nap you may wake with an awful hangover, which may make you feel as if you were intoxicated.
Time dependent elimination of alcohol at various doses. For “one drink” you might substitute a quarter log of wine.” For “four drinks” you might substitute the more potent “Italian wine.”
The Talmud is full of conflicting statements about wine and its intoxicating effects. In tomorrow’s page of Talmud Rav Chaninah claimed that the relaxed feeling a person gets after drinking wine put him in the same mindset as the Creator of the universe:
עירובין סה, א
אמר רבי חנינא כל המתפתה ביינו יש בו מדעת קונו שנאמר וירח ה׳ את ריח הניחוח וגו׳
Rabbi Chanina said: Whoever is appeased by his wine, i.e., whoever becomes more relaxed after drinking, has in him an element of the mind-set of his Creator, who acted in a similar fashion, as it is stated: “And the Lord smelled the sweet savor, and the Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake” (Genesis 8:21).
And according to Rav Chanan bar Papa it is a sign of prosperity if “wine flows like water” in the house (Eruvin 65a). But rabbis also pointed out the dangers of drinking to excess. One explanation for the deaths of the sons of Aaron the High Priest (described in Lev.10) is that they were drunk when they performed in the Mishkan. Elsewhere we have discussed how the Talmud described alcoholic liver disease, and how it precluded a Cohen from service in the Temple. Like many things, wine would be taken in moderation. That lesson, taught in Avot D’Rabbi Natan, was true in talmudic times, and remains so in ours too.
אבות דרבי נתן 37:5
ח׳ דברים רובן קשה ומיעוטן יפה. יין מלאכה שינה ועושר ודרך ארץ ומים חמין והקזת דם
There are eight things which are dangerous in excess but good in moderation: wine, work, sleep, [having] wealth, sexual relations, [bathing in] hot water, and bloodletting.
Want more? Here are some other Talmudology posts that also discuss alcohol and its effects:
Cohanim and alcoholic liver disease
The healing effects of alcohol
