In Parashat Shmini, we learn that priests are forbidden from drinking wine while on duty: “Do not drink wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the Tent of Meeting, lest you die — it is a statute forever throughout your generations.” (Leviticus 10:9) Perhaps the concern is simply that they be sober while performing the Temple service, which seems reasonable enough. And yet, the exclusion of wine from the center of divine worship is not self-evident. After all, Judaism marks many moments of joy and exaltation with wine, including Shabbat, festivals, circumcisions and weddings.
This verse serves, for the Zohar, as an opportunity to probe further into the nature of wine and drunkenness as well as priestly service and divine worship:
“Wine and strong drink you shall not drink, you nor your sons with you…” (Leviticus 10:9) Rabbi Hiyya opened: “And wine gladdens the heart of man…” (Psalms 104:15) If a priest needs to rejoice and be found with a radiant countenance more than all others, why then is wine forbidden to him? For joy is found in it, and radiance of the face is found in it. Rather, the beginning of wine is joy, but its end is sadness. Furthermore, wine comes from the side of the Levites … while the side of the priest derives from clear, luminous waters …
Rabbi Abba said: From one place emerge wine, oil and water. Water and oil belong to the right; the priests take them and inherit them. Oil is superior to all, for it is joy at both the beginning and the end, as it is written: “Like the good oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, Aaron’s beard.” (Psalms 133:2) Wine belongs to the left; it is inherited by the Levites, to raise the voice and to sing, not to remain silent — for wine never keeps silent. Oil, however, is always in quietness. What is the difference between them? Oil, which is in quiet, in a whisper, always comes from the side of thought, which itself is in a whisper and is never heard; therefore it is of the right. Wine, which raises the voice and never remains silent, comes from the side of the Mother, and is inherited by the Levites on the left side, who stand to sing and to raise the voice … Therefore, when the priest enters the sanctuary to perform the service, he is forbidden to drink wine, for all his actions are in silence. In silence he directs his intention, unites unions as required, and draws down blessings to all the worlds. And all is in silence, for all his actions are in mystery. But wine reveals secrets, for all its actions are directed toward raising the voice.
Zohar 3:39b
Translation based on the Pritzker edition.
Explore this passage in context on Sefaria.
Wine, the Zohar acknowledges, is indeed capable of kindling joy, but with more extended consumption may also give rise to sorrow and pain. To characterize wine’s complexity, the Zohar employs its traditional key: the kabbalistic map of the sefirot arranged into two primary columns, right and left (with a mediating middle column, which is not our concern here). The right column is identified with Hesed (Loving-kindness), while the left is identified with Din (Judgment). The Zohar links priests with Hesed (right), and Levites with Din (left). Similarly, water and oil are identified with Hesed (right), while wine belongs to Din (left). This map provides a straightforward explanation for the wine prohibition: wine, aligned left, is simply contrary in character to the priest, aligned right.
However, the relationship between left and right within the sefirotic system should not be understood solely as the opposition between Hesed and Din. At the head of the right column stands the sefira of Hokhmah (Thought), a sefira considered concealed and incomprehensible. At the head of the left column, by contrast, stands the sefira of Binah (Mother), which emanates from Hokhmah and “peeks out” from the impenetrable divine realm. Here too, in this interplay between what is hidden and what begins to emerge into public view, the Zohar also perceives the difference between the work of the priests (which is hidden) and that of the Levites (which is revealed). The Levites are charged with ceremony and song, which are performative and public. The priests, by contrast, engage with the inner, concealed core of divine service — with preserving and nurturing intimacy with God, which is done behind closed doors.
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It now becomes self-evident that wine is fitting for the Levites, because it arouses joy and sparks artistic inspiration. It is also associated with public disclosure (since, as the talmudic saying puts it, “wine enters, secrets come out”). For that very same reason, it is unfit for priests, whose job is to work in the inner, private spaces of religious life — the altars and chambers not available to the public.
The homily ultimately sketches for us the topography of holiness as represented in the Temple: It illuminates, above all, the boundary between holiness that protrudes above the surface, and holiness that is nestled hidden within. The role of the Temple, serviced by both priests and Levites, is to radiate sanctity outward into the public sphere while simultaneously cultivating hidden religious intimacy with God. One might say this captures the essence of religious life: On the one hand, there is an externalized dimension, overt and visible, expressed in prayer, song and communal ritual. On the other hand, there is the private, inner, secret dimension, the Holy of Holies. Both dimensions are essential to the world of the kabbalists — as is maintaining the boundary between them. The warning directed to the priests not to drink wine is therefore ultimately the commandment to continuously guard the innermost kernel of the secret of divine worship.
This piece was originally published as part of A Year of Zohar: Kabbalah for Everyone, an original series produced by My Jewish Learning and Sefaria. Sign up for the entire series here.
