In this week’s parshah the Torah teaches that a kohen may not enter the Beis Hamikdash while he is intoxicated. The pasuk states that neither wine nor beer may not be drunk by Aharon and his sons…to separate between the sanctified and the mundane, the impure and the pure, lehoros (to teach) the Bnei Yisrael the laws that Hashem told to Moshe (Vayikra 10:9).
The Gemara in Kreisus 13b derives from the word lehoros that one may not render a psak halachah while he is under the influence of alcohol.
There is one strange thing that struck me while I was learning these halachos. The Rambam is known for his classification of halachos into different sections. He compiled the Yad Hachazaka, which is fourteen books, containing many different sections of halacha in each. Just because a halacha is derived from another, or is combined together in a Gemara with another halacha, will not necessarily mean they will appear in the same section of the Yad Hachazaka. If they are different, the Rambam will place them in their appropriate sections.
Therefore, it was puzzling that Rambam wrote the halacha that one may not pasken a halacha in the section of halachos titled Biyas Mikdash. The Rambam begins this section with the halachos that prohibit a kohen from entering the Beis Hamikdash after he has drunk wine or other alcoholic beverages. Then in the third halacha the Rambam continues to write the halachos that prohibit one from paskening in such a state. Why would the Rambam codify these halachos in the same section as the halachos regarding entering the Beis Hamikdash?
Rav Chaim Kreisworth, zt”l, asks another question which may shed a light on the uncertainty above. The Gemara in Kreisus (ibid) derives from each word in the pasuk another aspect of this halacha. From the words to separate between the sanctified and the mundane the Gemara derives that one who is intoxicated may not pasken regarding hekdish eruchin charamim, all forms of donating to the Beis Hamikdash. From the words the impure and the pure, the Gemara derives that one who has drank wine may not pasken in a matter pertaining to tumah and tahara.
Asks Rav Kreisworth, why was it necessary for the Torah to specify each of these cases? Why would it not be sufficient to simply state lehoros from which we derive that in such a state one may not issue any psak?
He suggests that from the Ramban in Sefer Hamitzvos (hasagos lo sassei 73) it is apparent that the pasuk is referring to a kohen who is issuing a psak regarding tzaras. Regarding this the Mishnah in Negaim (3:1) says that if a kohen does not know the psak a yisrael talmid chacham may tell him what to pasken. The psak however must come from the mouth of a kohen. One may think that the psak of a kohen in this scenario will not be affected by his own state of mind and thus he may issue his ruling even while intoxicated. Therefore, the Torah wrote that even in this scenario he may not issue his ruling while intoxicated. Rav Kreisworth then asked on this explanation that the Rambam says that a kohen who is a shoteh may issue the psak in the case of tzaras if a yisrael talmid chacham tells him what to say. How can a person who had a glass of wine be worse then a shoteh?
Perhaps we can suggest an answer to both questions. The halacha that one may not issue a psak while intoxicated is not because the Torah is worried that he will issue the wrong psak. That is obvious – if a person’s judgment is impaired he cannot issue a ruling. This halacha applies to one who has drunk even one revi’is of wine, which is approximately three ounces. Most people can still make rational judgments after that amount of wine. In fact one is still legally allowed to drive a car after consuming that amount of wine. Rather, the prohibition not to pasken after drinking wine is because when one paskens he is joining with Hashem, as Rashi states in the beginning of Parshas Shoftim. Therefore, the Rambam wrote these halachos in the section that discusses entering the Beis Hamikdash since paskening a halacha is like entering the Beis Hamikdash. It is for this reason that one cannot issue a psak while intoxicated, for it is prohibited to enter the Beis Hamikdash in such a state.