Drink Like the Czechs

By Josh Tobias
KOC Assistant Editor
Brown University

It's interesting that I'm writing an article about "Jews and Booze" from the Czech Republic, a country so enamored with alcohol that it once had a political party exclusively devoted to beer. You cannot walk more than twenty feet here without encountering someplace selling alcohol. And it's not uncommon to see someone drinking a velky pivo (a half a liter of beer) at around eight in the morning. But while alcohol is an important part of Czech culture, you rarely see the sort of drunk spectacles that are commonplace on college campuses. Czechs seem to be able to enjoy their alcohol without becoming completely sloshed.

Contrast this with recent events at my home university, where administrators are discussing closing late night snack bars early on weekends to keep food workers safe from drunk students. According to a recent article in the Brown Daily Herald, drunken students have been stealing food, attacking food workers, starting fights and generally leaving a mess. The article noted that the students stomped on ketchup packets and threw fries at food workers. I think it's pathetic that intelligent, talented, Ivy-Leaguers behave like ill-tempered five-year-olds when they're drunk. They make a mockery of themselves and of the institution they attend. Furthermore, it creates dangerous situations where people can easily find themselves in a hospital bed. In my time at college, I've heard stories of students needing to get their stomach pumped or losing teeth. I've heard about students waking up next to someone whom they don't ever recall seeing before in their lives. The binge drinking culture on college campuses creates situations where people easily get hurt.

Let me make myself clear -- I believe the problem on college campuses is not drinking, but binge drinking. Drinking five or six shots to start your night is not a healthy way to go about drinking. Neither is taking "keg stands" or guzzling beer through a funnel. Not only is it dangerous, but turns drinking into a means instead of an end: students drink simply for the purpose of getting drunk. I can't see how someone can enjoy drinking when they're so inebriated that they can't remember what they did five minutes beforehand.

Clearly this is not the traditional Jewish attitude toward alcohol. While Judaism permits drinking, and even encourages it on some occasions, routine drunkenness is frowned upon. In Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), Rabbi Dosa ben Hyrcanus gave some advice which is very much applicable to the modern day college student. He said, "Sleeping away the morning, drinking at noonday, childish playing.... remove a man from this world." Nothing is wrong with drinking a glass of beer or having some scotch at Kiddush. The problems start when your life revolves around drinking. The key to a healthy attitude toward drinking is to approach alcohol with moderation.

Unfortunately, current United States law fails to take Judaism's traditional, pragmatic approach to alcohol. Currently, an underage student sipping wine at dinner is just as much in violation of the law as someone throwing down thirteen shots at a party. Because it's almost impossible for universities to police rampant, underage drinking, most have just thrown in the towel and accepted that college students will be college students. I think that lowering the drinking age will actually decrease binge drinking by providing currently underage students with more opportunities to drink in low-key safe environments. It will also let universities focus on more extreme cases of alcohol abuse, instead of having to punish every student who opens a can of beer in their dorm. The key to reducing the excesses of binge drinking is to encourage students to drink in moderation. After all, the Czechs have been doing it for centuries.

[Posted 02/18/07]