Many English versions translate משתה generally as either “feast” (e.g., ESV, KJV, NKJV) or “banquet” (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRS, RSV, TNK) and understand משתה יין as functioning adverbially. The NASB, for example, understands this construct[…]
Today, while ‘strong drink’ remains the most frequent English translation of שֵׁכָר, confusion about its identity persists. The problem of rendering שֵׁכָר into English is best exemplified by the JPS translation of the Hebrew Bible,[…]
The ancient Near East was divided in its alcoholic beverages into two main regions, those whose geographical properties suited the growing of grapes (e.g. Palestine, Greece) and those unsuited for growing grapes (e.g. Egypt and[…]
One of the important distinctions between the diet of Graeco-Roman Palestine and Babylonia was the use of wine or beer as a common beverage. It is abundantly clear that in the Graeco-Roman world, wine was[…]
Compounding the difficulty in identifying שֵׁכָר is the fact that beverages in antiquity most often contained many ingredients: products solely composed of barley, grapes, or dates were rare. Dates were among the most frequent additives[…]
…it appears that wine was much more expensive in Babylonia than beer in the Talmudic period: R. Hisda said: “When someone can eat barley bread, but eats wheat bread, he violates (the injunction) ‘thou shalt[…]
Ancient alcoholic beverages don’t always fit into neat, distinct categories. Chemical evidence of ancient alcoholic drinks show that they were often mixed concoctions. It would be rare to find products composed solely of barley, wheat,[…]
Israeli wines need to break out of the kosher market for the long-term health of the industry, and to do that, we have to exist on the non-kosher shelf and compete as quality wines at[…]
The bottom line is that beer is a more democratic product than wine. Generally speaking, it’s cheaper than wine, allowing connoisseurs access to a broader spectrum, and prompting the development of more esoteric palates. Beer[…]
While the Mishnah and Gemara are clear that wine should be drunk diluted, the opinion that wine was too strong to drink came from later commentators, writing hundreds of years later. In the Gemara itself,[…]