Can anyone investigate scientific fact before proclaiming things in the CR? Smoking has its dangers, and so does drinking. I’m also not quite sure about Rabbi Bender’s seeming dismissal of smoking as not so rampant, but I do respect his interest in keeping a solitary focus. He is absolutely correct that the drinking problems today are being ignored, and that there are patterns that have infiltrated our community that feed the problems. When I was younger, there was no one I knew who could explain to you what mixed drinks were. There simply was no such thing as social drinking. At a sholom zochor, beer was only ingested as a ritual, “oif yotzeh tzu zein”, not guzzled. Other liquors were barely touched, just for the l’chaim or for Kiddush. None of that is true today. We never knew anything about expensive liquors. Visit any liquor store today, and the difference is immense.
If we model drinking for pleasure, our children will mimic the drinking for pleasure (or to escape from the pain of reality). We just display that the numbed state of mind is okay or even a positive thing. There is nothing good about that, and it is certainly not compatible with a lifestyle that seeks to fulfill ratzon Hashem. Rabbi Bender is perfectly on target. Is there anyone listening, or are we busy looking to critique him? How about just accepting the nudge, and doing what is right?