Rebbe Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica, known eponymously by the title of his book "Mei HaShiloach", was born in 5560 (1800) to his father Rabbi Yaakov, a disciple of the Seer of Lublin. He was a distinguished student of Rebbe Simchah Bunim of Peshischa and later accepted the leadership of Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kotzk. Following an ideological dispute, he left Kotzk with a group of followers and founded the Izbica Chasidic dynasty, which continued in Radzyn. Rebbe Mordechai Yosef was known for the profundity of his Chasidic teachings, and for his perspective that, in their inner essence, all the actions of the Jewish people, even sins, express the will of the Holy Blessed One. His Torah teachings were collected by his grandson, Rebbe Gershon Chanoch Henoch, into the book "Mei HaShiloach". His path was continued by his disciples, Rebbe Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin, Rebbe Leibele Eiger, and his own son Rebbe Yaakov Leiner. Rebbe Mordechai Yosef passed away on the 7th of Tevet 5614 (1854).
There was an incident with the holy Rebbe of Izbica involving mead, a popular drink in his time. Mead is made from fermented honey water and is similar to wine in appearance. It is sometimes even called honey wine. Once, by mistake, mead was poured into his Kiddush goblet instead of wine, and he began to recite the Kiddush for the Shabbat meal. When he reached the blessing made on wine in the Kiddush, he stopped and would not continue the blessing. When those present realized this, they began to search for a reason for his behavior. It was then discovered that it was mead in his goblet, not wine. If he would have continued and made the blessing over wine, it would have been taking God’s Name in vain.
Afterwards, Rebbe Mordechai Yosef explained that no one should think that stopping the blessing was a miracle or the result of Divine inspiration. Rather, since he always searches for the kosher status of something before reciting its blessing, now too, during Kiddush, he searched for the kosher status of the wine and could not find it.
Even though mead is inherently kosher and is fit even for Kiddush, nevertheless wine requires inspection to ensure that it is kosher, etc. For mead, all the special prohibitions that apply to wine are not relevant. And when these prohibitions are not applicable, it is impossible to ascertain whether the drink in his cup is kosher or not. For as long as there is no opposing force to kashrut, the kashrut itself is of a lesser degree. Therefore, he couldn't find the kashrut in the mead and could not continue with its blessing.
Rebbe Mordechai Yosef’s extraordinary eyesight, which to himself was no miracle at all, saved him from making the blessing for wine over a drink that is not wine. Indeed, tzaddikim have said that specifically the word gefen (vine), which appears in the blessing over wine, hints to the many influences of Kiddush over health (gezunt), livelihood (parnassah), and satisfaction from one’s life and offspring (nachat).
The tzaddik knew this secret well: Once, on the Shabbat of Parashat Tetzaveh, a Jew asked him for a blessing for livelihood. The tzaddik handed him a cup of wine and said, quoting the verse from that week’s Torah portion: “And you shall make settings of gold.” May you have purses full of gold! Not many days passed before the man became very wealthy.
In Kabbalah and Chasidut, wine is associated with the sefirah of binah (understanding) while mead falls under the halachic category of chamar medinah (the drink of the land) and is thus associated with the sefirah of malchut (kingdom). The association between wine and binah is expressed both in the many restrictions that apply to wine, since binah is the source of judgments—strict adherence to kashrut being among them and the fact that “song is only said over wine”—an expression of the idea that the inner essence of binah is specifically joy.
Both the joyous song and the penetrating gaze into the essence of wine are hinted at in the word "kosher". The first letter, כ, is the initial of the word “strength”. The remaining two letters, שר, have two meanings: either song or gaze, the latter meaning appears in the verse “And from the hills I see him”. The power to gaze and sense the essence of wine belongs specifically to the gevurah (might) aspect of binah: the fear of God in the tzaddik's heart is what allows him to understand (the meaning of binah) what stands before him.
In light of our words, it is interesting to see that in several places, wine is connected with fear. For instance, the Talmud states that "severe fear, wine dispels it." The joy and lightheadedness in wine contend with fear and overcome it. The Ba’al Shem Tov, however, expounded on this Talmudic statement as if it read: “severe wine, fear dispels it.” The Ba’al Shem Tov and his disciples mentioned this interpretation when they instantly needed to dispel the effect of wine they had drunk. They did this by remembering God and experiencing the fear of God. Similarly, Rebbe Mordechai Yosef, when he was about to drink wine, filled himself with fear of Heaven as he verified the kashrut of the drink, and the fear of God helped him avoid a stumbling block he had not even thought of.
