The Ben Ish Hai (Rav Yosef Haim of Baghdad, 1833-1909), in Parashat Balak (1), discusses the laws relevant to the prohibition of Setam Yenam – drinking the wine of non-Jews. To emphasize the severity of this prohibition, the Ben Ish Hai makes reference to an incident recorded in the book "Ayuma Ka’nidgalot" (p. 24) that demonstrates the gravity of this violation and its potential repercussions.
The story involves eleven prominent Rabbis whom the king summoned to his palace. The king described the great respect and admiration he felt for them, and expressed his desire to have them reciprocate and demonstrate their respect for him. To that end, the king asked that the Rabbis do one of three things: eat pork meat, drink his wine, or have relations with non-Jewish women. The Rabbis asked for three days to evaluate the options and reach a decision.
Three days later, they returned to the palace and informed the king that they were prepared to drink his wine. They decided that whereas partaking of pork and having relations with gentile women constitute Torah violations, the prohibition against Setam Yenam was enacted by the Sages and should therefore be treated less stringently. Of the three possibilities, they concluded, the least severe transgression would be drinking non-Jewish wine.
The king was overjoyed, and immediately had his guests seated at the round swivel table in the royal dining room. The Rabbis were served kosher meat, whereas the others at the table ate pork. The king ordered his servants to bring the choicest wine from the royal wine chest, and the Rabbis drank. The wine was very strong, and they became moderately inebriated. Without them realizing it, the king had the table turned, such that the Rabbis ate the pork meat that was on the plates of the people sitting next to them.
After the meal, the king said to the Rabbis, "You must be tired. We have special suites here on the palace where you can sleep, and we brought your wives here so you could be with them."
The Rabbis agreed to sleep in the palace, but, in their intoxicated state, they did not realize that the officials had brought prostitutes – not their wives – to the rooms. They thus spent the night with these non-Jewish women.
In the morning, they realized who had been with them in their rooms, and the king showed them that their kosher meat from the previous evening had not been touched, indicating that they had eaten pork meat.
They had thought that by agreeing to drink the king’s wine they would commit the least grievous of the three prohibitions, but as it turned out, by drinking the wine they ended up committing all three sins. The eleven Rabbis accepted upon themselves measures of repentance, but they all died an unnatural death within the year.
This demonstrates that although the prohibition of "Setam Yenam" was enacted by the Sages, and does not constitute a Torah law, it is nevertheless very severe. One who breaches this enactment of Hazal potentially exposes himself to many severe Torah violations. Indeed, the Zohar comments that one who transgresses the prohibition of Setam Yenam forfeits his share in the world to come. We must therefore exercise extreme care with regard to the wine we drink, and ensure that it meets all Halachic qualifications, so that we do not violate this grave prohibition.
