WHENCE A PROVERB
79
They went to Reb Chayyim Vital, who told them to look for him along the bank of the river, and they found him in a swamp among the tall reeds, more dead than alive.
They rescued him and brought him round, but from that day he took to drink.
And Reb Chayyim Vital said, it all came from his great longing for the Queen of Sheba, that when he drank, he saw her; and they were to let him drink, only not at Purim, because at that time she would have great power over him.
Hence the proverb, "Drunk all the year round, sober at Purim."
