Can I Use Milk Instead of Wine?
Pesach 5765
The Brisker Rav, Rav Yosef Ber Soloveichik (1820-1892) was asked a halachic question regarding Pesach. He asked the Rav if it would be permissible to use milk instead of wine for the arba kosos at the Seder.
The Rav asked him if there was a medical reason that prevented him from drinking wine. The Rav continued to ask more questions to get to the root of the problem of drinking wine.
Finally, the man replied in a shaky voice that he could not earn enough money this month to buy wine for the Seder. Once the Rav heard this his heart opened and almost involuntarily he gave the man 20 rubels as a "loan" to purchase wine.
Twenty rubels the Rav gave was much more then the cost of arba kosos. The Rebbetzin who overheard this man’s halachic questions asked the Rav why he gave so much money. She said that you only had to give a couple of rubels, why 20? The Brisker Rav smiled and said that if he could not afford wine for the Seder how would he be able to buy meat for the Seder for his family? Or else, how could he drink milk at a flieshig Seder? Therefore I gave him enough for his family’s Yom Tov needs.