Noah's Vineyard

“Noah was an absolute Tzaddik in his time.” Genesis 6:9

Rising high above his contemporaries Noah was intent on listening for the Word of God. He hungered to touch the Divine and yearned for a moment of devekute, a holy encounter with the One. While a world grew despoiled from ongoing senseless acts of carnage, Noah kept his vision focused on God.
Perhaps that is why the first act Noah did when his boat struck earth was to plant a vineyard. Lovingly planting the tiny seeds and guarding its steady growth Noah wanted to please the Master. When the vines were heavy with their thick fruit, Noah squeezed the elixir from the grapes. He drank. Noah became intoxicated. That is when the Holy text says, “Noah profaned himself.” Genesis 9:20 Drunk, spewing vomit, Noah the Tzaddik lolled about in his own filth inside his tent.
What do we learn from the Torah? That even tzaddidim can veer from the course of righteousness? Is this the message? When we finish reading the terrible ending of the Flood we wonder: what is the moral of the tale? Could it be a simple lesson in the fallibility being made from flesh and blood? Prone to sin? That we are not made of holier stuff?
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Just prior to the great Flood a humble and perfect man, Hanokh, was wrested from the physical universe. The youngest of all the people enumerated in the long list of generations stretching from Adam to Noah, Hanokh was gripped by God and “walked with God.” Hanokh was the youngest of all the generations to die. Genesis 5:23
The French medievalist scholar, Rashi, pondered this question. Why did Hanokh die prematurely? Rashi suggested that perhaps Hanokh was too perfect to be a victim of the Flood. He was pure and blameless; the only member of an entire society to be whole. That is why just before the waters began their deathly rise the Lord snatched up Hanokh and brought him to heaven. Hanokh did not live to see the utter destruction of humanity. He was saved. This was God’s gift to Hanokh, explained Rashi.
Yet, a doubt lingers….if Hanokh was so righteous why did not God place him on Noah’s vessel? His life would have been spared. He could have been a survivor and not a victim. Hanokh would have then received the ultimate reward to being the progenitor of the new human race. Is survival not the greatest reward for righteousness?
Again, Rashi provides a shaft of light illuminating this enigmatic figure. Hanokh, states Rashi, was withdrawn from the world before his time because he may have been persuaded towards the evil side. Hanokh’s kindness was also his vulnerability.
Hanokh was a cobbler, a shoemaker. According to midrash he was focused on repairing shoes and helping repair broken souls. Hanokh was a content man free of sin, free from distraction. Yet, intimates the midrash, when the oncoming disturbances from the rampant evil began to enter into his ears and penetrate his soul, God withdrew his perfect servant from the world. The danger of contamination was too great. Hanokh did not survive the Flood because he was too pristine, too pure. He would have lost his soul in the process.
This returns us to Noah who began his life similar to Hanokh. Noah was a tzaddik, like Hanokh. Unlike his ancestor, Noah was not as prone to influence from his friends, neighbors and society. In that sense, Noah was a more trustworthy candidate to start the human race once again. Indeed, Noah follows God’s direction to their absolute end. With unerring devotion, Noah heeds the commands from Above and commences the process of building an Ark. Ignoring the corruption all around him Noah set his mind to the task of following God.
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At the end of it all, we are still confronted with the awful reality of Noah’s stupor and shame. Noah’s moral stamina may have been stronger than Hanokh’s but he still ended up in a mess. Is this the end of a tzaddik? The story of individual honor and reliance against evil concludes with a man lying naked in puddles of vomit? The one chosen to be the new Adam of the reborn universe starts the journey of a new civilization by profaning himself?
Remember what Noah planted: a vineyard. Why grapes? There is a virtually endless list of crops Noah could have planted instead of a vineyard. Think of the possibilities: there are pears, melons, barley, bananas, lettuce, eggplant, wheat….
Why wouldn’t a tzaddik plant grapes in the new world? After all, doesn’t he need to make a Kiddush? Doesn’t a tzaddik want to make a l’hayim to his Maker? A true tzaddik would want to praise and bless God as the first Shabbat approached. According to tradition, there is only one way to do this; Noah needed wine.
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Make no mistake: the forbidden fruit of the Garden could have been many things. It most certainly was not an apple. One strong opinion holds that it was a grape. At once, the fruit of the vine held promise of true knowledge of the world and hint of evil. It opened up new vistas for the first humans.
Remember too, that the one that enticed the woman was the feared nahash, the Evil One. Sforno, a fifteenth century Italian sage, reveals to us that the nahash was not merely a snake but the embodiment of the great tempter, the Evil One himself. The Evil One, tells Sforno, reached into the dark subconscious minds of primordial man and coaxed them toward the darkness while pretending it was light.
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The advantage that Noah had over Adam and Eve was that Noah knew that grapes were necessary to hallow God. They may have been the gateway out of Eden but they were still the gateway that led back. With fervency, Noah clamored out of the Ark and swiftly moved to sanctify the Holy One’s name immediately. What Noah did not know was that the Evil One had permanently perverted the potential of the grapes. The grapes were holy when only used to sanctify God’s name. Used for any other purpose, including excess, and the Evil One comes to claim the owner for himself.

Holiness is being aware and awake. It means being conscious of the choices we make and the path that we tread. Good and evil are different sides of the same coin. They are not different coins. It is critical to be ever aware of our words, gestures and even prayers.
The Evil One approaches when we become self-absorbed. With a gentle whisper, he brings us the shadowy world that is the other half of existence.
In the meanwhile, we have all the tools necessary to wend our way back towards the Garden. Accessing holiness is being open, joyful and devoted to the Holy One. The lesson of Noah? Even a tzaddik can go astray.