After the flood had ended and the water covering the earth had subsided, Noach and his family left the ark, ready to start their lives over again. God gives them a blessing, tells them to inhabit the earth and to multiply, and makes a covenant with mankind, never again to bring a flood to destroy the world. The Torah then tells us of Noach's first venture into the new world, a venture that had tragic results. Noach planted a vineyard, partook of its wine and became drunk. The varied reactions of his sons upon seeing him in this state led him to give a prophetic description of their respective character traits, some of which were praiseworthy, and others of which were not. The Torah then describes how the various nations of the world emerged from these three sons of Noach.
In describing the process of Noach's planting of the vineyard, the Torah says, "And Noach, the man of the earth, debased himself and planted a vineyard" (Bereishis 9 : 20). Rashi explains that the expression for debased - 'Vayachel' - comes from the word 'chulin' - profane. Noach, he says, made himself profane by planting a vineyard, because he should have engaged in a different kind of planting first. It is interesting to note that the Zionist thinker Achad HaAm, although not a religious man himself, said the same thing when he heard that the settlers in Palestine in the late nineteenth century were planting vineyards! Apparently, Rashi is saying that there is not necessarily anything wrong with planting a vineyard - after all, legend has it that Rashi himself had a vineyard (although there is no evidence that this is true), but it should not be the first thing a person does in establishing a community. One, however, may ask, what exactly is the problem with doing so, and, moreover, what kind of planting should Noach have engaged him, instead of a vineyard? I believe that the answer to this question can be found in the subsequent comment of Rashi to our verse.
Rashi asks, where did Noach find the necessary vine to plant a vineyard with ? He answers that when Noach originally entered the ark, he brought twigs of grapevines and shoots of fig trees with him. Perhaps, then, Rashi is indicating that Noach should have planted figs before planting a vineyard. What is the significance of figs? Rashi in parshas Bereishis tells us that the fig was the fruit of the tree of knowledge through which Chava and her husband Adam sinned. Thus, it was the fig that was part of the process of sin, begun with Chava that eventually led to the destruction of the earth through the flood. In starting the world over again, then, Noach needed to rectify the wrong done through the fig. Man's sin actually arose from an attitude of arrogance. The snake, according to the rabbis, temped Chava to eat of the tree by telling her that by so doing, she would become like God, able to create worlds. Essentially, then, Noach needed to show that to show that he humbled himself before God. Therefore, he should have first planted the fig shoots, thus indicating that he would not repeat the mistake of earth's original inhabitants and try to usurp God's authority. By planting a grapevine first, and indulging in the wine it produced, he acted arrogantly, and missed his opportunity to correct the sin of Adam and his wife.
Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz, who was the spiritual counselor - mashgiach - of the great yeshiva of Mir in Poland, wrote that Noach's entire experience in the ark during the flood, constantly serving the animals there, feeding them and attending to their needs, was meant to inculcate within him a feeling of humility. Planting a fig shoot as his first agricultural endeavor, then, would have reinforced that experience. By planting a grapevine and becoming drunk, Noach demonstrated that he had not learned his lesson properly. The midrash actually contrasts Noach to Moshe, saying that whereas Moshe was initially described, by the daughter of Yisro, as "an Egyptian man," the Torah ultimately describes him as a " man of God.' Noach, on the other hand, while originally described by the Torah as one who "walked with God,' is ultimately described as a "man of the earth." The contrast to Moshe is telling, because the Torah describes Moshe as the humblest man on the face of the earth. Apparently it was Noach's lack of humility that led to his failing.
The Ba'al HaTurim points out that we find two other places in the Torah where the word 'Vayita' - indicating planting - is mentioned. First, God himself plants a vineyard in the garden of Eden, and, later, Avrohom plants an 'eishel,' an orchard, in Be'er Sheva. In both these cases, the planting was used for chesed, to help others. Thus, planting per se, is not problematic. The problem arises when the attitude is not correct. Apparently, then, this is what happened in the case of Noach, and it was left for Avrohom to begin the long process of rectification. Rav Dovid Feinstein has pointed out that the word 'adam' consists of the letters 'aleph', 'dalet' and 'mem.' These three letters hint to the three people who the Talmud says are referred to in the Holy Scriptures as being humble - Avrohom, David and Moshe. As we pointed out last week, the Torah tells us that, at the completion of the six days of creation, God saw that the world was 'tov meod' - very good. The word 'meod,' R. Dovid pointed out, consists of the same letters as the word Adam, indicating that the world was created for the benefit of man, and, moreover, in order for there to be men like Avrohom, Dovid and Moshe, who were all suffused with the trait of humility. King David wrote that the world was built on chesed, on kindness. In order to do acts of kindness, a person needs to have a certain degree of humility, recognizing that other people's needs, and not only his own, have importance. When Noach embarked on the recreation of human society, he needed to have this in mind.
Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) at the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.
To subscribe to Netvort, send a message with subject line subscribe to Netvort@aol.com. To unsubscribe send message with subject line unsubscribe to same address.