Why does Rashi comment: ’’Noach debased himself’ - he should have first engaged in planting something other than a vineyard."
Our Parasha relates that, after Noach and his sons came out of the Ark, Noach (9:20): ’ ויחל נח: איש האדמה: man of the earth, debased himself, and planted a vineyard.’
Rashi comments: ’’Noach debased himself’ - he should have first engaged in planting something other than a vineyard."
Elucidates Siftei Chachamim: "If not so, it should have - instead of choosing ויחל - stated ונטע: that ‘he planted a vineyard.’ "
The Nachlat Yaakov, on our Rashi, adds: "Though ויחל is usually related to התחלה: beginning, as Rashi comments that Noach should have started by planting something other than the vineyard, and, then, to plant a vineyard, by not using the literal word: ויתחיל: ‘and he began’, and instead using the word ויחל, which alludes to making himself mundane’, it precludes the language of ‘beginning’, as it does not then state that he then planted something else."
Rav Eliyahu Shlezinger expounds:
"The criticism of Noach - that he was now called ‘the man of the earth’ - was that, he began by planting a vineyard, this after his great stature that he had attained, that in his merit and righteousness the whole of the world was saved, and despite his incessant acts of chessed whilst in the Ark - attending without rest to the demands of the animals.
"Yet a heavy accusation was laid against him, as though clearly some action was demanded of him when he left the Ark, for the rectification of the earth which had all but been destroyed, nevertheless he was called to account for having first planted a vineyard.
"Even though his intention was surely for the sake of Heaven; further, wine brings joy, and the desolate, ravaged earth surely needed some joy.
"However, in choosing as his first act, to plant a vineyard, there was also mingled an element of חומריות: of physical pleasure - and though man also needs in his daily life an element of physical pleasure, in his case, this signified a descent in stature, which can be seen in the change in his appellations: he now being described as ‘man of the earth’, whereas he was previously called ‘איש צדיק’: ‘a righteous man’.
"In truth, all man’s actions - even be they great in themselves - cannot be seen as ‘giving’, by the man, and as fulfilling a debt that he has, so that he can now ‘do for himself’,-for this is ‘our life and length of our days’, the unceasing spiritual ascent being the essence of our life in this world.
"If we are to summarize our subject, we would be compelled to say, that the planting of the vineyard was in the nature of a halt in his spiritual ascent.
"Till now, Noach did all that was in his power for the salvation of his life, and the lives of his household, and was concerned that there be a continuation of the existence of the world, so that - from the moment that he finally left the Ark, it is as if he said to himself: now I will attend to my own needs and he therefore ‘planted a vineyard’.
"This inevitably led to a spiritual descent - unlike Moshe Rabbeinu, who was in an uninterrupted ascent - this being his very essence, at all times meriting the Torah attesting that: Hashem’s ‘faithful servant You called him’."
Rav Shlezinger brings the exposition of Rav Aharon Kotler, who writes:
"Despite the righteousness of Noach - as our Sages attest - because of a seemingly ‘light’ criticism - that his first action after leaving the Ark, was to plant a vineyard - which is, after all, required as part of the offerings to Hashem - and which the Torah itself states: brings joy to man , the Torah writes, that: ויחל: he debased himself - language denoting ‘mundane’, and for this ‘light’ matter, it now called him ‘a man of the earth’, as if this was now his whole essence.
"This because he ceased to ascend further spiritually - this being caused by his inclination to physicality - as whilst his planting was for the sake of Heaven, it was his physical inclination that שיחדה אותו: ‘seduced him’, to this planting - and this led to his action losing its value, as any descent affects the status of man’s work.
"This can be gleaned from considering that one who toils in Torah eighteen hours a day, and then reduces his hours, to ‘only’ ten hours daily - not only the lesser number of hours are ‘lost’ by him, but the whole ‘value’ of his learning is now of a much lower worth.
"Man needs to be constantly ascending and is given from Above, the strength to do so - if he halts his ascent, and remains ‘standing’, he is failing in his present obligation.- this because he now utilizes the strength he was given - for his spiritual ascent - for physical, mundane desires and activities, which is a great descent for that person.’"
Rav David Hofstedter offers an intriguing original understanding of our subject:
"The complaint that Noach should have planted something other than a vineyard, requires consideration.
"Noach was, at that point in time, in a state of great mourning and sorrow - when he came out of the Ark and saw a desolate and barren world and members of his family - apart from his wife and his children - no longer amongst the living .
"This was surely a loss unmatched in the annals of the world!
"Did our Sages not teach that wine was the drink most suited to assuage the sorrow and the loss of mourners?
"How then, can there be a claim against Noach, that in the time of his unparalleled loss, he engaged in planting that which could best help him cope with his loss?
"The answer may be, that since the Divine wisdom of Hashem decreed that the period which preceded the flood, should be completely lost from the world - so that its existence should not be recalled, at all -and that a new period - which had no connection to the previous period, whatsoever - should now begin, from Noach and his family.
"There was therefore no place for mourning that which had been, and no longer was.
"This may be the meaning of what our Sages said: ’Noach should have planted an item של תקנה: of repair’ - as this was a new beginning of the world, he should have been engaged in something of settlement of the world, and not in something to assuage his mourning for the world that had been."
The Kli Yakar writes: "’ויחל’: profane, is the opposite of קדושה: sanctity, and we find that wherever that you find immorality curtailed, there you find sanctity - this we find in the case of Noach, as the by his planting the vineyard, the immoral events occurred in his tent.
"He was called ‘a man of the earth’, because his action derived from the substance whose origin is the earth, from which it derives.
"This is unlike the שכל: man’s mind, which is a part of the divine Above, and did not acquiesce to this planting, as wine confuses the mind of man.
"Another matter: Noach was called ‘a man of the earth’ because he followed in the path of Adam Harishon, who sinned with a vineyard - according to the view that the Tree of Knowledge was a vine."
A parting gem from the Alshich Hakadosh, who brings in aid an intriguing Midrash: ’’He 'planted a vineyard’: Satan came towards him and said to him: ’Do you want the two of us to plant the vineyard together’? ‘Yes’, responded Noach; immediately, the Satan brought a lamb, and slaughtered it over the vineyard; next, he brought a lion and slaughtered it over the vineyard, and - finally - brought a pig and slaughtered it over the same vineyard.
"Why did the Satan do this? Because when a person drinks one cup of wine, he is like the lamb, humble and meek; however, when he drinks two cups, he becomes brave like a lion, and begins to speak braggingly, saying:’Who is like me?’
"After three cups - or more - he becomes like a pig, wallowing in the dirt, and even in his own water - here the Midrash concludes.
"Here we ask::what caused Noach to enter this partnership with Satan; further, why this [analogy] of the three cups?
"A different Midrash relates that on the same one day, Noach planted - and drank from its wine, without waiting a year or two for the grapes to mature, and then to drink the wine.
"This led Satan to make his offer, seeing Noach’s strong desire to drink the wine - and ‘to enter Satan’s domain, by drinking trom the third cup."
Concludes the Sage; "This is why Rabbi Yochanan says - in the same Midrash -‘At no time be eager to imbibe wine.’"
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