It’s How You Drink!

Imbibing alcohol has always been a societal scourge. However, the metaphor of drinking wine to elicit Divine secrets has always been the deeper reason for the role of wine in our religious rituals.

Alcoholics Not so Anonymous

The first person we know of that had a drinking problem was our ancestor Noach. Upon his departure from the ark—after the flood had devastated the world—Noach, the Torah tells us in this week’s parsha, planted a vineyard, got drunk, exposed himself, cursed the son/grandson who reveled in his father’s/grandfather’s shame and blessed his other two sons for covering him up a most respectful fashion.

What in the world was going on?

Why would Noach, about whom G-d says was a “perfectly righteous man,” degrade himself so by drinking wine and getting inebriated?

And why did he see fit to plant a vineyard, of all things, in the first place?

The Art of Wine Making

One approach to this enigma requires of us to examine the properties of the grape and the process of wine making. When we do that we shall see how the grape, and winemaking and the drinking of wine and its effects convey a message that would be indispensable for anyone who wants to save the world or begin a new world.

A grape looks like any other innocent fruit. However, in that grape lies the potential to produce the world’s most popular drink— wine! It is the drink about which the Biblical text states: “It brings joy to G-d and people.” It is the beverage that we use to usher in the Shabbat and every major Jewish holiday. One gets married, and enters into the most important phase of one’s life, with a cup of wine. Mourners, in the olden days, would be given wine.

Torah Secrets

Wine is the symbol of the secrets of Torah that will be fully revealed in the Messianic Age. The Talmud states that when wine enters a person the secrets come out. Indeed, the Talmud informs us, the numerical value of the Hebrew word for wine—Yayin—is the same as the Hebrew word for secret-Sod.

The grape—and the wine made from it—is a metaphor for the ability to realize our G-d given potential. Embedded within the grape is the juice that will eventually become wine and when imbibed will “force” one’s secrets to emerge. Wine represents our ability to realize our full potential. The effects of wine symbolize the potential we have to accomplish things that we would never have imagined possible.

When we survey all of the problems that beset the world, there are those who would point to the violence, promiscuity, hatred, hunger, sickness, and greed among the primary negative forces with which humanity struggles. And most would agree that our challenge is to combat these forces.

The Overarching Problem

It may be suggested that Noach’s obsession with planting a vineyard and drinking wine was his way of suggesting that the world has an even greater, overarching need. And if this need would be addressed, Noach thought, all the other societal problems would be solved as well. Noach believed that what destroyed the world was not this or the other vice, in and of themselves. These vices were actually symptoms of a far more destructive force.

What Noach perceived was that when people fail to actualize their potential, when people do not realize how good they could be and how much they can accomplish; there is nothing that can stop the onslaught of evil in all of its incarnations.

Conversely, when we realize our full potential and recognize the incredible good we possess, it empowers us to overwhelm any evil. When a person denies his or her own uniqueness, it is not humility or cute; it is nothing less than a crime against humanity and against G-d! It is a crime against G-d because it is a denial of G-d’s gift to us and/or a failure to express gratitude for these exquisite gifts.

It is also a crime against humanity, not only because it withholds from them the resources the world sorely needs, but also because it enables the forces of evil to rule unopposed.

By planting the vineyard and drinking wine, Noach was attempting to teach the world— by way of the symbol of the vineyard, the process of manufacturing wine, and its powerful effects—what a person can accomplish.

His intoxicated state was supposed to be a way of demonstrating to the new world what hidden talents and virtues lie dormant waiting to be awakened and how they can alter one’s personality. If we only knew what potential we have, there is no limit to the good we can accomplish and the evil that would be banished. Noach wanted a world that was intoxicated with goodness and holiness.

Misguided Execution

Noach was actually correct in his desire to show the world the power of wine as a metaphor for the world to follow. He was misguided, however, in the execution of his plan to teach the world the power of human potential.

While the human being has incredible, untapped reserves of ingenuity and goodness that can be harnessed for the benefit of humanity, if we do not possess the guidelines how we should reveal this potential, we may actually discover that the hidden potential activated is more frightening than the surface evil.

There is no question that discovering and actualizing our potential is the most powerful weapon in our arsenal against evil, and in the pursuit of G-d’s plan to make this world a “dwelling place” for Him. But, good-intentions alone do not suffice, particularly when we are dealing with the delicate nature of the human condition.

Water not Gas

Years ago a Jewish community was digging a well for a Mikveh when they discovered that they unintentionally tapped into a well of natural gas… Instead of the purifying, life sustaining waters of a well that would provide the Mikveh with the means to instill spiritual purity into those who immerse in it, they accessed toxic fumes that could have cause catastrophic results.

One must know how to dig deep into the recesses of the heart and soul. We must have the right instruments. One must know when and how to bare their soul.

Noach’s intoxicated state led him to disrobe – literally and figuratively – in a manner that brought him shame and degradation instead of nobility and holiness. And his misguided adventure into drinking led to the downfall of others as well.

This is why G-d gave us the Torah replete with hundreds of commandments-Mitzvot. A Mitzvah performed in accordance with the Torah’s guidelines is the safest and most efficient way to reveal the secrets of our soul and actualize the G-d given potential we all possess.

The “Wine of Torah”

There is yet another safe and direct way to access the hidden dimensions of our soul and awaken the dormant powers we possess. It is through the “Wine of Torah.” This refers to the study of the deeper, mystical teachings of Judaism that are part of Kabbalah and Chassidic traditions. These spiritual teachings, when taught and studied properly, are the means to reveal the secrets of our soul.

Indeed, one of the main features of the Messianic Age is that the Moshiach, a human being and Jewish leader, will become the preeminent teacher of Torah – specifically, the “Wine of Torah” – to all. That will be the force that will bring sanity and unprecedented, powerful goodness to the world. Noach’s good intentions will be realized without the attendant misery that ensued from his misadventure. Instead the world will bask in the newly revealed G-dly light and enlightenment.

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Noach by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.