The story of Noah and the vine is a wild ride through temptation, disrespect, and divine retribution.
According to Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, Noah's troubles began when he decided to cultivate the vine. He went from being "the pious" to "a man of the ground," and in doing so, inadvertently opened the door to excess and its consequences. It all started with a vine that Adam, the first man, had taken with him when he was expelled from the Garden of Eden. Noah tasted its grapes, found them pleasing, and decided to plant it.
But here's where it gets interesting. The very day Noah planted the vine, it bore fruit! He pressed the grapes, drank the juice, got drunk, and was…well, dishonored. All in a single day. Talk about instant gratification with a painful hangover!
And who was there to witness this agricultural endeavor? None other than Satan himself. As the story goes, Satan casually strolls by as Noah is planting, and asks, "What are you planting?" Noah, enthusiastic, replies, "A vineyard!" Satan, ever the instigator, proposes a partnership. Noah, perhaps a little too trusting, agrees.
Now, here's the really strange part. To seal the deal, Satan slaughters a lamb, a lion, a pig, and a monkey, letting their blood flow under the vine. This, according to the tale, is to illustrate the different stages of drunkenness. Before drinking, you're innocent as a lamb. With moderate consumption, you feel strong as a lion. Too much, and you become like a pig. And utterly intoxicated? You’re a monkey – dancing, singing obscenities, completely unaware of your actions.
You'd think that would be a deterrent. But as Ginzberg recounts, Noah, like Adam before him (who, according to some traditions, fell because the forbidden fruit was actually a grape!), was undeterred. He proceeds to get drunk and, in his inebriated state, finds himself in his wife's tent. His son Ham sees him there, and instead of looking away, he tells his brothers about their father's nakedness, adding insult to injury with disrespectful comments. He even tries to prevent Noah from having more children!
When Noah sobers up, he’s understandably furious. But because God had already blessed Noah and his sons after the flood, he couldn't directly curse Ham. So, he curses Ham’s youngest son, Canaan, instead. As we find in the story, the descendants of Ham, through Canaan, are marked with physical traits reflecting Ham's disrespect: red eyes for looking at his father's nakedness, misshapen lips for speaking of it, twisted hair for turning his head to look, and nakedness as a punishment for not covering his father. It’s a harsh example of "measure for measure" justice.
And Canaan? Well, his last will and testament to his children is quite a piece of work: "Speak not the truth; hold not yourselves aloof from theft; lead a dissolute life; hate your master with an exceeding great hate; and love one another." Not exactly a recipe for a virtuous life!
Meanwhile, Shem and Japheth, Noah’s other sons, are rewarded for their respectful behavior. They covered their father's nakedness by walking backward with averted faces. As a result, their descendants receive blessings. The descendants of Ham, the Egyptians and Ethiopians, were led away captive and into exile by the king of Assyria, while the descendants of Shem, the Assyrians, even when the angel of the Lord burnt them in the camp, were not exposed, their garments remained upon their corpses unsinged. And in time to come, when Gog shall suffer his defeat, God will provide both shrouds and a place of burial for him and all his multitude, the posterity of Japheth.
Shem, who took the initiative in covering Noah, receives the greater reward: the tallit (prayer shawl). Japheth, who joined in later, gets the toga. Noah even blesses Shem by saying, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem," an honor usually reserved for the deceased.
The relationship between Shem and Japheth is also defined: "God will grant a land of beauty to Japheth, and his sons will be proselytes dwelling in the academies of Shem." Noah also prophesies that the Shekinah (divine presence) will dwell only in the first Temple, built by Solomon, a son of Shem, and not in the second, built by Cyrus, a descendant of Japheth.
So, what are we to make of this story? It's a cautionary tale about the dangers of excess, the importance of respect for elders, and the far-reaching consequences of our actions. It reminds us that even seemingly small choices can have ripple effects that impact generations to come. It prompts us to consider: How do we handle our own temptations? And how can we ensure we're building a legacy of respect and responsibility, rather than one of curses and shame?
Noah lost his epithet "the pious" when he began to occupy himself with the growing of the vine. He became a "man of the ground," and this first attempt to produce wine at the same time produced the first to drink to excess, the first to utter curses upon his associates, and the first to introduce slavery. This is the way it all came about. Noah found the vine which Adam had taken with him from Paradise, when he was driven forth. He tasted the grapes upon it, and, finding them palatable, he resolved to plant the vine and tend it. On the selfsame day on which he planted it, it bore fruit, he put it in the wine-press, drew off the juice, drank it, became drunken, and was dishonored—all on one day. His assistant in the work of cultivating the vine was Satan, who had happened along at the very moment when he was engaged in planting the slip he had found. Satan asked him: "What is it thou art planting here?" Noah: "A vineyard." Satan: "And what may be the qualities of what it produces?" Noah: "The fruit it bears is sweet, be it dry or moist. It yields wine that rejoiceth the heart of man." Satan: "Let us go into partnership in this business of planting a vineyard." Noah: "Agreed!" Satan thereupon slaughtered a lamb, and then, in succession, a lion, a pig, and a monkey. The blood of each as it was killed he made to flow under the vine. Thus he conveyed to Noah what the qualities of wine are: before man drinks of it, he is innocent as a lamb; if he drinks of it moderately, he feels as strong as a lion; if he drinks more of it than he can bear, he resembles the pig; and if he drinks to the point of intoxication, then he behaves like a monkey, he dances around, sings, talks obscenely, and knows not what he is doing. This deterred Noah no more than did the example of Adam, whose fall had also been due to wine, for the forbidden fruit had been the grape, with which he had made himself drunk. In his drunken condition Noah betook himself to the tent of his wife. His son Ham saw him there, and he told his brothers what he had noticed, and said: "The first man had but two sons, and one slew the other; this man Noah has three sons, yet he desires to beget a fourth besides." Nor did Ham rest satisfied with these disrespectful words against his father. He added to this sin of irreverence the still greater outrage of attempting to perform an operation upon his father designed to prevent procreation. When Noah awoke from his wine and became sober, he pronounced a curse upon Ham in the person of his youngest son Canaan. To Ham himself he could do no harm, for God had conferred a blessing upon Noah and his three sons as they departed from the ark. Therefore he put the curse upon the last-born son of the son that had prevented him from begetting a younger son than the three he had. The descendants of Ham through Canaan therefore have red eyes, because Ham looked upon the nakedness of his father; they have misshapen lips, because Ham spoke with his lips to his brothers about the unseemly condition of his father; they have twisted curly hair, because Ham turned and twisted his head round to see the nakedness of his father; and they go about naked, because Ham did not cover the nakedness of his father. Thus he was requited, for it is the way of God to mete out punishment measure for measure. Canaan had to suffer vicariously for his father's sin. Yet some of the punishment was inflicted upon him on his own account, for it had been Canaan who had drawn the attention of Ham to Noah's revolting condition. Ham, it appears, was but the worthy father of such a son. The last will and testament of Canaan addressed to his children read as follows: "Speak not the truth; hold not yourselves aloof from theft; lead a dissolute life; hate your master with an exceeding great hate; and love one another." As Ham was made to suffer requital for his irreverence, so Shem and Japheth received a reward for the filial, deferential way in which they took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and walking backward, with averted faces, covered the nakedness of their father. Naked the descendants of Ham, the Egyptians and Ethiopians, were led away captive and into exile by the king of Assyria, while the descendants of Shem, the Assyrians, even when the angel of the Lord burnt them in the camp, were not exposed, their garments remained upon their corpses unsinged. And in time to come, when Gog shall suffer his defeat, God will provide both shrouds and a place of burial for him and all his multitude, the posterity of Japheth. Though Shem and Japheth both showed themselves to be dutiful and deferential, yet it was Shem who deserved the larger meed of praise. He was the first to set about covering his father. Japheth joined him after the good deed had been begun. Therefore the descendants of Shem received as their special reward the tallit, the garment worn by them, while the Japhethites have only the toga. A further distinction accorded to Shem was the mention of his name in connection with God's in the blessing of Noah. "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem," he said, though as a rule the name of God is not joined to the name of a living person, only to the name of one who has departed this life. The relation of Shem to Japheth was expressed in the blessing their father pronounced upon them: God will grant a land of beauty to Japheth, and his sons will be proselytes dwelling in the academies of Shem. At the same time Noah conveyed by his words that the Shekinah would dwell only in the first Temple, erected by Solomon, a son of Shem, and not in the second Temple, the builder of which would be Cyrus, a descendant of Japheth.
