“Noah was a righteous man, faultless in his generation” (Gen. 6:9), but he became “a man of the soil” (Gen. 9:20) as “he planted a vineyard and he drank of the wine and became drunk…”(Gen. 9:20-1).

So many times we hear about parties where young people have fun. Part of that fun involves drinking and other behavior that they normally would not do.

Drinking can cause many problems and embarrassments as others just laugh. Many years ago our teachers of blessed memory taught:

When Noah got off of the ark one of the first things he did was to plant a vine. There was little in the world and he wanted to benefit from his grapes as soon as possible. As he began to plant the vine, a dark messenger came and stood before him and said to him: “What are you planting?” “A vine,” said he. “And what is that?” asked the dark messenger. “A vine,” explained Noah, “has fruit that is sweet both wet and dry, and from it men will make wine that makes their hearts joyful.” “Come,” said the dark messenger, “and let us both share in this wine.” “Let it be so,” said Noah.

And what did the dark messenger do? He fetched a lamb and slew it under the vine. After that he fetched a lion and slew it, and after that he fetched a an ape and slew  it.. After that he fetched a pig and slew that that under the vineyard. And the blood of all these beasts dripped through that vineyard and watered it.

By this the dark messenger wished to let him know: As a person begins to drink wine, he is as innocent docile as a lamb. As he drinks more he becomes as brave as a lion and declares: There are none to compare with me in the world. When he drinks still more and becomes quite drunk, he becomes like an ape that stands and dances and plays and utters all kinds of terrible things in the presence of all people and does not have the slightest idea what he is doing. But once he drinks too much he becomes like a pig, wallowing in his own filth.

Now all those things happened to Noah the Righteous. And if it happened so with Noah the Righteous, whom the Holy and Blessed One Himself praised, how much more does it befall the rest of mankind!

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)

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