The Drunken Sleep of Noach and the Messianic Redemption

One of the most enigmatic details of Parshas Noach and really the entire Torah is the episode of the drunken sleep of Noach. In Genesis 9:21, after the flood finishes, the Torah says:

וַיֵּשְׁתְּ מִן־הַיַּיִן וַיִּשְׁכָּר וַיִּתְגַּל בְּתוֹךְ אָהֳלה

And he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and he uncovered himself inside his tent.

The Torah then goes on to describe how his son Ham sees his father naked and tells his brothers, Shem and Japheth. In contrast, Shem and Japheth cover Noah respectfully, walking backward so as not to see him.

But what exactly is going over here? Noach was someone supremely righteous, a unique star in humanity. And while it’s true, the commentaries point out his lackings compared to Avraham Avinu, the mere fact that this is his comparison means that he achieved a cosmic level of holiness and greatness far beyond anything we could imagine. 

With this in mind, how do we understand his post-flood actions? Do we assume that he was merely traumatized by the flood and needed a post traumatic pick me up of wine? Far be it to suggest that this is the depth of what the Torah is teaching us. 

Rav Tzadok and other Chassidic masters offer a different interpretation, one which sheds light on his actions in perspective of his spiritual level. They explain that Noach was attempting to rectify the sin of the Eitz Hadas from the times of Adam and Chava. 

Noach calculated that the world had just undergone a massive transformation, a destruction and rebirth of epic proportions. The entire world had been immersed in the Mikvah of the Mabul and now was time for the complete Teshuva process. Noach attempted to bring the world right back to that place of perfection before the primordial sin of the Tree of Knowledge. 

He planted a grapevine, as according to one of the opinions of the Gemara in Chagiga 14a, the Eitz Hadas itself was a grapevine. He consumed the products of the grapes turned to wine, and shed his clothing in an attempt to bring humanity back to the pure days of Adam and Chava who were unclothed in their primary soul existence before the sin. 

Sounds like a noble idea to me. Where did Noach go wrong? And how did him falling asleep affect the process?

Although the verse doesn’t say he fell asleep explicitly, the Targum Yonatan on Genesis 9:24 says that Noach knew what his sons did to him because it was revealed to him in a dream. And you can’t dream unless you’re sleeping. But why, what did sleep have to do with it?

I believe the answer to this question is an issue I see all the time as a sleep coach, and perhaps the very crux of that which drives our insomnia ridden generation. To put it succinctly, sleep goes wrong when people attempt to control it. Sleep at its core is a natural, restorative process. It comes best when we let go of the day and any expectations of its arrival. But for people who struggle with insomnia, sleep becomes elusive. The challenge is, that paradoxically, the more they try to chase sleep and control it, the farther they push it away. They look for gadgets, apps and pharmaceuticals to try to make sleep happen faster and deeper, but in the long run, generally just make the issue worse. 

And perhaps with this in mind, we can understand Noach’s miscalculation. Noach attempted to coerce himself into a state of Tardeima. It was this deep sleep state of consciousness that Hashem cast over Adam when creating Chava and later over Avraham Avinu when showing him the full picture of Jewish history. It’s a state of self nullification and connection to the Divine that enables one to experience the bigger concept of Divine Oneness. 

To Adam and Avraham, this state was given to them as a gift. They worked their entire lives to become worthy vessels to receive this gift, but when the time arrived, they didn’t earn it, they received it. And this is the way it has to be. When it comes to the Final Redemption as well, we do our part, but then step back and recognize that really, it’s all up to Him. 

This explains the Gemara in Sanhendrin 97a says that Moshiach will only come in a state of Hesech Hadas, diversion of mind. It doesn’t mean that we should lose focus of our mission and Moshiach will just come out of the blue. The Gemara in Shabbos explicitly says that one of the key requirements of every Jew is that they eagerly anticipate the coming of the Final Redemption. But in that state of readiness, doing everything we need to prepare ourselves and the world for the arrival, it will still be a gift that will come when we surrender to that state of perfection.

And this minor difference is where Noach went wrong. He pushed too hard. He tried to control the redemption process before its time. He tried to force the sleep of Tardeima as opposed to receiving it as a gift. And this was misaligned with the final Tikkun he was hoping for. 

Interestingly enough, in the original Tardeima, gender was split into male and female. Noach was trying to unravel that schism back to the place of ultimate human oneness. This is why, as Rabbeinu Bachya and others point out, the tent he revealed himself in was his wife’s tent, ending a Hey, an attempt to blur the lines of gender back to Gan Eden. 

And perhaps this was the pitfall that caused him to be disgraced by his own son. Some commentaries understand its simple meaning, that his son saw his nakedness which itself is against the natural order of human dignity. Others describe that a debauchery transpired on an even more severe level, further cementing the idea that the attempt to blend the world of gender before the right time can have immoral and disastrous results. 

This is the balance that the Torah is teaching us through this carefully crafted story. Seek, yearn and build, but ultimately surrender and let Hashem do the rest. Work hard during the day but let He who casts sleep on the eyes of man take care of rest at night. Eagerly anticipate the Final Redemption but sit patiently and watch as the Our Creator lets His plan unfold. L’chaim.