Noach began to be a man of the land and he planted a vineyard. And he drank of the wine and became drunk. (Bereshis 9:20-21)

The world is destroyed. Only eight people are left and some animals. The land is bare. Noach walks out of his boat and immediately plants a vineyard. A miracle then happens — the vineyard immediately grows and beautiful grapes are formed. Only moments after the vineyard was planted, Noach presses the grapes, makes wine, and gets drunk.

Rav Avraham Pam, of blessed memory, makes an interesting observation. He asks why the vineyard grew so quickly. The reason is because any time there is a terrible tragedy in someone’s life, it is always immediately followed by tremendous blessing. Hashem brings the catastrophe but right after it is over, he opens the Heavens and will immediately hand-out whatever the person desires.

Noach made a big mistake. He was given this opportunity for tremendous blessing so he could start to rebuild the world. He should have busied himself planting wheat and food. Instead, he spent his time making wine. Noach messed up.

There’s a Chassidic story told about a Rebbe coming to a packed shul on the evening of Yom Kippur. The chazzan was about to begin Kol Nidre when the Rebbe told him to wait. After a while, the Rebbe’s attendant asked why they were waiting. The Rebbe said that Yossi was not in shul and he sent the attendant to find Yossi. The attendant found Yossi sitting at home. The attendant begged him to come but he refused to come. He said he would only come if the Rebbe gave him a machzor. The attendant quickly ran back to the Rebbe and the Rebbe said he would give Yossi a machzor. Yossi then came to shul and davening began.

After shul, the Rebbe called over Yossi. He asked why he demanded a machzor. Yossi replied that this past year was a tough year for him. First, his business, which was doing very well, went under. He suddenly lost all of his money. One of his children became very sick. Another child was having difficulties in school. Then, his wife died. He was able to deal with all of these things even though he was left with very little. Finally, last night a pipe broke in his house and water dripped on his final few possessions. One of the items ruined was his machzor. That was it. He could not take it anymore. He told G-d that if He did not give him a machzor, he was not going to pray.

The Rebbe cried out, “Oh Yossi. Oh Yossi. You had Hashem in your hands. You could have asked for anything and you asked for a machzor. You wasted such a precious moment!”

When a person goes through suffering, Hashem gives that person an extra amount of blessing. If you ask for a machzor or a glass of strong wine, you will certainly get it immediately. If you ask for something that your soul has been begging for and will make you or the world spiritually better, Hashem will give you that blessing also. Don’t waste this precious moment.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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