Drunk on D'vine

Noah, the man of the soil, debased himself and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself with this tent. (Gen. 9:20-21)

Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yose [interpreted these verses respectively]:

One maintained that the grapevine was banished from the Garden of Eden.

[i.e. it was the Tree of Knowledge, according to one of the views cited (Bereishit Rabbah 15:8 and Sanhedrin 70b)] and he planted it here [in the ground - outside of the Garden of Eden].

The other one maintains that the grapevine was from the Land of Israel, and he uprooted it and planted it [outside Israel].

On the same day [that he planted it], it produced fruits which he squeezed [to make wine].

He then drank the wine and became intoxicated.

According to the opinion that the vine was banished together with Adam from the Garden of Eden, Noah intended to rectify the vine with which Adam had transgressed. However, instead of sanctifying the wine which he made from the grapes, he became drunk on it. He thus debased himself by repeating Adam's sin, as explained below. The sin of the Tree of Knowledge was that Adam drank the juice which Eve squeezed from its grapes.

According to the second opinion, Noah found the vine outside of the Garden of Eden, in the Land of Israel. He debased himself by uprooting it from its proper place, and replanting it elsewhere, in a place that was not fitting for it. According to this view, his transgression was not the same as that of Adam. (Sulam)

Rabbi Shimon said: This verse contains the secret of wisdom. When Noah wished to examine the sin that Adam had committed with the intention of avoiding it himself and learning how to rectify it and the world, he was unable to [fathom its secret]. So he squeezed grapes in order to examine [the secret of] the vineyard.

The Zohar states that Eve squeezed grapes from the Tree of Knowledge and gave Adam to drink. (Zohar I, 36a, 267b) Ziv Hazohar explains that this refers to "external" or secular wisdom, i.e. wisdom other than the Torah, such as philosophy, which attempts to examine divine secrets by way of the intellect; or witchcraft, which attempts to harness the powers of impurity.

When he reached this point, he became intoxicated and exposed, and he lost his resistance [to the External Forces].

Thus the breach in the world [which Adam's sin had made] became revealed, after it had been sealed [against the entry of External Forces (Ashmoret HaBoker)].

This is similar to [what happened with] the sons of Aaron, regarding whom we have learned [that they entered into the Holy of Holies] intoxicated with wine.

Now who gave them wine to drink there? Do you really think that they were so brazen as to drink wine there?

Certainly not! Rather they became intoxicated with the same wine [which intoxicated Noah].

This refers to secular wisdom. (Ziv Hazohar )

Here [regarding Aaron's sons] it is written, "they offered strange fire before G‑d." Elsewhere it is written, "Beware of a strange woman" (Mishlei 7:5) [alluding to secular wisdom].

[Zohar I, 73a; translation and commentary by Moshe Miller
First published by Fiftieth Gate Publications and Seminars]