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What caused Noach's tragic descent from ish Elokim to ish ha'adamah? The shiur argues that by planting a vineyard purely for self-gratification rather than rebuilding the world, Noach lost his d'mus Elokim—his active connection to Godliness—retaining only tzelem Elokim. His nakedness and intoxication symbolize this spiritual vacuum, which is precisely what galus means: total comfort with nakedness, the absence of shame that comes from abandoning the drive to connect upward.
The shiur opens with a textual question about the formula for havdalah. Why does the Mechaber seem to write "hamavdil bein hakodesh u'bein hachol" (with two "bein"s), when in both the Torah (תורה) and the nusach of havdalah itself we say "bein kodesh l'chol" (one "bein")? The Targum also presents different language for the "walking" of Noach versus Avrohom: Noach walked "bedachat Hashem (ה׳)" (in fear of God), while Avrohom's "hishalech lefanai" is rendered "plach kodamai" (serve Me). This linguistic divergence points to a fundamental difference between the two figures. After emerging from the teivah, Noach's first act is to plant a vineyard. He drinks, becomes intoxicated, and lies naked in his tent. Rashi (רש"י) notes that "ohelo" is written with a heh (not a vav), hinting at "ohalo"—a reference to the Ten Tribes, who went into galus because of wine. The Midrash extends this to all of Klal Yisrael: galus is bound up with intoxication and wine. The Baal HaTurim points out that the letters of "vayisgal" (and he was uncovered) can be rearranged to spell "galus." Nakedness and galus are one and the same. Chazal say Noach "made himself chulin"—he was an ish Elokim and became an ish ha'adamah, the opposite trajectory of Moshe Rabbeinu, who began as an ish Mitzri and became an ish Elokim.
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Parshas Noach
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