"
Rashi's comment on this text is worth notice: "Even when they
tell thee that right is left and left is right." In a word, a
wise man (i.e., a Rabbi) is better than a prophet. (_Bava
Bathra_ fol. 12, col. 1.)
Oved, the Galilean, has expounded that there are thirteen _vavs_ (i.e.,
the letter _vav_ occurs thirteen times) in connection with wine. _Vav_
in Syriac means woe.
_Sanhedrin_ fol. 70, col. 1.
The Rabbis have a curious Haggada respecting the origin of the
culture of the vine. Once while Noah was hard at work breaking
up the fallow ground for a vineyard, Satan drew near and
inquired what he was doing. On ascertaining that the patriarch
was about to cultivate the grape, which he valued both for its
fruit and its juice, he at once volunteered to assist him at his
task, and began to manure the soil with the blood of a lamb, a
lion, a pig, and a monkey. "Now," said he, when his work was
done, "of those who taste the juice of the grape, some will
become meek and gentle as the lamb, some bold and fearless as
the lion, some foul and beastly as the pig, and others
frolicsome and lively as the monkey." This quaint story may be
found more fully detailed in the Midrash Tanchuma (see Noah) and
the Yalkut on Genesis.
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