כִּ֣י מִ֥י יֹאכַ֛ל וּמִ֥י יָח֖וּשׁ ח֥וּץ מִמֶּֽנִּי׃
Porque ¿quién comerá, y quién se cuidará, mejor que yo?
Rabbeinu Bahya
Another possible way of explaining the word ויחל is connected to the fact that Noach was the first member of the tenth generation of mankind, and every tenth is sacred. Now that he became preoccupied with the growing of wine, an intoxicating drink, he debased himself from his former state of holiness. This is the meaning of the word ויחל.
The Torah informed us of many problems that are apt to be caused by wine if wine was even able to cause a righteous man such as Noach, a man who had saved all mankind, to commit a sin by cursing his descendants. This whole paragraph is at least as much a warning to mankind as is the passage in Numbers chapter six which discusses that a nazirite must abstain from wine and any grape product. Our sages in Sanhedrin 70 note that the passage discussing wine contains the letter ו thirteen times (ויחל, ויטע, וישת, וישכר, ויתגל, וירא חם, ויגד, ויקח שם ויפת, וישימו, וילכו ויכסו, ויקץ, וידע, אחורנית ) “And he debased himself, and he planted, and he drank, and he got drunk; and he uncovered himself, and Cham saw, and he told; and Shem and Yaphet took the cover, and they placed the cover; and they walked backwards; and he woke up; and he knew , and they did not look at their father’s nakedness. This is what Solomon had in mind when he said in Proverbs 23,29 למי אוי, למי אבוי למי מדינים למי שיח למי פצעים חנם, למי חכללית עינים “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions, who has quarrels? Who has injuries without cause, who suffers from redness of his eyes? Those who linger over wine, etc.” Solomon does not refer exclusively to wine but he includes all other matters which are the objects of man’s lusting after worldly pleasures and which are addictive and become the cause of man’s [premature] death in this world and his losing his right to eternal life in the hereafter. This is why Solomon adds in Kohelet 2,25 כי מי יאכל ומי יחוש חוץ ממני, “for who should eat and who should make haste (to enjoy these things) more than I?” He meant that he more than any other mortal being was able to indulge himself by tasting all the pleasures of the body available in this life. Having tasted all these pleasures he concluded that these too were all vanity, not worth having.
The Torah informed us of many problems that are apt to be caused by wine if wine was even able to cause a righteous man such as Noach, a man who had saved all mankind, to commit a sin by cursing his descendants. This whole paragraph is at least as much a warning to mankind as is the passage in Numbers chapter six which discusses that a nazirite must abstain from wine and any grape product. Our sages in Sanhedrin 70 note that the passage discussing wine contains the letter ו thirteen times (ויחל, ויטע, וישת, וישכר, ויתגל, וירא חם, ויגד, ויקח שם ויפת, וישימו, וילכו ויכסו, ויקץ, וידע, אחורנית ) “And he debased himself, and he planted, and he drank, and he got drunk; and he uncovered himself, and Cham saw, and he told; and Shem and Yaphet took the cover, and they placed the cover; and they walked backwards; and he woke up; and he knew , and they did not look at their father’s nakedness. This is what Solomon had in mind when he said in Proverbs 23,29 למי אוי, למי אבוי למי מדינים למי שיח למי פצעים חנם, למי חכללית עינים “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions, who has quarrels? Who has injuries without cause, who suffers from redness of his eyes? Those who linger over wine, etc.” Solomon does not refer exclusively to wine but he includes all other matters which are the objects of man’s lusting after worldly pleasures and which are addictive and become the cause of man’s [premature] death in this world and his losing his right to eternal life in the hereafter. This is why Solomon adds in Kohelet 2,25 כי מי יאכל ומי יחוש חוץ ממני, “for who should eat and who should make haste (to enjoy these things) more than I?” He meant that he more than any other mortal being was able to indulge himself by tasting all the pleasures of the body available in this life. Having tasted all these pleasures he concluded that these too were all vanity, not worth having.