Noah

Our Flood Story.....

Noah, a righteous man, had three sons--Shem, Ham, Yefet.

God saw the corruption on earth and told Noah to make an ark, for God is about to bring on a cataclysmic flood. But God will establish a covenant with Noah and his offspring. Along with his wife and children, Noah is to collect two, male and female, of every bird, herd-animal, and crawling thing. Of the "pure" (suitable for ritual sacrifice) animals, Noah is to take seven pairs, male and female; of "unpure" animals, two pairs; of birds of the sky, seven pairs.

The rains came, and fell for forty days and forty nights, covering the entire earth. All left on earth died. After 150 days of water filling the earth, God caused the wind to blow so that the waters subsided. The Ark settled on the mountains of Ararat.

Forty days later, Noah sent out a raven, who kept coming back and forth until the waters dried up. Then he sent out a dove, who returned. Seven days later he sent out another dove, who came back that evening with an olive leaf. Seven days after that, Noah sent out another dove, who did not return.

God told Noah to leave the Ark with his family and all the living things that were in the Ark with him. Noah built an altar to God, making sacrificial offerings from all of the "pure" animals and birds. This pleased God, who said, "Never again will I doom the earth because of man...nor will I ever again destroy every living thing."

God blessed Noah and his sons, giving them control over all animals and birds, all that crawls on the ground and lives in the sea. But humans are not to eat any flesh with its life blood in it. And any human who kills another human must have his own blood shed. God established the covenant with Noah with the sign of the rainbow.

Noah's sons, from whom the world was established, were Shem, Yafet, and Ham, the father of Canaan. Noah planted a vineyard, drank from the wine, became drunk and exposed himself in his tent. Ham saw this, and went out to tell his brothers. Shem and Yafet walked backward into the tent so as not to see their father's nakedness and covered Noah. When Noah awoke and learned what Ham had done, he cursed him, saying that Canaan would be servant to the offspring of his brothers.

Chapter 10 lists the descendents of Noah's three sons.

Chapter 11 tells the story of the tower of Babel. Everyone on earth had one language and one set of words. They came to a valley in Shinar and decided to build a city and a tower with it's top in the heavens--". . . to make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered all over the face of the earth." God saw this and said, "If this is what one people with one language have begun to act, there will be no barrier in anything they scheme to do. Let us confound their language, so that one will not understand the other." God scattered them from there all over the earth, and the building stopped. And it was called Babble, because God confounded the speech of the earth.

The parasha ends with the recounting of the line of Noah's son Shem, continuing through the line of Peleg. This is the line of Terah, father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Abram married Sarai, who was barren; Nahor married Milcah, daughter of Haran; Lot was born to Haran, who died in Ur, the land of his father. With Abram, Sarai, and Lot, Terah sets out from Ur for Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there, and Terah dies there.

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Babel-ings

The story of the Tower of Babel is just nine verses, yet it has a prominent place in out language and literature. It's usually used to connote a lot of noise, but no communication. But they were all speaking the same language....what was so bad? Why were they scattered? Why were they reduced to "Babel"?

With one language, you'd think communication would be clear and present. It should be easy to live in community. There was the opportunity to communcate, to share with each other. But what do they build. Houses, for shelter to protect their families? A large, wide place for gathering together? Places condusive to working together, watching out for each other? No, they chose to build a tall tower where some will be over others who will be over others--setting up a system of inequality. And who will be at the top? Will that be the person whose name is known? What's being set up is an empty hierarchy, not a community.

So, it's not the language of words that forms community. We need to communicate on other levels, sharing ideals, ethics, the need to look out for each other. This kind of communication will build the strong structure of community, not a confusing tower of babble.

Your thoughts?--on this or any other part of the parasha. Just click below on comments. Your identity can remain anynomous, or you can choose "other" under identity and just put your name. No other information is required. And if you wish to read the entire parasha, just click on the title of this post.

Noah

Bereshit

In the beginning.....

First we get the story of creation, from "tohu vavohu v'choshef," from the unformed, the void, the darkness to a world of night and day; of earth and sky; of land and sea and vegetation; of the sun and moon and stars; of birds and fish; of creatures of the land, cattle and creepers and beasts--and humans, man and woman. This was done in six days. On the seventh day, God ceased work and rested, blessing the day and making it holy.

In Chapter 2, we get another creation story, that God formed man from the dust of the ground breathed into his nostrils "nishmat chayim," the breath of life. God created the Garden of Eden, placed man in it, and told him that he could eat of any tree but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If that fruit is eaten, man would die. God then had man name the creatures of the earth, hoping to find a companion for man. But when Adam did not find a mate, God made woman from one of Adam's ribs.

With Chapter 3, the serpent appears and convinces the woman to eat the forbidden fruit, and she gave the fruit to Adam and he ate it as well. When questioned by God about eating the fruit, Adam said, "She gave it to me." The woman said "The serpent tricked me into eating the fruit." God curses the serpent, and sentences the serpent to a life crawling on the ground, eating dirt. God further makes the serpent and humans enemies. God sentences the woman to severe pain in child bearing and subservience to her husband. God sentences Adam to a life of hard work. Adam and Eve were sent out of Eden, and God stationed the cherubim and a flaming, ever-turning sword to guard the tree of life.

Chapter 4 starts with the story of the sons of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel. Cain was the elder son who worked the land. Abel, the younger, was a shepherd. Cain brought God an offering of fruit of the ground; Abel brought God the choicest part of the first of his flock. God accepted Abel's offering, but not Cain's. This upset Cain. God says to him, "Why are you distressed? Why has your face fallen? If you intend to do good, there is an uplift. But if you do not intend to do good, sin couches at the door, it's urge towards you. But you can rule over it."

Cain spoke to his brother Abel, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, killed him. (That's the story as given in the text) When God asks Cain about Abel's whereabouts, Cain replies, "I don't know,. Am I my brother's keeper?" God curses Cain to be a ceaseless wanderer on earth.

Chapter 4 ends with the geneology of Cain, and the birth of one more son to Adam and Eve, Seth. Chapter 5 gives the geneology of Adam through his son Seth. The people of this generation lived long lives--Adam lived 930 years; Noah's father Lamech lived 777 years. The listing ends with Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Our parsha ends with the beginning of Chapter 6. God sees the great wickedness of man, regrets the creation and is saddened at heart. God says, "I will blot out humankind from the face of the earth." But Noah found favor in the eyes of God.

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That's my summary. If you'd like to read the entire parsha, click on the title of the post.

I'd like to comment on Adam and Eve's departure from Eden. Thousands of years later there is so much guilt around that. It is my view that Adam and Eve, that humankind, needed to leave Eden. Living blissfully in innocence is not life. There is much to be said about the joy of knowledge, knowing the responsibilites that knowledge brings. The pain and hard work is all part of the package.There was no life to be had in Eden, that's why we had to leave.

I know that's a bit short, but it's just meant as a starter. Let me know what you think, about this aspect of the parsha, or any other.

Bereshit

Talking Torah....

With so much on my plate these days--work and school and shul responsibilities--I've been hardpressed to find time for my weekly Torah study. So I've decided to start this blog. Each week I will post a summary of the weekly Torah Parsha. That way I will have at least taken some time to look at the parsha before Shabbat. If I have the time and/or the inclination, I'll also add some of my own thoughts--a comment or a question.

This may seem like piling more on my already busy life, but it is actually a saving grace. Studying Torah each week keeps me grounded and gives me a way to maintain awareness of what is really important.

I'd also like to hear from you. Please add comments to the entries each week. My real hope is to have a community of readers who will discuss the parsha and add their own commentaries. So if you know anyone who would be interested in participating, send them here.

I plan to post the summaries on Sundays, but please forgive me if I'm a bit late. And you can always send me a gentle reminder :)