Summary Noah 5762
The main theme of this week's portion is of course the Flood. This was a tragedy for the world that has been unequalled since. Almost the entire human race and the animal kingdom were destroyed in a terrible Flood. Only Noah, his wife, sons and daughters-in-law and a selection of animals survived. Building the Ark saved them, exactly as G-d had commanded.

The rain itself lasted for forty days and forty nights, but the Flood lasted for a full year. Noah sent out first the raven and then the dove, to see if the earth had dried up. But the raven simply flew backwards and forwards, while the dove returned to the Ark. Only on the third occasion did the dove not return, indicating that the earth was now dry. Following the Flood, G-d promised that such a Flood would never happen again, and the rainbow was to be a sign of that promise.

After the Flood, Noah planted a vineyard, made wine from the grapes and became drunk. He lay naked in his tent and was seen by Ham, his youngest son, who informed his brothers, Shem and Yefet. Shem and Yefet covered their father with a sheet, while looking the other way. Noah blessed them for their discretion, but cursed Ham for his indiscretion.

The Torah then lists the genealogy of the three sons, followed by the story of the Tower of Babel. People had discovered how to make bricks and mortar and decided to make a high tower, in order to make a name for themselves. This was the world's first obsession with materialism! G-d was displeased with their efforts and confused their languages, so that no one could understand anyone else. Thus it was that the building of the Tower was discontinued.

The Portion concludes with the genealogy of Shem in more detail, leading to the birth of Avraham. As the sedra commenced with a new beginning, so it concluded with another beginning, the beginning of Avraham's life, the Father of many nations and particularly the Nation of Israel, for whom the Torah was written.

The Haftarah, taken from Isaiah 54, says that just as G-d has promised never again to destroy the world with a Flood, so will He never allow the Jewish People to be destroyed.

Points to Ponder
1. The Torah describes Noah as an 'ish tzadik' 'a righteous man, perfect in his generation'. (6:9) The Torah later describes Noah as an 'ish adamah' 'man of the ground'. (9:21). a) There is an obvious contradiction between the two descriptions of Noah. Which one is true? b) What do the words 'in his generation' add?

Answers: We can best answer these question by looking at the second part first. The words: 'in his generation' can be understood in one of two ways: Noah did well to be righteous, considering the generation in which he lived and had he lived in better times, he would have been an even greater man. Or we can say that compared to others in his generation he was righteous, but had he lived in better times, he would have seemed fairly ordinary.

Whichever interpretation we follow, it seems that Noah was not great in the sense that Abraham or Moses were. And this is why the Torah later describes him as a 'man of the ground' - unspectacular. It was at this point that he became drunk and cursed one of his sons.

All this seems rather unfair to the poor man! After all, he built the Ark as G-d had commanded and must have been subjected to ridicule from everyone outside his immediate family. We also see that he offered up sacrifices to Hashem after the Flood! Why criticise him?

The only reason to criticise is to see what we can learn from him. Although it is true that he did exactly as he was told, Noah failed to draw even one person closer to G-d and possible repentance, unlike Avraham, as we see from the beginning of next week's portion. He also failed to pray for his fellow humans, in contrast to Avraham, who pleaded on behalf of the residents of Sodom.

2. What are the seven Noachide laws, and where may they be found?

Answers: Based on Chapter 9, verses 4-6, the Rabbis have detected seven laws given to humanity following the Flood, and of course the circumstances that led to the Flood. The most obvious are: tearing the limb of a living animal (verse 4) and murder, including suicide (verses 5,6). The others are: the establishment of courts of justice; the prohibition of blasphemy, idolatry, incest and robbery.

3. If these laws were necessary for world civilisation, why weren't they given when the world was created?

Answers: I would like to suggest that should later generations claim that these laws are not needed because they are so obvious, we can point to a time when they had not existed and the result was the destruction of the world.

4. In the last paragraph of the portion, we see that Terach, the father of Avram (Avraham), took his family from Ur Casdim to the Land of Canaan. (11:31) Yet in next week's portion, we see that G-d tells Avram to go to Canaan, and in case we are in any doubt, we read later on that G-d says: 'I am the L-rd who took you out of Ur Casdim, to give you this Land to inherit it'. (15:7) This implies a special deliverance, contradicting this week's portion.

Answer in next week's Points to Ponder!

Shabbat Shalom