From: "Yeshivat Har Etzion's
Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash" <yhe@vbm-torah.org>
To: yhe-intparsha@vbm-torah.org
Subject: INTPARSHA60 -02: Parashat Noach
YESHIVAT
HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
************************************************************
INTRODUCTION
TO PARASHAT HASHAVUA
PARASHAT
NOACH
Creation and Dissolution: A Study in Contrasts?
By
Rav Michael Hattin
In many ways, Parashat Noach can be understood as the
antithesis of Parashat Bereishit. The
former opens
portentously, laden with doom. The
latter began
optimistically, full of pristine promise. Parashat Noach
revolves for the most part around an individual who is an
exemplar of both morality as well as attentiveness to the
divine word. Parashat Bereishit describes individuals who
fall far from achieving the grand potential invested in
their creation, and in fact seem to suffer endemically from
an inability to carry out God's command. At the same time
there are many parallels between the two sections. Both
explore the relationship between God and humanity, as well
as between human beings. A careful reading of the events of
Parashat Noach yields a pattern which, when compared and
contrasted to Parashat Bereishit, assists us in formulating
some fundamental principles that underlie the foundations of
the Torah.
The Parasha begins by introducing us
to the main
protagonist. Noach is a "righteous man, perfect in
his
generations, who walks with God." He is the first person in
the Torah to receive the appellation 'righteous' and it is a
trait which is to stand him in good stead, for
he is
surrounded by "corruption and violence."
God, having
watched with growing disappointment as the downward spiral
of Adam, Cain, Enosh and their descendants
continued,
finally decides to bring a Flood, to wash away the "violence
which fills the earth." Noach is bidden to build an ark of
very specific dimensions and features in order to save
himself, his immediate family, as well as a representative
pair of all of the extant species of animals and birds.
This he dutifully does, and after a no doubt tension-filled
period of waiting, the rains begin to fall. The ark is
borne by the rising waters and its denizens are preserved,
in order to eventually re-emerge into a destroyed world that
beckons them to rebuild it.
It will be recalled that Parashat Bereishit began with
the story of the creation. The primeval state of chaos,
emptiness, darkness, and the ubiquitous deep
waters
('tehom') is bereft of any discernable features, save the
spirit ('ruach') of Elohim that hovers expectantly over the
expanse. In an explosive flash, the Divine utterance brings
the first light into being; over a span of seven 'days' the
cosmos are fashioned, culminating in the creation
of
humanity. Adam and Eve, God's most precious creatures, are
blessed with authority and charged with a mission to "be
fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and rule over it.
Have dominion over the fish of the seas, the birds of the
sky, and all of the living things which walk upon
the
earth." Humanity is thus the apogee of creation and the
rest of the life forms on the planet are seemingly placed at
its disposal.
God, having planted a luxuriant and desirable garden,
places within it the first humans in order to "work it and
take care of it." Thus, the role of the human is
here
delineated not as one of exploiting the world around him,
but rather as one of cultivation and caring for it. This
defining aspect of their role is reinforced by
what
immediately follows: a command. "And Hashem God commanded
('Va-yetzav') the human saying: Although you may eat from
all of the fruits of the garden, you may not eat from the
fruit of the Tree of Knowledge..." (Bereishit 2:16). It is
thus a commandment that defines the relationship between God
and humanity, and between humanity and the world. Without
addressing the specific meaning of this command, it should
be clear that a command of any sort imposes a limitation on
the autonomy of the human being and in so doing invites the
human being to recognize the existence of
a Higher
Authority. Being subject to a Higher Authority of course
implies that far from being our oyster, the world is our
responsibility.
The progression and process nature of the
events is
clear. Chaos is resolved into organization, the inanimate
yields to the 'living soul' of the human, the cosmic order
is finally completed by the creation of the only creature
that possesses a moral will. And that human in turn, bound
by a divine decree, is therefore mandated to care for the
very creatures and things that are subject to his rule.
Examining closely Parashat Noach, we notice
that a
similar process is at work, only in reverse. Here Noach is
selected for preservation precisely because he possesses the
moral and ethical will that is demanded. The injunction to
build a vessel of very specific dimensions is not only a
means of producing the most sea-worthy ship, but
more
importantly is the opportunity for Noach to fulfill God's
command precisely and to submit to His authority. This
Noach does admirably, and he is informed that the ark that
is the subject of his labors will be the vehicle for the
saving of all of the species that inhabit the earth and sky.
In other words, just as Adam and Eve are designated as the
stewards of the world which is entrusted to their care, so
too Noach's ark will be the means of preserving and caring
for the planet's creatures. In contrast to Adam and Eve,
however, who soon abrogate God's command and thus initiate a
chain of events which will ultimately lead to the Flood,
Noach's fulfillment of God's command represents
the
possibility of being saved from its effects. Not without a
note of irony is it twice recorded that Noach did "according
to all that God had commanded him."
In a scene reminiscent of the male and female
animal
'parade' arranged by God to allow Adam to
name each
creature, a similar scene unfolds here as each species, male
and female, reports for boarding prior to the onset of the
deluge. With all preparations completed, all creatures
safely stowed, all provisions stored up and ready, Noach and
his family on board, a strange silence seems to fall on the
setting.
"Noach and his sons, his wife and their wives
entered
the ark anticipating the flood. The tahor
(fit for
sacrifice) animals as well as the non-tahor ones, the
birds, and all of the creatures that creep upon
the
earth came to Noach in pairs of male and female. They
entered the ark, just as God had
commanded Noach."
(Bereishit 7:7-9)
Rather than start immediately however, as one
might
have expected, the torrential rains are nowhere to be seen.
"And it came to pass after seven days that the flood waters
began to be upon the earth." What is the meaning of this
curious seven-day wait that is interjected here?
The
Midrash associates the seven-day wait with the traditional
seven days of mourning observed on the occasion of the death
of a loved one. 'Methuselah the Righteous,' a very long-
lived nanocentenarian-plus (969 year old), expires on the
eve of the Flood and in deference to his mourning rites, the
flood is delayed! Perhaps the theme here is the
great
sadness that anticipates the destruction of the world.
More plausibly, I believe, the
seven-day wait is
actually a reversed reference to the seven days of creation.
Just as the world was brought into existence over a period
of seven 'days,' so too the chaotic floodwaters,
the
primeval deep that existed prior to creation, is unleashed
anew as the world unravels at the conclusion of these seven
days. "In the six hundredth year of Noach's life, on the
17th day of the 2nd month, all of the springs of the great
deep ('tehom rabba') burst open and the heavens poured down
rains."
Let us organize these parallels in list form:
PARASHAT BEREISHIT
1) a primeval state of chaos and deep waters ('Tehom')
over all;
2) a seven day period of creation culminating in humanity;
3) an emphatic statement outlining humanity's dominion
over the world, and a corresponding expectation of humanity
to care for the garden and its contents;
4) God's command ('Va-yetzav') not to eat of the fruit of
the Tree of Knowledge;
5) the naming of the all of the species by the 'Adam;'
6) the abrogation ofGod's command, fratricide and moral
degradation;
PARASHAT NOACH
6) a world full of corruption and violence;
4) God's command ('Tziva') to build the ark;
5) the gathering of two members of each species to
be
preserved;
3) a statement by God outlining Noach's righteousness and
reaffirming his role in saving all of the other species by
bringing them onto the ark;
2) A seven day period before the flood;
1) The unleashing of the deep waters ('Tehom rabba') as
the world reverts back to chaos.
Thus, Parashat Bereishit and Parashat Noach are really
two complementary sections that at their core convey a
central message. The unique status afforded humanity in the
scheme of things is dependent on one thing and one thing
only: the willingness of humanity to acknowledge and fulfill
a higher law established by God. The rest of creation in
turn only survives as a function of humanity's devotion to
this endeavor.
That the world survives only as a
result of the
recognition of God's guiding power and His higher law is
actually emphasized by a striking feature of the
ark.
Significantly, the Hebrew word which invariably describes
this craft is 'teiva.' This is an unusual word to describe
a sea-going vessel which is often called in biblical Hebrew
an 'oniya' (see Bereishit 49:13, Devarim 28:68, Yona 1:3,
etc.), or rarely a 'sephina' (Yona 1:5), but never, barring
our context and one other, a 'teiva.' The only other usage
of the term 'teiva' at all is in describing the ark that the
mother of Moshe fashions for her infant son. No longer able
to shield him from Pharaoh's cruel decree to cast all male
children into the Nile, Yocheved prepares a 'teiva' for
Moshe and reluctantly releases it down the river.
What is the structural difference between a 'teiva' and
the vessels described by these other terms? R. Avraham Ibn
Ezra (Spain, 11th century) remarks that here the Torah uses
the noun "teiva rather than sephina, because this craft does
not have the form of an oniya, and has no oars or rudder"
(6:14). How unusual that the Divine Engineer offers such
very specific directions to Noach about the construction of
the ark ("Make an ark of 'gofer' wood, divide it into cells,
and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you
shall fashion it: three hundred cubits in length, fifty in
width, thirty in height shall it be. Make
for it a
skylight, slope its roof to the measure of a cubit, place
the doorway on its side, and make it of three levels...")
but neglects to mention the provision of oars or a rudder,
or for that matter sails!
The significance of this glaring omission
is quite
obvious. The lack of oars or a rudder
for the ark
effectively renders it incapable of being steered. The
rising floodwaters will bear the craft but Noach will have
no say in what direction the craft will go or where it will
land. In this sense he is no more the captain of the ark
than are the other creatures. Like them, he is a
part
(albeit the most important part) of the microcosm that the
ark represents. Only God's merciful providence will ensure
that the ark successfully weathers
the torrential
floodwaters and lands intact on safe shores. God is the
guiding power who drives the ark through the churning deep
and steers it clear of mishap.
In a similar vein, when Yocheved places her infant son
into his teiva and releases him to the unknown she is not
simply attempting to save his life by aiding his escape down
river. Her seemingly hopeless gesture, after all other
possibilities of concealing Moshe have been exhausted,
actually represents an act of great faith. By constructing
this craft for him and allowing it to pathetically float
away from her maternal embrace she is actually entrusting
the life of her child to the Merciful God. It is He who
will care for Moshe and lovingly guide him downstream into
the unexpectedly tender arms of Pharaoh's own daughter!
Here again, the teiva represents God's role in shaping human
destiny, and by entering the realm of the teiva we entrust
our survival to a Transcendent Being who cares, commands,
expects and hopes that we live up to our Divinely fashioned
human potential.
Thus, Parashat Bereishit which begins with the greatest
of possibilities but concludes so tragically, and Parashat
Noach which opens with doom but concludes with the hope of a
new beginning, are really complementary sections that pivot
quite cohesively around the same central point. Humanity is
the crown of creation and the rest of the world only exists
for our sake. Therefore, it is our duty to behave towards
God, each other and the world with moral responsibility. In
fact, our survival depends upon it.
Shabbat Shalom.
YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH
ALON SHEVUT, GUSH ETZION 90433
Copyright (c) 1999 Yeshivat Har Etzion
All Rights Reserved
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