The weekly Torah portion (parsha) for this week was called Noach which means rest. Why was Noach given that name? Perhaps because he, and his entourage of family and animals, as well as the land itself, did nothing but rest during the year of the flood. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s see what was in the parsha.
The parsha starts off by saying that Noach was a righteous and simple man in his generations, and that he walked with Elokim (on of the names for god and it means powers). We then find that Noach had some sons and how corrupt the world had become. God then tells Noach to make the ark because god is about to destroy the world, and also to collect two of every animal. God then floods the earth.
After the waters start to recede, Noach opens a window and sends a raven which went back and forth until the waters had dried up on the earth. Then Noach sent out the dove. The dove found no place to sit, so it came back. Noach sent the dove out again after 7 days. This time the dove returned with an olive leaf. He sent the dove again after seven days, and the dove doesn’t return.
Everybody/thing leaves the ark and Noach builds and altar and gives an offering to god (haShem) who says he will not destroy the earth again and she puts all the animals into the hands of Noach and his offspring. God tells Noach that he can eat everything, but if he eats meat, not to also eat the blood for that is the life of the flesh.
God then establishes a covenant with all the living beings of the earth, not to create another flood, and the symbol of this covenant is the rainbow in the clouds. Noach then plants a vineyard and gets drunk and Cham (one of his sons) saw Noach’s nakedness and tells his brothers who walk backwards, so as not to see their fathers nakedness, and covers it up. When Noach awakens, he realizes what Cham had done, and so he curses Cham’s son, Canaan to be a slave of his brothers.
We then get a listing of the generations of each of Noach’s sons. We hear of the mighty hunter Nimrod, and of all the people having one language and building a city and a tower reaching to the heavens saying, “Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we disperse over the face of the earth.” HaShem comes down to see what is going on and says that with one language, the people are unified, and as one, they are not prevented from doing anything they want. So, God gives them their different languages and disperses them over all the world.
And we end with the lineage to Avram and Sari and the beginning of their journeys, with Avram’s father and cousin Lot, out of Ur.
Not a bad little story, full of lots of action. There are lots of lessons here that we can learn.
One of the lessons we can learn is how to save the world. The Jewish family tradition believes that the Torah is the blueprint of creation. If that is true, then by studying the Torah, we can learn how creation works. And the first part of this parsha is about saving the world.
How can I say that? Because God was ready to destroy all life and start all over again.
Why did he not do it? Did a super hero, or team of people, or a nation step up and challenge God?
No. God decided not to destroy the world because of one man. And this man wasn’t a great man. He was a simple man. And he was a righteous man.
What is a righteous man? Just a man who does what is right. In Hebrew, when a person is right (as opposed to wrong), you say he is tzadek. This is the same word used here in describing Noach.
Why does it say he was a Tzadik (righteous) in his generations? To emphasize that it only takes one person who is willing to do what is right, no matter what anyone else says or does, and that is enough to save the world.
This is the teaching of Noach, the righteous and simple man of his generations.
A second teaching we have here is how god wants to interact with us. Does it say that Noach grovelled before god, or that he walked before god or after god? No. It says Noach walked with god. When a person can be simple, and say/do what is right, god will walk with you side-by-side as an equal, as a co-creator, as a friend. These are but two of the teachings we have from the beginning of this parsha.
I want to share two other teachings from this parsha. While, it takes only one person to save the world, what does it take for humanity to thrive in the world?
The story of the tower of Bavel gives us this answer. It also teaches us a lesson about fear.
When the people start to build the tower, they are of one language. God even says, “The people are one.” He then goes on to say that as such (as one people with one language) they will not be prevented from completing anything that want to do. It is for this reason that god gives the people many languages. What do we learn from this?
We learn that the only thing preventing humanity from thriving is our lack of understanding each other. After all, why was language created, if not to communicate and to understand each other. With many languages, we lose that ability to understand and communicate. With one language, we understand each other.
So, if we want to be successful in our projects and desires, we need to communicate and strive to understand each other – to have one language, and become one people.
What about fear?
Fear is a funny thing. The Torah says that they built the town and tower to make a name for themselves, and because they were afraid of being dispersed over the face of the earth. So, what happens? They do make a name for themselves (everybody knows about the people who started the tower of Bavel), and they got dispersed.
What does this say about fear? First, it tells us that you can do things out of fear, and acting out of fear does not prevent what you are fearful of happening from happening. It also tells us that operating out of fear does not make one successful. For all you American football fans out there, how many times have you seen a team go into a prevent defense only to have the other time drive down the field and make the winning score. Yes, you can act out of fear.
But there is another way.
You can act out of trust, love, and faith. This is what Noach did when he made the ark and gathered the animals. This tends to be a much more successful approach, and one the Torah seems to be telling us to take.
The other thing we can learn from this is that when you express your fears and act out of your fears, you tend to bring what you fear into existence. The peoples feared dispersion, they acted due to that fear, and they got dispersed.
Next week we are given the antidote to dealing with our fears. The parsha is called Lech L’cha which means, “Go to yourself.” I will leave you with that tease, for I do not wish to spoil your appetites.
If you want to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.
About the Author
Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.