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Parsha Noah
By Avi Lazerson
Parshat Noah has two world-wide earth shaking events contained in it. One is the flood which destroyed all of mankind with the singular exception of Noah and his immediate family and the animals who were included in the Ark. The other event that affected all of the world’s inhabitants was the events at the Tower of Babel. Prior to this, all men spoke one language, Hebrew, but after they built their tower, the world was divided into countries that could not understand or speak with the other.
Which catastrophe was the worse one?
Rashi, the great Bible commenter analyses it for us.
In the first case, the generation of the flood, they did not seek to rebel against G-d, they robbed and attacked each other and lived in sexual excess. Since they sinned with their bodies, they were punished by having their bodies destroyed.
The generation of the Tower of Babel did not sin against their fellow man, just the opposite; they treated each other with the greatest respect. They were planning a rebellion against G-d; therefore, since they sinned with their speech, they were punished with it.
Rashi, however, is not satisfied. The generation of the Tower of Babel was rebelling against G-d himself! Compared to the generation of the flood, they received a light punishment! The generation of the flood did not reject G-d, rather they pursued their lusts to the determent of their fellow man. They were a generation given over to lust, but not an organized rebellion against G-d. The generation of the Tower of Babel rebelled against G-d, surely it was they who should have received a must severe punishment!
Rashi explains that a very important principle is at work here.
The generation of the flood lacked brotherly love and concern. It was man against his brother. By the generation of the Tower of Babel, each person treated the next with the utmost concern. Together they worked in a spirit of harmony and unity.
Rashi explains that the reason for the light punishment of the generation of the Tower of Babel is because to G-d, unity and harmony amongst men is so important that even if they rebel against Him, it is mitigated in view of their unity.
Let us take it as a great lesson, we who believe in G-d that we should strive to work together and then for certain our work will be accepted by Him on high.
See Rashi on Geneses 11:9
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Reflected Holiness
by Michael Chessen
In the
beginning, God created the world with an ideal sense of order. However, primordial
man’s disobedience led to a collapse of divinely designed order to such an extent
that animals sought mates outside of their own species. In addition, a breakdown of
communication between people precluded society’s functioning according to any kind of
a moral code, including one motivated by simple self-interest.
In the confusion that ensued from this disorder, even
basic language was turned inside out. Whereas humankind recognized the potential in Noah
to serve as the agent to “comfort” them, “yinechem”, from all
of post-Eden’s sorrow, God subsequently employs this exact same verb, but with intent
to “regret” having made man, and decides to erase him from the face of the
earth. As Rashi points out, this verdict was rendered not by “Elokim”, the God
who strictly administers justice, as we might have expected, but by the holy name we refer
to as “HaShem”, God as the merciful parent figure. Following the havoc of the
rains of the Great Flood, however, Noah in turn merits merciful remembrance from God as
Elokim when we would have expected the name Hashem.
It is perhaps only fitting that the Torah reading
of Noah reiterates Bereshit’s statement that man was created in God’s image, for
the very name, “Noah”, is the reverse reflection of the Hebrew “chen”
or “favor”. Noah’s finding favor in the eyes of God spares humanity from
total destruction, and he is chosen to usher it into a new era.
Ultimately, the symbol of the new post-Flood
covenant between God and man is also a reflection, namely, that of the rainbow. The Malbim
commentary says that in the disordered state of nature before the Flood, the earth’s
waters possessed a certain “coarseness” which precluded their being able to
reflect the sun’s light and form a rainbow. Its appearance in the clouds now heralds
a new dawn not only for man and beast, but for all of nature’s elements as well.
Fascinatingly, the appearance of the rainbow also
foretells the “tikkun”, or corrective solution of our reading’s
concluding drama, namely, that of the Tower of Babel, in which the Torah describes the
world as initially being made up of a single language (and mindset). For we are to learn
that human society is ideally composed not of singularity, but of a mosaic of color and
character.
Wishing you all a Shabbat
Shalom !
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from the Parsha of the Week section of the Jewish Magazine
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