CHOCHMAS NASHIM: NOAH: DICHOTOMY
By: Suri Stern
G-d caused the water to flood the Earth for forty days, similar to the 40 seahs (jewish liquid measurement) that is required for a purifying mikveh. The water was meant to purify the creatures and build a conscience for humans that they did not have before the flood.(Toras Menachem)
In the description of the flood, the torah tells us that all creatures died, and described it as “Everything from that which was on the dry land that had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils died.”(Genesis 7:22). It is easily analogous to the description of G-d’s creation of man: (Genesis 2:7) G-d formed man out of the soil from the Earth. He blew into his nostrils a living soul, and man became a living being.”
Ahhh, the sensitivity of the loss. There was only one creature on Earth in which G-d blew a soul, and that was man. Rather than state that all men died, what was really happening must have hurt G-d to His core. He had created man in His image, trusted man with a soul that could elevate him so that he could retain the level of being that was created in G-d’s image, a perfect spiritual being.
How very devastating it must have been for G-d to watch us destroy our souls and each other to the point where He had no choice but to kill His own children, who were created in His image. Last week’s Torah portion ends with ”G-d saw that the wickedness of man was great…And He regretted having made Man on Earth.” How bitterly poetic the Torah in describing this devastation.
When the Torah sets forth all the creatures that went into the ark, I cant but help think about the book Perek Shira, which describes how all creations praise G-d. None of the non-humans were singled out as they went into the ark, but there were two birds mentioned with regard to Noah’s using the raven and the dove to determine if the waters had receded, to determine if it was safe to leave the ark. It was ultimately the dove who came back with an olive branch in its mouth as a sign that the waters had indeed receded.
How interesting, for in Perek Shira, King David states the Doves praise:
The dove requested before the Holy One, Blessed is He:
“Master of the universe, may my food be as bitter as an olive, but dependent upon You,
Rather than sweet as honey, but dependent upon flesh and blood.”
The raven, David says, praises G-d:
“Who prepares nourishment for the raven,
When its young ones call out to G-d, helpless without food?”
Core dependency on HKBH. Those in the ark had no one to trust for their sustenance, safety and security, but G-d. Nevertheless, if we could see a father kill His children, we might wonder if we are next. So it was, that Noah was afraid to re-populate the Earth, pending G-d’s future decision to destroy it, and that is when G-d showed a rainbow and promised He would never destroy the world with floodwaters again and commanded Noah and his family to multiply and be fruitful.
Noah sent sacrifices to G-d to thank Him, and here are some poignant moments:
Genesis 8:21 “G-d smelled the pleasant aroma, and G-d said to Himself, I will no longer curse the earth because of man, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his first stirrings in the womb. I will never again kill all living things as I have done. So long as the earth exits, there will not cease seedtime, harvest, cold, heat, summer and winter, and day and night.”
Genesis 9:13 “I have placed my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of a covenant between Myself and the earth. Then, when I will consider causing clouds of darkness and destruction to come upon the earth, the rainbow will appear in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you, and every living creature among all flesh, and the water will no longer become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow will be in the cloud, and I will look at it to remember the everlasting covenant between G-d’s attribute of judgment and every living creature among all flesh, which is on the earth.”
G-d made man dichotomous. He put us here on the physical earth which required us to be materialistic, but He blew into us a soul, and made us in His image. We were not supposed to have an evil inclination, but Adam sinned, and it became part and parcel of our beings.
Just a few days ago, on Shmini Atzeret, we asked for rain, qualifying it for the good and for life, not for evil and death. We see a rainbow in the sky and we can’t wait to snap a shot and share it with all. The rainbow is a reminder that G-d, at that moment, wants to destroy the world but for His promise to Noah. The dichotomy of our senses, which want beauty, coupled with our Torah knowledge, which tempers the superficial. Thank you for the beauty, and the sechel/wisdom to understand it more deeply.
Shabbat Shalom.
-Suri