Rampant senseless robbery and global violence (the Hebrew word in the Torah for violence is Hamas) corrupted the planet in the days of Noach.
In Parashat Noach (Gen. 6:9 -11:32) we learn how HaShem purifies the planet with the Mabbul, a flood of boiling subterranean waters, accompanied by torrential rains that comes 1,656 years after the birth of Adam. But God chose to spare eight people who are tasked with repopulating and rebuilding the post-flood world. Those eight are Noach, along with his wife, three sons and their wives. Noach is to build a Tevah (ark) to protect his family and the young offspring of primal creatures.
Construction on the ark began one-hundred twenty years before the Flood. God allowed this extended period so that the people of that era would see Noach building the odd water craft and their curiosity would be aroused. Clearly, it was not a boat because the ark lacked a rudder or sails, so they would ask Noah and his respected grandfather, Methuselah about the Tevah.
According to most English translations of the Torah, the ark was fashioned from "gopher wood"; a translation that seems to fall just short of yielding a true understanding of the original Hebrew phrase accurately. There is no such thing as a gopher tree. The commentator Onkelos believes the wood was probably derived from a species of cedar. The word translated as "gopher" is spelled gimmel-pey-resh, the root of the word gofrit (gimmel-pey-resh-yud-tav), meaning sulfur. Having spent part of my teen years on a ranch in Texas, I recognized that the Torah seemed to be describing wood that was treated and sealed with sulfur. The cowboys once used molten sulfur to anchor corner fence posts, pouring the boiling sulfur into the post hole. The sulfur would cool and harden, nearly as solid as concrete.
Gofrit is the same substance that obliterated the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, four hundred years after the Flood. The Jewish Sages (Chazal) suggest that the Torah's use of sulfur was not simply to reveal construction methods but to also teach us that HaShem could save Noach and his family using the same substance (sulfur) that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, a culture guilty of the same sins of violent robbery and sexual perversity that led to the destruction of the Flood generation.
The reference to Sodom and Gomorrah is not by chance and addresses an on-going controversy regarding the alleged lack of care on the part of Noach to do more than simply build the ark and hope people would understand that there was a limit to the time for repentance. The Or Hachaim cites Ezekiel 14:13-14 as evidence that Noach possessed a level of righteousness that merited his being saved from the Flood:
"O mortal, if a land were to sin against Me and commit a trespass, and I stretched out My hand against it and broke its staff of bread, and sent famine against it and cut off human and animal from it,even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—should be in it, they would by their righteousness save only themselves—declares the Sovereign God"
This further suggests that Noach was commanded to build the ark because HaShem wanted to segregate Noach's family from the rest of humanity, keeping them together. Had the entire family been as pious as Noach, there would have been no need to build the ark; they would have been protected on Noach's land. This is consistent with the Talmudic principle, found in Tractate Baba Kama 60b, which states: "When permission has been given to the Destroyer to harm, he does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked." The Sages believe that the patriarch Avraham learned of this concept from Noah so that he based his request to spare Sodom if a minimum of ten righteous men could be found in the city.
The appointed date for the Flood (Mabbul) arrived but Noach and family were prepared, “For in seven days’ time I will make it rain upon the earth,” Rashi tells us that the seven days allowed Noach to mourn his grandfather Methuselah whose name was actually a prophecy that roughly translates to, "His death brings [the Flood]"
After the Tevah rests on the mountains of Ararat, the seven colors of the rainbow appear as a sign of the brit, a covenant God made with Noach and all his descendants, teaching the precepts that we now know as the Sheva Mitzvoth B'nei Noach, aka The Seven Laws of Noach which prohibit idolatry, blasphemy, murder, sexual immorality, theft, and eating the limb of a living animal (basically any form of cruelty to animals, as well as the command to establish courts of justice.
Appropriately, the word brit (covenant) appears seven times in Parashat Noach.
According to the Rambam these seven precepts were included in the 613 given at Sinai. Though not listed specifically, they are conceptually embedded in Genesis 2:16. Idolatry, Blasphemy, Theft and Illicit Sexual Relations are forbidden.
The remaining laws are more explicitly rendered in Parashat Noach.
For example, the Prohibition Against Eating the Limb of a Living Animal is stated in Genesis 9:4:
"Every creature that lives shall be yours to eat; as with the green grasses, I give you all these. You must not, however, eat flesh with its life-blood in it."
The precept against Murder is seen in Genesis 9:5:
"But for your own life-blood I will require a reckoning: I will require it of every beast; of humankind, too, will I require a reckoning for human life, of everyone for each other!"
And, Establish Courts of Justice is clearly revealed in Genesis 9:6
"Whoever sheds human blood, by human [hands] shall that one’s blood be shed; For in the image of God was humankind made."
Prior to the Mabbul, a thick cloudy canopy covered the earth, preventing direct sunlight. J. Immanuel Schochet writes that, just as those clouds became more refined and allowed the light of the sun, the world will eventually attain refinement with the coming of Moshiach.
Three hundred forty years later, the lesson of the Flood was ignored when Nimrod, a charismatic political tyrant, united the warring cities of the Fertile Crescent in a bid to replace God with a city and tower of their own design. Nimrod is called "mighty" three times in this Torah portion, hinting of the three agendas that fueled the building of the massive Tower of Bavel: to prevent their dispersion, to reach the heavens and "attack" God, and make a name for themselves.
Why would the masses submit themselves to someone like Nimrod?
In his commentary on Nimrod, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch offers this explanation and warning that is disturbingly relevant in our day:
“This occurs particularly in nations where the citizens are busily preoccupied with themselves. People who pursue comfort and wealth and ignore the idealistic interests of their community are ready to sacrifice their rights and assets—so long as they are excused from thinking.”
Prior to the destruction of the tower, the builders were of one "speech." Though they had a language in common. Genesis 11:1 states, "Now the whole earth had one language and the same words." The Hebrew word used for "language" is safa, which can mean limitation or a boundary. This alludes to their desire to thrive without the direction of the Creator who they believed held them back from living lives without any restraint. Ironically, that mindset sabotaged and subsequently limited their potential for greatness. God destroyed their tower, burning one-third, toppling another third to the ground, and allowing the last third to be swallowed by the earth.
After Nimrod rose and fell from the world stage, the patriarch Avraham is introduced at the conclusion of Parashat Noach. He is a man of blazing intellect, solid morals and deep faith, all balanced with fervent sense of justice. Avraham fully embraced the words of our Creator who told him to, “Pursue justice, justice.
Avraham never sought fame but continually raised up the name of the Creator. God honors him by making the name Avraham appear 175 times in the Tanakh—the same number of years he lived. The patriarch witnessed the folly and destruction of Nimrod's tower. He was not impressed. It is through Avraham's legacy, that his descendants, the nation of Israel will raise up, not a tower, but a House of Prayer for all nations. May it come speedily in our day.
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