Parasha Noach ("Noah")

Genesis 6:9-11:32

 

God instructs Noah-the only righteous man in a world consumed by violence and corruption-to build a large wooden ark. A great deluge, says God, will wipe out all life from the face of the earth; but the ark will float upon the water, sheltering Noah and his family, and two members (male and female) of each animal species.

 

Rain falls for 40 days and nights, and the waters churn for 150 days more before calming and beginning to recede. The ark settles on Mount Ararat, and Noah dispatches a raven, and then a series of doves, "to see if the waters were abated from the face of the earth." When the ground dries completely-exactly one solar year (365 days) after the onset of the Flood-God commands Noah to exit the ark and repopulate the earth.

 

Noah builds an altar and offers sacrifices to God. God swears never again to destroy all of mankind because of their deeds, and sets the rainbow as a testimony of this new covenant with humans. God also commands Noah in laws regarding the sacredness of life: murder is deemed a capital offense, and while man is permitted to eat the meat of animals, he is forbidden to eat flesh or blood taken from a living animal.

 

The descendants of Noah remain a single people, with a single language and culture, for ten generations. Then they defy their Creator by building a great tower to symbolize their own invincibility; God confuses their language so that "one does not comprehend the tongue of the other," causing them to abandon their project and disperse across the face of the earth, splitting into seventy nations.

 

From Dan Nichols and Eighteen, here is a live version of the song "All This Rain" which might give us some insight into Noah's internal struggle. https://bit.ly/2zYqJWM

 

Rabbi Robbi

 

A Note from Rabbi Robbi and Mark:
We are grateful to everyone who contacted us with notes of condolence after the death of Mark's Mom, Imogene, who was laid to rest on Sunday, October 27. To be surrounded by our WRJC family means a great deal to us at this tender time. Judaism places comforting the bereaved among its most important mitzvot. Thank you so much.