The Flood

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The Difference Between "Roni Akara" and "Aniya So'ara"
Haftarot: Noah
Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein
Infertility symbolizes the lack of hope for a better future, even if the present reality is tolerable, while desolation represents present suffering with the hope of a better future.
The First World and the Second
Prof. Jonathan Grossman
If God really was disappointed with the world; and decided it must be destroyed in the flood; why did He enable a rehabilitation of the world? How could God be sure the world will not become corrupted again? This article points to the distinguishing factor between the first world and the second: the permission to eat meat.
Two Covenants to Preserve the World
Rabbi Elchanan Samet
The biblical text implies that God created a covenant with the world when it was created. This covenant is implied in the two reasons for saving Noah from the flood the necessity of preserving a remnant of Creation based on God's first covenant with it, and the reward appropriate for the righteous man of the generation - which are reflected in the two components of God's revelations to Noah. If a covenant with the world already exists, why is there a need for another covenant after the flood? What does the rainbow covenant change or add?
Creation Anew
Rabbi Zeev Weitman
After mankind was corrupted, God regrets creating man, and destroys every living thing. The renewal of the world after the flood is described as a re-creation of the world. Is the new world more successful than the first? What is the relationship between Noah's drunkenness and Adam's sin? Is there a relationship between Lot's drunkenness after the destruction of Sodom and Noah's drunkenness after the destruction of the world?
The Exodus from Egypt as a Social Revolution
Rabbi Meir Lichtenstein
תאריך פרסום: תש"ע | |
Why is the Exodus a cornerstone of our identity as Jews? What was so important about the transformation that Am Yisrael underwent during the Exodus and in the desert? By going back to the stories in Sefer Bereishit and examining the nature of society, we can see many examples of what it means to be a self-sufficient civilization, disconnected from God, morals, and ethical principles. The experience of the Exodus is meant to teach us how to revolutionize a society, and how to build a civilization while simultaneously always standing before God.
The Potter's House and the Earthen Bottle
Rabbi David Sabato
In the prophecy in the potter’s house, the house of Israel is like clay in the hand of God, the creator of history, and the fashioning of its destiny is based on its moral quality. But Israel's moral quality does not depend upon God's will because from the moment that God created the world and constricted Himself, He entrusted the choice between good and bad in the hands of man alone. If they choose to do that which is good in God's eyes, their historical destiny will be fashioned in a positive manner. But the moment that they corrupt their ways, their destiny will perforce change in accordance with their deficient moral quality. Despite the resoluteness of the prophecy itself and the decree of calamity that it contains, there is always the possibility of change, which depends exclusively on the people.

In contrast, the breaking of the bottle prophecy symbolizes the hopeless situation – the potter's vessel that cannot be made whole again. The first prophecy was delivered to the people at a stage when there was still a place for repair and renewal, while the second prophecy reflects the crisis to which the people arrived when the malleable clay hardened to the point that it turned into a bottle that could no longer be changed and that can no longer be fixed, but only broken.
The End is Near
Dr. Tova Ganzel
The prophetic message of Yehezkel and Yirmiyahu is that the end of Jerusalem is imminent. The common belief in Jerusalem and in Babylonia is that somehow God will save the inhabitants of Jerusalem, allowing them to survive this crisis. The exiles themselves, though, might – in a best case scenario – return to the land; but will otherwise assimilate and disappear among the nations.

Yirmiyahu prophesies that in his own days Yehoyakhin is “a man who shall not prosper” and in those years that Yehuda is desolate, none of his progeny will prosper as king or ruler. But in the long term, the exile of Yehoyakhin will settle and prosper in Babylonia for a long period of time and they will serve as the salvation of the people. It would be these exiles who would return one day to rebuild the land which was about to be destroyed. Yehekzel prophesies that those who remained in Jerusalem will die by pestilence, by the sword or by famine.

But even after these prophecies, neither the inhabitants of Jerusalem nor the exiles in Babylonia were convinced. The Temple was still standing; the inhabitants of Jerusalem remained steadfast despite the crises they had faced since the time of Shlomo. These facts made a stronger impression than the prophecies of Yirmiyahu and Yehezkel.

To convey his messages, Yehezkel enlists all possible means: the use of symbolic acts and the borrowing of expressions familiar from the Tokhaha in Vayikra. Now, another means is adopted: a key word, aimed at emphasizing the subject of the prophecy as a whole. We see here the repeated use of the word “ketz” (end), alluding to the story of the Flood.
The Deeds of the People in the Temple
Part 2
Dr. Tova Ganzel
The consequence foretold in Sefer Devarim for idolatry is exile. Along with this message, Yehezkel’s prophecy again emphasizes that these acts by the people have caused the defilement of the nation, the land, and the Temple – a result not mentioned in Sefer Devarim but in Sefer Vayikra. However, there is a quantitative difference: in Vayikra, only two verses speak of idolatry as causing defilement of the people and of the Temple, while in Sefer Yehezkel this issue appears in no less than thirty verses. The necessity of repeatedly emphasizing this matter during Yehezkel’s time is understandable bearing in mind the constant presence of false prophets, who continued to insist that the Temple would not be destroyed.

Yehezkel’s descriptions of the varieties of idolatry committed by the people deliberately follows the style employed in Sefer Devarim in the commands and warnings not to follow the deeds of the nations and not to serve their gods. This technique lends additional validity to Yehezkel’s prophecies about the sins – particularly about the punishment that God will bring. In addition, the nation’s sin is amplified through a broad generalization of all the different types of idolatry and their enumeration together in Chapter 8. In this way the prophet underlines the prophetic message that he is conveying: the sins of the people have included idolatry, and this represents justification for the imminent destruction and exile.
Rain: Danger of Destruction or Dawn of Redemption?
Elisheva Brauner
Perfidious Friends
Rabbi Ben-Tzion Spitz
No More Destruction
Rabbi Yehuda Shaviv
The haftara emphasizes the power given to humanity to annul the decree of exile, just like the decree of the flood. It also discusses the dispersion of Israel throughout the world for the sake of heaven as a correction for the sin of the "dor hapalaga" the generation that wanted to get together and build a city and towers in order to rebel against God, but who ended up being dispersed against their wishes throughout the world. This teaches us that unity and togetherness which are not for the sake of heaven – especially when directed specifically against God – are doomed to failure and disintegration, even though unity itself is praiseworthy.
Tanakh and Literature of the Ancient Near East
Part 3 - The Narratives in Sefer Bereishit and their Parallels in Ancient Near Eastern Literature
Rabbi Amnon Bazak
Some argue that the great similarity between the stories in Breishit to stories in sources that are unquestionably more ancient, may serve to substantiate the authenticity of those stories. On the other hand, others argued that the biblical story was simply a duplication of the earlier Mesopotamian tradition.

However, the contrasts between the stories point to the fundamental differences between the pagan and the monotheistic worldviews, and demonstrate the superior moral message of the Torah’s story over that of the pagan story. The fact that the traditions of the great flood and creation were familiar to the nations of the Ancient Near East presents no difficulty, and there is no reason that the Torah should refrain from recording it just because it was already well-known. It is specifically the comparison of the messages arising from the respective descriptions that strengthens the distinction between them.
Migdal Bavel: Fear of a Second Flood
Rabbi David Silverberg
Saving Animals: Why an Ark?
Rabbi David Silverberg
Purity of the Animals on the Ark: A Story of Boundaries
Rabbi David Silverberg
The Earth, the Flood, and the Causes
Rabbi Yaakov Beasley
In the story of the flood, God's description about what is about to happen is unclear. Grammatical and thematic difficulties arise. We examine various explanations and use tools such as other ancient languages to understand the meaning of the verse in question.
Individual and Collective Responsibility
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
What is the link between the stories of the Flood and the Tower of Babel? Through an understanding of the balance between personal and societal responsibility we can understand Parshat Noach in a whole new light, and appreciate Avraham’s unique role in creating a new form of social order that would give equal honor to the individual and the collective.

This article is part of the Covenant & Conversation series.

To read more from Rabbi Sacks or to subscribe to his mailing list, please visit http://www.rabbisacks.org/. You can also follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Individual and Collective Responsibility (Audio)
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks | 10 minutes
What is the link between the stories of the Flood and the Tower of Babel? Through an understanding of the balance between personal and societal responsibility we can understand Parshat Noach in a whole new light, and appreciate Avraham’s unique role in creating a new form of social order that would give equal honor to the individual and the collective.

This lecture is part of the Covenant & Conversation series.

To read more from Rabbi Sacks or to subscribe to his mailing list, please visit http://www.rabbisacks.org/. You can also follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
The Trace of God (Audio)
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks | 7 minutes
How did the flood change our perspective of the human condition? Through an examination of the text we understand that after the Flood God taught Noach and through him all humanity, that we should think, not of ourselves but of the other as in the image of God. That is the only way to save ourselves from violence and self-destruction.

This lecture is part of the Covenant & Conversation series.

To read more from Rabbi Sacks or to subscribe to his mailing list, please visit http://www.rabbisacks.org/. You can also follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Parshat Noah Part 1: Before the Flood
Rabbi Alex Israel | 32 minutes
What was the purpose of the flood in Parshat Noah? What was God’s plan? Through an exploration of the text we can understand that God’s plan wasn’t to destroy the world, it was merely to restore it to its original state.

Courtesy of www.tanachstudy.com
Parshat Noah Part 2: Decreation & Recreation
Rabbi Alex Israel | 34 minutes
Through an analysis of the perek describing the flood, we can glean within the text hints to a re-creation of the world by God, utilizing the pattern of the initial six days of creation.

Courtesy of www.tanachstudy.com
Noach: Why Did God Destroy the World?
Rabbi David Fohrman |
When Noach is named, his father Lamech claims that he will provide relief for humankind - and less than 10 verses later, God decides to destroy the world. By comparing textual parallels of the two events, Rabbi Fohrman helps us understand Lamech's mistake, and how to better relate to God today.

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"This one shall comfort us for our work" The Story of the Flood and the Principle of Teshuva (Repentance)
Dr. Brachi Elitzur
A major part of Parashat Noach is devoted to a description of the construction of the ark, its size and structure, the materials used to build it, and the animals brought inside it. The extensive detail raises to two questions. First, if there is a Divine promise that there will be no repeat of the Flood, what is the point of this detailed description, as it will have no relevant application in the future? Second, it would seem that notwithstanding the tremendous efforts invested in building the ark, the salvation of Noach, his family, and the animals aboard with them could not have been possible without a Divine miracle. If a miracle was necessary in any case, then why the need for all the hard work? Would the miracle not have been even more impressive had Noach and his family remained at home and all the animals remained in their natural habitats, with the Flood simply passing over them, like the death of the firstborn later on in Egypt?
Boundaries in Sefer Bereishit
Rabbi Shimon Klein
God regrets having created man in the world; He is grieved, and He decides to wipe out all living things from upon the face of the earth. To the reader suddenly coming upon these verses, this is an unthinkable, inconceivable course of action: the world has already been created; now problems start to arise, and the reaction is – complete annihilation?! We must ask ourselves how and why it is that God resorts to such a seemingly “dis-proportionate” response. The context of our discussion will be a broad one, going far beyond the boundaries of this specific narrative. We shall examine the moral standards of God and of man in Sefer Bereishit, and seek to identify a method for dealing with moral dilemmas relating to the fundamental life circles in this Sefer.