Noah and the Birds

(6) At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made (7) and sent out the raven; it went to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. (8) Then he sent out the dove to see whether the waters had decreased from the surface of the ground. (9) But the dove could not find a resting place for its foot, and returned to him to the ark, for there was water over all the earth. So putting out his hand, he took it into the ark with him. (10) He waited another seven days, and again sent out the dove from the ark. (11) The dove came back to him toward evening, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the waters had decreased on the earth. (12) He waited still another seven days and sent the dove forth; and it did not return to him any more.

What questions can you ask about this episode?

(1) וישלח את העורב. He sent away the raven. Why did Noach sent away the raven? If it was to examine if the waters had receded sufficiently, why does the Torah not mention this? If the Torah assumed that we could figure this out for ourseleves, why did the Torah mention the reason for Noach sending out the dove? What exactly is the meaning of: "it went to and fro until the water on the earth dried out?" If the meaning is that the raven could not find a place to rest outside the ark and that therefore it kept re-entering the ark and leaving anew, why was there a need to send out a dove altogether? Did not the raven's behaviour indicate that the waters had not yet eased sufficiently? What exactly does the Torah mean by the words עד יבשת המים? Furthermore, did Noach not have sufficient information once he sent out the dove? Why does the Torah not mention that Noach extended his hand to bring the raven back, just as it does in connection with the dove in verse 9?

How would you expect Or HaChaim to answer his own questions? What approach would you expect?

(1) יצא ושוב WENT FORTH TO AND FRO — It (the raven) flew in circles round and round the Ark and did not go on its errand for it suspected that he (Noah) intended to injure its mate, just as we learn in the Agada of Chelek (Sanhedrin 108b).

How would you describe Rashi and the Talmud's approach?

(1) וישלח, why did Noach send out the raven? He had said to himself that the raven is a flesh eating bird and will most likely find remains of dead animals to feed on. If the bird would return with such remains in its beak, Noach would know that the waters had receded somewhat. The raven returned without anything in its beak, so that Noach did not learn anything new about the state of the waters. The raven returned to its nest, leaving from time to time to see if the situation outside the ark enabled it to survive on the outside. It carried on in this fashion until the surface of the earth had dried out. Seeing that this mission of the raven had proved totally unproductive, after waiting seven days, Noach sent out a pigeon. A pigeon is known to have a well developed sense of imagination and direction, finding its way back after having flown over a route only once or twice. It knows that it was dispatched for a purpose, i.e. to receive some information in return for having been dispatched. Moreover, it is in the character of pigeons to be attached to their home base, so that they can be depended on to return to their nest.

ולא..ותשב אליו אל התבה, the Torah describes the return of the pigeon both as a return to Noach, i.e. אליו, and as a return to the ark, i.e. אל התבה. Why was the return of the pigeon described in such detail? It is first described as a return to Noach, seeing that the fact that it did not bring back any bit of vegetation indicated that it had been unable to find any, i.e. had not performed its mission and brought Noach information. Secondly, it did not re-enter the ark as the raven had done. It remained perched on the roof of the ark. It was unhappy at not having brought back some kind of message to Noach. This is why Noach stretched out his hand and brought it back into the ark.

(2) טרף, both vowels in this word are kametz, indicating that the word is an adjective similar to having been spelled טרוף, as a participle. The word implies that the pigeon had torn this leaf off an olive tree with its beak in order to bring it back to Noach. This is the reason why the Torah used the word טרף, to show that Noach realised that it had torn it off the tree and broken it from the olive. [not just from a branch. Ed.] This was not a leaf which had been found floating on the surface of the water.

How would you describe Radak's approach?

To what extent is it satisfying?

The raven WENT TO AND FRO. Because there was still so much water, the raven was afraid to fly far away, lest it would tire and fall into the water.¹ So the raven just flew out, ate some of the corpses of the people,² the animals, the beasts or the birds that were floating on top of the water, and then returned to its nest in the ark. The raven kept doing that³ UNTIL THE WATERS DRIED UP....

NOAH PUT OUT HIS HAND AND TOOK [the dove]: [He wanted to touch the dove] so that he could check its feet and its wings to see if there was any mud or dirt on them. ⁷ Then he would be able to conclude that the waters had subsided. But when he found that that was not the case, HE BROUGHT IT INTO THE ARK WITH HIM.⁸

How would you describe Bekhor Shor's approach?