Torah Study - 12/24/22

(1) These are the lines of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah: sons were born to them after the Flood.

AND UNTO THEM WERE SONS BORN AFTER THE FLOOD. The intent thereof is to imply that even though they were fit to have children before the flood — for in those generations it was normal to beget children at about sixty years of age — these did not beget children even at the age of a hundred, only until after the flood, for G-d restrained them from having children in order that they should not perish in the flood or that it [not] be necessary to save many persons in the ark. And so also did G-d do to this entire family: Lamech was delayed in begetting Noah until more than twice the age of his ancestors, and Noah much more. This is already mentioned in the commentary of Rashi who quotes from Bereshith Rabbah.

ויולדו להם, we have already seen when these sons of Noach had entered the ark that they had not yet had any children. Why then was it necessary to write the line “children were born to them?” The only reason the Torah wrote this line is to tell us that neither of Noach’s sons engaged in marital intercourse while in the ark so that no children were born in the ark. Even though we have already commented on this in connection with the report of Noach and his family leaving the ark, (8,19) and the manner in which their leaving the ark had been worded, one could err and conclude that the offspring mentioned here under the heading of ויולדו could apply to Noach’s own children, the Torah explains in greater detail that only Shem, Cham, and Yaphet are the sons of Noach, and only they and their wives entered the ark together with him and his wife; (7,13) and by writing that children were born to them after the deluge this makes this crystal clear.

ויולדו להם בנים אחר המבול, “children were born for them after the deluge.” Although the fathers and mothers were capable of having children already before the onset of the deluge, G’d had deliberately prevented them from having children in order not to have to destroy their offspring as part of the deluge, and in order not to have to save too many people crowding the ark.

ואלה תולדת בני נח, שם חם ויפת, “And these are the descendants of Noach: Shem, Cham, and Yaphet.” Starting with this verse and including chapter 11 verse 1, you will find the names of seventy individuals. All of them are descendants of Noach and at the end of that paragraph the Torah states: אלה משפחות בני נח לתולדותם בגויהם ומאלה נפרדו הגוים בארץ אחר המבול “These are the families of Noach’s descendants, according to their generations by their nations; and from these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.” We learn from this verse that the world comprises 70 nations each with its own language. Chapter 11 verse 8 tells us that the various people at the time of the Tower of Babel were scattered and that each group would have its own language The reason the Torah makes a point of enumerating seventy different nations is to contrast this fact with the seventy people, all descendants of Yaakov, who descended with him to Egypt (Genesis 46,27). This is also what Moses had in mind at the time when he blessed the Jewish people shortly before his death (Deut. 32,8), and said בהנחל עליון גוים, בהפרידו בני אדם. “When the Supreme One gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of man.” The nations Moses referred to are the ones mentioned in our chapter. Starting with that period in human history, G’d allocated boundaries, גבולות, to the various nations. All of this was to correspond to the founding members of the Jewish nation who went down to Egypt. The reason Moses said in Deut. 32,8 יצב גבולות עמים למספר בני ישראל , “He established the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the children of Israel,” instead of saying למספר בני יעקב , “according to the number of the sons of Yaakov,” was to stress that the children of Israel consisted of twelve separate tribes. It is worth recalling that the reason the Torah spends so much space on the details of this list of the descendants of Cham is to inform us about how many nations were descended from him is to make us aware that Avraham, a descendant of Shem, merited to become the father of the Jewish nation. The Torah hints that the only reason that there was a need for seventy nations in the first place was to ensure that out of all these there would emerge at least the one nation that G’d has chosen to become special to Him.
Our sages (Tanchuma Vayeshev 1) have illustrated the matter by means of a parable. When someone loses a pearl on the beach, he will bring a sieve and sieve the entire sand on the beach in order to retrieve his pearl. Once he has found his pearl he throws the sand back on the beach. The parable intends to illustrate that just as all that sand on the beach only serves to yield up the one pearl, so there was no need for G’d to have all that many different nations except for that large number to eventually yield a Jewish nation. The sages said further (Bereshit Rabbah 1,8) that the concept of a Jewish nation had preceded the concept of all these other nations. We know that in G’d’s mind any end product had been carefully envisioned long before it would become manifest. This is also why the Jewish people did not appear on the stage of history until all the other nations already were in existence.
Normal intelligence dictates that any end product must have been planned before it was brought into existence so that of course it existed in concept long before it was actualized. It is possible to prove this from the construction of the Holy Tabernacle where the Torah specifically instructed Betzalel (Exodus 35,32) ולחשוב מחשבות, “to plan appropriate thoughts,” (for the construction of golden and silver furnishings for the Tabernacle). Nachmanides wrote concerning this chapter that the reason the Torah goes into all these details was to prove to its listeners that G’d preceded the establishment of the universe. It was to enable Avraham and his descendants to command their respective offspring to tell about what happened to Noach, and how his family was saved in the Ark. Avraham, who had still known Noach personally, was able to relate these matters as an eye witness to one of its survivors who had been told by Noach (and presumably by Shem). Noach’s father Lemech in turn had known Adam and so was able to relate history as someone who had heard it directly from those who had experienced it. Avraham as a witness to the creation of the first human being was only two persons removed from someone who had been expelled from Gan Eden. Yitzchak and Yaakov had both been contemporaries of Shem still. In other words even they had spoken to survivors of the deluge. Yaakov, no doubt, told all this to the people who descended to Egypt with him as well as to Pharaoh and his servants. According to a calculation made by Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra, Noach died when Avraham was 58 years old. The very letters in the name נח amount to 58 in their numerical value.

(2) The descendants of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

§ The Gemara asks: From where do we derive that the Persians descend from Japheth? The Gemara answers: As it is written: “The sons of Japheth were Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tuval and Meshech and Tiras” (Genesis 10:2). The Gemara explains: Gomer, that is Germamya; Magog, that is Kandiya; Madai, that is Macedonia; Javan, in accordance with its plain meaning, Greece; Tuval, that is the nation called Beit Unaiki; Meshech, that is Musya. With regard to Tiras, Rabbi Simai and the Rabbis disagree, and some say the dispute is between Rabbi Simon and the Rabbis: One said: That is Beit Teraiki, and one said: That is Persia. According to that approach, Persia is listed among the descendants of Japheth. Rav Yosef taught: Tiras is Persia.

When Rav Ḥaviva bar Surmakei ascended from Babylonia to Eretz Yisrael, he stated this difficulty before a certain one of the Sages. That Sage said to him: One who does not know how to interpret verses is so arrogant that he raises an objection to the opinion of the great Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi? Indeed, Rabba bar Ulla misunderstood the basis of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s interpretation. What is the meaning of the phrase: The youngest of the flock? It means the youngest of the brothers, a reference to Persia, as Rav Yosef taught: Tiras, the youngest of Japheth’s sons, that is Persia.

The Gemara asks: And say that it is the languages of Gomer and Magog that serve as sacred languages, as they too were descendants of Japheth (see Genesis 10:2). The Gemara answers that Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: This is the reason, as it is written: “God shall enlarge [yaft] Japheth [Yefet].” Yaft is etymologically similar to the Hebrew term for beauty [yofi]. The verse teaches that the beauty of Japheth shall be in the tents of Shem, and Greek is the most beautiful of the languages of the descendants of Japheth.

THE SONS OF JAPHETH: GOMER. Scripture begins with Japheth for he was the oldest. After him, it mentions Ham [even though he was the youngest] for Scripture wanted to delay the account of the generations of Shem in order to place side by side the two sections dealing with Shem’s children since it is important to dwell at length on the generations of Abraham.