Noach - נֹחַ - Genesis / B'reisheet 6:9 - 11:32 Making Torah Personal

These few verses occur at the end of B'reisheet, just prior to the beginning of Noach: (5) יהוה saw how great was human wickedness on earth—how every form of their heart's planning was nothing but evil all the time.(6) And יהוה regretted having made humankind on earth. With a sorrowful heart,(7) יהוה said, “I will blot out from the earth humankind whom I created—humans together with beasts, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I made them.”(8) But Noah found favor with יהוה.

(9) This is the line of Noah.—Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God.—

The first is that one should grasp the quality of remorse, and put it into his heart that there is great punishment for him who has transgressed the commandment of the Great King. As the Scriptures say, "Give glory to the Lord your God, before it grow dark" (Jer. 13:16). And when a man thinks about the dark days which will reach the one who has sinned against the God of Jacob, then he will be exceedingly afraid and he will have remorse for his deeds. And he will say in his heart, "What have I done? How is it that the fear of God was not always before my eyes? And how is it that I did not fear punishment for my wrongdoing? And how is it that I could not rule over my evil inclination when tempted by the pleasure of one moment? And how have I sullied my pure soul, the soul which was breathed into me from the Source of Holiness? And how have I changed the Great World that stands and endures forever and ever for this transitory little world? And how is it that I did not remember the day of death which will leave my soul nothing but my corpse and a bit of earth?" And he should multiply in his heart thoughts concerning this matter. And this is the subject of which Jeremiah spoke, "No man repenteth of his wickedness saying, 'What have I done' " (Jer. 8:6).

(1) Akabyah ben Mahalalel said: mark well three things and you will not come into the power of sin: know from where you come, and where you are going, and before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning. From where do you come? From a putrid drop. Where are you going? To a place of dust, of worm and of maggot. Before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning? Before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.

אלה תולדת נח נח איש צדיק THESE ARE THE PROGENY OF NOAH: NOAH WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN — Since the text mentions him it sings his praise, in accordance with what is said, (Proverbs 10:7) “The mention of the righteous shall be for a blessing.” Another explanation is: since after stating “These are the progeny of Noah”, it does not at once mention the names of his children but declares that he “was a righteous man”, Scripture thereby teaches you that the real progeny of righteous people are their good deeds (Genesis Rabbah 30:6).

(10) Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.(11) The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with lawlessness.(12) When God saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its ways on earth,(13) God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with lawlessness because of them: I am about to destroy them with the earth.

(14) Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make it an ark with compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch.(15) This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.(16) Make an opening for daylight in the ark, and terminate it within a cubit of the top. Put the entrance to the ark in its side; make it with bottom, second, and third decks.(17) “For My part, I am about to bring the Flood—waters upon the earth—to destroy all flesh under the sky in which there is breath of life; everything on earth shall perish.(18)But I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark, with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives.

Torah brings to watchfulness;

(1) Akabyah ben Mahalalel said: mark well three things and you will not come into the power of sin: know from where you come, and where you are going, and before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning.

The idea of watchfulness is for one to be cautious of his deeds and matters, namely, contemplating and watching over his deeds and ways whether they are good or evil; not abandoning his soul to the danger of destruction, G-d forbid, and not walking through the course of habit like a blind man in darkness.

(1) Then יהוה said to Noah, “Go into the ark, with all your household, for you alone have I found righteous before Me in this generation.(2) Of every pure animal you shall take seven pairs, males and their mates, and of every animal that is not pure, two, a male and its mate;(3) of the birds of the sky also, seven pairs, male and female, to keep seed alive upon all the earth.(4) For in seven days’ time I will make it rain upon the earth, forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out from the earth all existence that I created.”(5)And Noah did just as יהוה commanded him.

(21) And all flesh that stirred on earth perished—birds, cattle, beasts, and all the things that swarmed upon the earth, and all humankind.(22) All in whose nostrils was the merest breath of life, all that was on dry land, died.(23) All existence on earth was blotted out—humans, cattle, creeping things, and birds of the sky; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

(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.

(15) God spoke to Noah, saying,(16) “Come out of the ark, together with your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives.(17) Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds, animals, and everything that creeps on earth; and let them swarm on the earth and be fertile and increase on earth.”(18) So Noah came out, together with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives.(19) Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that stirs on earth came out of the ark by families.(20) Then Noah built an altar to יהוה and, taking of every pure animal and of every pure bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.(21) יהוה smelled the pleasing odor, and יהוה resolved: “Never again will I doom the earth because of humankind, since the devisings of the human mind are evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done.(22) So long as the earth endures, Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat, Summer and winter, Day and night Shall not cease.”

(1) God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fertile and increase, and fill the earth.(2)The fear and the dread of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth and upon all the birds of the sky—everything with which the earth is astir—and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hand.(3) Every creature that lives shall be yours to eat; as with the green grasses, I give you all these.(4) You must not, however, eat flesh with its life-blood in it.(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!(6) Whoever sheds human blood,
By human [hands] shall that one’s blood be shed;
For in the image of God Was humankind made.(7) Be fertile, then, and increase; abound on the earth and increase on it.”

I will maintain My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

I have listened and heard:They do not speak honestly.No one regrets their own wickednessAnd says, “What have I done!”They all persist in their wayward courseLike a steed dashing forward in the fray.