פרשת נח תש"ב - נח

Righteous. In his deeds.

Righteous. In his deeds.

תולדות נח, a reference to his history, commencing with his own life and continuing with that of his offspring.

צדיק, in his deeds,

And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. .

כי השחית כל בשר FOR ALL FLESH HAD CORRUPTED — even cattle, beasts and fowl did not consort with their own species (Genesis Rabbah 28:8).

FOR ALL FLESH HAD CORRUPTED ITS WAY. If we explain "all flesh" in the literal sense and say tat even animals, wild beasts and birds corrupted its ways by mating with animals of other species, like Rashi explains, we will then have to say that "for the earth filled with injustice [through them] (pas. 13)" cannot mean "through "all" of them," rather it means "through "some" of them" (humans) [the Torah] would be telling us only [the reason] for the punishment of the humans. Also, we can say that in this [subject matter of sinfulness] too, [the beasts] didn't follow their matures, for all the beasts acted like a predator and all birds acted as birds of prey, so that they also committed "injustice." In the plain meaning "all flesh" simply means "all mankind," [being that] further on, scripture it explains: "all flesh in which there's a breath of life (7:15)" or "of all that lives, of all flesh (6:19)" which means "any life contained in a body" (also beasts). But here, "all flesh" [without elaboration] means "all mankind." And also "all flesh will come to prostrate before me." (Isaiah 66:23) and "if a person (lit., "flesh")will have [a burn] on his skin (Levit. 13:24)."("flesh" obviously means "man")

But I will establish My covenant with thee; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’wives with thee.

And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said: ‘Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us back word of the way by which we must go up, and the cities unto which we shall come.’

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;

ויעבר אלהים רוח AND GOD MADE A WIND (or SPIRIT) TO PASS — A spirit of consolation and relief passed before Him.

על הארץ OVER THE EARTH — Because of what was happening on earth.

And the LORD smelled the sweet savour; and the LORD said in His heart: ‘I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; swarm in the earth, and multiply therein.’ .

ואתם פרו ורבו AND YE, BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY — According to the real sense, the first time this mas said to man (Genesis 9:1) it was said as a blessing (an assurance that they would be fruitful); here it is a command (Ketubot 5a). According to the Midrashic explanation this command is mentioned here after the mention of murder in order to liken one who abstains from having children to one who sheds blood (Yevamot 63b).

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth.

התהלך HE WALKED — This word is in the past tense. The following is the usage of this verbal form: in the “heavy” (כבד) conjugation one grammatical form is used both as future (i. e. the imperative, since the imperative calls for on action to be done in the future relative to the time when the command is given) and as past tense e. g., (13:17) קום התהלך “arise walk” is future (i. e. imperative); התהלך נח “Noah walked” (in this passage) is past; (1 Samuel 12:19) התפלל בעד עבדיך “Pray for thy servants” is future (i. e. imperative) and (1 Kings 8:42) ובא והתפלל אל הבית הזה “When he shall come and shall pray toward this house” is past, only that the ו at the beginning of the word changes the tense into the future (it is Vav conversive).

Say thou: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Shall it prosper? Shall he not pull up the roots thereof, And cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither, Yea, wither in all its sprouting leaves? Neither shall great power or much people be at hand When it is plucked up by the roots thereof.