In the previous parashah, the first of the Torah, God created humankind and was pleased with the result. But now, in Parashat Noach, the world has become so corrupt that God wants to destroy it and start over with the righteous Noah, his family, and select animals. Thus begins the famous story of Noah's ark, a vessel for surviving God’s world-destroying flood.

After the flood, the earth begins to repopulate through Noah's family and the pairs of animals brought aboard the ark. Generations later, people build the Tower of Babel, an attempt to reach the heavens, and God responds by confounding their speech. By the end of the parashah, we're introduced to Abraham, who will become the first Jew and the main character in next week's reading.

The Torah says that Noah was chosen to bridge humanity before and after the flood because he was “a righteous man." But what does it mean to be righteous when living in a corrupt society? See what sages Rabbi Yohanan and Reish Lakish have to say in the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 108a.

Why did God command Noah to build an ark instead of saving him from the flood in some other way? Aggadat Bereshit, a compilation of midrash (biblical interpretation) on the book of Genesis from the 9th or 10th century, gives a reason centered around other people, not Noah himself.

After the rains subside in Parashat Noach, God promises to never again destroy the world by flood. The prophet Isaiah references this commitment in this week’s haftarah (Isaiah 54:1-10 in the Sephardi tradition; Isaiah 54:1-55:5 in the Ashkenazi tradition) as he assures the People of Israel that God will return them from exile and not forsake them.

Topics: Parashat Noach | Noah and the Ark | Flood | Tower of Babel

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