Noah and the Flood Hebrew/English Source Sheet

Genesis Chapter 6, verses 9-14, Judaica Press translation

9. These are the generations of Noah, Noah was a righteous man he was perfect in his generations; Noah walked with God. 10. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11. Now the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth became full of robbery. 12. And God saw the earth, and behold it had become corrupted, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth. 13. And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth has become full of robbery because of them, and behold I am destroying them from the earth. 14. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood…

The Zohar, volume 1, p 61a, translation by Harry Spering and Maurice Simon, Soncino Press: London, 1934, p. 198-9

And God saw the earth and behold it was corrupt. It was corrupt because “a flesh had corrupted its way,” in the sense we have explained. R’ Hiyya adduced the following text: And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way (Jonah 3:10). See now, he said, when the sons of men are righteous and observe the commands of the Torah, the earth becomes invigorated, and a fullness of joy pervades it, because then the Shechinah [G-d’s immanent Presense] rests upon the earth, and there is thus gladness above as well as below. But when men corrupt their way and do not observe the commands of the Torah, and sin before their Master, they, as it were, thrust the Shechinah out of the world, and the earth is thus left in a corrupt state. For the Shechinah being thrust out, another spirit comes and hovers over the world, bringing with it corruption… R’ Hiyya continued: It is written here, in connection with Noah, And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. Contrast this with the verse, And God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way (Jonah 3:10). There the earth called to God, reaching out towards heaven, and beautifying her face, as it were, like a woman trying to please her husband; so the earth tried to please God by raising up for Him righteous children. But here, when the generation of the flood did not repent of its sins, it is written, And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, like a faithless wife who hides her face from before her husband. But when mankind committed sin upon sin openly and flagrantly, then the earth became brazen-faced like an abandoned woman without any sense of shame, as it is said on another occasion, And the earth was defiled under its inhabitants (Isaiah 24:5). Hence this is the connection here: God saw that the earth was corrupted. Why? Because all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

Beit Yaakov commentary to Genesis 6:11, cited in Torah Shlema and translated by Rabbi Dr. Harry Freedman

“And the earth was corrupted”—va-tishaheth, root shaheth. The use of this particular root, which is the same as that used for the destruction by the flood in verse 14, brings home the fact that this punishment was measure for measure

Rabbi Samphson Rafael Hirsch, commentary to Genesis 6:11, in The Pentateuch: vol. 1: Genesis, Rendered into English by Isaac Levy from the original German, Judaica Press, Gateshead, England, 1989 p. 138-139

Shachet “is the conception of corruption, not destruction. It is the overthrow of a good condition, and the impeding of progress, and the changing into the opposite of anything which was meant to thrive and prosper... Chamas [wrongdoing] is a wrong that is too petty to be caught by human justice, but if committed continuously can gradually ruin your fellow man. Now here it says very significantly: The world was corrupt before God, and then the world was full of wrongdoing. First of all there was corruption of morals, sins that one imagined did not affect general civic life…But when the world is corrupt before God, all the human institutions and laws of society cannot prevent society in general from going to ruin. By gezel, open robbery, it will never fall, it knows how to protect itself against that by prisons and penalties. But by chamas, underhand dealing by cunning, astute dishonesty, craftily keeping within the letter of the law, it does go to ruin, by wrong which human justice cannot reach, but which can only be prevented by self-judging conscientiousness before God. Immorality kills this trait of the human mind, and with its loss the grave of civic well-being is also dug…It is the chamas on which they go to ruin, through which the whole of society becomes chametz, ends in fermenting foulness.”

Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer (Heger), 'Chorev' chapter 22, translation by Gideon Aronovich

Noah said to them [the people of his generation], return from your evil ways and deeds, in order that the waters of the flood may not come upon you and extinguish the progeny of man.

Midrash Tanchuma (Warsaw edition), Torah portion of Noah, section 5, translation by Rabbi Yonatan Neril

[And G-d said to Noah...] Make yourself an ark of gopher wood (Genesis 6:13-14). Rav Huna said in the name of Rabbi Yosi, “120 years G-d warned the generation of the flood in the event that they would repent. Since they did not repent, G-d said to Noah, ‘Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.’ Noah stood up and repented and planted trees. The people would say to him, ‘What are these trees for?’ He said to them, ‘G-d seeks to bring a flood upon the world, and He said to me to make an ark to which my family and I will take refuge. The people joked about him and mocked his words. Noah would water the trees and they grew, and the people would say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ He would reply in a similar manner as above, and they would mock him. After a while (lit. at the end of days) he cut them down and was making them into planks, and the people would say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ He said to them as above, and would warn them. Since the people did not repent, Gd swiftly brought a flood upon them, as the verse says, ‘and [G-d] blotted out all existence’ (Genesis 7:23).”

Discussion Questions

7. What was the generation of Noach doing wrong?

8. How do you understand the definition of what they were doing as “destruction” or “corruption”?

9. Can you see any parallels with today?

II. On the Ark

Genesis 6:16, Judaica Press translation

You shall make a skylight for the ark, and to a cubit you shall finish it to the top, and the entrance of the ark you shall place in its side; you shall make it with bottom [compartments], second story [compartments], and third story [compartments].

Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 108b, translation by Gideon Aronovich

And to a cubit shall you finish it to the top, that which is written (Genesis 6:16) with lower, second, and third stories you shall make it. It is taught, the lower level for waste, the middle level for animals, the upper level for people.

Midrash Rabbah - Genesis 38:4, Judaica Classics Library translation (see also Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 108b)

“ 'AND IT WENT FORTH TO AND FRO' R’ Judan said in the name of R’ Judah b. R. Simon: It began arguing with him [with Noah]: ' Of all the birds that you have here you send none but me!’ ‘What need then has the world of you? ' he [Noah] retorted; ' for food? for a sacrifice?’ R’ Berekiah said in R’ Abba's name: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him [Noah]: ‘Take it back, because the world will need it in the future.’ ' When? ' he asked. ’ When the waters dry off from on the earth ' (ib.). He replied: ‘A righteous man will arise and dry up the world, and l will cause him to have need of them [the ravens],’ as it is written, And the ravens brought him bread and flesh, etc. (I Kings 17:6).

Discussion Questions

1. How did Noach’s actions help reduce corruption or show the worthiness of continued life on earth?

2. What can we learn from the lesson of the raven?

3. How do you think Noach felt while on the ark, tending to and cleaning up after all those animals?

4. Would you be willing to invest the same type of effort to ensure that those species would be preserved?

III. After the Destruction

Genesis, chapter 9, verses 8-17, Judaica Press translation

8. And God said to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9. "And I, behold I am setting up My covenant with you and with your seed after you. 10. And with every living creature that is with you, among the fowl, among the cattle, and among all the beasts of the earth with you, of all those who came out of the ark, of all the living creatures of the earth. 11. And I will establish My covenant with you, and never again will all flesh be cut off by the flood waters, and there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth." 12. And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant, which I am placing between Me and between you, and between every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations. 13. My rainbow I have placed in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Myself and the earth. 14. And it shall come to pass, when I cause clouds to come upon the earth, that the rainbow will appear in the cloud. 15. And I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and between you and between every living creature among all flesh, and the water will no longer become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16. And the rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will see it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and between every living creature among all flesh, which is on the earth." 17. And God said to Noah: "This is the sign of the covenant that I have set up, between Myself and between all flesh that is on the earth."

Ramban (Nachmanides) to Genesis 9:12. Ramban: Commentary on the Torah, translated by Rabbi Dr. Charles B. Chavel, Shilo Publishing House, New York, NY, 1971, p. 136

"…Now commentators have said concerning the meaning of this sign that He has not made the rainbow with its feet bent upward because it might have appeared that arrows were being shot from heaven, as in the verse, 'And He sent out his arrows and scattered them' on the earth (Psalms 18:15). Instead, He made it the opposite of this—[with the feet bent downward]—in order to show that they are not shooting at the earth from the heavens. It is indeed the way of warriors to invert the instruments of war which they hold in their hands when calling for peace from their opponents. Moreover, [with the feet of the bow being turned downward towards the eart, it can be seen] that the bow has no rope upon which to bend the arrows." [Brackets inserted by translator.]

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Chief Rabbi of Efrat , Commentary on Parshat Noah, 5769.. Available online at http://www.ohrtorahstone.org.il/parsha/5769/noah69.htm

“The 12th century Biblical commentary Ramban (Nahmanides) has a striking explanation for the symbol of the rainbow: ancient cultures fought their wars with the bow and arrow, and the side which surrendered, pursuing peace instead of war, would express their will to do so by raising an inverted bow that the enemy could see. Similarly, G-d places an inverted bow in the heavens as a sign that He is no longer warring against humanity... Whatever the symbolism, it’s clear that the rainbow is a half-picture, lacking a second half to complete the circle of wholeness. G-d can pledge not to destroy humanity, but since He created humanity with freedom of choice, He cannot guarantee that humanity will not destroy itself...”

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth, makes a similar point in his Address to The Lambeth Conference, July 28th ,2008 : available online at http://www.chiefrabbi.org/UploadedFiles/Articals/lambethconference28july08.pdf:

“The covenants of Abraham and Sinai are covenants of faith. But the covenant of Noah says nothing about faith. The world had been almost destroyed by a flood. All mankind, all life, with the exception of Noah's Ark, had shared the same fate. Humanity after the Flood was like the Jewish people after the Holocaust. The covenant of Noah is not a covenant of faith but a covenant of fate. God says: Never again will I destroy the world. But I cannot promise that you will never destroy the world -- because I have given you free will. All I can do is teach you how not to destroy the world. How? The covenant of Noah has three dimensions. First: 'He who sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God, He created man.' The first element is the sanctity of human life. The second: Read Genesis 9 carefully and you will see that five times God insists that the covenant of Noah is not merely with humanity, but with all life on earth. So the second element is the integrity of the created world. The third lies in the symbol of the covenant, the rainbow, in which the white light of God is refracted into all the colours of the spectrum. The rainbow symbolises what I have called the dignity of difference. The miracle at the heart of monotheism is that unity up there creates diversity down here. These three dimensions define the covenant of fate.”

Midrash Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) Raba 7:1 (Vilna edition):

“See God's work, for who can straighten out what he made crooked? (Ecclesiastes 7:13) When Hashem created Adam, He took him and showed him all the trees of the Garden of Eden and said to him, “See my works, how beautiful and praiseworthy they are. Everything that I created, I created for you. Be careful not to spoil or destroy my world—for if you do, there will be nobody after you to repair it...”

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch to Genesis 9:15, in The Pentateuch, vol. 1: Genesis, p. 182

"For is the rainbow anything else but the one pure complete ray of light, broken up into seven degrees of seven colours, from the red rays nearest to the light to the violet, most distant from the light, losing itself into the darkness; and from the one to the other are they not all rays of light, and combined all together, do they not form the one complete pure white ray? Could not this perhaps be meant to say: the whole manifold variety of all living creatures from the 'most alive Adam, the 'Adam, 'red one,' 'Man,' nearest to the godly, down to the lowerst, humblest form of life in the humblest worm, 'every living soul that is in all flesh' (v. 16)…God unites them all together in one common bond of peace, all fragments of one life, all refracted rays of the one spirit of God, even the lowest, darkest, most distant one, still a son of the light?

Genesis 9:20

“And Noah began to be a master of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.”

Rashi to Genesis 9:20, translation by Judaica Press

and he planted a vineyard: When he entered the ark, he brought with him vine branches and shoots of fig trees [from Genesis Rabbah 36:3]

Discussion Questions

1. What did the rainbow signify to Noach?

2. What does the covenant promise for future generations? Do you think we can rely on that promise today?

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