Torah This Week
Welcome to Torah This Week, where you will find thoughts and reflections by CLAL
faculty and associates on the Torah portion of the week.
PARASHAT NOAH
(Genesis 6:9 - 11:32)
The story of God's eradication of humanity with the flood is well known. The decision
was based on God's deep disappointment with humanity's immersion in chamas, violence. God
attempts to rectify the situation by regenerating humanity through a single tzaddik, Noah,
and his family.
A midrash relates that God had created and destroyed several worlds before this one
because all were flawed. Yet after the flood, God decides never to destroy the world (by
flood) again. Why?
Perhaps the answer lies in Noah's response to the flood. When the waters dry up, Noah
leaves the ark. We expect some expression of gratitude to God for having been spared. A
song, perhaps, or a dance. Instead, Noah builds an altar and, unbidden, sacrifices some
animals to God. God smells the pleasant barbecue smell and then decides never to destroy
again ". . . since the devisings of humans are evil from their youth" (Gen.
8:21). God realizes that even Noah, the finest of his generation, whose intentions are
unimpeachably pure, expresses gratitude with a violent act. Violence, apparently, is a
built-in part of humanness that cannot be corrected in any new improved model. The hardest
part of the realization is that this deep-rooted violence is no less a reflection of God
than any other part of being human. God, after all, has tried to solve the problem of
violence with violence. In response to these sobering realizations, the mandate of
vegetarianism (Gen. 1:29) is rescinded as unrealistic. We are permitted to kill for food,
but only in a restricted and controlled manner, and we must never kill each other. God
makes a covenant, a promise, never to destroy again, to live, forever, with the
imperfections. God seals the covenant with a rainbow, a wonderful symbol of weaponry
turned into a commitment for hope and peace.
(David Nelson)
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