Rosh Chodesh/Parshat Noach

Bereshit 6:9-11:32

Lessons Of The Flood

The story of the Flood provides us with numerous insights into human nature and human relationships.

By Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwaln; Provided by the Orthodox Union, the central coordinating agency for North American Orthodox congregations.

Secular scholars speak of the story of the flood as if it were a myth, or a fairy tale.

Not surprisingly, several ancient documents report striking parallels to the story of the flood.

Perhaps, the most famous document is the Babylonian "Epic of Gilgamish," which tells the story of a man by the name of Utnapishtim. The gods decide to destroy the earth, there is a great flood, and because Utnapishtim is the favorite of one of the gods, Eau, he is saved.
Gilgamesh and Noah

Despite the parallels between the "Epic of Gilgamish" and the Torah's story of Noah, they are strikingly different. In the Babylonian story, the gods arbitrarily decide to destroy the earth as if it were a plaything. Furthermore, the gods choose to save Utnapishtim only because he is a "favorite" of theirs, not because he is worthy of being saved.

In Parashat Noah, however, there is a moral imperative. The world is flooded not because God arbitrarily decides to destroy the world, but because it had become corrupt and destructive. Noah is not arbitrarily saved. He is deserving. He is a "righteous man, perfect in his generation. With God, Noah walked" (Genesis 6:9).

noah and the floodBut the flood changed Noah. After a year on the ark, Noah is finally commanded by God to leave. A normal person would have been jumping out his skin to get out of the ark. But Noah is hesitant to leave. Why?

The First Survivor

Elie Weisel, the great writer, offers a poignant insight. Weisel calls Noah the first "survivor." The world had experienced a Holocaust, and Noah was reluctant to walk out of the ark because he knew that the entire world was one giant graveyard for all the people he had known--and he just couldn't face it.

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Bereishit

Genesis 1:1-6:8

The Complexity Of Creation

Recognizing that Creation and many natural phenomena are clouded in mystery can actually enrich our lives with meaning.

By Rabbi Jonathan Glass; The following article is reprinted with permission from the Orthodox Union.

Every child knows the story of Creation.

The Torah gives us a day-by-day account, describing how God, in His omnipotence, benevolently brought forth all that we know--light and darkness, dry land and sea, trees and plants, stars and planets, animal and man.

The text reads so simply and orderly that one is tempted to skim through it to get to the "meat" of the parashah--the story of Adam and Eve. The story of Creation remains an introduction, one that poses little difficulty for believers.

But Rashi, the great commentator, does not see it that way. He says that the opening sequence cries out for interpretation. It cannot be that these verses are telling us about the chronology of Creation, he writes, for the Torah’s second verse tells of God’s Presence "hovering on the face of the water," before any account of God’s creating water is given.

Rashi therefore does not subscribe to the popular translation of the opening verse of the Torah, "In the beginning, God created heaven and earth." Instead, he renders the words to leave open the possibility that water was created prior to heaven and earth.

What looked like a neat and clear account of Creation turns out to be full of mystery. And the Torah beginning with mystery is important--it reveals the very nature of Creation and of the Torah itself.

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Parashat Hol Hamo'ed Sukkot

Exodus 33:12–34:26 and Numbers 29:17–22

By Rabbi Avraham Fischer. A publication of the Orthodox Union in cooperation with the Seymour J. Abrams Orthodox Union Jerusalem World Center

The megillah of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), which is customarily read in many synagogues this Shabbat, is - at first glance - an odd choice. How could such a sober and, at times, pessimistic text be suitable for Sukkot, "the season of our joy"?

Vanity of vanities, says Kohelet, vanity of vanities, all is vanity (1:2).
Can this be the message of Sukkot?

Like so much of what King Shlomo/Kohelet observes, simcha also seems worthless and illusory. At times in his life, however, he thought it had value:
And I praised joy, in that a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to rejoice, for that will accompany him in his toil [during] the days of his life that G-d has given him under the sun (8:15).

At other times he condemns it:

I said of entertainment, 'It is frivolity', and of joy, 'What does it [accomplish]?' (UL'SIMCHA MAH ZO OSA) (2:2).

This inconsistent attitude toward simcha is but one of a number of apparent contradictions in Kohelet that nearly led to its being concealed by the Sages, in order to prevent confusion among the people (Shabbat 30b). The Talmud's resolution is to differentiate between two kinds of simcha: Kohelet praises joy that is connected with the fulfillment of Hashem's commandments (simcha shel mitzvah) but declares MAH ZO OSA, "What does it [accomplish]?" for joy that is not generated by doing the will of Hashem.

The expression MAH ZO OSA poses problems for many commentaries, because the verb AYIN-SIN-HEI ("do") has no object. Rashi's solution is to suggest an unstated direct object:

I said of entertainment, 'It is frivolity', and of joy, 'What [good] does it?'

Prof. Mordechai Zer-Kavod (1901-1977), who authored the Da'at Mikra commentary on Kohelet for the Mossad HaRav Kook Tanach, proposes another explanation, based on Saadia Gaon (882-942). With reference to Rut 2:19, he shows that AYIN-SIN-HEI can sometimes mean "remain." Therefore, his translation is:


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Yom Kippur

Leviticus ch. 16

Yom Kippur is considered by all Jews as the solemnest day of the year. It is the day we stand before God all day long in prayer; we appeal for forgiveness for our errors and plan to improve ourselves in the coming year.

A key Torah verse is the following.

Leviticus 23:27

"But on the tenth day of this seventh month it is the Day of Atonement; there shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall afflict you souls; you shall sacrifice a fire-offering to Hashem."

RASHI

But - RASHI: All "buts" and "onlys" (Hebrew "achim" and "rackim" ) in the Torah are restrictive terms. [Here the restriction means] the day atones only for those who repent but not for those who do not repent.

To get a better sense of what Rashi has said let us compare his comment to the Rashbam's comment on this verse.

RASHBAM

But on the tenth day - Rashbam: On the other holidays work for food [preparation] is permitted, while other work was forbidden, but on Yom Kippur which is a day of affliction, all work is forbidden as on the Sabbath.

[NOTE: The Torah, before discussing Yom Kippur, discussed other holidays where food preparation was permitted.]

A Question: How do Rashi and the Rasbam differ in their understanding of the word "but"?


DIFFERENCES IN UNDERSTANDING THE WORD "BUT"

An Answer: Did you notice that Rashi used the word "but" to exclude what was mentioned after it ("it is a day of atonement" only for those who repent), and the Rashbam used the word "but" to exclude what was mentioned before it, the previous holidays?

The word 'BUT' can be used to exclude and be in opposition to what was said before it or it can be in opposition to what is said after it. The normal, ordinary (p'shat) use of "but" is to be in opposition to what was said before it. As a teacher might say: "We will go on trip next week but not those who misbehave." That is the usual use of "but." The Rashbam chose this meaning for the word "ach." On all the holidays cooking is permitted but not Yom Kippur.

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Ha'azinu

Deuteronomy 32:1-32:52

Remember Your Rock, Your Creator

Moshe poetically reminds the Children of Israel of the importance of remembering God who created them.

By Rabbi Avraham Fischer, Provided by the Orthodox Union, the central coordinating agency for North American Orthodox congregations.

The panoramic poetry of Ha'azinu embraces all of the Jewish past, present and future.

Israel is warned that sin will be punished through the scourge of the other nations, but that Hashem will never completely abandon His Chosen People. Rather than referring to specific incidents, the poem's use of the imperfect tense alludes to repeated events, thus making it supra-historic--beyond the limits of history.

The multiple layers of meaning in Ha'azinu invite a variety of interpretations. The following is one such example (Deuteronomy 32:18): tzur y'lad'cha teshi, vatishkach e-l m'chol'lecha

Although the second part of the verse is the subject of some discussion by the commentaries, a straightforward translation is possible:

. . . and you forgot G-d Who produced you.

This speaks of how the Children of Israel, unmindful that they are indebted to Hashem for their very existence, forget Him and embrace any of the various "new gods" that each era generates. The imagery is reminiscent of a child who neglects his parent. Time and again, we have been guilty of this type of ingratitude.

It is the first part of the verse that we will analyze here. Typically, the poetry of the Tanach (Bible) is chiastic, meaning that the two parts of the verse say essentially the same idea in different words. A number of commentaries understand the first part of our verse this way, as we shall see. Still, it is possible that the first part of the verse contains a different idea.

tzur y'lad'cha:  tzur, usually understood as "rock," is often identified with Hashem, the Rock of existence; it would then parallel e-l (G-d) in the second half of the verse.

The Sifrei (Tannaitic legal commentary) and Ibn-Ezra (12th century Spain), however, quote the verse from Isaiah 51:1, "look to the rock from which you were quarried," there, tzur refers to the Patriarchs. According to this interpretation, the people first ignore their noble origins, and this leads to forgetting Hashem.

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