ON THE PARSHA
          Parshas Noach

          by Dovid Lipman, Israel
          Year 2, No. 2


Introduction

This parsha, which explains how the nations of our world
developed from Noach, has six parts:
       1) Noach's background & Preparation for the flood [TWOTS]
       2) Flood
       3) End of the flood & Covenant                    [FTG]
       4) Noach's end                                    [ATTL]
       5) Seventy Nations & Dispersion                   [RAUW]
       6) Avraham's family                               [WON]

1. Noach's background -- 6:9 [Beg.] to 6:12
   Preparartion for the flood -- 6:13 to 6:22 [end, Chap. 6]

Noach is introduced as a righteous man in a time so wicked that
Hashem decided to rebuild the world around Noach alone. Hashem
tells Noach to prepare by building a large ark to protect himself,
his family, and a sample of each animal, during the upcoming flood.

   The World of the Supernatural

   (6:14) "Make for yourself an ark..." Rashi (on 5:32) explains
   that Hashem arranged that the flood came while Noach's sons
   were too young for Heavenly judgement, for otherwise, if they
   were wicked Noach would suffer at their death, and if they
   were righteous they would each need a separate ark. The obvious
   question: 'Why?' leads back to the more obvious one: Why didn't
   Hashem save Noach without an ark at all? Rashi says the whole
   reason for the ark was to inspire repentence, while it was
   built before the flood. What would have happened if Noach had
   'gone wicked' during that crucial period? Obviously, the flood
   would have to be 'postponed', with no one to save. But if he
   had a righteous son, it could have gone on as scheduled. This
   is the key: Hashem's justice does not permit someone to be
   saved through a means intended originally for someone else, who
   is dying. So each person who could be the founder of the new
   world had to have his own ark in advance, just in case.

2. Flood -- 7:1 to 7:24 [end, Chap. 7]

The flood comes, destroying all life except Noach's family and the
animals in the ark. The rain lasts 40 days, and is followed by 150
days with the hot water still destructive, then for sixty days the
water level drops, and at the end of a year the ground dries up.

3. End of the Flood -- 8:1 to 8:14 [Aliyah 4]
   Covenant -- 8:15 [Aliyah 4] to 9:17 [Aliyah 6]

As the water level drops, Noach sends a raven and then a dove out
of the ark to check if the ground is dry. When it is, Hashem tells
him to go out and rebuild the world, and promises not to destroy
the world with another flood, with the rainbow as a reminder. 

   From the Gemara

   (9:6) Sanhedrin 57b - The language of the new command against
   murder, "the blood of a person within a person" teaches that
   non-Jews receive capital punishment for abortion.

4. Noach's End -- 9:18 [Aliyah 6] to 9:29 [end, Chap. 9]

Noach begins the rebuilding by planting a vine, but when he gets
drunk from the wine, his grandson C'na'an tells his father Cham
(Noach's son) and Cham takes advantage of Noach, but Shem and
Yefes, Noach's other sons, respectfully cover him. When Noach wakes
up, he curses C'na'an and blesses Shem and Yefes. This is Noach's
final major contribution to the world his sons continue building,
and the Torah concludes his story by reporting his death.

   A Time to Laugh

   (9:21) "...from the wine..." This implies Noach didn't drink all
   the wine, so where's the rest? Perhaps this super-potent wine
   was the wine miraculously preserved in the cave Lot and his
   daughters ran to, where it proceeded to do its dirty work again.

5. Seventy Nations -- 10:1 to 10:32 [end, Chap. 10]
   Dispersion -- 11:1 to 11:9

Shem, Cham, and Yefes build families, which contain the elements of
the seventy nations of the world. At first, they settle together,
but when they decide to declare independence from Hashem, He causes
them to suddenly all speak different languages, and, unable to
communicate, they spread out all over the world and develop nations.

   Rare and Unusual Words

   (10:5) "B'Goyeihem". This first mention of the word for 'nations'
   raises the question: if man was created an individual, what is
   the significance of nations? We can say that it stems from the
   central goal of this world, permanent revelation of Hashem's
   Presence. Before death was decreed, a righteous man could earn
   permanent revalation for the world, but now that everyone must
   leave the world, who can be the conduit for permanent revelation?
   But the gemara (Temura 15b) says "the community never dies", and
   we can apply this here, too, that a nation can have a permanent
   existence despite the death of its individual members. So each
   nation can represent ideals premanently in this world, and a
   righteous nation can then fulfill the world's goal of permanent
   revelation, as the Torah describes in detail.

6. Avraham's Family -- 11:10 to 11:32 [End]

A father-to-son chain indicates the survival of the legacy of
righteousness left by Noach. Terach, a member of this chain, has
three sons, Avram, Nachor, and Haran. Avram marries Sarai/Yiscah,
and Nachor marries Milcah, both daughters of Haran, who also has
a son, Lot. When Haran dies in their home of Ur Casdim, during a
religiopolitical scandal, Terach, Avram and Sarai, and Lot all
leave for C'na'an, but settle in Charan, where Terach dies.

   Worthy of Note

   (11:26) "And Terach lived seventy years..." The previous
   generations had children at around thirty, so why was Terach
   so late in marrying? R' Yaakov Weinberg Z"L explained that in
   principle, righeousness depends on individuals alone, but
   prophets needs such greatness that they must be produced by
   an outstanding source. Who, then, was Terach, idolater at large,
   but a link in the chain from Noach and producer of the prophet
   Avraham? Therefore, he concluded, Terach was obviously intensely
   religious - hence his long abstinence - just with the wrong
   religion.