Parashat
Noach, Genesis 6:9–11:32 The Torah: A Modern
Commentary pp. 57-91
NOAH AND HOW
WE LIVE WITH ONE ANOTHER IN OUR TIME W. Gunther PlautEvery few years we are treated to the
same news item. It proclaims breathlessly that a new expedition to Mount Ararat
has located remains of Noah's ark. Of course, it always turns out that the boat
was not found after all, and future reports will run the same course.
The search teams fail
because they treat a mythic event as historical and thereby reveal a lamentable
misunderstanding of the Torah tale. Chapters 6-8 of Genesis represent a
religious metaphor in the form of a morality tale, not "history" in the modern
sense. They lean on ancient traditions of a worldwide catastrophe which have
been profoundly reshaped into the familiar story.
It begins with the terse
statement that humanity committed chamas and appears incapable of changing for
the better. Therefore, God decides to wipe it out and start all over with Noah
(a righteous man) and his family. And not only will humankind be destroyed, but
nature, too, will be depleted, though species of all living things will be
preserved in the ark that Noah will build.
Chamas stands at the center
of this metaphor. The Hebrew word is understood as either "lawlessness" or
"violence," renderings that are two sides of the same coin: the inability of
humans to live with one another. Unfortunately, in their depravity they had also
destroyed much of nature, which, therefore, became part of the divine resolution
to start afresh.
Our modern scouts looking
for the ark treat the tale as something that once occurred, while the Torah aims
at warning humans of every generation of what could happen to them if they, too,
allowed chamas to become their way of life. And though God puts the rainbow in
the sky as a symbol that never again will flood waters drown us, there remains
the unhappy possibility that we might destroy ourselves and the earth along with
us.
If so, God may decide to
look the other way and let destruction run its course.
For further reading: Nahum
M. Sarna: The JPS Torah Commentary (JPS, 1989)
Rabbi W.
Gunther Plaut is Senior Scholar, Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto Canada
NOAH'S ARK:
WHAT WE CAN IMAGINE AND WHAT WE CAN SEE Roslyn Roucher
-It's everywhere-- Noah's
ark books, puzzles, songs, wallpaper, fine art, even a Wisconsin Dells theme
park. I'm willing to bet that most Jews (and Christians), regardless of age, can
recite the story of Noah. Try it. Without opening your Tanach, retell the story
to yourself, your study partners, or your family. Asked to tell about Noah, most
people will mention the building of the ark, the pairs of animals, the rain for
forty days and nights, the dove, and maybe the rainbow. The story's images speak
to all ages. We read about things we can imagine and those things we can see:
We've seen elephants and lions. Rain falls. We witness rainbows.
A close reading of the text,
however, requires us to confront deep theological and moral issues. The study of
Parashat Noach must embrace the paradox that the attractive tale we tell and
popularize is only part of the actual biblical narrative.
Read Genesis 5:28-9:28
(note: 5:28-6:8 are part of Parashat Bereshit.)
Use the following questions
and activities to explore the story of Noah:
Compare the actual text to
the story you remember. What surprises you? What are the messages of the story?
Why do you think this story
is so popular and well-known?
Discuss chamas. (Reread
Gunther Plaut's commentary.) What was the chamas at the time of Noah? What is
the chamas of our time?
If God has the rainbow as a
reminder, what helps us remember to keep chamas under control?
How do we reconcile the
grim facts of this morality tale with the story's popular portrayal? What are we
teaching about this story through Noah's ark toys?
On a different note:
Create imaginary dialogues
for different parts of the story: What did Noah and his family talk about as
they packed? How did Noah explain his ark-building project to his
neighbors?
For further reading: Harvey
J. Fields, A Torah Commentary for Our Times, Volume One: Genesis (UAHC Press,
1990)
Roslyn
Roucher, R.J.E., formerly Project Assistant at the Rhea Hirsch School of
Education, HUC-JIR, Los Angeles, California, presently resides in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.
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