We Cannot Be Silent Like Noah

Noach

Gen. 6:9-11:32

Précis: The story of Noah (Hebrew: Noach) and the Flood appear in this parasha. Noah, called by God, builds the Ark and collects the animals. It rains for forty days and nights. Noah and his family are saved, and afterward leave the Ark, build an altar, and make sacrifices to God. God sets a rainbow as a promise not to destroy mankind again. Noah plants a vineyard, makes wine, and becomes drunk. An odd incident with sexual overtones takes place with his sons. The story of the Tower of Babel is included in this parasha, and it ends with a genealogy of the ancient peoples of the Bible, concluding with Abram.

Gen. 6:14 “Make thee an ark of gopher wood.”

            God commands Noah to build the ark. As New York Times columnist David Brooks asks (9/12/17) “What does Noah say when he hears this? Nothing. Abraham protested to God when the city of Sodom was under threat of destruction. Moses protested when God was going to harm the Israelites. But Noah is silent. He doesn’t try to save his neighbors or argue with his God.”

            Noah is called “righteous” with an important qualifier: “in his age.”  The Sages have debated whether he was moral on some absolute scale (he did, after all “walk with God”) or was merely the best compared to the absolute depravity all around him.

            Brooks is speaking on one side of the argument. Noah has an opportunity to save his neighbors, and the text tells us that he spent decades building the Ark. Surely somebody asked him why! But the text is silent with respect to Noah’s inaction. Noah, according to Brooks’ position, has failed his fellow human beings by simply going about his business.

            I concur. We live in a time which may not be as depraved as that of Noah, but one in which there is strife, hatred, and a plethora of troubles facing Jews and Americans. Like the inhabitants who build the Tower in this parasha, we have been deprived of a common language, adopting our own silos of belief, our own silos of facts.

            At a time like this, we cannot stand by like Noah. We may use a hashtag #metoo or #MAGA on our social media posts, but we must do more. Unlike Noah, we need to engage our fellow human beings, with love and with respect. We need to act. Instead of hiding in a wooden boat of our own making, we need to get to the polls in November, and help others get there as well.

In God's Image

Bereshit

Gen. 1:1 - 6:8

Précis: The first Book of the Torah, Bereshit (Genesis, literally “in the beginning” or “When God began to create”) begins with the familiar story of creation. The world is created in six days and God rests on the seventh. The stories of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden are included, as is the story of Cain and Abel.

            We begin the annual reading of the Five Books of Moses immediately upon its conclusion. Why? Perhaps it is because with each passing year, our experiences allow us to understand more of what life has to offer, and what the text has to offer. Yohanan Ben Bag Bag said (Pirke Avot 5:25), “Turn it, and turn it, for everything is in it. Reflect on it and grow old and gray with it. Don't turn from it, for you have no better standard of conduct.”

Gen. 1:26 - “And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...’”

My students at Shoresh Hebrew High School debated the meaning of this verse with me just this past Sunday, as they discussed the meaning and purpose of prayer. What does it mean to be created in the image of God? Rabbi Plaut brings together three meanings to explain our “likeness” (in the image, or “b’tzelem”) of God. First, “b’tzelem” reveals humanity’s special place in Creation, with our unique intellect. Second, “b’tzelem” shows our moral potential, if we only act as we imagine how God acts. Third, if each of us is made in God’s image, then all of humanity is engaged in the act of forming an image of God, and each human being merits respect and honor.

Our tradition is rich with other interpretations of what it means to be made in God’s image. Sages have suggested that “b’tzelem Elohim” means that we are endowed with the power of reason and intellect, dominion over the plants and animals, have free will, or simply that we are imbued with morality. Another suggestion, based on a very old translation of the Bible, suggests that man became a living being when he became a speaking being. God acted through words (“Let there be….”) and human beings create their societies through words. This may help explain the deep importance of words to Jews. A People of the Book naturally must have access to language; our ethics are based on our use of words for good and for ill. We need to remember that in all encounters, words matter deeply. Perhaps this may be helpful to overcome the linguistic and data silos in which we in America currently find ourselves.