We are all children of Noah

Noach
Genesis 6:9-11:32

Précis: The story of Noah and Flood appear in this parasha. Noah, called by God, builds the Ark and collects the animals (two by two, except when he collects seven couples). Then it rains for forty days and nights. Noah and his family are saved; they 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, and becomes drunk. The story of the Tower of Babel is included, and the parasha ends with a genealogy of the ancient peoples of the Bible, ending with Abram.

The first chapters of the Bible show that the earliest days of humanity were far from smooth. In fact, God seems surprised by how badly things are going. (The fact that the omniscient God can be “surprised” is the subject for another d’var.”) Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden after failing to abide by “park rules.” Cain kills Abel. The subsequent generations become so depraved that the world is destroyed, save for Noah in his Ark. And the subsequent generations decided to build a tower which threatens God’s hegemony, so they are scattered. It is only at the end of this parasha that we are introduced to the First Family of the Jewish People (Abram and Sarai) and the implicit hope of some improvement.

Midrash tells us that God created a single man and a single woman so that all descendants would be equal; none could claim more honorable forebears than another and therefore none could feel superior to another. We are all related to each other, first as descendants of Adam and Eve, and then as descendants of Noah and his wife.

Of course, as we see first with the case of Cain and Abel, and later with the stories of Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, and Joseph and his brothers, having common ancestors or parents is no guaranty of peace among families or between nations. One can argue quite effectively that the basic question of the Book of Bereshit is “How can I live with my brother?”

Noah’s time was filled with corruption and violence. Yet Noah resisted the urges of his society and “walked with God." All of humanity, this parasha tells us, are descendants of someone who lived a better life than those around him, who stood out by his faith in God and who treated others not only as if they were related, but also as being created in God’s image. If we look at it this way, then the phrase "b'nei Noach,"(literally "children of Noah" but used colloquially to mean non-Jews) serves as a reminder that the Bible teaches us that all of humanity are descendants of people who had the ability to rise above the conditions which made their societies evil and troubled. This is a remarkably hopeful and positive view and one which can spur us individually towards those acts of loving kindness - in our families, in our work places, or in our communities - which make our society a better place in which to live. Once we’ve accomplished that little task, perhaps we can move on to solving the problems of nations around the world. One step at a time.