The first survivor

 Noach

Gen. 6:9-11:32

 

Précis: The story of Noah (Hebrew: Noach) and the Flood appear in this parsha. 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 parsha, 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.”

            Of course, we look at the story of Noach and the Ark and say, “it’s a myth.” After all, other non-Israelite corollaries are legion, but as Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buckwald notes (My Jewishlearning.com, 11/1/16) a close reading of these other accounts reveal important differences.

            The most well-known alternative story (which some critics say form the basis of the Noach story) is the Epic of Gilgamesh, where the world is flooded out of caprice, but the gods save Utnapashim because he is their favorite.

            In Noach, we see a moral imperative instead of arbitrary favoritism. Our God decides to destroy the world because of its corruption, and Noach is saved not because he is a favorite, but because he is righteous. When the waters recede, Noach is reluctant to leave the Ark. Why? Buckwald cites Elie Wiesel, who calls Noach the “first survivor.” The entire world had been turned into a graveyard, and Noach couldn’t face it. When he does emerge and offers sacrifices to God, Noach’s first step is to plant, an act of hope. But Noach plants a vineyard, and cannot face the world without his drug of choice: alcohol.

            Some Holocaust survivors adopted different strategies to deal with their experiences: some maintained silence, some denied God, some became alcoholic, and some were merely unable to continue living as the lone survivors of their families.

            The story of the Flood is not a myth: it is a narrative we have repeated time and again. Its real focus is about the nature of survival when faced with overpowering loss. Noach, at bottom, was a failure whose familial relations could not withstand his own reaction to the horror he witnessed. But our Torah holds out hope, with the end of the parsha reciting the connection to Abram.

        

One Day

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 1:5 “And God called the Light "Day" and the Dark "Night." And there was evening and morning, a first day.”

            Rabbi David E. Levy, writing in ReformJudaism.org (10/23/16) made note of two different sources of insight which I personally find interesting. One is a podcast called “99% Invisible” which has a premise of “uncovering ... all the thought that goes into the things we don't think about — the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world.” The second was a work by Thomas Cahill, “The Gift of the Jews” (Anchor Books, 1998).

            Levy notes that our usual translation for “a first day” is incorrect. The Hebrew says “yom echad,” literally “one day.” All of the other days are listed as “the second day, the third day, etc.”

            Why this discrepancy between a cardinal number and ordinal numbers for the following days? He cites Rambam’s explanation: “... it is not possible to say, 'the first day,' since the second one has not yet been made; as ‘the first’ is before the second in counting ... [only] when they both exist ...” Rambam is suggesting an additional “invisible” creation: the concept of linear time. This is precisely the kind of analysis one can frequently find on the podcast I noted at the outset: something which is apparent only when one thinks closely about the specifics.

            Thomas Cahill notes in his book that the concept of linear time was something new to humanity, introduced by Jewish thought. All other peoples thought nothing ever changed (it’s always been that way”), or that time was somehow circular. As Cahill says, “Since time is no longer cyclical but one-way and irreversible, personal history is now possible and an individual life can have value.”

            What does this small difference really mean to us? By recognizing that time is linear, we are reminded first that this is a New Year, and that we and our world can change. Progress is possible. A new future is possible, and we need not repeat the errors and mistakes of our past.