Weekly Reading Insights:
5772
Weekly Reading Insights:
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Overview
of the Weekly Reading
G-d told Noach that the world was filled with perversion, and He wished to destroy it through a flood. He asked Noach to build an ark, promising to save him and his family. He also told him to bring into the ark seven pairs of every pure animal and bird, and two pairs of every impure animal and bird, as well as food for his family and for the animals. It rained for 40 days and nights, and all was destroyed. The water remained for a year. G-d then commanded Noach to leave the ark, and promised that He would never again cause such mass destruction by flood on earth. Noach offered sacrifices from the pure species, and G-d placed a rainbow in the sky as a sign of the covenant. As a result of an unpleasant incident, Noach cursed his son Cham, whose son was Canaan, that he would always be slave to his brothers. Noach died at the age of 950. The Parsha then chronicles the generations of Noach's sons. The earth had one language, and the people decided to build a tower to heaven. G-d saw this, and made the people speak different languages, so they could not understand each other. He then scattered them across the world. The chronicle of generations continues through to Avram, who married Sarai. They settled in Charan.
 An
essay from Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, director of Ascent (L:0272/Noach) (for a free weekly email subscription, click here)
The first Shabbat after the last day of Tishrei is not just the close, but also the elevation of the entire month of Tishrei, the Jewish people's holiest month of the year. Why do we always read the portion of Noach on this most important Shabbat? Many great Torah scholars have asked this question; we will pick just two. In the Shma Shlomo, a book of chassidus from one of the Rebbes of Karlin, Rebbe Shlomo asks a few questions about the first verse of the portion. Why does it mention Noach's name 3 times? What does it mean, "He was righteous in his generations" (implying not at other times) and finally, what does it mean, that "G-d walks Noach"? To answer these questions we have to understand that while Noach was a righteous person, he did not make an effort to make many G-d-followers, nor did he return them from their evil ways. His righteousness was just between him and G-d. This is why it says that "G-d walked Noach," because Noach's relationship to G-d was his alone, excluding anyone else. This is also why his name is mentioned three times, because he was only concerned with himself and his family. With this interpretation, we can understand why Rashi says that Noach was a righteous man in relation to his generation, but if he were born in another generation, like that of Moshe or Shmuel, he would not have reached such an exalted status. What was unique about Moshe or Shmuel? Because Moshe, our teacher, was relentless in teaching people G-d's law, i.e., making more G-d followers, and Shmuel was invested in getting the people to return from their evil ways, traveling from town to town preaching G-d's message. Noach's deficiency in relation to other people also explains
why his salvation came in the form of an ark. Could G-d not have found
a simpler way to save him!? The Midrash says that before the flood, Noach
would lock himself up in his home like in a prison, and call out to The Midrash says that after Moshe performed all the miracles - the redemption from Egypt, the splitting of the sea, the war with Amalek and then the making of the Ohel Moed, the tent designated for G-d to teach Moshe - he sat down. Immediately G-d said to him, Why are you sitting? There is more heavy work to do now. Now you have to teach the Jewish people how to offer the sacrifices. Because for tzadikim, for the righteous, all of the miracles are not considered the real work. The main work is teaching the Jewish people how to serve G-d. According to Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin the reason we read Noach is to remind us that all the spiritual work we do on ourselves is not the main purpose. The main purpose is to help others, to get out of our ivory towers and the focus on inner development alone. A person is put in a situation because he has the ability to do good. The Lubavitcher Rebbe takes a different track completely. The main focus of this Torah portion, he says, is to teach us to surrender ourselves to G-d. We learn this from the main verse of the portion (7/1), "Come to the ark" (in Hebrew "taiva" which also means "word"). The holy Baal Shem Tov explained that the inner meaning of the verse is a teaching, that as we begin our new year we are to "come to the word," to surrender ourselves to G-d through the words of prayer and Torah study. When the flood-waters of our material difficulties try to engulf us, rather than trying to find a material solution, the answer is to first immerse ourselves in the words of prayer and Torah study. Prayer literally sends our worldly energy from below to above. The act of Torah study, connecting to G-d's will and wisdom, draws divine energy from on high to below. The dual actions of prayer and Torah study put us in the center of an energy matrix. To do them successfully, each requires that we give over, surrender our will to the Almighty. When we put our effort into the divine, going beyond our rational intellect, then G-d will make sure we have all of our physical needs. After all of the spiritual events of the high holidays a
person might wonder why he still needs to surrender to G-d. Hasn't he
done the work of becoming more holy? Isn't it enough? The response is,
now is the time, rather than immersing in the world, to come to the ark,
to immerse yourself in and surrender to the words of prayer and Torah
study for a good and sweet coming year.
(for a free weekly
email subscription, click
here) "You shall make a window (tzohar) for the ark (teivah)." (6:16) The Baal Shem Tov taught: 1) "Sweetening the harsh judgments at their source," spoken
about in the writings of the Arizal, is accomplished by a transmutation
of letters, for any decree is only letters. This is the deeper meaning
of Noah being instructed to make a window -- a tzohar , a light
-- in the ark: he was supposed to mitigate the harsh judgments into
mercy by transmuting the letters of misfortune - tzarah - to
tzohar. (Furthermore, the Hebrew word for ark, teivah,
can also mean a word. Thus the verse would be explicitly saying, Make
the word into light!) 2) [Further,] When you want to speak, you must first see that your
thought illuminates your words, for thought is comprised of the letters
"chashav mah" (that is, the letters of the word "thought"
- "machshava," can be rearranged as chashav mah
- "He thought about what.")
For more than a decade of "From the Chasidic Rebbes" on this Weekly Reading, see our archives
"Mabul," floodwaters, is a metaphor for exile. The
etymology of the word "mabul" is "bilbul"
- confusion. Exile is a state of confusion, where everything in the
world is not seen as it actually is but rather as a distortion. However,
just a the waters of the flood were intended to purify the world, so
too the purpose of the overwhelming floodwaters of exile is to purify
the world, to bring the world to a state of refinement where there is
no potential for any more exile - the true and complete Redemption.
For nearly a decade of "Moshiach This Week " on this Weekly Reading, see our archives
from the Chabad Master series, produced by Rabbi Yosef Marcus for www.ascentofsafed.com and www.kabbalaonline.org For a free email subscription to the Chabad Master series, click here. FROM THE SAGES OF KABBALAH ON KabbalaOnline.org Specifically, for
an overview of the recommended articles in the columns: one sample: Zohar
From the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai; translation & commentary by Moshe Miller "He sent off the dove" refers to G-d sending the Jews into exile, first to Babylon after the destruction of the First Temple, where the exile was very harsh. The Jewish people repented and returned to G-d, who stretched out His hand and accepted their repentance. Then Israel sinned again, and He sent them into the Greek exile, during the era of the Second Temple. After they suffered great anguish: "Toward evening, the dove returned." However, from the exile of Edom after the destruction of the Second Temple, "…it did not return to him any more". Until this very day we have not repented, and our spirit has not been aroused to return to G-d. Rabbi Pinchas said: Every time the Jewish People were sent into exile, G-d set a limit to the exile. But this final exile has no set limit, and everything depends upon repentance. To continue, click here. For a free email subscription to our weekly anthology, click here.
Here is a smaple from this week's: Preface: "Noah" is the section of the Torah where the
concept of the 70 nations of the world and their relationship to the Commandments
is developed. The first two articles offer Kabbalistic insights on this
subject.
Sample article:
By Yermeyahu Bindman G-d "created the world that it might be settled". (Isaiah 45:18) This implies a level of civilized conduct, which can be achieved only when non-Jews also observe their mitzvot. Indeed, the perfection of the world that leads to the Messianic Era requires the spreading of the seven commandments that G-d through the Torah provided for all the nations of the world. [To continue, click here] |
The
Returning Dove
The
Mitzvot of Non-Jews