Why Noah?

Why Noah?

Oct 28, 2006 By Sharon Keller | Commentary | Noah

When we think of Parashat Noah, we envision a story that everyone is familiar with from early childhood. In our mind’s eye we can see the ark with its tiered decks and Noah swathed in a white robe, looking out the window as a dove flies off toward a rainbow in the background. If that image is not familiar, a trip to any local bookstore (especially one with a children’s section) will provide a variety of options. Noah figures prominently in our mental version of the story, as he does in Genesis, but is the text focusing on him and his actions, or is the Bible emphasizing something else?

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Sexual Immorality

Sexual Immorality

Oct 12, 2002 By Lauren Eichler Berkun | Commentary | Noah

The Flood story in Parashat Noah is a frightening account of divine punishment.

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Chaos and Creation

Chaos and Creation

Nov 1, 2003 By Melissa Crespy | Commentary | Noah

Striking me, on this year’s reading of Parashat Noah, were the two following verses: “God caused a wind to blow across the earth, and the waters subsided” (Genesis 8:1), and “But the dove could not find a resting place for its foot (v’lo matz’ah ha-yonah manoah), and returned to him to the ark, for there was water over all the earth” (Genesis 8:9).

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A Lesson From Sarajevo

A Lesson From Sarajevo

Oct 9, 2010 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Noah

It was raining when we visited Mostar, a city enshrined in memory by Christiane Amanpour reporting for CNN while standing in front of the ruins of the historic bridge that had united the city before the war devastated Yugoslavia. In 1993, that bridge was destroyed by shelling after standing for 427 years. On one side lived Christians, and on the other, Muslims. Before the war, Christians and Muslims freely crossed the bridge. They did business together, rejoiced together, married one another. Families had extensive ties on both sides of the Neretva River (see photo below). As the Bible might say, they shared “the same language and the same words.”

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Noah’s Repetition and Contradiction

Noah’s Repetition and Contradiction

Oct 24, 2009 By David C. Kraemer | Commentary | Noah

Read the Noah story—the whole thing, from the very end of Genesis 5 and not just from the beginning of the parashah—and you will immediately sense that there is a problem. Why are there so many repetitions, tensions, and outright contradictions? Why are we told twice about Noah’s offspring (5:32 and 6:10)? Why does the story offer two explanations for God’s decision to destroy all creatures, removing them from the face of the earth—one explanation relating to the transgression of the divine/human divide and the wickedness of the human heart (6:1-7), and the other relating to human violence (6:11-12)?

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God in Mourning

God in Mourning

Oct 3, 2009 By Abigail Treu | Commentary | Noah

Another interpretation of “And on the seventh day the waters of the Flood came upon the earth” (Gen. 7:10)

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Seven days the Holy One, Blessed be He, mourned for His world before bringing the flood, the proof being the text, “And the Lord regretted that He had made man on earth, and His heart was saddened” (Gen. 6:6).

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The Noah of Genesis and the Noah of the Rabbis

The Noah of Genesis and the Noah of the Rabbis

Oct 1, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Noah

Parashat Noah, the Torah reading for this coming Shabbat, is renowned for the annual debate on Noah’s character that is sparked by the opening verse.

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A Sabbath Song for Parashat Noah

A Sabbath Song for Parashat Noah

Oct 29, 2011 By Judith Hauptman | Commentary | Noah

It is a lovely Jewish practice to sing songs at the Shabbat table. The little booklets that contain grace also provide the words of many zemirot, Sabbath songs. If we look at two of the more popular ones, Yah Ribbon and Mah Yedidot Menuhatekh, we find that their common theme is a plea to observe the Sabbath in the present, and a hope for a future in which God redeems the People Israel. But there is one song that differs from all the rest. It makes reference to this week’s Parashat No·ah. The name of the song is “The Dove Found a Place to Rest on the Sabbath (Yonah Maz’ah Bo Manoah).”

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