"And G-d said to Noah, saying, "Go out from the ark...................................." (8:15-16)
In Bereshis Rabbah 34:4, Chazal (Sages) tell us that Noah reasoned the following:"Just as I entered the ark only after I was told to do so, so will I exit the ark only after I am told to do so." A question can be asked, if Noah reasoned such then why in verse 8 :6-12 did he send the Dove in order to know whether the flood waters had receded or not. Noah was not going to leave the ark until told to do so, so for what purpose did he send the dove ? It would have not made a difference anyhow ?
And they came (the pure creatures) to the ark seven by seven, male and female.
G-d's command was that only the pure (kosher species) creatures be taken seven each of male and female, yet the impure creatures (non-kosher species) be taken only two each, male and female each.
This shows that Hashem embued within each creature the understanding that each knew or understood that he/she was either a pure or impure creature, for the Torah had not yet been passed down to the Jewish people.
Parashas Noach – A Tzaddik in His Time?
This week's sedra needs little introduction as the story of Noach and the flood is probably the most well known from the Torah. Unfortunately, however, although the colourful pictures of animals walking into the ark in formation which appear in children's books are quite pleasant... the flood itself was not such a pretty event with the whole of the human race being wiped out due, ultimately, to their failure to rectify that original infamous sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden. The ten generations from Adam to Noach had slumped progressively further from Hashem, with the population at the time of Noach being deemed a total failure with no other resort seen by Hashem than to press the reset button and begin a fresh. According to Abarbanel, this is the reason why Noach is once again mentioned in this sedra, despite him being previously listed as the last link in the genealogy of his predecessors... because he and his offspring were to become the new founders of mankind. So I think a good place to start is by asking... who were Noach and his sons?
Our sages teach us that the construction of the ark took 120 years. Although Hashem could have saved Noach and his family in many ways, which would have saved much time and energy, the sages teach us that He specifically chose to have Noach go through this arduous task to arouse the curiosity of all who passed by. This would enable Noach to have a chance to explain to them that Hashem was planning a flood that would destroy the entire world because of the evil that had pervaded it. The passerby would, hopefully, be impressed enough to change his behaviour and begin to live a more ethical lifestyle. Is it not odd that from the thousands of people who must have passed by and seen Noach hammering away, not one ever allowed himself to be inspired and to be saved from death? We know that only Noach, his wife, his sons, and their wives were protected in the ark throughout the flood. Apparently, no one else had decided to repent. If they had, they would have been saved. How could this be?
Why does the Torah go out of its way to inform us that Noach had three sons? Couldn't it have simply listed their names and we could have counted them for ourselves? As a matter of fact, the Torah does just that at the end of last week's parsha when it delineates Noah's genealogy. Why provide us with this unnecessary number?
Rabbi David Feinstein points out that the Talmud asks a similar question regarding the two sacrificial goats that are brought for the special Yom Kippur service in the Temple. There is a general grammatical rule of thumb in the Torah that when no number is attached to a plural noun, then it refers to two of that item. If this is the case, then why does the Torah, in Leviticus 16:5, go out of its way to say that two goats were necessary for the offering?
Noach is commanded to preserve every single species that roams the earth. While certainly this seems like the right thing to do, it also seems like an impossible thing to do. With the dimensions of the ark limited to relatively modest proportions, it appears highly unlikely that all the animals will find room aboard the ship. How then is Noah expected to fulfill such a command?
Fortunately, Noach has nothing to worry about. As the Ramban explains, although according to the normal laws of nature, the given measurements of the ark could in no way support every creature, Hashem in this case suspended those laws so as to preserve His creations. Through this miracle, every animal had ample room aboard the ark
After the flood is all over and Noach brings his korbanos after setting foot onto dry land for the first time in a while, HaShem promises not to bring such a deluge upon the earth again. The pasuk says (8:21) ‘And HaShem said to Himself ‘I shall no further curse the ground because of man (man’s deeds) - for man’s inclination is evil from its youth.’ What exactly is going on here; why should the fact that HaShem has dubbed man as ‘evil’ mean that he does not deserve future punishment? Rashi and the Sforno make similar points to answer this question. Rashi says that HaShem was saying that since our yetzer hara comes into us at birth - whilst the yetzer hatov does not become part of us until years later - we are ‘not fully to blame’ for any wicked actions that we might do. Similarly, the Sforno writes that the natural climate of the post-flood world changed in that it was less conducive to following one’s (spiritual) sechel. Thus, again, HaShem was saying that ‘it’s not our fault that we’re so bad
After the flood, HaShem gives special permission for Noach to eat meat (9:3). As Rashi underlines, Adam HaRishon was forbidden to eat meat, as were all other men forbidden to eat meat. What changed? One answer given is that the climate and nutritional makeup of the earth changed after the flood (remember, the flood was hot water, by the way). Thus, whereas man could previously survive on eating plants, they no longer proved nutritionally wholesome and energy-providing to keep man going - so eating meat was given the go-ahead. The Chizkuni takes another approach. He answers that since the animals now owed their lives to Noach for keeping them alive (and thus ensuring their survival) in the ark, he was allowed to eat them for food
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Moshe Shlomo ben R'Shmuel | Shlomo ben R'Chaim | Aryeh Leib ben Pinchas Tzvi
