Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Noah נֹחַ – Building Our Own Temple

The haftorah for parshas Noah is from the prophet Isaiah (54:1 – 55:5). It has two parts, the first of which Israel is compared to a barren woman and the second to one who is afflicted, storm tossed, and disconsolate. Both have sinned, been punished, repented and been forgiven. In the section between they are told that the wrath and abandonment were like the waters of Noah which were followed a promise that heaven would never again be this angry and vindictive. This is the bridge between the haftorah and the parsha both in language and in theme.

The barren woman is like the generation of the flood which has no posterity. The storm tossed, disconsolate victim is like Noah. The blessing that there will not be another desolation is given after Noah brings an offering of the pure animals to Hashem. The basic idea is that Noah and his descendants are embracing purity and rejecting the corruption of the world that has been destroyed. This is the pleasing fragrance to Hashem that results in His promise not to bring about another flood whose beautiful sign is the rainbow.

The focus of the haftorah is the period of turbulence and exile between the destruction of the Temple and the building of a new Temple. This is what is being compared to the waters of Noah. The waters of Noah were a period of purification between the destruction of a corrupt old world and the beginning of a new world which would be better. The survivors of both are the righteous of the generation from which the new world will spread out.

In terms of the survivors especially the righteous they are like the adage in the Jerusalem Talmud that three persons are forgiven for their past sins: a convert, a person who ascends to a leadership position, and a person who marries (see Bikkurim 3:3). This is because they are in a brand new environment. A tzadik can be engaged in bad things exclusively because it is a societal norm. Once he has abandoned that society, he is considered as blameless. However it may take some exertion for him to escape from the corrupt standards. This is the meaning of the exile and 150 days that the water intensified on the earth during the flood.

The next advance in humanity was Avraham avinu. Avraham separated himself from the rebelliousness and evil of the generation that build the Tower of Babel. HaKadosh Baruch Hu took Avraham a step further and told him to leave his land, birthplace, and the house of his father to go to the Holy Land. The idea is that for Avraham to achieve his potential he had to turn inwards and be in a place conducive to this. It is also similar to the expulsion of Ishmael because Isaac could not properly mature if he was under the influence of a wild and savage older brother.

Parshas Noah is read in the month of Heshvan; the Great Flood occurred in the month of Heshvan; and King Solomon completed the First Temple in the month of Heshvan. The word Heshvan חֶשְׁוָן is similar to the word in lashon hakodesh for accounting חשבון. The implication is that there is something in the creation that makes this month apt for taking an accounting. It occurs after over a month of High Holidays, Succos, Slichos, shofar, and Psalms. Heshvan is unique in that it is empty of Jewish holidays. After all of these observances is appropriate to ask what have we learned from all of this? What are the things we should abandon from the corrupt dead old world and how can we build our own personal Temple to Hashem?




לע"נ, הדוד ,שמואל בן נח ז"ל נלב"ע ט"ו אב תשס"ט,
Acknowledgements to websites: תורת אמת, וויקיטקסט, http://dictionary.reference.com/, http://hebrewbooks.org/,
וגם בדואר אלקטרוני  ניתן באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.il






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