(Introduction) [Parashat Noach]
[Siman 1]
[These are the generations of Noah (Gen. 6:9).] May it please our master to instruct us concerning the number of transgressions for which women die during childbirth. Thus have our masters taught us: Women die during childbirth for failure to observe three duties decreed in the Torah.
These are: The duty with regard to menstruation,
1 for it is written:
And if a woman have an issue of her blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days (Lev. 15:25); the duty of the levy of dough,
2 for it is written:
Of the first of your dough ye shall set apart a cake for a gift (Num. 15:20); and the duty of lighting the Sabbath lights, for it is written:
And call the Sabbath a delight (Isa. 58:13). If one chooses to sit in darkness, the Sabbath would not then be a
delight, since darkness is imposed upon those condemned to Gehenna,
3 as it says:
A land of thick darkness, as darkness itself (Job 10:22).
Why were women enjoined to perform these three duties? The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Adam, the first of My creatures, was commanded not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, yet concerning Eve, it is written:
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food … she gave also unto her husband with her and did eat (Gen. 3:6). In that way she brought about his death and, as it were, shed his blood, and the law prescribes:
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed (Gen. 9:6). That is why woman’s blood is made to flow. She is required to abstain from sexual relations during menstruation to atone for the blood of Adam that she was responsible for shedding.
Why were women assigned the commandment to remove the levy of dough? It was because she (Eve) defiled the sanctified dough of His world, namely, Adam. R. Yosé the son of R. Kazrata declared: Just as a housewife slaps her dough with water and then takes off its levy, so the Holy One, blessed be He, did with Adam, as it is written:
And there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the earth (Gen. 2:6), and
Then the Lord God formed man of the dust (ibid., v. 7).
Why is a woman charged with the duty of lighting the Sabbath lights? It was she (Eve) who extinguished the light of Adam by causing his death, as it is written:
The spirit of man is the light of the Lord (Prov. 20:27). Therefore she is obliged to observe the commandment to light the Sabbath lights.
(9) [Siman 2]
These are the generations of Noah (Gen. 6:9). R. Tanhuma the son of Abba began the discussion of this subject with the verse:
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that is wise winneth souls (Prov. 11:30). R. Judah the Levite said: Whenever a man dies childless, he grieves and weeps. Thereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, consoles him with the words: “Wherefore do you weep over having left no fruit in this world? You have left fruit that is more desirable than children.” “Sovereign of the universe,” the man asks, “what fruit did I produce?” The Holy One, blessed be He, replies: “The Torah (you observed), concerning which it is written:
the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.” The verse does not say that children are a tree of life but that
the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.4 Accordingly, man’s most desirable offspring are his good works. Hence, it is written:
These are the offspring of Noah. Noah was in his generations a man righteous and whole-hearted (Gen. 6:9).
R. Abahu taught: We find that the Holy One, blessed be He, rewards descendants because of the merit acquired by their ancestors. Where do we find that He also rewards ancestors because of the merit of their descendants? Scripture states:
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Gen. 6:8). Because of whose merit did Noah find grace? He
found grace because of the merit of his descendants, as it is said:
These are the generations of Noah, Noah.
And he that is wise winneth souls (Prov. 11:30). This refers to those who feed and entertain the poor. R. Tanhuma continued his exposition, saying: Our masters taught that Noah did not die until he saw the world reinhabited and beheld seventy generations of his descendants. However, none of them are mentioned by name. Only his righteousness is referred to.
And he that is wise winneth souls (ibid.). This applies to Noah, who fed and sustained the animals. What food did he feed them? R. Akiba maintained: All of them ate dried figs, as it is written:
And it shall be for food for thee and for them (Gen. 6:21). Our sages, however, said: This was not so. He provided each of them with the kind of food it was accustomed to eat—straw for the camel, barley for the ass, and so forth. Each animal was fed what it was accustomed to eat. Hence,
And he that is wise winneth souls.
Certain animals were fed at the first hour of the day, others at the second, and still others at the third; while some animals were fed at the third of night, others at midnight, and still others at the time of the crowing of the cock. Our sages declared that during the twelve months in the ark, Noah slept neither during the day nor at night because he was occupied constantly with feeding the creatures in his care. Hence, he that is wise winneth souls (ibid.).
[Siman 3]
These are the generations of Noah. Blessed be the name of the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, who chose Israel from among the seventy nations of the world, as it is written:
For the portion of the Lord is His people Jacob, the lot of his inheritance (Deut. 32:9). He gave us the Written Law (the Five Books of Moses), which contains hidden and obscure teachings, and explained them in the Oral Law (codified in the Mishnah), which was revealed to Israel alone. What is more, the Written Law enunciates only the general principles of the law, while the Oral Law discusses the specifics of the law. The Written Law is brief, while the Oral Law is lengthy, as it is written:
The measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea (Job 11:9).
It says elsewhere in Scripture in reference to the Oral Law:
Neither is it found in the land of the living (ibid. 28:13). What is the meaning of the verse
Neither is it found in the land of the living? Does it mean that the Oral Law is found only among the deceased? Indeed not. It means that the Oral Law is not found among those who pursue the pleasures of this world—its passions, its glory, or its greatness, but only among those who deprive themselves for its sake, as it is said:
This is the law; when a man dieth in a tent (Num. 19:40). The following is the path that leads to an understanding of the law: “A morsel of bread with salt shall you eat; a measure of water shall you drink; upon the earth shall you sleep; a life of hardship shall you lead; and in the law shall you labor.”
5 The Holy One, blessed be He, established His covenant with Israel through the Oral Law, as it is said:
According to the tenor of these words have I made a covenant with thee and with Israel (Exod. 34:27).
Our sages, of blessed memory, stated that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not write in the Torah “For the sake of these words,” or “because of these,” or “on account of these words,” but simply
according to the tenor of (
al pi)
these words. This statement clearly alludes to the Oral Law (
torah she be-’al peh), which is difficult to learn and in the learning of which there is considerable anguish, comparable to darkness itself, as it is said:
The people that walk in darkness have seen a great light (Isa. 9:1).
The people referred to in this verse are the masters of the Talmud, who beheld a great light when the Holy One, blessed be He, enlightened them as to what is prohibited and permitted, pure and impure. It is said of them that
They that love Him shall be as the sun when it goeth forth in its might (Judg. 5:31).
The Israelites did not accept the Torah until the Holy One, blessed be He, arched the mountain over them like a vessel, as it is said:
And they stood beneath the mountain (Exod. 19:17). R. Dimi the son of Hama stated that the Holy One, blessed be He, told Israel: If you accept the Torah, well and good; but if not, your grave will be there. If you should say that He arched the mountain over them because of the Written Law, isn’t it true that as soon as He said to them, “Will you accept the Torah?” they all responded, “We will do and hear,” because the Written Law was brief and required no striving and suffering, but rather He threatened them because of the Oral Law. After all, it contains the detailed explanations of the commandments, both simple and difficult, and it is as severe as death, and as jealous as Sheol. One does not study the Oral Law unless he loves the Holy One, blessed be He, with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, as it is said:
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might (Deut. 6:5).
Whence do you learn that this word love refers only to studying (the Oral Law). Observe what is written after this: And these words which I command thee this day shall be upon thy heart (ibid., v. 6). What words are alluded to here? The words of the Oral Law (Talmud), which are upon the heart. And Scripture says immediately thereafter: And thou shalt teach it to thy children. It is the Oral Law (Talmud) that must be taught.
We learn from these verses that the first part of the Shema (Deut. 6:4–9) does not mention a reward given in this world, while the second part does:
And if ye shall hearken diligently unto My commandments which I command thee this day … I will give the rain of your land in its season (Deut. 11:13). This reward is given to those who perform the commandments (contained in the Written Law) even though they neglect the study of Talmud.
The second part of the Shema contains the words
With all thy heart, with all thy soul, but the words
with all thy might are omitted. These words are omitted to inform us that anyone who loves material riches and earthly pleasures is incapable of studying the Oral Law. There is considerable anguish and sleeplessness in (store for him who does study) it; one wastes and neglects himself on its account. Therefore its reward is in the hereafter, as it is said:
The people that walk in darkness have seen a great light (Isa. 9:1).
The
great light alludes to the light created on the first day of creation, which the Holy One, blessed be He, reserved for those who devote themselves to the study of the Oral Law day and night. It is as a consequence of their merit that the world endures, as it is said:
Thus saith the Lord: If My covenant be not with day and night, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth (Jer. 33:25). Which covenant applies to
day and night? It is the covenant of the Oral Law, as it is said:
Thus saith the Lord: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night … then may also My covenant be broken with David, My servant (ibid., vv. 20–21), and it says elsewhere:
His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His Law doth he meditate day and night (Ps. 1:2).
The Holy One, blessed be He, made a covenant with the Israelites that neither they nor their descendants, unto the last generation, would forget the Oral Law, as it is said:
And as for Me this covenant with them, saith the Lord. My spirit that is upon thee, and My words that I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed (Isa. 59:21). It is not written in this verse “from thee,” but rather
out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed.
Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, established two yeshivot (at Sura and Pumbeditha) for the Israelites where they studied the Torah day and night, and where they assembled from all parts of the world twice each year, in the months of Adar and Elul. They came together to “battle” the problems encountered in the Torah until they had resolved them and reached a definitive decision concerning them. They would adduce arguments from the Torah, the Mishnah, and the Talmud so that the Israelites might not sin against the law, as it is said:
Great peace have they that love Thy law; and there is no sinning for them (Ps. 119:165). Scripture informs us:
The Lord will give strength unto His people, the Lord will bless His people with peace (Ps. 29:11). Hence, these two yeshivot experienced neither captivity, persecution, nor pillage; and neither Greece nor Rome ever conquered them.
6 The Holy One, blessed be He, led the people out of Jerusalem with their Written and Oral Law twelve years before its destruction, as it is written:
And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths; none remained save the poorest sort of people of the land (II Kings 24:14). Is there might among men being led into exile? These were the
mighty ones in their knowledge of Torah, as is indicated in the verse:
In the Book of the Wars of the Lord (Num. 21:14).
What do the words
craftsmen and smiths imply? The word “craftsmen” (
haras) indicates that when one of them spoke, all the others were made speechless (
haresin) by the power of his argument. The word “smiths” signifies that when one of them closed a case (playing on
mesager, “smith,” and
soger, “close”), on purity or impurity, prohibition or permission, no one in all the world was able to reopen the argument. This was in fulfillment of the verse
And the key of the House of David will I lay upon his shoulder, and he shall open and none shall shut; and he shall shut and none shall open (Isa. 22:22).
And the mighty of the land He took away (Ezek. 17:13).
The mighty here alludes to the nobles of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, concerning whom it is said:
Thus saith the Lord, God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I regard the captives of Judah whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for good (Jer. 24:5). And elsewhere it is written:
And so the Lord hath hastened the evil and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all His works (Dan. 9:14). How can these verses be explained? After all, if the Holy One, blessed be He, is righteous, is it likely that He would hasten the evil and bring it upon us? This verse implies that the Holy One, blessed be He, performed a kindness for Israel by causing the exile of Jehoiachin to precede that of Zedekiah so that the Oral Law might not be forgotten by the Israelites. They resided in Babylon, with their Torah, from that day unto this, and neither Rome nor Greece has ruled them or forced them to convert. What is more, they will not be compelled to experience the trials that will befall mankind preceding the advent of the Messiah, as is said:
O Zion, escape, thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon (Zech. 2:11). That is, they escaped the decrees imposed by Rome and Greece.
It is written in Scripture:
Be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now thou shalt go forth out of the city and shall dwell (
ve-shakhant)
in the field, and shalt come into Babylon; there shalt thou be rescued. There shall the Lord redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies (Micah 4:10).
Ve-shakhant “(shall dwell) in the field” is written; even though Israel may be banished into the field, My Shekhinah
7 will not depart from you.
And thou shalt come even into Babylon; there shalt thou be rescued (ibid.). The word
there in this verse indicates that the redemption (of Israel) will commence there, and that from there they will ascend to Jerusalem, as it is said:
And saviors shall come up on Mount Zion (Obad. 1:21). That shall be
when the kingdom shall be the Lord’s (ibid.). So may be Your will.
[Siman 4]
A question. An Israelite is forbidden to steal from a fellow human being. No punishment for the performance of any prohibited act mentioned in the Torah is harsher than that administered for theft. R. Eliezer declared: The generation of the flood was guilty of every sin mentioned in the Torah, but only when they committed theft was it decreed that their memory should be obliterated in the floodwaters, as it is said:
For the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth (Gen. 6:13), and elsewhere it is written:
Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness; not one of them shall remain (Ezek. 7:11). R. Eliezer held: This verse teaches that Violence arose and stood upright, like a rod before God, and said to Him: Master of the Universe,
Nought cometh from them, nor from their tumult, nor from their turmoil, neither is there eminence among them (ibid.).
8
R. Abahu declared: There are three wrongs before which the curtain (that veils the throne of God) is never closed—robbery, and idolatry, and gouging. About gouging it is written:
Thus He showed me; and behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in His hand (Amos 7:7); concerning robbery it is written:
Violence and theft is heard within her before Me continually (Jer. 6:7); and with reference to idolatry it is written:
A people who provokest Me to My face continually, that sacrifice in gardens, etc.
(Isa. 65:3).
R. Yohanan was of the opinion that a man who steals as little as a perutah from his companion is considered as though depriving him of his life, as it is said:
So are the ways of everyone who is greedy of gain; it taketh away the life of the owners thereof (Prov. 1:19).
One who steals but later repents his action by restoring the stolen article to its rightful owner is considered to have atoned for his sin. However, if the one from whom he stole it has died, he is required to return the stolen property to his heirs before he is considered to have atoned. When a person returns a stolen article to its owner, the owner must forgive the guilty one lest he regret having repented. Our rabbis taught, however, “If a known thief or usurer desires to make restitution, one should not accept it, and if he does accept it, he is devoid of wisdom and piety.”9 This is the case only if the stolen object is not intact, but if it is intact, one may accept it. R. Yohanan said: This law was taught during the lifetime of Rabbi. It happened once that a man wanted to return some property which he had stolen, but his wife rebuked him, saying: “Fool, if you were to make complete restitution, even the girdle you are wearing would no longer belong to you.” He changed his mind and did not make restitution. It was then that the sages declared: If a known thief or usurer desires to make restitution, one should not accept it, but if one does accept it, he is devoid of wisdom and piety.”
The disciples of R. Yohanan the son of Zakkai posed the query: Why does the Torah deal more harshly with a thief than with a robber, inasmuch as a thief is required to pay double or even four- or fivefold the value of what he has stolen, while concerning the robber it is written:
Then it shall be, if he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he stole by robbery (Lev. 5:23)? He explained: The robber equates the dignity of the servant with the dignity of the Master, while the thief does not equate the dignity of the servant to that of the Master. He (the thief) acts as though the eyes of the Almighty were unable to see him and His ears were incapable of hearing him. He moves about stealthily while perpetrating his thievery, as though he can be seen by man but not by God. Therefore it says:
Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say: “Who seeth us? Who knoweth us?” (Isa. 29:15);
They say, the Lord will not see (Ps. 94:7); and it says also:
The Lord seeth us not, the Lord has forsaken the land (Ezek. 8:12).
It is taught that R. Meir’s thought was illustrated in the name of R. Gamliel. “To what may this be compared?” he said. “It may be compared to two men residing in a certain city, who arranged banquets. One of them invited all the men of the city to his banquet, but failed to invite the king’s sons, while the other invited neither the men of that city nor the king’s sons. Whose punishment is more severe? Naturally the one who invited all the other men of the city but not the king’s sons.”
R. Meir said: Observe how much importance is attached to labor. One must pay an indemnity equal to five times the value of the ox, for the theft of the ox forces him to stop work, but one pays only fourfold indemnity for a sheep, which performs no labor. R. Yohanan the son of Zakkai declared: Observe that God is merciful even toward a thief. A thief must pay fivefold for an ox that goes on its feet, but he pays only fourfold for a sheep that he must carry away on his shoulder.
If a man steals while saying to himself, “I will take this thing because I need it now but will return it later,” he is considered a wicked man, for it is written:
If the wicked restore the pledge, give back that which he had stolen(Ezek. 33:15). Yea, even though he returns what he has stolen, he is considered wicked. It is necessary to understand that what we have discussed thus far applies only to the person who steals something with the intention of taking it for himself. Yet, even if the person steals with the intention of giving a gift to the man, but he does not wish to accept it, and [the thief] thinks, I will steal from him so as to pay him double [when I am convicted by a court], or, the man was careless with his property or money and negligently left it in an unguarded place, and another man found it and thought, I will vex him to make him search for it so that he will be more careful with his property in the future, and not be neglignt. The finder is not permitted to take it even though he did it for the owner’s good. Since it is possible that the owner (of the lost item) will be greatly distressed by his withholding it.
The Baraita (a tradition attributed to a sage from the time of the Mishnah) teaches us: One must not steal either for the purpose of repaying a twofold indemnity or in order to withhold it temporarily. This is the law, for there is an additional verse which states:
Thou shalt not rob (Lev. 19:13).
[Siman 5]
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man … Noah walked with God (Gen. 6:9). Why is Noah’s name repeated three times in this single verse? Because he was one of the three men privileged to experience three changes that occurred in the world. The three were Noah, Daniel, and Job. Noah saw the world inhabited, he witnessed its destruction, and finally he beheld it reinhabited. Daniel saw the first Temple intact, he beheld its destruction, and then he witnessed the erection of the second Temple. Job saw his household established, he beheld its destruction, and he finally witnessed its reestablishment.
Noah was a righteous man. Noah was called righteous because he fed the creatures of the Holy One, blessed be He. Two men were called righteous because they fed the creatures of the Holy One, blessed be He. They were Noah and Joseph. It is written concerning Joseph:
Because they sell the righteous for silver (Amos 2:6), and of Joseph it is also said:
And Joseph fed (Gen. 47:12).
R. Ahava the son of R. Ze’era said: Even Noah’s sons, the animals, the beasts, the birds, and the creeping things that accompanied him into the ark were righteous. At the time of the generation of the flood,
all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth (Gen. 6:12), as it is stated in Scripture concerning them. The domesticated animals copulated with the beasts, the beasts with the animals, they with men, and the men with them. Therefore, it is stated:
Behold, I will destroy them with the earth (ibid., v. 13). How do we know that at the very hour that they were created, the animals, the beasts, the birds, and the creeping things were commanded not to copulate with any species other than their own? It is written:
And God made the beast of the earth after its kind (Gen. 1:25). The Holy One, blessed be He, told them: Each shall cleave to its own and is forbidden to go to another.
He was righteous (Gen. 6:9). This suggests that he was one of the seven men born circumcised.
10 Adam and his son Seth were born circumcised, as it is written:
He begot a son in his own likeness after his image, and he called him Seth (Gen. 5:3). Noah was born circumcised, as it is written:
He was righteous (lit. “perfect”)
in his generations (ibid. 7:1); Jacob was born circumcised, for it is said:
And Jacob was a quiet (lit. “perfect”)
man (ibid. 25:27); Joseph was born circumcised, for it is written:
These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph (ibid. 37:2) because he resembled his father; Moses was born circumcised, as it is said:
And she saw that he was a goodly child (Exod. 2:2); and Job was born circumcised, as it is written:
A wholehearted (lit. “just”)
and upright (“perfect”)
man (Job 1:1).
In his generation. Do these words imply that Noah would not have been considered righteous if he had lived in another generation? R. Judah and R. Nehemiah differed concerning this question. One said: He was righteous in comparison to the men who lived during the Generation of the Flood and the Generation of the Separation, but if he had lived in Abraham’s generation he would have been lost among them. For example, if a barrel of balsam oil is placed in a filthy area, its scent permeates that area, but if it is placed in another locality (a clean area), its scent might not permeate that area. The other argued: If he was righteous in such a generation, how much more righteous would he have been had he lived in any other generation! For example, if a vial of spikenard oil is set in a filthy place, it will give forth a pleasant fragrance, but how much more pleasant would its fragrance be were it placed in an attractive area.
Noah walked with God. The Holy One, blessed be He, supported Noah lest he sink to the level of the generation of the flood. For example, if a king’s son starts out on a journey as his father’s emissary, and is forced to travel upon a road thick with mud, the king supports him along the road lest he sink into the mire. However, with reference to Abraham, it is written:
Walk before Me, etc.
(Gen. 17:1), and concerning the patriarchs, it is said:
The God before whom my fathers walked (ibid. 48:15). They preceded the Shekhinah, in order to fulfill His will.
