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THE TREE DOES NOT GROW FAR FROM THE SEED

Taken from Rav Hirsch on Chumash

All of humanity as we know it today began with Noach and his three sons. Many of the unique traits of the various societies find their roots in the development of the three sons of Noach. The Torah highlights the story of Noach’s becoming drunk and how his three sons reacted to his drunkenness. From their varying reactions we can see the seeds of the future nations and societies that sprouted from them. It is evident that the Torah is highlighting this sorrowful story to give us a direction on living our own lives.

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THE JEWISH COMMUNITY; NOTHING QUITE LIKE IT!

The Maharal teaches us that HaShem did not give the Torah to Avraham, Yitzchok or Yaakov because they were mortal. They would pass on. The Torah is immortal and must therefore be placed in the hands of an immortal custodian. For this reason HaShem waited for the children of the former to develop into a nation. A nation / a community can be an immortal entity.
It is for this reason the power of a community/nation is so great; it is the mechanism by which HaShem was able to bequeath His Torah to Humanity. Through the community of Israel Mankind has Torah in their midst.

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WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

Excerpted from a thought of Reb Yaakov Kamenetsky

This week’s Parsha, Noach, underscores the distinction between Noach’s approach to helping the people of his generation and Avraham’s approach. Both Noach and Avraham lived in periods of overwhelming paganism and yet Noach was unsuccessful in turning the people of his generation around while Avraham was very successful. Both Noach and Avraham addressed the foolishness of idolatry. They both explained and argued how the source of all powers originates from HaShem and all else is but an expression of HaShem’s greatness. Why did Avraham succeed and Noach failed?

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WHO AM I?

This week’s Parsha, Noach, tells us that Noach was perfectly righteous and walked with HaShem. In next week’s Parsha HaShem instructs Avraham to “walk before Him and to be perfect”. The implication is that Avraham was not yet perfect while Noach had already achieved perfection. It therefore begs the question why is Avraham chosen to father the Jewish people and not Noach. Isn’t Noach, who had achieved perfection al-ready, greater than Avraham who had not yet achieved that state?

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WHY WE ARE WHO WE ARE?

This week’s Parsha, Noach, presents us the personality of Noach and contrasts him with our father Avraham. Regarding Noach the Torah states that he was a perfect tzadik who walked with HaShem. Regarding Avraham HaShem instructs him “walk before Me and be perfect”. In this short contrast there are two noteworthy distinctions. The first is that Noach walks with HaShem while Avraham walks in front of HaShem. The second distinction is that Noach is perfect and Avraham is to become perfect implying that he is not yet perfect.

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BITTERSWEET; THE HEAVENLY TASTE

In this week’s Parsha, the Torah tells the story of Noach sending the dove out of the Teiva (Ark) to see if the waters of the Great Flood receded. The dove returned with an olive leaf in her beak. The Torah underscores that this olive leaf was in her beak for eating purposes. We know that the olive leaf is very bitter and Noach had prepared nutritious food for all the animals. Why did the dove pass up on the tasty food for bitter food? Our Sages teach us that “it is better to take bitter food from the hands of HaKadosh baruch Hu than take the tasty food from the hands of Man.” In other words; it is better to take a hand-out from HaShem than taking a hand-out from Man.