Parshat Noach (Noah)
The Ark on the 27th of Cheshvan
Noah and Ark
Parshat Noach (Noah)
Verse 6:9 “Eish Tzadik Tamim”, which would be translated as “A completely righteous man, or a completely charitable man”. The question is why would the scripture use the word Tamim? The root for Tamim is Tom which means innocence, simpleness, naivete, honesty, as well as wholeness. However, a more appropriate word for wholeness would be shalem. Therefore, I think that HaShem is teaching us something here. Rashi says that Noach was righteous in his generation and had he lived in another generation than he might not have been righteous. from looking at this word Tamim, it comes clear that Noach was innocent in his generation as well as being righteous. Righteous means charitable. So here we can see that Noach was a charitable and innocent person and this is important with the rest of the story. The earth was destroyed because of "Hamas" which means violent and robbery. So Noach was innocent of any such behavior. In addition when Noach came out of the Ark he plants a vineyard and gets drunk, it appears that he is nieve which as mentioned above is another interpretation for tamim.
There is another part of scripture which says that Noach Hit’halach with G-d. This word Hit’halach is translated as walk, but the problem is that it is a reflexive verb. Why is there a reflexive verb used here, this seems strange? It could have easily been written halach, which means "walked". The verb and noun here are at the end of the sentence. There is something to be learned from here. HaShem is mentioned as the direct object of the sentence and that comes before verb and then the noun being Noach is last. One does not walk with G-d if one is not reflexive in their actions before HaShem.
In verse 6:13 the wording seems to describe a judge so it is a play on words to use the word “Elohim” here instead of HaShem, since the HaShem denotes mercy and grace, where “Elohim” means judge, and can refer to G-d himself or in some cases to G-d and his heavenly court of Angels.
There is a play on the word Kofer, which is the same root as the word for Kippur in the word Yom Kippur which means the Day of Atonement. The covering of the ark, and the story of the ark is all about atonement. HaShem is brings us into his protection when we follow him, and then HaShemwashes away all the filth and corruption and HaShem himself is the source. This story is very deep and profound. To even make sure that the wood chosen is part of the testimony. The wood chosen is Gopher wood, and it is easy to see the phonetic connection with the word Kofer.
There is statement in critical thinking that says, “How many animals did Moses take onto the Ark?” The person not giving it much attention says two as an immediate response without much thought. Then the person asking the question says, “No, Moses did not take any on the ark, it was Noah.” From this we can see that the common response of people is based from a teaching that is ingrained into them. It is a common misconception that Noah took two from each animal onto the Ark. One just needs to read a little closer to see that there were two of the unclean animals. Well then, what about the clean animals. A quick read would make one believe that it was seven of the clean animals, but then again that person should look a little closer. The correct answer is that Noah took 7 pairs of clean animals, which works out to 14 animals of each clean species. Wait, there is more, what about the sea life, it was not affected for obvious reasons. The answer to the question can be verified in verse 7:1-4, where the terms in Hebrew explain the scenario.
Noach had to be righteous. In verse 7:11 it makes reference to the 2nd month on the 17thday after it says that Noach was 600 years old. Upon a closer reading it looks like how they state the days of a Kings reign as is mentioned in the prophets like Isaiah, and Ezekiel. This makes it look like Noach was a King. Surely for a brief time in History he had that role over his sons and grandsons. However, the Seder Olam says that the year was 1656 from Creation on the Jewish calendar. According to Rabbi Eliezer there is a time line where the rain began to fall on the 17th of Cheshvan and end of the whole cycle where Noach was able to get off from the Ark was on the 27th of Cheshvan a year later. If we take the theories presented here of mine and Rabbi Eliezer’s and combine them than one can make the point that Noach was born on Rosh HaShanah of 1056 on the Jewish calendar from the date of Creation.
A unique relationship of Noach and HaShem is that HaShemclosed the Ark behind Noach in verse 7:16. Only HaShemseals the fate of mankind, it is only Hashem that seals the decrees of the Heavenly court. Noach had a special relationship with HaShem that had a physical impact, for the most part we have a spiritual connection with HaShem but in order to bring that down into the world we have strive to be like Noach Tzaddik - righteous, charitable, and tamim -innocent, and whole, and when we can do that then the physicality of the spiritual decrees begins to manifest and that is why we keep praying the whole year through after Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur because the decrees where established on these holy times, the spiritual is set, and now we strive to make them physical. Let's do our part and watch as HaShem seals the Ark behind us.
In verse 9:16, the Almighty makes reference to His bow being a sign of the covenant that He makes with man never to flood the earth again. There is a Psalm that says that Hashem is a man of war.
There are some ancient words to look at in relationship to the descendants of Noach and his sons. The word Javan is a Hebrew word for Greece, and here Javan is mentioned with the island nations, and a lot of Greece are the islands in the Aegean Sea. The name Mizraim which is Egypt.
There is a man named Nimrod which is the king of Babel, and Babel is how we say Babylonia in Hebrew.
There is the place name of Accad which is related to the word Akkadians, and Chaldeans which is the land that Avraham came from. This same land is refered to as Shinar in scriptures and this is the word still used by the Chaldeans which still live in North Iraq to this day. Shinar is one of the biblical words for Iraq and the word Iraq is spelled “Ayin-Resh-Kof”, and the word land as is used colloquial for the land of Israel is “Ayin-Resh-Tzade”, the root is basically the same because there is a rule in Semitic language for letter substitutes and Kof is a letter substitute for Tzade. Another meaning for this word is “deep roots” and it is clear that Iraq andIsrael both have deep roots. The word Asshur is in this section also and this word is for Assyria.
In the scripture it makes references to Ur Kasdim which is “light amongst the astrologers”, this is where Avraham is from and surely he was a light that HaShem placed in this world to help illuminate a path back to G-d Almighty.