MY RAINBOW I HAVE PLACED IN THE CLOUD, AND IT SHALL BE FOR A SIGN OF A COVENANT BETWEEN MYSELF AND THE EARTH.

(Bereishit 9:13)

My rainbow I have placed in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between My utterances and the earth.

(Keter Yonatan Bereishit 9:13)

The sign and its meaning are told us, about that there can be no doubt. It only remains to consider the connection between the sign and its signification. This has been attempted in various ways. The sign is a reversed weapon, a bow with the string towards the earth, so that it would shoot away from the earth, accordingly a sign of peace, no more arrows from heaven. Its appearance is that of an arc joining the earth to heaven, accordingly a bond between heaven and earth. The phenomenon itself is woven from light and water. In the midst of overcast threatening clouds it announces the presence of light, is accordingly a reminder that in the midst of God's threatened wrath His preserving grace is still there. But perhaps still the light of the colors of the rainbow is in closer relation than all these ideas. By it our attention would repeatedly be directed to the fact that, in spite of all differences in the degree of human development, God would never again decree the downfall of the whole human race, but that its future education to its godly purpose was to be founded just on these differences and varieties of humanity. For is the rainbow anything else but the pure complete ray of light, broken up into seven degrees of seven colors, from the red rays nearest to the light to the violet, most distant from the light, losing itself into the darkness; and from the one to the other are they not all rays of light, and combined together, do they not form the one complete pure white ray?

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch, Bereishit 9:15, Levy translation)

Noah's "Righteousness" and Abraham's "Faith"

Efrayim Hamiel

Humanity's corruption reached intolerable depths and God decided to destroy it and begin anew. Noah, the generation's lone tzaddik [righteous person] was chosen to father the next stage of the human race. Twice the Torah describes him as a tzaddik in his generation. Noah was a righteous man he was perfect in his generations (6:9), and for it is you that I have seen as a righteous man before Me in this generation (7:1). The emphasis on Noah's "generation" generated a disagreement amongst the classical exegetes: No one can remain untouched by the influence of his generation. Does the fact that Noah was a tzaddik in the context of a generation so morally corrupt that it deserved extermination improve or degrade his standing? On the one hand, Noah deserves praise for managing to preserve his inner divine image and raising himself up above the terrible standards of his generation. On the other hand, Noah may have been a rather ordinary person whose relative righteousness only became noticeable against the lurid backdrop of his corrupt generation. If he had lived in a righteous era, no one would have taken notice of him. Those who downgrade Noah compare him to Abraham. Regarding Noah, it is written: Noah walked with God (6:9), while regarding Abraham it is written: Walk before Me and be perfect (17:1). One who walks before God and lights the way for all with his deeds and the power of his personality is greater than one who walks at God's side, being led and activated from outside. Two facts reflect this difference between Noah and Abraham:

1) God maintain a steady dialogue with Abraham across years in which Abraham takes an active part, while Noah only hears a divine monologue; he remains passive and does not actually participate in a conversation.

2) When Noah hears that God plans the total destruction of His creation - save two representatives, a male and a female of each species - he does not respond. Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Adam and Cain, he takes no responsibility upon himself; he does not attempt to challenge the terrible decree. When Abraham, in contrast, hears that God plans to annihilate the populations of Sodom and Gomorrah, he takes on responsibility and tries to have the decree annulled. He does not hesitate to stand before God's presence and suggest that Divine justice may have erred. It is only when Abraham faces a personal trial with the binding of Isaac that he demonstrates full trust in Divine justice and forwards no appeal. This reflects the difference between Noah and Enoch (5:22) on the one hand and the Patriarchs on the other, as Jacob puts it: The God before Whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, walked (28:15).

It is worth mentioning that "righteousness" and "faith" [emunah] have a different meaning in Scripture than they do in the language of the Sages. A tzaddik is not someone who retires from this world and spends his days in the worship of God and in efforts to cleave to God; rather, he is a person who is found blameless before God's judgment. He is someone who walks the straight path through the world. "Faith" does not refer to a deep but rationally unsupported belief in the existence of God. Rather, the person of faith is certain that God will keep his promises, or he is a faithful man, someone honest who does justice. As is the case with all of the Bible's tzaddikim, Noah's righteousness and perfection [temimut] refer to his morality and honesty towards others in the context of a generation plagued with corruption, violence, and theft; it does not refer to the degree of his religious connection with God. The Torah's description of Abraham - And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him as righteousness (15:6) - must also be properly understood. It tells us that despite his old age and the old age of Sarah, Abraham trusted in God's promise of children, and that God counted that faith to his merit. Walk before Me and be perfect (17:1) - walk in the straight path. Will You also kill a righteous people? (20:4) - will God kill blameless peoples who are not found guilty by divine judgment? And they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses (Shemot 14:31) - Israel was sure that the promises made by God and His servant Moses would be fulfilled; we are not told that they believed in the very existence of God and Moses, since they saw Moses alive and in action before their own eyes! So he was with his hands in faith until sunset (Shemot 17:12) - Moses hands were straight and erect. A tzaddik lives in his faith - (Habakkuk 2:4) - not as in the Christian interpretation, that the tzaddik lives by merit of his faith (in Jesus' divinity) and by his tenacity in that faith, but rather that the tzaddik will live thanks to his being a man who trusts God, who is faithful, honest, and just.¹

Modern interpretations view the first two parshiyot of Bereishit as describing a series of divine "attempts" whose purpose is to teach the reader a moral lesson. The first attempt in the Garden of Eden failed. The second attempt to grant humanity an opportunity to come to recognize the one God by its own efforts and to establish the kind of moral life necessary for the survival of society - also failed. People strayed after their low, sensual, and material aspect, ending with the Flood and their total annihilation. The third attempt, that of the "Generation of the Dispersal" which followed Noah, also failed. They tried to develop humanity without Divine instruction by canceling the value of the individual and the harnessing of all energies to societal despotism in order to promote national honor through ideological and linguistic homogeneity. Man had chosen to develop his unique qualities in an arrogant and despotic fashion, viewing the state and the nation as ends in themselves, rather than as instruments for the welfare of individuals. In reaction, God dispersed the people of that generation and confused their language, thus ending their race after collective glory. God prevented homogeneity and totalitarian centralism and allowed for subjectivity and differentiation which require the existence of a diversity of opinion, struggles and efforts which lend meaning to human existence from which truth arises in extended dialectical processes.² The colors of the rainbow symbolize the diversity which ensures human development and from this point forward it serves as a sign of how diversity protects life on earth from a further deluge. Descriptions of these first three attempts come to teach the reader the biblical point of view according to which man is the source of evil. Man was born with the freedom to choose good or evil actions; he is free to err, to be neglectful, or to scheme as he wishes. He can be lazy, stupid, or wicked. All these can occur when he becomes trapped in the nets of pride, avarice, or lust. Evil exists in the created world in order that good be distinguishable from it; this is the best of all possible worlds. A world without evil or suffering is a world without challenges, without lessons or reward; it is an empty world. All through human history and unto our own days is has become clear that man requires God's direction towards the good, otherwise he will have difficulty recognizing it; it will be hard for him to aspire to the good, to persist in goodness and to succeed in it. From this point on it is Scripture's purpose to guide the reader towards the good in a newly chosen path involving the establishment of a unique people who will undertake this special mission to humanity. From here on begins the explanation of the People Israel's place within human society and how it began on its journey in the world on the behalf of all humanity.³

Post-modern Jewish interpretation is more modest. From here on Scripture will give us the narrative of the People Israel, how it began its way among the more similar and less similar narratives that existed in the ancient Fertile Crescent region. These narratives developed together in parallel with the course of history. This postmodern interpretation views the various narratives from a pluralistic standpoint, allowing each to tell the truth of its community, without necessarily undermining the holiness of the biblical narrative for those whose consciousness developed under its influence and who are committed to the norms that grew up within it.

1. See ShaDaL Ketavim Volume 1: Shiurim Beteologiya Dogmatit, pp. 74-75.

2. See the Akedat Yitzhak and Rabbi S.R. Hirsch's commentary on the sin of the Generation of the Dispersion. Also see Y. Leibowitz, He'arot LeParshiyot HaShavua, pp. 15-16.

3. This is the theory of Rabbi S.R. Hirsch in his commentary on the Torah. See, for instance, 11:10 and many other loci.

Dr. Effi Hamiel worked for many years in a senior post at Bank Leumi. He now devotes himself to the study of modern religiosity in the nineteenth century (Rabbi S.R. Hirsch, ShaDaL, and MaHaRatz Hayot) and engages in private financial counseling.

 

Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his son's wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of the clean animals, of the animals that are not clean, of the birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two each, male and female, came to Noah into the ark, as God had commanded Noah.

 (Bereishit 7:7-9)

 

They came to Noah, into the ark, two of all flesh in which there was breath of life.

(Ibid. ibid. 15)

 

Two of each shall come to you to stay alive - He informed him that they would come, two of each, on their own; he would not have to hunt them in the mountains and on the islands. Then he would later bring them into the ark. And He specified that they come male and female. This was the general rule. Afterwards, He commanded that Noah take of every clean animal seven of each; in this case He did not say that they would come on their own, but that Noah should take them, for those who come to be saved and to preserve their seed arrive on their own, but He did not decree that those who come in order to be offered as sacrifices should arrive on their own to be slaughtered, but rather Noah took them, for the command of seven of each was so that Noah be able to use them for sacrifices.

(RaMBaN, Bereishit 6:20)

 

Noah... went into the ark because of the waters of the Flood - Rabbi Yohanan said: Noah lacked perfect faith, for had the waters not reached his ankles he would never have entered the ark.

Two of each came to Noah - Falsehood came and wanted to enter. Noah said to him: You may not enter, unless you wed a spouse. Falsehood went and sought a wife. He met Curse, and she said to him: From where do you come? He told her: From Noah - I wanted to enter the ark, but he refused to admit me unless I had a wife. She replied: And what will you give me? He said to her: I stipulate with you that all which I accumulate you may take. She listened to him, and the two entered the ark. When they exited the ark, Falsehood went out and accumulated, and Curse kept taking each thing as it arrived. Falsehood came and said to her: Where is everything that I accumulated? She replied: Was this not our condition, that all which you accumulate, I take? He had no answer. Therefore it is written He hatches evil, conceives mischief, and gives birth to fraud (Psalms 7:15). The parable says: Falsehood begets - but Curse takes all.

 (Yalkut Shimoni, Noah, 56)

 

The Raven Also has Rights

The dog that used to protect Abel's sheep guarded over his corpse against all beasts of the field and from all birds of the skies, and Adam and his helper sat and wept and mourned over him, and they knew not what to do, for burial was not customary. A raven, whose companion had died, said: I will teach this man what to do. What did he do? He took his companion and dug in the earth, covered his eyes, and buried him. Adam said: I shall do as did this raven. He took Abel's corpse, dug in the earth, and buried it, and the Holy One, Blessed Be He, rewarded the ravens generously in this world. What was their reward? They give birth to white offspring, and they flee from them, thinking them to be offspring of serpents. Then The Holy One, Blessed Be He, brings mosquitoes and provides their nourishment and they eat: Who provides food for the raven. Yet more, they cry out for rain on the earth and The Holy One, Blessed Be He, hears their voice and sends rain upon the face of the earth, as is written: He gives bread to the beasts, to the raven which cries out.

 (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, 21)

One Language? One Set of Words?

When they expressed this intention (and let us make ourselves a name) God fully understood it and knew well that their end would be the opposite of what they thought. On the contrary, there exists the possibility of a unified nation. When? When a people is dispersed and scattered, with no one having dealings with his fellow - then can it be one people. But should they gather together in one place in order to escape from international conflicts, they will then fall into an even greater war, one man's sword against his fellow, because assembly of the wicked is bad for them, and because they said, "Let us make for ourselves a name", everyone will want to rule over his fellow and be higher than him, for this is common among groups who do everything for the sake self-aggrandizement, so therefore it is better to disperse them and prevent them from this construction.

(Kli Yakar Bereishit 11:1)

…it appears to me that this decree (to scatter the Generation of the Dispersal) was not a punishment, but rather a tremendous improvement on mankind's behalf. The primary significance of the Tower of Babel narrative lies not in the attempt to erect the tower, but in the preceding words: All the earth - revived post Deluge mankind - was of one language and the same words. After the construction failure, many languages evolved, and consequently, different words, different ideas. It seems to me that the basis of the mistake, or sin, of the Generation of the Dispersal, was not in the building of the city and the tower, but in the movement to maintain, via these artificial means, the situation of one language and one set of words - of centralization, which we, in modern terms, call totalitarianism.

(Prof. Y. Leibowitz, He'arot leParshiyot HaShavua, pp.14-15)

 

 

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