Reflections from Rabbi Ellis

We are only a week into the Torah and already things aren’t going well. At the end of last week’s Parsha G!d already regretted making man, declaring that “all the thoughts and creations of his heart are nothing but daily evil.”  The only ray of light is Noach.  Noach finds favor in G!d’s eyes. The world is full of violence, bloodshed, and sexual immorality and yet there is Noach who can divine a new path.

Finally, the sin and immorality of the world become too great and G!d decides that it is time to start over, or at least to stop what he started. The final sin that sealed our fate is חמס - violence, pronounced Hamas. The Torah tells us that the world was full of Hamas and could not continue this way.  Per G!d’s instruction Noach builds an Ark, fills it with provisions, two of every bird and beast and his family.

On more than six occasions G!d points out to Noach that he is being saved along with his wife, his children and his children’s wives. What is so important about this fact that it is repeated so often? Further in the end of the Parsha we find out about Canaan, the sun of Cham. G!d never mentions that he would save the sons of the sons of Noach, why not?

The first lesson that G!d teaches us is the way to navigate transformation, upheaval and even destruction, G!d forbid, is by coming together as a family. Over and over G!d emphasizes to Noach that he has saved all of his family, even the wives of his sons, in order to make it clear to him that this is his greatest gift, his source of strength and his source of security are all his family. The greatest way for Noach to save the world outside of the Ark, was for him to do everything for the family that was with him inside the Ark.

Why then didn’t G!d mention that he saved Canaan? I don’t think that was part of his plan. We will see by the end of this week’s Parsha that Canaan was not a desirable character. Just as G!d was saving Noach from all the other unsavory humans so to G!d had planned to leave Canaan off of the Ark, until Noach intervened. I imagine the conversation like this:

Noach: The rain is coming, it’s time to close the door, where is Canaan?

G!d: Yeah, I left him to die with the others.

Noach: We can’t leave him; he is a member of the family.

G!d: Yeah, but he causes so many problems.

Noach: If I need my family to make it through this, I need all of them, even the difficult ones.

This week G!d makes it clear to us that when it is time for us to do anything meaningful, like saving the world, we need to strengthen ourselves through our family. Noach teaches us that when it is time for us to unify as a family, we leave no one behind.

Shabbat Shalom!