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We're In This
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Parshat Noah: Genesis 6:9-11:32;
Isaiah 54:1-55:5.
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44
October 7 - 2010
IN
In the ark, however, a great transfor-
mation took place.
In the ark, Noah had no choice but
to abandon religious abstraction. He
was needed. The animals
were hungry; and there
were cages to clean. The
world was in his ark; and
he, as captain, had to look
after it.
Noah worked around the
clock. He gave of himself
until he was coughing
blood (the verse character-
izes this with the word,
"Ach," a kvetch familiar to
any Jew older than 55.) He
gave of himself until there
was nothing left to give; and then he
gave more.
Through this extraordinary giving,
Noah transcended his
own ego and opened
channels of compas-
sion for a new world.
This became
the inspiration for
Judaism. Years after
the Flood, Abraham
met with Noah's son
Shem.
Abraham wanted to
understand the secret
of the ark "By which
merit were you saved?" he asked.
"The merit of our giving;' answered
Shem.
The answer enlightened Abraham
about the power of love — of self-sac-
rifice for another. It is the light upon
which Judaism is founded.
And it is the message /of the irk. We
are all in the same boat together.
Noah spent years
building a sturdy
ship, but little
time building
relationships.
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he inspiration for Jewish spir-
ituality comes from Noah's
ark. Here's how.
At the start of the story Noah is
described as a "man of
little faith," which is strange
because the opposite seems
true. Noah appears to be a
man of great faith, dropping
everything upon command
to build an enormous ark.
But it is not his faith in
Heaven that is questioned;
it is his faith in humanity.
He spent years building a
sturdy ship, but little time
building relationships.
To be fair, Noah was deal-
ing with what Rodney Dangerfield
would call a "tough crowd;' a thor-
oughly wicked generation. Still, he is
accused of not doing
more to inspire peo-
ple. Noah probably
did not open his ser-
mons with a joke, for
example. One imag-
ines that his doom-
saying sermons were
woefully out of touch
with his audience.
He did not, in today's
terms, pay attention
to outreach.
Noah failed, says the Zohar, to
open any channels of compassion in
the world.
"Whoever loves God exclusively,
namely excluding man, reduces
his love and his God to the level of
abstraction;' writes Elie Wiesel in his
book Souls On Fire. Perhaps the quote
would apply to Noah. He was a man
of little faith because his religios-
ity excluded man; his God was an
abstraction.
Boruch Cohen is rabbi at the Birmingham-
Bloomfield Chai Center in Birmingham.
•What does it mean that we are all in the same boat together?
•How does it change our attitude towards each other when we
remember that we are all in the same boat together?
•The "world is built on kindness," meaning that the world was created
out of love. Discuss.