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11
1 1
Righteous In The Land
Parshat Noah: Genesis 6:9-11:32;
Isaiah 54:1-55:5.
T
he name Canaan appears for
the first time in the Bible
in the context of this story
of the degradation of Noah and the
involvement of his sons.
Indeed, Canaan was not one of his
sons but rather his grandson, the son
of Ham. The truth is that
mentioning Canaan with-
in the story seems totally
out of place and superflu-
ous. Noah became drunk,
perhaps only because he
did not realize the evil
potential of drinking the
fruit of the vine to excess.
His son Ham does noth-
ing to hide his father's
shame; he serves as the
talebearer, reporting his
father's nakedness to his
brothers outside. Shem
and Yafet cover their father without
looking at him in order to try to
protect their father's honor. Ham is
the villain; Shem and Yafet are the
heroes.
Why mention Canaan? And even
more to the point, Canaan is a super-
charged name; after all, the land of
Canaan is the Land of Israel, which
will ultimately be taken over by
Abraham and his progeny, descen-
dants of Shem. There must be a very
special significance to the mention
of Canaan specifically at this biblical
juncture, wherein the text will soon
record the various descendants of
Noah and the land-nations that they
generate.
The majority of traditional com-
mentators maintain that Canaan
mutilated his grandfather, rendering
him impotent. This was what Ham
really saw and reported to his broth-
ers. This was the ultimate degrada-
tion.
In order to attempt to understand
the fundamental message of the
Bible and its significance for us
today, we must take another look
at the next time the land of Canaan
appears in the Bible. It comes right
at the end of our Torah portion: "And
Terah took his son Abram and Lot
the son of Haran his grandson and
his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife
of Abram his son, and they departed
with them from Ur Kasdim to set out
for the land of Canaan; they arrived
at Haran and they settled there."
(Genesis 11:31)
It is quite curious that the bibli-
cal text tells us that Abram's father
had initially meant to go to the land
of Canaan but never really arrived.
One verse afterwards, God appears
to Abram commanding him "to go
away from your land, your relatives
and your father's house (in
Haran) to the land that I
will show you (the land of
Canaan)."
Abram's father, Terah,
apparently wanted very
much to bring his fam-
ily to Canaan. Salem is
the ancient name for
Jerusalem, which really
means the City of Peace.
Apparently in the land of
Canaan of which Salem
is the capital there was a
tradition harking all the
way back to Adam of ethical mono-
theism, a God of the universe who
will ultimately destroy terrorists and
reward the righteous lovers of peace.
In the story with which we began,
the Bible is setting the stage for a land
of Canaan being a special location
with very specific ethical require-
ments. Only those who truly aspire to
ethical monotheism will be worthy
of making Canaan/Israel their eter-
nal homeland. Canaan the grandson
of Noah forfeited his right because,
instead of following in his grand-
father's paths of righteousness and
wholeheartedness, he chose to destroy
his grandfather's ability to pass these
values on to succeeding generations.
Abraham, on the other hand,
continued the path of his father and
endeavored to educate a household
dedicated to righteousness and jus-
tice. The descendants of Abraham
will be privileged to live in Israel
only for as long as they likewise sub-
scribe to such an ethical lifestyle.
And even if Israel will eventually
return to the land and be worthy of
living in it, their return will always be
dependant upon the ethical quality
of the daily lives which they lead. As
Rashi warns us in his very opening
of the Book of Genesis," ... the entire
land (Canaan/Israel) belongs to the
Holy One Blessed be He; He created
it and He will give it to whomever is
righteous in His eyes ..."
Shlomo Riskin is chancellor of Ohr Torah
Stone and chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel.