 OCTOBER 22 • 2020 | 31

SPIRIT

Why Canaan?
T

he name Canaan 
appears for the first 
time in this story of the 
degradation of Noah.
Canaan was not one of 
his sons, but his grandson, a 
son of Ham. The truth is that 
mentioning Canaan 
here seems totally out 
of place and superflu-
ous. Noah becomes 
drunk; his son Ham 
does nothing to hide 
his father’
s shame but 
serves as talebearer, 
reporting his father’
s 
nakedness to his broth-
ers outside. Shem and 
Japheth cover their 
father to protect their 
father’
s honor. Ham is 
the villain; Shem and 
Japheth are the heroes. Why 
mention Canaan?
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, 
descendants of Shem. There 
must be a special significance 
to the mention of Canaan pre-
cisely at this biblical juncture, 
just before the text records the 
descendants of Noah and the 
nations they generate.
In order to further under-
stand the biblical text and its 
significance today, we must 
take a look at the next time 
the Land of Canaan appears 
in the Bible, right at the end 
of our Torah portion: “
And 
Terah took his son Abram … 
and they departed with them 
… to set out for the Land of 
Canaan; they arrived at Haran 
and settled there.
” 
It is curious that the text 
tells us Abram’
s father meant 
to go to the Land of Canaan 

but never really arrived. 
At the opening of the next 
Torah portion, 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].
” 
The Ramban suggests 
that in mentioning 
Canaan, the Bible is 
setting the stage for an 
Abrahamic takeover 
of the Canaan, soon 
to become the Land of 
Abraham — Israel.
Canaan is pictured as 
a special location, with 
specific ethical require-
ments. Only those who 
truly aspire to ethical 
monotheism will be worthy of 
making Canaan (Israel) their 
eternal homeland. Canaan, the 
grandson of Noah, forfeited 
his right because, instead of 
following in his grandfather’
s 
paths of righteousness, he 
chose to destroy his grand-
father’
s ability to pass these 
values on to succeeding 
generations. (Commentators 
suggest Canaan castrated his 
grandfather.) Abraham, unlike 
Noah, succeeded in parenting 
a grandson — Jacob-Israel — 
dedicated to righteousness.
Herein may well be a 
warning: The descendants of 
Abraham will be privileged to 
live in Israel only for as long as 
they subscribe to such an eth-
ical lifestyle. Their return will 
always be dependent on the 
ethical quality of the daily lives 
they lead. 

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is chancellor 

of Ohr Torah Stone and chief rabbi of 

Efrat, Israel.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi 

Shlomo 

Riskin

Parshat 

Noach: 

Genesis 6:9-

11:32; Isaiah 

54:1-55:5.

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