Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat NoachRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Noach · נח · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript0:05Parashat Noach. This week's parasha is the second parasha of the Torah and has 153 pesukim.0:11And the parasha, of course, is known for the parasha of the mabul, as the name is0:16Noach has been synonymous with the word mabul. The topics in this week's parasha, we find0:22six. We divide the parasha into six topics. Number one is the Torah tells us about the background0:27of the flood. Number two is the actual year when the flood took place. Number0:35three, coming out of the teיבה, when Noach comes out of the teיבה and he reaches and he sees a new world.0:40Number four, Torah tells us about what Noach began to do immediately after the teיבה, v'Noach ish ha'adamah. Number0:49five, the Torah tells us about the generation of this person known as dor haפלגה. And0:57finally, the last part of this week's parasha, Torah tells us about the forefather to the Jewish people, none other than Avraham Avinu, who in the time1:02was known as Avram. No mitzvot in this week's parasha based on the Sefer HaChinuch, although1:06Rashi points out that the mitzvah of פריה ורביה is actually mentioned in this week's1:10parasha. Let's get to the parasha a little bit more in depth. The first topic of our1:15parasha is the background of the flood. Torah tells us two reasons why Hashem decided to bring1:21about the flood. Torah says number one is השחית כל בשר את דרכו על הארץ, which means immorality. People were going1:29without their kinds, even to the point that even the animals were affected. Even the animals,1:33the animals would be male with male, and just like the humans, they would emulate the humans.1:39The second reason the Torah tells us is ותמלא הארץ חמס, which Chachamim explain that this was the final decree.1:47This is what sealed the decree that the world was full of theft and stealing and forms of1:54robbery, and that's what brought about the flood. Now, Hashem decided to preserve the1:58world through Noach, and He comes to Noach and He tells him, Noach, I want you to build2:02the teיבה. Literally, teva is a box. I know everybody translates as Noah's ark, but really2:06teva means a box, and that's really how it looked like. It looked like a big box. In fact, it2:10looked like an upside-down ark, an upside-down ship, but it was really a big box. And2:16this teva, Noah was commanded to build very slowly. It took him 120 years to build. If2:22you thought your contractor is very slow, 120 years to just build a teva. And the2:27Torah tells us exactly the measurements of the teva. There were 300 amot long, 50 amot wide, 302:35amot height, and on top there is one amah on top. And the teva was commanded that it2:45should be three floors. The bottom floor was made for waste. The second floor, the middle floor, was made for the animals,2:50to store all the animals. And finally, the top floor was where the humans would be. Also, the2:54Torah tells us that the teva had to be compartments, all different compartments2:58to be able to store all the different types of animals. And finally, who is to come into3:03the teva besides Noah and his family? From the animals, the Torah tells us that from3:08all types of species of animals have to come in, except there is a difference. The kosher3:14animals, what would become later on kosher in the Torah, like it says in Parashat3:18Re'eh, those you take seven pairs. Pairs means male and female from each animal. And then from the3:24non-kosher species, you'd only take two pairs of non-kosher animals. Okay, now we move on3:31to the second part of this week's parasha, the year of the flood, how the flood actually3:36took place. The Torah tells us in the beginning, there were seven days before the flood started.3:41The flood, by the way, started on Yud Zayin Cheshvan. Before the flood started on Yud3:47Cheshvan, somebody passed away, a tzaddik passed away, and his name was Metushelach. Metushelach was3:52the grandfather of Noah, and Hashem said, you know, out of respect for the mourning3:56period of Metushelach, let us wait from bringing the flood. And the flood did not happen until4:01seven days later, on 17 Yud Zayin Cheshvan. And then it started raining. Forty days and4:07forty nights, nonstop raining, but it wasn't just raining, it was a flood. It was heavy, heavy rains.4:12In fact, water not only came down from the sky. The Torah says the skylight, the sky opened up and4:18all the waters came gushing down. Besides that, also the waters from underneath the4:23earth also came out, and the whole— Everything was filled up with water. The whole world was filled up with water,4:28and it was also hot boiling water. It says that the hot boiling water from Gehennam all4:33came up as well. And this took place for 40 days. After these 40 days, 150 days, the4:42water kept on rising from the water on the bottom, because it stopped raining, but the4:45water kept on rising for 150 days till the point that it reached the highest mountain.4:50It reached 15 amot above the highest mountain. And then from that point on, the water stopped4:56and slowly, slowly started descending until the point that it dried up. How long did it5:01take to dry up? One full solar year, which is 365 days. The mabul started on5:08Yud Zayin Cheshvan and it finished, meaning to say the whole story, the whole world dried up by 275:16Cheshvan. And now we move on to the next part of the parasha, third part5:22of the parasha, Noach coming out of the teivah. And before Noach came out of the teivah, he had5:27to test if the land was dry. He didn't know. CNN was taken away also with the flood, and5:32he had no news. He didn't know exactly what to do. So therefore, Noach sent four messengers5:37in order to determine if the world dried up or not. And the first one was the raven. It5:41says that when Noach opened up the window of the teivah, he sent out the raven. The5:46raven did not go. For seven days he would travel around the teivah. He did not want to go anywhere,5:51and he came back. Then afterwards, Noach sent a dove. When he sent the dove, the5:56dove came back, and he realized that there's nowhere that the dove can go and nest. So therefore,6:02he waited a little bit more. After waiting, he sent out a dove a second time, and this6:07time the dove went, and he came back with a leaf from an olive tree. So Noach knew already6:13that there's food, there's something out there. But the fact that the dove came back, it6:17must be that there's still not a place, it's not completely dried up, that the dove could settle. And6:23he waited a little bit more, and finally Noach sent the dove again one final third, third6:28final time, and this time the dove did not come back. And Noach realized that the6:32world is dried up. And Noach opens up the door of the teivah, and he comes out of the teivah with6:37everybody inside of the teivah. They all come out, and they're confronted with the new world.6:42What happened? What took place? What changed now from the world that was before the6:45flood and after the flood? So the Chachamim tell us that three amot of the earth were taken6:51off with the flood. As it says that the earth was destroyed together with the people, destroyed6:57together with the earth. Three amot were taken off, which changed our agriculture forever.7:03The land that does not produce the blessings that God has created it with, like the way7:08it used to be. Now, instead of planting one time in forty years, now people had to work,7:12like the gzeirah of the Hashem decree on Adam Harishon. And also seasons changed. The7:20Torah says it clearly. It used to be nice spring weather throughout the whole year, and therefore7:26this caused many people to be very healthy. However, after the flood, there was now seasons.7:31There's a summer, there's a winter, there's a fall, there's a spring, and seasons change,7:35which causes diseases. And that's why the Seforno points out that that's why if you7:39look at the years of the people who lived after the flood, the years started diminishing,7:43going lower and lower and lower. How come? He says because that's due to the season, and once the7:48seasons change, the body finds it difficult to adapt, and therefore they weren't able7:53to live as long as they lived before the mabul. And the Torah tells us that when Noach came out,7:57he brought a korban to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. He brought a korban.8:00Hashem, because he realized if Hashem gave me so many animals to bring,8:03why did He tell me to bring seven pairs of animals of this type?8:06Ah, he realized it must be that Hashem wants me to bring a sacrifice,8:09and he sacrificed from these kosher animals to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, to Hashem.8:13And ironically, or not ironically, the spot that he brought the korban, the Midrash says,8:18was precisely on the area where the Beit HaMikdash would eventually be built,8:23and that's the spot where Adam HaRishon brought the first korban,8:25and that's also the spot where Kayin and Hevel and Akedat Yitzchak took place.8:30Move on now to the fourth part of this week's parashah.8:34Torah tells us how Noach went on to begin the new world.8:38And Torah tells us,8:39Vayachel Noach ish8:41ha'adamah. Noach, the man of the land, began.8:43And Chachamim already tell us,8:45Vayachel, from lashon of8:47cholin. Noach was up here; now he lowered himself.8:49He became a man of the land.8:51What did Noach do?8:52Noach planted a vineyard,8:56and that was something that the Chachamim criticized,8:59that he should not have planted a vineyard.9:01The first thing should not be a vineyard,9:03because after planting vineyard,9:04miraculously the vineyard started going very quickly,9:07and from those grapes he took and he made wine,9:09and Noach got intoxicated.9:12When Noach got intoxicated, he got drunk.9:14He was rolling naked in his tent,9:18and comes in one of his children,9:20and here there's a debate between9:23the Chachamim. Some say it was Canaan, his grandson,9:24and some say it was Ham, his son.9:26Whichever one it is,9:28they come and they do something very not nice to9:31Noach. They abuse9:32Noach. Some say that he castrated him.9:35Some say that he had relations with him.9:38Whatever it may be,9:39Noach did not know what was going on9:41because he was drunk.9:41But when he awoke from his9:43drunkenness, he realized what happened.9:44Now, when Noach was drunk...9:47Ham came and reported to Shem and Yefet, his brothers,9:51that our father is drunk.9:54Go look at him.9:55Shem and Yefet, who realized that their father got drunk,9:57instead of laughing at their father,9:59they go and they take a cover,10:01they turn backwards,10:02and they cover their father to protect10:06Shem. And when Noah wakes from his drunkenness,10:08he realizes what happened,10:09and he gives a blessing to Shem and10:13Yefet for covering him10:14and for making sure that he shouldn't get embarrassed more.10:17And he realizes what has been done to him by his son Ham,10:19or by his grandson Canaan,10:21and he gives a curse to Ham and his descendants.10:26And from there, we can move on now to the fifth part of this week's10:30parasha that tells us about Dor HaPalaga.10:32Before we get to Dor HaPalaga,10:34the Torah tells us actually the list of the seventy nations that made up the world.10:37We know the world is comprised of seventy nations,10:40and the Torah here lists to10:42us that these seventy nations, they all came from the children of10:45Noach, Shem, Ham, and10:47Yefet. And it says in the Torah exactly each one,10:51what kind of sons they had,10:53and that's the seventy nations.10:55Afterwards, the Torah tells us that10:58the people got together and they wanted to build a tower.11:01And the Torah introduces it with the following words:11:04Vayehi kol haaretz safah achat. The whole land was one language,11:07which is they were united.11:08This is the first united nations of history.11:11There was some sort of—there was a great unity between all the Jewish people.11:14However, the Midrash says11:16that although the world was completely united together11:18and they all had one goal11:20to build this great tower,11:22still Abraham, Avinu, who was alive at the time,11:25did not want to take part of it,11:27and another person named Ashur,11:29who was part of it,11:31eventually pulled out,11:32and he also didn't take part of it.11:34So the Torah tells us that they were all united,11:35talking about all the seventy nations originally,11:39and they wanted to build this great11:40tower. This great tower, they wanted it to start from the ground11:43and to reach all the way up to the skies.11:44And the question is why?11:45Why did they want to build such a tower?11:47We find a few reasons brought down by11:49Chazal, some also as well in the pasuk.11:51Number one is— To fight against Hashem,11:54they wanted to go up and to have a war against Hashem11:57in Shamayim. Number two is, they felt that, you know what,11:59why? God is going to punish us?12:02Hey, we'll make sure we take care of ourselves.12:03How did the flood happen?12:05The skies broke open and the waters fell down.12:07That was the scientific theory to the reason of the flood.12:11They said every 1,656 years, the world floods.12:16So we're going to make sure we put up supports that hold up the12:20sky. So therefore, we're going to build this great tower12:22to be as a support beam to hold up the12:25sky. Another reason that's given12:26is that they wanted to put an image of Avodah Zarah on top12:29with a sword facing up12:31to show as a sign that we're rebelling.12:33We don't want you.12:34We don't want God in our world.12:35We want it to stay up in12:36Shamayim. We want to take care of ourselves down here.12:39Whatever it was,12:41they clearly didn't have good intentions,12:42and therefore God says,12:43Let me come down and let me see with my own eyes what took place.12:46And the Torah teaches us God's humility,12:49that He convenes together with the angels12:52and He makes some sort of12:55Beit Din, and they decide that we're going to separate them.12:58The reason why they were able to become so13:00powerful, to build such a great tower,13:01because of their unity.13:02What united them13:04was the fact that they were able to speak Lashon HaKodesh.13:06They were able to speak the holy tongue,13:09the Hebrew language.13:11So Hashem took away the Hebrew language,13:13and they were all left with the languages that they knew,13:15which they didn't understand each other.13:17They knew themselves but didn't understand each other.13:19And from there, there was a confusion,13:21and the building was not able to be put up.13:23In fact, there was fighting amongst them,13:25and they were dispersed.13:26But that wasn't the only thing that happened to them.13:28The Midrash brings down13:30that, in13:31fact, many of the people that were involved13:33in the building of this great tower13:37started turning into weird creatures.13:39Some turned into monkeys,13:40some turned into elephants,13:43which is given as an explanation13:45why we make13:47brachah Mishaneh Briot specifically on monkeys and elephants,13:49and that's because these were people13:51who were humans at one time,13:53and Mishaneh Briot, they changed13:54into monkeys and elephants.13:56And in whatever case it was,13:58this was the punishment of the people.13:59Minua, to the tower itself,14:03what happened to the tower?14:05The tower, the Chachamim tell us,14:06a third of it was swallowed into the earth,14:08a third of it burnt,14:09and a third of it remained standing14:11for that period of time,14:13and that was the end of the14:16Dor Haflagah that was dispersed throughout the earth.14:17And now we move on to the final part14:18of this week's parashah,14:19this introduction to14:21Avraham Avinu. The Torah tells us in the beginning14:23the ten generations from Noach until14:25Avraham, and we can go through them very quickly.14:27Shem, and he lived 600 years.14:29Arpachshad, 438 years.14:31Shelah lived 433 years. Eber,14:33464 years.14:35Peleg lived 239 years.14:37Reu, 239 years.14:39Serug, 230 years.14:40Nachor, 148.14:42Terach, 205.14:42And finally14:43Avraham Avinu, which we know lived 175 years.14:45The Torah introduces us to14:47Avraham Avinu really as14:49Avram, and the Torah14:50just—if we won't look at the14:52Chachamim, we won't know what's going on in the parashah.14:53The Chachamim tell us14:54that there was a test14:56Avraham Avinu was tested by Ur14:58Kasdim, and there he was confronted by the king15:00of all the people15:01who was Nimrod at the time,15:02and he was told15:05either to bow down to Avodah Zarah or that he would be thrown into the fiery furnace.15:08And when Avraham Avinu said,15:09You can throw me in the furnace,15:10he was thrown for three days,15:12and he came out alive.15:14When Haran saw what's going on,15:15he said,15:16Oh, I'm also on Avraham Avinu's side,15:17and everybody said,15:18We're going to throw you also inside,15:19and he was thrown inside and he died,15:20and that's why the Torah tells us,15:23Vayamot Haran. Haran passed away.15:24Haran, who was the brother of15:26Avraham Avinu, passed away,15:27and therefore Avraham Avinu decides15:29that we're going to take care of Haran's children.15:31Haran had three children.15:33He had Lot.15:34He had Sarai15:35and15:37Milcah. Nahor and Avram were brothers.15:39Avram marries Sarai,15:40Nahor marries15:42Milcah, and Lot is adopted by15:44Avram, and they pick up their family15:45and they move on to Haran.15:48And that's how we finish the parasha.15:49We get to come to the last minute,15:51and we give the lesson of the15:53parasha. Torah tells us in15:55Parashat Haazinu, Binu sheno dor vador.15:57We have a command to understand.16:01Each generation. And hachamim say, which generation?16:03When it says dor16:04vador, hachamim explain16:05there's two generations, and they are the dor hamabul and dor16:08hapalaga, the generation of the flood and the generation of the dispersion.16:11Both mentioned in this week's parasha.16:13What are we to understand from them?16:15Why is it mentioned?16:16And the answer is,16:18most of the way we live today,16:20the way we live today,16:22we are affected by the sins that were caused by dor hamabul and dor16:26hapalaga. And some people will ask,16:29why should we suffer?16:30And the answer is,16:30that's what hachamim are telling us:16:32be careful how you treat yourself.16:34They were the beginning of the world,16:35and look how they ruined the world for everybody to come afterwards.16:38So too, we have to take care of our beginnings.16:41Just like their beginning,16:43they ruined it for themselves and for everybody later on,16:46so too, one has to be careful not to become like them,16:51that he should not ruin his beginnings.16:54A person has to know,16:55in everything that he begins,16:57he should make sure to take care of it,16:58especially from the beginning.17:00We are now in the beginning of a year,17:02and we should try to put our greatest effort17:04from the beginning17:05to make sure that this year should be a year of avodat Hashem, of service of Hashem,17:12and Torah and17:13mitzvot, and bezrat Hashem we'll have a very blessed year throughout the rest of the year.17:40Shabbat shalom.