Noach 5772

This week's parsha tells the well known story of Noach (Noah), the great flood that destroyed the earth, and the ark Noach built to save his family and the animals. The parsha begins: "These are the generations of Noach. Noach was a righteous man. He was perfect in his generations. Noach walked with G-d."

The world Noach was born into was so corrupt that G-d decided to destroy it. How did Noach manage to become a righteous man in such an environment?


Rabbi Shimon Felix attributes Noach's character to his father Lemech's foresight. Near the end of last week's parsha, Lemech names Noach, saying "This one will give us rest/comfort from our work/actions and from the toil/sorrow of our hands, from the earth which G-d has cursed." The Hebrew word for comfort and rest is nach, spelled the same way (without vowels) as Noach.

Rashi, Radak and other commentators see Lemech as a prophet, foreseeing a special role for his newborn son. According to them, the prophecy contained in the naming of Noach was that Noach would invent ploughs and farming implements that would help man deal with G-d's curse on the earth and ease man's workload. Ibn Ezra, in a different approach, says that Lemech prophesized that the flood would soon destroy the sinful world and that Noach would be its salvation.

Other commentators see Lemech's naming Noach as prayer rather than prophecy. S'forno writes: "[Lemech] prayed that he would bring comfort [to the world] from its [evil] actions." Rashbam notes that Noach was the first child born after the death of Adam. Lemech prayed that this new life would somehow change the sorry state of the world.

An interesting midrash tells that Noach was the first person born with opposable thumbs. Until his birth, mankind had not evolved sufficiently to make, hold, and use tools and, instead, dug the earth with paw-like hands. Perhaps Lemech saw something special in his newborn son's thumbs and appreciated this difference as something that could transform and improve the world.

All of these interpretations of Noach's naming share an important insight into parenting and parental expectations. Writes Rabbi Felix: "Lemech saw in his newborn child the possibility of greatness…Lemech saw in this new life, the engine for change, for possibility, for evolution, for salvation. And, by naming him Noach - comfort - he passed his vision, his hope for a better world, and his appreciation of Noach's ability to effect this change, on to his son…It may be that Noach grew to greatness, to stand above the rest of his generation and, literally, save the world, because he was Lemech's son, because he
was the child of a parent who imagined, prayed for, and saw in Noach the possibility of greatness, and who told Noach, by naming him, how he felt about him, and what he saw in him. This, perhaps, is how parents can try to encourage greatness in their children: by imagining it, believing it, seeing and celebrating it when it is there, and naming it."

Excerpted from the writings of Rabbi Shimon Felix, Executive Director Emeritus, Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel. Read the entire article at http://www.byfi.org/news/?q=node/34.