PARSHA INSIGHTS Supporting Holy Books and JEWISH ECOLOGY Thoughts, Different Table

Shabbos Parshas Noach For the week ending 6 Cheshvan 5757 October 19, 1996 Vol. 4 No. 2

THE OHR SOMAYACH TORAH MAGAZINE ON THE INTERNET PARSHA INSIGHTS supporting holy books and JEWISH ECOLOGY thoughts, different table. Not THE TASTE OF FREEDOM And G-d saw the earth and metaphorically but in reality. Its The dove came back to him beholdO it was corrupted,H for all veryR essence is alteredN and uplifted. inE the evening andT behold, flesh had corrupted its way upon Such is the power given over to it had plucked an olive leaf the earth. (6:12) man: We can alter the very eco- with its beak. (8:11) The Rosh Yeshivas wife had to structure of the world. make a decision. Her dining room We can destroy the world by By bringing back a bitter olive suite was on its last legs. An inves- polluting it with immorality. Or we leaf in its mouth, it was as if the tigation was made. It would cost can raise ourselves and the world dove was saying to Noach Better almost exactly the same amount of with us to the heavens. that my food be bitter and from the money to repair the old suite as it Based on Mesillas Yesharim and Hand of the Holy One, Blessed be He, would to replace it with an identical a story heard from Rabbi Naftali Kaplan than sweet as honey, and from the new one. Obviously she would hand of man (Rashi). want to have a new suite, rather During its stay in the ark, the than an old one that had been When we think of ecology, dove had been obliged to rely on patched up, however good the we tend to think of our Noach for food in order to survive. repair... It brought back a bitter olive leaf Obviously. However, without a physical impact on Nature. which it would not normally eat moments hesitation she decided to However, our spirituality and to express an idea that our Sages have the old suite repaired. One of our morality also impact teach: The most bitter food eaten the talmidim asked her why she did- in freedom is sweeter that the nt prefer to have a new suite. the ecosphere. sweetest food eaten in captivity. She replied: Around this table Rabbi S.R. Hirsch sat many of the great Torah sages of ROGENY OF OVE Europe at one time or another. P L HAT SINA ORD When they came to Baltimore, they These are the offspring of W W Then Hashem said to Noach, would always stay with us. It was at Noach Noach was Come into the ark, you and this table that Reb Chaim Ozer a righteous man. (6:9) all your household... (7:1) learned Torah, that Reb Boruch Ber The word in Hebrew for ark is ate gefilte fish on Shabbos. It was on The essential offspring of a per- Teiva, which also means word. this chair that Reb Elchonon son are his righteous acts. Throughout the history of the Wasserman sat... Just as a person nurtures and Jewish People, both in times of When we think of ecology, we cares for his offspring, sparing no oppression and assimilation, our tend to think of our physical impact love or effort to perfect them, like- only refuge has been to Come into on Nature. However, our spiritual- wise one should behave toward the Teiva; to come into the word. ity and our morality also impact the ones good deeds. One should lav- That word is the word of prayer ecosphere. ish love to perfect even the least uttered from a contrite heart; that Two identical tables come off the promising of them, as one would do word is the word of the Torah, factory assembly line. One table with ones children, for no-one con- which has proved itself to be a finds its way to a bar. One to a siders even the least of ones chil- Noahs ark for all our household Yeshiva. The table in the bar is not dren insignificant. throughout all of history. the same table as the one in the Yeshiva. The table in the Yeshiva, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein Baal Shem Tov

1 ASK the RABBI

Dear Rabbi, tion. The RAVEN is specifically STRIPES FOREVER Why dont cotton tzitzit have identified in the story of Noah as stripes? the first bird that Noah sends out in Aaron Goldman search of land. The Raven is also Dear Aaron, Saul, and Ruth, given special prominence in the wrote: dietary laws concerning which birds The stripes on the tallit remind us are clean and which are not. Is I enjoy your postings immensely. of the strand of techelet once worn there a special significance and Could you please tell me the reason as part of the tzitzit. symbolism connected to the raven? for stripes on a tallit ? I Imagine Techelet is sky-blue wool. It is that not having them would not dis- dyed with a special dye made from Dear Kalman Estrin, qualify the tallit but how did the the blood of a fish/snail called the chi- Noah sent the raven to find out black stripes come about? I know lazon. The Torah says that if we wear the state of the world. Since the that the Sefardim have white a four-cornered garment, we should raven is a bird of prey, it would return stripes on their Tallit and mod- put strings on the corners, and one of with carrion of man or beast if the ern ones have different colors. But these strings should be a strand of water had abated to that degree. The I am interested in the traditional techelet. raven failed, however, flying back and ones. Thank you very much. Over the centuries, the exact forth time after time. identity of the chilazon became for- Why did Noah send a raven Saul gotten. Hence, the strand of techelet specifically? According to the Talmud, wrote: became a mitzva we are unable to ful- Hashem forbade procreation on the fill (according to most authorities). Ark, but the raven violated this prohi- Heres a poser: The idea behind tzitzit is that they bition. Therefore, Noah reasoned Why do taleisim have stripes? serve as a reminder. Like royal sub- that of all the birds, the raven was the Regards jects who wear special insignias to safest one to send out on this danger- symbolize their loyalty to the king, we ous mission. That way, if the raven Ruth Marcus from Hyde Park wear tzitzit to remind us of our duty didnt survive it wouldnt mean the wrote: to Hashem and His commandments. extinction of its species. The beautiful blue reminds us of the Also, the ancients considered the sky, which in turn inspires us to pon- raven a portent of the future. They der Hashems greatness. Now that would build special cages where the we no longer have techelet, we have priests would study the motions and the stripe on the tallit to remind us of flying formations of the ravens. They THE OOHR SOMAYACHH TORAHR MAGAZINEN EON THE INTERNETT the techelet. interpreted these movements as div- Published by Some people used to have a blue inations of the future. In this sense, OHR SOMAYACH TANENBAUM COLLEGE stripe. I dont know why ours is black. the ravens mission was successful, POB 18103, Jerusalem 91180, Israel It makes sense that only a woolen since Noah could discern from the General Editor: Rabbi Moshe Newman tallit has stripes, since techelet is ravens flying patterns something Editorial & Web Advisor: Rabbi Reuven Lauffer Web Production: Lev Seltzer - Michael Treblow made from wool. about the future. Contributing Editors: According to some authorities, Also, the raven reminds us of Weekly Daf, Sing My Soul: Rav Mendel Weinbach the tallit should be the same color as Hashems kindness to even the most Ask the Rabbi: the tzitzit white. That would helpless of creatures. How? Ravens Rabbi Moshe Lazerus, Rabbi Avrohom Lefkowitz, explain the Sefardic custom to have are cruel to their young, leaving them Rabbi Reuven Subar Insights, Overview, Haftorah: white stripes. to die of starvation. But Hashem has Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair mercy on them, and provides them Produced and Designed by the Sources: with insects to eat. Thus, sending Office of Information and Communication Rabbi Eliezer Shapiro, Director Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 9:4 the raven may have been Noahs © 1996 OHR SOMAYACH INSTITUTIONS - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Pri Megadim, Mishbetzot Zahav 9:6 way of asking Hashem Please pro- PRINTED IN ISRAEL AT OLD CITY PRESS 02-651-1529 Taamei Haminhagim 15 vide for us, just as you provide for THIS PUBLICATION CONTAINS WORDS OF TORAH. PLEASE TREAT IT WITH DUE RESPECT. the poor helpless young ravens.

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2 Parsha Q&A ? 1. What are the offspring of righteous people? 13. How many seasons are mentioned in the Torah? 2. How did Man corrupt the Earth? 14. What was permitted to Noach that was forbid- 3. What sin sealed the fate of the Flood Generation? den to Adam? What exceptions are there to this 4. Why did Hashem tell Noach to build an ark, permission? instead of saving him some other way? 15. Why does the command to be fruitful and mul- 5. How was the Arks roof shaped? Why? tiply follow directly after the prohibition of 6. Why did Hashem postpone bringing the Flood murder? for seven days? 16. With which mitzvah were Shems descendants 7. How high did the waters of the Flood rise? rewarded, due to his act of covering his father? 8. Which creatures escaped the Flood without the 17. Why does the Torah call Nimrod a mighty aid of the Ark? hunter? 9. After the flood, some of the springs were left 18. Why did Ashur leave the land of Shinar? opened. Which? 19. Why was the punishment for building the Tower 10. What did the olive branch symbolize? of Babel less severe than the punishment of the 11. How long did the punishment of the Flood last? Flood generation? 12. A solar year is how many days longer than a lunar 20. Why was Sarah called Yiscah? year?

BONUS QUESTION? Verse 11:1 says The whole earth had one language.... Previous verses, however, indicate there were already different languages (e.g., 10:31). How can this be?

I DIDNT KNOW THAT! The Rainbow symbolizes the idea that the world deserves destruction, but Hashem holds back due to His promise to Noach. The rainbows shape hints to this idea, since it is like an archers bow. This symbolizes that the world deserves to be devastated as though by an armed warrior. However, the bow of the rainbow points upwards, away from the earth. This is as though the archer is pointing the bow away from his victim, symbolizing that Hashem will not destroy the world.

YIDDLE RIDDLE On Tisha BAv morning, everyone sits on the floor as a sign of mourning. However, one person in every syn- agogue publicly sits down on a chair. Who is this person?

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3 Insights, explanations and comments for the seven pages of Talmud studied in the course of the worldwide Daf Yomi cycle.

CHULLIN 54 - 60 Weekly Daf issue is a possible violation of the ity of this experiment. Perhaps the ACCENTUATING THE Torah ban on eating treifa meat the king was with them and gave the exe- POSITIVE AND ELIMINATING outcry is How long will you cause cution order? Or perhaps there was Jews to eat treifa? a standing order to execute all THE NEGATIVE Chullin 56a deceivers? Or maybe the king had A fowl which has been bitten on died and until a new one was appoint- the head by a small animal is likely to ed the anarchy of mob rule prevailed? have its brain punctured and ren- EXPERIMENTATION OR This challenger concludes that there dered a treifa. There are tests which is no scientific way to establish that can be made to determine whether INSPIRATION? ants have no king and Solomon knew this indeed happened. Passing a nee- this only because of Divine inspira- dle over the skull to see if it will get Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta was tion. caught in a hole is a more precise known as a great experimenter. One But it is Rabbi Shimons interest in manner of examination than an alter- of his experiments focused on King scientifically demonstrating Solomons native suggested by one of the sages, Solomons description (Mishlei 6:7) of knowledge of ant society which raises but it runs the risk of sometimes cre- the ant as an industrious creature a problem. There is a story told (Bava ating a hole which did not exist preparing its provisions for the win- Basra 75a) of a student who snickered before. ter, despite the fact that it has no ruler skeptically when he heard Rabbi How long will you destroy the to discipline and direct it. Yochanan relate a tradition that in the money of Jews? is the challenge How did Solomon know that the hereafter the gates of Jerusalem which is hurled at the champion of the ants have no king? wondered the would be formed from massive slabs needle test. sage. of rare precious jewels. On a sea How long will you cause Jews to journey, this student had a vision of eat treifa meat? is the response of Enraged by what angels sawing away at massive slabs of the stringent examiner. such jewels, and heard from them This dialogue echoes the debate they assumed that they were preparing the future (Chullin 49b) between the sage Rava had been a gates of Jerusalem. When he and Rabbi Papa concerning the status deliberate deception, returned to Rabbi Yochanan and of an animal whose intestinal punc- reported his confirmation of what the ture had been sealed by forbidden fat. the ants pounced master had taught, he received a While Rava raises the issue of concern upon the suspected sharp rebuke: for Jewish money, Rabbi Papa coun- liar and killed him. Worthless one! Had you not ters with the concern for not violating seen it for yourself you would have Torah law against eating treifa meat. The experiment he conducted not believed what I taught. You are In his commentary on the Talmud, was based on his knowledge that ants guilty of disrespect for the Sages! Rabbi Zvi Hirsh Chayos points out the will come out of their hole in large (The offending student was reduced difference between the stringent numbers only when there is shade. to a pile of bones!) position taken by the aforementioned He therefore spread a garment over Why was this students skepticism sages with disregard to Jewish an ant hole on a hot summer day. such a serious offense, and Rabbi money and the attitude we find in One ant appeared, and Rabbi Shimon Shimons passion for experimentation Mesechta Rosh Hashana and in marked him for further identification. legitimate? Mesechta Yoma of refraining from the This ant returned to his hole with a Rabbi Shimon, explains Tosefos, use of gold in adorning the shofar used report that there was shade, but never doubted the words of Solomon on fast days and the ballot box used in when the entire colony came out the as did the student of Rabbi Yochanan. drawing lots for scapegoat on Yom sage removed the garment, flooding He merely wished to establish Kippur on the grounds that the the area with sunlight. Enraged by whether his knowledge of ant society Torah had consideration for Jewish what they assumed had been a delib- was the product of natural human money. In Shulchan Aruch Orach erate deception, the ants pounced intelligence employing scientific Chaim 656 the ruling is that while a upon the suspected liar and killed experimentation or the supernatural Jew is obligated to sacrifice all his him. gift of Divine inspiration. While his money in order to avoid transgressing This is how Solomon knew the own conclusion was that Solomon a negative command, he is not oblig- ants have no ruler, concluded Rabbi had made an experiment similar to his ated to give up more than a fifth of his Shimon, for if they had a king they own, the challenges presented by the resources in order to fulfill a positive would have brought the offending ant other sage led to an opposing conclu- one. When it comes to the positive before him for judgment and not sion that it could only have been the performance involved in shofar and exercised mob rule. result of Divine inspiration. scapegoat lottery there is a consider- Another sage challenged the valid- ation for Jewish money. But when the Chullin 57b

4 P ARSHA OVERVIEW

t is now ten generations since the creation of the first Hashem vows never again to flood the entire world and man, Adam HaRishon. Adams descendants have cor- gives the rainbow as a sign of this covenant. Noach and his rupted the world with immorality, idolatry and rob- descendants are now permitted to eat meat, unlike Adam. bery, and Hashem resolves to bring a flood which will Hashem commands the Seven Universal Laws; the prohi- destroyII all the earths inhabitants except for Noach, the bitions against idolatry, adultery, theft, blasphemy, murder, sole righteous man of his era, his family and sufficient ani- eating the meat of a living animal, and the institution of a mals to re-populate the earth. Hashem instructs Noach to legal system. The worlds climate is established as we build an Ark in which to escape the Flood. After forty days know it today. Noach plants a vineyard and becomes and nights, the flood covers the entire earth, even the tops intoxicated from its produce. Ham, one of Noachs sons, of the highest mountains. After 150 days, the water begins delights in seeing his father drunk and uncovered. Shem to recede. On the 17th day of the 7th month, the Ark and Yafes, however, manage to cover their father without comes to rest on Mount Ararat. Noach sends forth first a looking at his nakedness, by walking backwards. For this raven and then a dove to ascertain if the waters have abat- incident, Ham is cursed to be a slave to slaves. The Torah ed. The dove returns. A week later, Noach again sends lists the offspring of Noachs three sons from whom the out the dove, which returns the same evening with an seventy nations of the world are descended. The Torah olive branch in its beak. After seven more days, Noach records the incident of the Tower of Bavel, which results once again sends forth the dove, which this time does not in Hashem fragmenting communication into many lan- return. Hashem then tells Noach and his family to leave guages and the dispersal of the nations throughout the the Ark. Noach brings offerings to Hashem from the ani- world. The Parsha concludes with the genealogy of Noach mals which were carried for this purpose in the Ark. to Avram.

HAFTORAH: ISAIAH 54:1-55:5

ust as in the Parsha this week, where Hashem promises never to bring another flood to destroy the world, so too the Haftorah carries Hashems promise never to exile the Jewish People after the redemption from the current Exile of Edom. JJ The Parsha depicts the terrible flood which destroys the earth and its myriad creatures at the decree of the Merciful G-d. It looks like the end, but it is, in reality, the beginning. Out of the ashes of a degenerate world sprouts the pure seed of Noach. Similarly, the destruction of the First Beis HaMikdash, and the dispersal of the Jewish People was like a flood, which superficially seemed like a total disaster. The Prophet tells that rather than being the ruin of the nation, in reality this was its preservation, and like a mother left lonely and grieving, Zion will be comforted when the galus (exile) has achieved its appointed task of purification, and her children return to her.

The revealed part of Torah is like water: Just as the JEWISH DIETETICS human body cannot exist without water, so the Jewish People cannot survive spiritually without the revealed Come all who are thirsty...go to the Torah. water...get wine and milk. (55:1) The secrets of the Torah are like wine: They must be Just as water, wine and milk keep best in plain inex- imbibed with care and are not equally tolerated by all. pensive containers, so Torah, which satisfies the thirst of all The Midrashim of the Torah are like milk and honey: who learn it, stays with one who is humble. They are sweet and nourishing, instilling love and fear of Hashem. Tiferes Zion

SING MY SOUL INSIGHTS INTO THE SHABBOS ZEMIROS

ASKINU SEUDASA DMEHEIMENUSA This is consistent with the idea sug- Festivals the rule is that we divide the I PREPARE A FEAST OF FAITH... gested by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of day Half for Hashem and half for Berditchev in regard to the Torah pas- yourselves. In regard to Shabbos, The Shabbos meal is indeed a feast sage: You shall observe the Shabbos however, even the eating and drinking of faith, says the Sfas Emes, because because it is sacred for yourselves which is for yourselves is also con- the very eating is a source of nourish- (Shmos 31:14). In regard to the sidered sacred. ment for a Jews faith in Hashem.

5 Parsha Q&A Answers to this Weeks Questions! All references are to the verses and Rashis commentary unless otherwise stated.

1. 6:9 - Their good deeds. 9. 8:2 - The useful ones, such as ensnare the minds of people, 2. 6:1 - Through promiscuity and the hot springs of Tiberias. convincing them to rebel idolatry. 10. 8:11 - That its better to eat against Hashem. 3. 6:13 - Theft. food bitter like an olive 18. 10:11 - He saw his children 4. 6:14 - So people would see which comes directly from were being influenced by the him building the ark, find out Hashem, rather than sweet wicked Nimrod. about the impending flood, food provided by humans. 19. 11:9 - Because the people in and possibly repent. 11. 8:14 - A full solar year. the time of the Tower of Babel 5. 6:15 - The roof slanted down- 12. 8:14 - Eleven days. were unified, they acted with ward from the middle, so that 13. 8:22 - Six. love and friendship towards water would run off on both 14. 9:3,4 - Eating meat, except for one another. sides. limbs or blood taken from a 20. 11:29 - The word yiscah is 6. 7:4 - To allow seven days to live animal. related to the Hebrew word mourn the death of 15. 9:7 - To equate one who to see. Sarah was called Mesushelach. abstains from having children Yiscah because she could see 7. 7:20 - Fifteen amos above the to one who commits murder. the future via prophecy. Also, mountain tops. 16. 9:23 - The mitzva of tzitzis. because of her beauty, every- 8. 7:22 - The fish. 17. 10:9 - He used words to one would gaze at her.

BONUS ANSWER!

Everyone knew the original language, Lashon Hakodesh. In addition, various families began developing different languages. Hashem mixed up their languages at the Tower of Babel by causing them to forget Lashon Hakodesh. Malbim