Torah Stories By Hannah Parasha  Noah

Today’s story is about Noah, and it starts with the line of Noah – Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with G-d. – Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

The earth became corrupt before HaShem; the earth was filled with lawlessness.  When HaShem saw how corrupt the earth was, because all flesh had corrupted its ways on earth, HaShem said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with lawlessness because of them: I am about to destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make it and ark with compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch.  This is how you shall make it:  the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Make an opening for daylight in the ark, and terminate it within a cubit of the top. Put the entrance to the ark in its side; make it with bottom, second and third decks. 

For My part, I am about to bring the flood – waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh under the sky in which there is breath of life  -  everything on earth shall perish.  But I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark, with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives.  And of all that lives, of all flesh, you shall take two of each into the ark to keep alive with you; they shall be male and female. From birds of every kind, cattle of every kind, every kind of creeping thing on earth, two of each shall come to you to stay alive.  For your part, take of everything that is eaten and store it away, to serve as food for you and for them.”  Noah did so; just as G-d had commanded him, so he did.

Then HaShem said to Noah, “Go into the ark, with all your household, for you alone have I found righteous before Me in this generation.  Of every clean animal you shall take seven pairs, males and their mates, and of every animal that is not clean, two, a male and its mate; of the birds of the sky also, seven pairs, male and female, to keep seed alive upon all the earth.  For in seven days’ time I will make it rain upon the earth, forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out from the earth all existence that I created.  And Noah did just as HaShem had commanded him.

Noah was six hundred years old when the Flood came; waters upon the earth. Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the Flood. Of the clean animals, of the animals that are not clean, of the birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two of each, male and female, came to Noah into the ark, as HaShem had commanded Noah.  And on the seventh day the waters of the flood came upon the earth. 

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day

        All the fountains of the great deep burst apart,

        And the floodgates of the sky broke open.

The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.  That same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, went into the ark, with Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons – they and all beasts of every kind, all cattle of every kind, all creatures of every kind that creep on the earth, and all birds of every kind, every bird, every winged thing. They came to Noah into the ark, two each of all flesh in which there was breath of life. Thus they that entered comprised male and female of all flesh, as HaShem had commanded him. And HaShem shut him in.

The Flood continued forty days on the earth, and the waters increased and raised the ark so that it rose above the earth. The waters swelled and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark drifted upon the waters. When the waters had swelled much more upon the earth, all the highest mountains everywhere under the sky were covered.  Fifteen cubits higher did the waters swell, as the mountains were covered.  And all flesh that stirred on earth perished – birds, cattle, beasts and all the things that swarmed upon the earth, and all mankind.  All in whose nostrils was the merest breath of life, all that was on dry land, died.  All existence on earth was blotted out – man, cattle, creeping things, and birds of the sky; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

And when the waters had swelled on the earth one hundred and fifty days, HaShem remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and HaShem caused a wind to blow across the earth, and the waters went down.  The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were stopped up, and the rain from the sky was held back; the waters then receded steadily from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters reduced, so that in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountain of Ararat.  The waters went on reducing until the tenth month; and in the tenth month, on the first of the month, the mountains became visible.

At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out a raven; it went to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.  Then he sent out the dove to see whether the waters had decreased from the surface of the ground. But the dove could not find a resting place for its foot, and returned to the ark.  So Noah put out his hand, and took the dove into the ark with him.  He waited another seven days, and again sent out the dove from the ark.  The dove came back to him toward evening, and there in its beak was a plucked-off olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the waters had gone down on the earth. He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, and it did not return to him any more.

In the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the waters began to dry from the earth; and when Noah removed the covering of the ark, he saw that the surface of the ground was drying.  And in the second month, on the twenty seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

Then HaShem spoke to Noah saying: “Come out of the ark, together with your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives.  Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds, animals, and everything that creeps on the earth; and let them swarm on the earth and be fertile and increase on earth.  So Noah came out, together with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. Every animal, every creeping thing and every bird, everything that stirs on earth came out of the ark by families.

Then Noah built an altar to HaShem and, taking of every clean animal and of every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.  HaShem smelled the pleasing odour, and HaShem said to Himself: “Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done. 

                So long as the earth endures,

                Seedtime and harvest,

                Cold and heat,

                Summer and winter,

                Day and night

                Shall not cease.”

G-d blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fertile and increase, and fill the earth.  The fear and the dread of you shall be on all the beasts of the earth and on all the birds of the sky – everything with which the earth is alive – and on all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hand.  Every creature that lives shall be yours to eat; as with the green grasses, I give you all these.  You must not, however, eat meat with its life-blood in it, but for your own life-blood I will require a reckoning: I will require a reckoning for human life for every man for that of his fellow man!

                Whoever sheds the blood of man,

                By man shall his blood be shed;

                For in His image,

                Did G-d make man.

Be fertile, then, and increase; abound on the earth and increase on it.”

And G-d said to Noah and to his sons with him, “I now establish My covenant with you and your offspring to come, and with every living thing that is with you – birds, cattle, and every wild beast as well – all that have come out of the ark, every living thing on earth. I will maintain My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Then G-d said further, “This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come. I have set My rainbow on the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the Earth.  When I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature among all flesh, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between G-d and all living creatures, all flesh that is on earth.  That.” G-d said to Noah, “shall be the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and all flesh that is on earth.”

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth – Ham being the father of Canaan.  These were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole world branched out. 

Noah, the tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard.  He drank of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself inside his tent.  Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his brothers outside.  But Shem and Japheth took a cloth, placed it against both their backs and, walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. When Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his younger son had done to him, he said,

        “Cursed be Canaan;

        The lowest of slaves

        Shall he be to his brothers.”

And he said:

        “Blessed be HaShem,

        The G-d of Shem;

        Let Canaan be a slave to them.

        May G-d enlarge Japheth,

        And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;

        And let Canaan be a slave to them.”

Noah lived after the flood for 350 years. All the days of Noah came to 950 years; then he died.

(Before you read this section, please make sure you understand what the words “descendant” and “ancestor” mean.)

These are the lines of Shem, Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah: sons were born to them after the Flood.

The descendants of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.  The descendants of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. The descendants of Javan: Elishah and Tarshish, the Kittim and the Dodanim.  From these the maritime nations branched out.  These are the descendants of Japheth by their lands – each with its language – their clans and all their nations.

The descendants of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan. The descendants of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants OF Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

Cush also produced Nimrod, who was the first great man on earth. He was a mighty hunter by the grace of HaShem; hence the saying, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter by the grace of HaShem.” The mainstays of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. From that land Asshur went forth and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah, that is the great city.

And Mizraim produced the Ludin, the Annim, the Lehabim, the Naphruhim, the Pathrusim, the Casluhim, and the Caphtorim, from where the Philistines came.

Canaan produced Sidon, his first-born and Heth; and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites spread out. (The original Canaanite territory extended from Sidon as far as Gerar near Gaza, and as far as Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, near Lasha.) These are the descendants of Ham, according to their clans and languages, by their lands and nations.

Sons were also born to Shem, Ancestor of all the descendants of Eber and older brother of Japheth. The descendants of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. The descendants of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Arpachshad produced Shelah, and Shelah produced Eber. Two sons were born to Eber: the name of the first was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and the name of his brother was Joktan.  Joktan produced Almodad, Sheleph, Hazamaveth, Jerah, Hadoran, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the descendants of Joktan.  Their towns and farms extended from Mesha as far as Sephar, the hill country to the east.  These are the descendants of Shem according to their clans and languages, by their lands, according to their nations. 

These are the groupings of Noah’s descendants, according to their origins, by their nations; and from these the nations branched out over the earth after the Flood.

Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words.  And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard.” – Brick served them as stone, and bitumen served them as mortar. – And they said; “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world.”  HaShem came down to look at the city and tower that man had built, and HaShem said: “If, as one people and one language for all, this is how they have begun to act, then nothing that they may propose to do will be out of their reach. Let us, then, go down and confound their speech there, so that they shall not understand one another’s speech.”  Thus HaShem scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel, because there HaShem had confused the speech of the whole earth, and from there HaShem scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

This is the line of Shem. Shem was 100 years old when he produced Arpachshad, two years after the flood.  After the birth of Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and produced sons and daughters.

When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he produced Shelah. After the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and produced sons and daughters.

When Shelah had lived 30 years, he produced Eber. After the birth of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and produced sons and daughters.

When Eber had lived 34 years, he produced Peleg. After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and produced sons and daughters.

When Peleg had lived 30 years, he produced Reu. After the birth of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and produced sons and daughters.

When Reu had lived 32 years, he produced Serug. After the birth of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and produced sons and daughters.

When Serug had lived 30 years, he produced Nahor. After the birth of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and produced sons and daughters.

When Nahor had lived 29 years, he produced Terah. After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and produced sons and daughters.

When Terah had lived 70 years, he produced Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Now this is the line of Terah: Terah produced Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran produced Lot. Haran died in the lifetime of his father Terah, in his homeland, Ur of the Chaldeans.  Abram and Nahor took for themselves wives, the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren, she had no child.

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans for the Land of Canaan: but when they had come as far as Haran, they settled there. Terah became 205 years old and he died in Haran.