Noah: Changing Times

     Although the primary story of Noach is told in Parashat Noach, he is introduced already earlier, towards the end of Parashat Bereishit. There we read that upon Noach’s birth, his father, Lemekh, declared, “This one shall bring us solace from our work and hard labor, from the earth that the Lord had cursed” (5:29).  As explained in the Midrashim and classic commentaries, in Noach’s lifetime new machinery was developed to ease the agricultural process, thus marking the first stage of improvement since God cursed the ground as punishment for Adam’s sin.  According to the Midrash Tanchuma, with Noach’s birth the land itself became friendlier and easier to till.

            There is some discussion as to how Lemekh knew all this would occur during his son’s lifetime already at the time of his birth.  The Radak cites a Midrashic source claiming that Lemekh was endowed with prophetic powers; according to others, there were certain indications at Noach’s birth that the world was about to enter a kindlier phase.  (See Torah Sheleima, chapter 5, note 80.)  In any event, Noach clearly represented to his generation the dawn of a new era in human history; he was looked upon as a symbol of hope for a brighter future, for the end of the curse brought upon mankind, and for perhaps some sort of return to the primordial paradise of pre-sin man.

            There is, of course, bitter irony in this symbolic role served by young Noach.  As an older man, he heralded doom and destruction. While his contemporaries looked to Noach as a symbol of a better world, he turned around and predicted the end of the world.  The man who represented hope and prosperity thus became the symbol of destruction and despair.  This perspective perhaps sheds some light on the Midrashic descriptions of the mockery and scorn to which Noach was subjected as he proceeded to construct the ark.  Noach’s contemporaries perhaps not merely scoffed at Noach, but resented him, as well.  They saw his prophecies of doom as a betrayal of everything he had represented and all the hope and promise he brought with him into the world.

            A simple but meaningful lesson perhaps emerges from this story of Noach: the importance of adjusting to sudden changes in direction.  Try as we may to chart the precise route of our lives, Providence has its way of interfering with our plans and pointing us in a much different direction.  Noach rose to the challenge heroically.  Despite his and his contemporaries’ aspirations for a better, more promising world, he nevertheless accepted the divine decree and his new role as the harbinger of catastrophe, rather than the symbol of hope.  Similarly, we are often called upon to shift gears and adapt to a much different reality and role than what we had previously envisioned.  The lesson of Noach, perhaps, is to accept changes in fate and be prepared, when necessary, to reroute our lives to meet the new challenges ahead.

     Although the primary story of Noach is told in Parashat Noach, he is introduced already earlier, towards the end of Parashat Bereishit. There we read that upon Noach’s birth, his father, Lemekh, declared, “This one shall bring us solace from our work and hard labor, from the earth that the Lord had cursed” (5:29).  As explained in the Midrashim and classic commentaries, in Noach’s lifetime new machinery was developed to ease the agricultural process, thus marking the first stage of improvement since God cursed the ground as punishment for Adam’s sin.  According to the Midrash Tanchuma, with Noach’s birth the land itself became friendlier and easier to till.

            There is some discussion as to how Lemekh knew all this would occur during his son’s lifetime already at the time of his birth.  The Radak cites a Midrashic source claiming that Lemekh was endowed with prophetic powers; according to others, there were certain indications at Noach’s birth that the world was about to enter a kindlier phase.  (See Torah Sheleima, chapter 5, note 80.)  In any event, Noach clearly represented to his generation the dawn of a new era in human history; he was looked upon as a symbol of hope for a brighter future, for the end of the curse brought upon mankind, and for perhaps some sort of return to the primordial paradise of pre-sin man.

            There is, of course, bitter irony in this symbolic role served by young Noach.  As an older man, he heralded doom and destruction. While his contemporaries looked to Noach as a symbol of a better world, he turned around and predicted the end of the world.  The man who represented hope and prosperity thus became the symbol of destruction and despair.  This perspective perhaps sheds some light on the Midrashic descriptions of the mockery and scorn to which Noach was subjected as he proceeded to construct the ark.  Noach’s contemporaries perhaps not merely scoffed at Noach, but resented him, as well.  They saw his prophecies of doom as a betrayal of everything he had represented and all the hope and promise he brought with him into the world.

            A simple but meaningful lesson perhaps emerges from this story of Noach: the importance of adjusting to sudden changes in direction.  Try as we may to chart the precise route of our lives, Providence has its way of interfering with our plans and pointing us in a much different direction.  Noach rose to the challenge heroically.  Despite his and his contemporaries’ aspirations for a better, more promising world, he nevertheless accepted the divine decree and his new role as the harbinger of catastrophe, rather than the symbol of hope.  Similarly, we are often called upon to shift gears and adapt to a much different reality and role than what we had previously envisioned.  The lesson of Noach, perhaps, is to accept changes in fate and be prepared, when necessary, to reroute our lives to meet the new challenges ahead.