Our Rabbis
[1] have noted that there are 53 Torah portions in the yearly cycle.
[2]
53 is also the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word GAN, meaning "garden."
Hence the name of our series which intends to share the insights of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Shlit a regarding the names of the weekly Torah portions.
A garden is a place for a person to relax, luxuriate, and take pleasure.
So too, the study of the Torah endows its students with delight and pleasure: the intellectual pleasure of understanding an insightful concept, and the spiritual pleasure of est ablishing a bond with G-d.
The Book of Proverbs [3] reveals a further dimension, stating "I (the Torah) was His delight daily... playing with the universe, His world; My delight is with men."
The Torah is in essence G-d's delight. In His kindness, He has granted it to man. And when a man takes pleasure in the Torah, the Torah delights in him. [4]
May our study of the Rebbe's teachings arouse Divine blessings for his complete and speedy recovery, and may he lead us to the Redemption in the most immediate future.
13 Tishrei, 5754
Notes:
- (Back to text) Zohar II, p. 206b.
- (Back to text) A calculation reveals actually 54 parshiyot. This discrepancy is resolved because Nitzavim and Vayeilech are considered as two elements of a single parshah. See Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 19, p. 298.
- (Back to text) 8:30-31.
- (Back to text) Radak on this verse.
Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XX, p. 285ff, Vol. XXV, p. 23ff
The Maggid of Mezritch would interpret
[1] our Sages' statement:
[2] "Know what is above you," as follows:
"Know that everything above" - all that transpires in the spiritual realms - is "from you," dependent on your conduct. Each of us has the potential t o influence even the most elevated spiritual realms. The Torah alludes to this potential in the opening verse of our Torah reading,[3] "These are the chronicles of Noach. Noach was a righteous man."
Noach refers to satisfaction and repose.[4]
By repeating his name, the Torah implies that Noach - and by extension, every one of his descendants - can spread these qualities in two spheres: among his fellow men, and also in the spiritual worlds above.
Every person affects his environment.
We can promote peace and tranquillity among our fellow men, creating a setting that prompts meaningful pleasure. And by establishing such a setting in our world, we generate similar qualities in the spiritual worlds above.
To highlight our responsibility to spread these virtues, this week’s Torah portion is called Noach. [5]
This name is, however, problematic for the portion as a whole does not reflect these qualities.
On the contrary, the majority of the portion concerns the story of the flood, and its conclusion relates the story of the Tower of Bavel.
These events - and the conduct of mankind which led to them - represent the direct opposite of the satisfaction and repose personified by Noach.
The resolution of this difficulty underscores the interrelation between the patterns G-d intends for our world and man's response to them.
Noach's birth was to begin a period of repose and satisfaction that would encompass the world at large.
Mankind had the choice to take an active part in that undertaking, but by and large, this option was not seized. Instead, each person went about his life, concerned with his own priorities, and indeed, only with himself - what another person felt or what was right did not matter. And as a result, [6] "The world was corrupt... and the land was filled with crime."
Then it started to rain.
On the verse, [7] "And it rained for forty days and forty nights on the land," our Sages commented: [8] "At the outset, the water descended [gently,] with mercy, so that if they would repent, they would be rains of blessing. Since they did not repent, it became a flood."
The flood waters were intended to be waters of blessing. For the blessing to be openly manifest, however, the people had to make themselves fit to receive G-d's influence, and therefore teshuvah - turning to G-d and improving their conduct - was necessary.
As the rain began to descend, they continued to ignore this opportunity, refusing to make such efforts.
Even after the people did not turn to G-d in teshuvah, the rains remained waters of blessing. [9] The flood purified the land.
The forty days of the flood resembled the forty seah of mikveh. [10]
Just as immersion in the mikveh is associated with reliving the act of creation, renewing vitality, [11] so too, the forty days of the flood brought about the dawning of a new age: "Noach saw a new world." [12]
Therefore, the waters of the flood are called "the waters of Noach," [13] because their intent - and their actual effect - was to bring rest and pleasure to the world.
Unfortunately, however, because of man's conduct, this positive intent required a form of expression that was coupled with destruction - "[The flood] obliterated all living creatures that had been on the face of the earth." [14]
A similar concept applies with regard to the sin of the Tower of Babel as reflected in our Sages' teaching,
[15] "There were ten generations from Noach to Avraham.... All those generations repeatedly angered Him, until Avraham our father came and received the reward of them all."
The generations that preceded Avraham shared a kindred spirit and treated each other with love. [16] Nevertheless, since they "repeatedly angered G-d," their conduct did not reflect the repose and satisfaction G-d intended for mankind. Therefore, He punished them, scattering them throughout the earth.
Avraham performed deeds of kindness and hospitality. All of these deeds had a single thrust and purpose - to make all mankind conscious of G-d. [17]
Through his deeds, he communicated the desired forms of repose and satisfaction, and therefore, received the reward generated by all the comradely deeds of the generations which preceded him. [18]
Our Torah portion also foreshadows the ultimate state of repose and satisfaction to be reached in the era
[19] when "there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition, for good things will flow in abundance."
[20]
On the ark were lions, tigers, and other predators and yet, they dwelt in peace with other animals, anticipating the fulfillment of the prophecy, [21] "The wolf will dwell with lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat."
By manifesting these qualities in our conduct at present, we can precipitate the coming of that age. And then like Noach and his sons, we will merit the shining of the rainbow with brilliant colors. For the Zohar [22] states "The rainbow reflects the spiritual secrets.... When you see the rainbow shining with bright colors, wait for the Mashiach's coming."
Notes:
- (Back to text) Cited in Or HaTorah al Aggados Chazal, p. 112b, explained in Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XX, p. 331.
- (Back to text) Avos 2:1.
- (Back to text) Genesis 10:9.
- (Back to text) For the name Noach means "rest" in Hebrew and is associated with the word nachat which means "pleasure."
- (Back to text) Were the name to have been given merely because Noach is one of the first words of the Torah portion, this Torah portion should have been called Toldot for this word appears before Noach, and the subsequent Torah portion which is called Toldot, should have been named Yitzchak.
- (Back to text) Genesis 10:11.
- (Back to text) Genesis 7:10.
- (Back to text) Zohar Chadash 22a, quoted in Rashi's commentary on the verse.
- (Back to text) This is implied by the wording of the verse, "And it rained for forty days," i.e., the entire forty day period was intended to be one of "rains of blessing."
- (Back to text) Torah Or, Noach 8c.
- (Back to text) Sefer HaChinuch, Mitzvah 174, explains that just as initially, all creation emerged from a watery mass, so too, after immersion in a mikveh, a person becomes a new entity, charged with new spiritual vitality.
- (Back to text) Bereishis Rabbah 30:8.
- (Back to text) Isaiah 54:9, included in the Haftorah of Parshas Noach. The Haftorah expresses the fundamental intent of the Torah reading. It is often explained that the flood waters are called "the waters of Noach" to indicate that Noach bears a certain dimension of responsibility for the flood. For he did not undertake sufficient endeavors to reach out to the people of his generation and motivate them to teshuvah.
- (Back to text) Genesis 7:23.
- (Back to text) Avos 5:2. See the explanation in Likkutei Sichos, Vol III, p.753.
- (Back to text) Sanhedrin 109a.
- (Back to text) Sotah 10a ff.
- (Back to text) In contrast, as mentioned in the mishnah from Avos cited previously, Noach did not receive the reward for the generations which preceded him. There are two reasons for this: a) the conduct of these people did not generate reward for they did not show love to their fellow men; b) as mentioned in footnote 13, Noach did not reach out to his colleagues and endeavor to teach them as Avraham did.
- (Back to text) Sefer HaMaamarim, Eshaleich Liozna, p. 57. Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XXV, Parshas Noach, et al.
- (Back to text) Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Melachim 12:5.
- (Back to text) Isaiah 11:6.
- (Back to text) Vol. I, p. 72b.
Breishis - 5754