Archive for ‘Noach’

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October 28, 2011

Agodes fun Mabl (Flood Legends)

by Digital Maggid

The Rescued from Outside the Ark

Among the animals that Gd ordered to be let into the ark came a buffalo that was born that day. Noach saw that his body was 44-and-a-half miles long and he couldn’t fit into the ark because he was too big. What was he to do? He drilled a hole in the wall of the ark and pulled his nose and horns through it and bound them to the ark. As the waters strengthened, the buffalo swam in the water and breathed through the hole in the ark.

Also, Og, King of Bashan, came to Noach and begged him to have mercy on him and let him enter the ark as well. Noach looked him over and was struck by his height. Noach thought to himself, “This giant has unnecessary fear. Surely the flood water will only reach his ankles and will do him no harm.” But since he had begged so intensely, Noach wanted him to swear not to cause any problems for his children as long as he lived. King Og agreed, so Noach allowed him to sit on one of the trees that was attached to the ark, and he opened up a window in the wall of the ark through which to give him food.

Noach brought into the ark a male and female of all living things — from the pure ones, seven, and from those that were not pure, two-by-two. When the flood descended, Noach blessed Gd and said: “Praised is Gd, who has given of his wisdom to those who fear Him; praised is He who has saved His Hasidim and kept them in the protection of His shadow, and who has bestowed his servant with understanding that he may speak to people and to all life from the beasts and animals to the creepy-crawlies and fish, so that all may know His power and His strength that fills the entire world.”

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October 28, 2011

Agodes fun Mabl (Flood Legends)

by Digital Maggid

Noach un der Dor fun Mabl, part III – נח און דער דור פון מבול

גאָט הא געזאגט צו נח: גיי און נעם אוועק די זינדיגע פון זייערע שלעכטע וועגן ארן וואָרן זיי, טאָמער וועל איך ברענגען אויף זיי א מבול און זיי וועל אומקומען פון די ערד.

Gd said to Noach: Go and take the sinners away from their bad ways and warn them, lest I bring upon them a flood and they perish from the earth.

איז נח געגאנגען צום צדיק מתושלך און האט אים גערציילט ג-ט’ס ווערטער. האבן זיי ביידע גערופן צו די זינדיגע מענטשן זיי זאלן אָפּלאָזן זייערע וועגן און וועלן נישט שטאָרבן, אבער זיי האבן זיי נישט געפאָלגט.

Noach went to the tsadik Metushelach and told him Gd’s words. They both told the sinful people that they should forsake their ways and not die, but they did not heed them.

ג-ט האט געגעהן פאר דעם דור פיהל גוטס און שפע-ברכה-והצלחה, זייער לעבן איז געווען אָן מיה און נויט, אָן ווייטאג און קראנקהייט, אָן פלאג און אָן אומגליק, אָן זאָרג און אָן יסורים.

Gd had  given much good to this generation and abundant blessing and fortune; life was without strife and hardship, without pain and sickness, without plague and calamity, without care and agony.

Once in 40 years did they sow and ate the fruit of the grain all 40 years, so great was its abundance. Because they had free time, they sat in repose all year long. Also, they went from one corner of the world to another in a very short time because they were giants and they were skillful and so powerfully strong that they could uproot cedar trees, and they wrestled with lions and tigers that attacked them.

זייערע פרויען האבן געבוירן זעקס קינדער מיט איינמאל, און די געבוירענע קינדער גלייך געגאנגען אויף זייער פיס און האבן גערעדט לשון-הקודש.

Their wives bore six children at a time, and the new-born children immediately stood on their feet and spoke the Holy Tongue.

But now of course, this generation, which had in no wise pleased Him,  and who all were accustomed to strongmen and heros and the great abundance the Lord had given them were nevertheless disobedient to Gd  and had corrupt ways, until the Holy One said:

פון הײַנט און ווייטער וועלן זיי מוזן באארבעטן די ערד יעגעס יאָר, זיי וועלן זייען און שניידן און וועלן מוזן מתפלל זיין צו מיר איך זאל זיי געבן צייטליכע רעגן.

From now on, they must cultivate the earth every year, they will sow and reap and they will have to pray to Me for seasonal rains.

[This is the end of this particular section, though the story line continues in subsequent sections.]

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October 27, 2011

Agodes fun Mabl (Flood Legends)

by Digital Maggid

Noah and the Generation of the Flood, part II- נח און דער דור פון מבול

Yet more good things happened when Noach was born: In the time of Lemech (Noach’s father), a famine came upon the earth; as (soon as) Noach was born, the famine and shortage on the earth ceased.

Noach grew up and followed in the path of his grandfather, Metushelach, and he was pious and upright with Gd. But all the people strayed from Gd’s path and did whatever their bad hearts desired, serving false gods and idols teaching the bad path, one to the next.

Because they lived frivolous lives, a depreciation of life occurred and they began to become idle-goers and wasters of time in emptiness and good-for-nothing-ness and satisfied their lusts with many sins. But the Holy One was patient and gracious and deferred his anger in case they should make tshuva, until their sins reached the point of blood-shame and filled the land with sorcery. Then Gd signed their sentence, that they would be erased from the earth.

A hundred years before the flood, when Noach was 498 years old, Hashem commanded him to take a wife. Noach took Na’amah and she bore him three sons: Shem, Cham, and Yefet. The Supernal gave Noach only three sons because He said: “If they turn out to be righteous, I will not impose upon him the burden of building the ark; and if they turn out to be wicked, I will not increase his sadness through the loss of more children in the flood.”

When Gd held back from bringing the flood upon the earth, He called Noach and said to him: “Only you have I found to be righteous in this here generation.” Gd’s angels came and asked, “What has Noach done to find favor in your eyes?” He answered them, “Come and see the difference between Noach and the previous (generations). When Seth’s son Enosh was born, he said that he should provide food for his father, and Enosh agreed to this, but when he wanted him to provide food for his grandfather, Adam, also, Enosh answered: ‘What do I have (to do) with him? My father is enough for me, I cannot take care of my grandfather also.’ And the same thing happened with Kenan and Mahalalel, Yered and Chanoch, Metushelach and Lemech. They did not hand out food except to their fathers alone. And when Noach came into the world and was told that he should provide food for his grandfather, he answered, ‘Tell me where to find all of my kinsmen and their elders, for I will given them food and maintain all of them and serve them all their lives.’” When the angels heard this they understood why Noach was pleasing in Gd’s eyes and they said, “There is no greater tzadik than Noach who does tsedaka and gives hospitality, let it be the will (of Gd) that his tsedaka saves him from death.”

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October 26, 2011

Agodes fun Mabl (Flood Legends)

by Digital Maggid

Noah and the Generation of the Flood, part I  — נח און דער דור פונעם מבול

Metushelach (Methuselah), son of Chanoch, followed the path of his father and did what was pleasing in the eyes of the Lord. At the same time, Metushelach took a wife for his son Lemech and they had a son. Metushelach called the baby Noach, although everyone else called him Menachem because they said: “If, during his time, the wicked turn away from their bad ways and return to Gd, Gd will restore and comfort them.” (Menachem means one who comforts.)

When Noach was born, salvation came upon the world. From fields was cut that which was sown, not like it was in the generation of Enosh, when the wheat that was sown very often grew out from thorns.

ווען נח איז געבוירן געווארן איז געקומען א ישועה אויף די וועלט. מ’האט געשניטן פון די פעלדער וואס מ’האט פארזייעט, נישט אזוי ווי ס’איז אינעם דור פון אנוש אז ווען מ’האט פארזייעט ווייץ פלעג זייער אָפט ארויס וואקסן דערנען

Until Noach was born, people’s fingers were joined together. When Noach was born, his elders saw that his fingers were separate and they were amazed.

ביז נח איז געבוירן געווארן זענען די פינגער פון די מענטשן באהאָפטן צוזאמען. ווען ח איז געבוירן געווארן האבן זיינע עלטערן געזען אז זיינע פינגער זענען אפגעטיילט און האנן זיך זייער געוואונדערט.

When Noach grew up and understood that his fingers were separate and not like everyone else’s, he pondered and thought: “If so, it is not for naught that Gd has created for me such hands, so I must hurry and do a task with them.” Noach started to make a plow and cutting tools for working the soil, which eased people’s work. But not only that: In his time, all the creatures were subjugated and did the will of the people just as they had listened and done the will of adam rishon (the first man). When adam rishon sinned, the creatures rebelled against him. The cows would not follow the plows and the planting beds did not do his will. Now, the people once again had dominion over all of them.

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October 25, 2011

The Raven and the Dove

by Digital Maggid

Noah was a big khokhem (sage) [Note to Reader: calling someone a khokhem can either mean they are wise or a fool, depending on the context. As this is the opening line of the story, we don't yet know which.] and he understood the speech of the creatures, the twittering of the birds, and the beckoning of the beast. Concerning this, when he wanted to know if the waters over the earth were decreasing, he went to rōb (orev, raven), thinking to himself: Raven is smarter than all the other birds, and knows the speech of the palms, so it is better to send him out of the ark and he’ll understand and know from the conversation of the trees whether the waters have lessened.

So Noah called the raven and said to him: “Fly out the window and see if the waters are lightening up.” The raven answered him: “I see that Gd hates me, for he has clearly commanded (you) to bring two of my kind, and now you want to kill me, for you have not just chosen to send me out, but when I encounter the Prince of Cold and the Prince of Heat, it will kill me and then there will be no more of my kind on the earth.” Noah replied: “Even if that did happen, the world would not mourn if you died, because you are a tamei (ritually impure) bird and you can’t be offered as a sacrifice nor can your flesh be eaten.”

The raven flew out from the ark and he looked and saw the body of a person hanging in a treetop. He immediately went to go eat the flesh from the body. Upon his return, Noah became angry with him and was disgusted with him and would not let him back into the ark. G-d called to Noah and said: “Let the raven back into the ark, for a long while from now I will use him; after 3,359 years, Elijah the Prophet will stop the heavens and there will be no rain. And when he will flee and hide from Ahab, I will send the ravens that they might feed him.”

Thereafter, Noah sent the dove and she returned to him, for she found no place to stand. He waited for seven days and for the second time sent the dove and then she flew to the Holy Land. The doors of the Garden of Eden were opened for her, she entered and saw wonderful fruits, spices and sweet fruits, and she took nothing but a bitter leaf from an olive tree, for with this she would prove to Noah that better a bitter food from Gd than a sweet food from the hand of man.

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October 23, 2011

Noach

by Digital Maggid

ב”ה

25 Tishrei, 5772 | כ״ה בתשרי תשע״ב

We are in Parshas Noach this week, through Shabbos.

However, I’ll be focusing primarily on the Agodes, the legends, from the Torah, concerning the creation stories. There will also be some commentaries on Noach sprinkled in, but the legends, I think, are quite interesting and far less explored, in general, than the Parshas themselves.
But please explore these resources:

Text of Parshah (Hebrew & English Linear Translation)
Text of Parshah with Rashi’s Commentary
Parshah in a Nutshell
Aliyot Summary

May Hashem bless all our work this week.

מיט זיין ברכה

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