Shalom Friends;
Our Parshat Noach vort is being sponsored by Dov and Bracha Moses of Ramat Beit Shemesh who dedicate this vort Lilui Nishmas for Dov’s Father, Avraham ben Chaim Mordechai, z”l, Lilui Nishmas Dovid ben Shlomo, z”l, Lilui Nishmas Chaya Perel bat Chayim Mordechai, z”l, Refuah Sheima for Alta Leah bat Rivka, as well as dedicated for the safety of the Chayalim and the liberation of all hostages and their return home whole physically, mentally and spiritually as well as for the good health and security of kol Am Yisrael. To the Moses family, many thanks for your sponsorship and your continued kindnesses.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring (or as the case may be, co-sponsoring) a Parshat HaShevua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
skype: mark.burt3
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Torah lays the groundwork for our Parshat No’ach with the final p’sukim of Parshat Breish’t:
“And it came to pass when Man began to increase upon the ground and daughters were born to them, the sons of rulers saw that the daughters of man were good and they took themselves wives from whomever they chose. And Hashem said, ‘My spirit shall not contend evermore concerning Man since he is but flesh; his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.’ The Nephillim [giants] were on earth in those days — and also afterward when the sons of the rulers would consort with the daughters of man, who would bear to them…. Hashem saw that the wickedness of Man was great upon the earth, and that… the thoughts of his heart was but evil always. And Hashem reconsidered having made Man on earth, and He had heartfelt sadness.'” (Sefer Breish’t, Perek 6, posukim 1 – 6 as rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash)
In his sefer, “Today is Eternity,” Rabbi Dr. Yosef Gerber opens his vort on “The Flood and the Dispersion,” (pages 134 -135) :
In… the second millennium, the world became corrupt. [Note: Rabbi Dr. Gerber wrote: “In the second half of the second millennium,” whereas the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash (page 25) indicates that after Seth’s passing, people began to do evil.] Corrupt in the eyes of Hashem and filled with violence. When man is distanced from the Divine, greed and selfishness dominate. The corruption at the time of No’ach was universal; it even extended to the animal world. This was not a result of choice. Animals do not “choose” between right and wrong, they react to external stimuli in the way they are programmed by their Creator. …The corruption of man affected his whole environment. Just as the perfection of creation is the task of the human being, so to, is the opposite true. When man sins, the whole of creation is tainted.
The Ramchal explains that sin distances man from Hashem. When this happens. it is reflected throughout the environment and the power of evil is strengthened.
The effect of man’s deeds on creation and the concept of human responsibility is eloquently illustrated in a Zohar quoted by Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman z”l. Hashem declared, “Let us make man in our image.” Highlighting the use of the plural form, the Midrash explains that “our image” refers to Hashem and the angels [melachim]. However, the Zohar explains that the plural form is used to encompass the image of everything in creation. Man was created last, after all else had been created, and within man was reflected the essence of everything already in existence. Everything in this world depends on man.
Rabbi Goldin provides commentaries and perspectives in his sefer, “Unlocking the Torah Text,” sefer Breish’t regarding both the era leading up to the Mabul and the era of the Tower of Bavel (Migdal Bavel) as well as discussion regarding emphasis on societal priority vs the individual in our Parshat No’ach (pages 37-41) (Please note here that the words placed between brackets [ ] indicate this author’s additions to cited commentaries which are meant to make the commentary meaningful in our current days.) :
The Torah cites violent theft as the crime that seals the fate of the generation of the flood. The sin of the generation of dispersion, however, is not clearly defined in the text. What was wrong with building the Tower of Bavel? Why did Hashem feel compelled to destroy this second society as well?
Granted free will, civilization, in its infancy, stumbles and falls.
Early into our Parshat No’ach, Torah tells;
“Now the earth had become corrupt before Hashem; and the earth had become filled with robbery [hamas]. And Hashem saw the earth and behold it was corrupted, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon earth. Hashem said to No’ach, ‘The end of flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with robbery through them; and behold, I am about to destroy them from the earth. Make for yourself an Ark [Teva] of gopher wood; make the Ark with compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch.'” (Sefer Breish’t, Perek 6, posukim 11 -14 as rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash)
And so, in the Hebrew year 1656, “In the six hundredth year of No’ach’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month” (This author citing Sefer Breish’t, Perek 7, posuk 11 as rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash) the Great Flood (the Mabul) began to cover the earth destroying all life save No’ach, his family and the pairs of each type of animal.
Rabbi Goldin continues (sefer, “Unlocking the Torah Text,” sefer Breish’t, pages 37-41) :
The Torah apparently details the initial tragic missteps of man in order to ensure that we learn from the errors of the two earliest societies whose story it records.
What societal lesson, then, is the Torah conveying through the… story of the… generation of the Tower of Bavel?
Many suggest that the tower was built as a direct attack upon Hashem’s authority. (Rabbi Goldin citing Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 109a; Rashi on Sefer Breish’t, Perek 11, posuk 1) Others maintain that the sin of the generation lay in their attempt to stay together in one place as one people instead of populating the world in fulfillment of Hashem’s command. (Rabbi Goldin citing Rabbeinu Bachya on Sefer Breish’t, Perek 11, posuk 4; Ohr HaChaim on Sefer Breish’t, Perek 11, posuk 1) …Others suggest that the people of the time were simply trying to protect themselves… “remember[ing] the flood of No’ach’s time with fear…. [believing that once every 1656 years, Hashem would again visit destruction upon the world [Rashi in Sefer Breish’t, Perek 11, posuk 1], [fearing] a calamity similar to the flood of No’ach’s era. According to this interpretation, the builders of the tower ignored the moral lessons of the flood. (Rabbi Goldin citing Midrash Rabbah Breish’t 38:6; Rashi on on Sefer Breish’t, Perek 11, posuk 1)
One Midrashic interpretation is particularly telling… “Seven levels were created to the tower from the East and seven to the West. The bricks were brought up from one direction while the descent was from the other. If a man fell down and died during… construction, no attention was paid to him at all. If one brick fell, however, all would sit down and weep: ‘Woe to us! When will we find another to take its place.'” (Pirkei D’Rabi Eliezer 24)
This Midrash (based on hints in the text which describe the driving force behind creation of the tower as the desire to create a societal name) details a frightening civilization in which communal need takes total precedence over individual value. Those working on the tower of Bavel cared not at all about the lives of their neighbors. All that mattered was the creation of the tower and the society it represented.
The ultimate punishments inflicted by Hashem upon each of these generations perfectly fit their crimes. The generation of No’ach, which was marked by individual greed an corruption, could only be addressed through total destruction. None of the individuals, other than No’ach and his family, could remain. When it came to the builders of the Tower of Bavel, however, the problem was with the society, not the individuals. In this case, only the society is destroyed.
In each era, man struggles to strike a balance between two opposing forces, the needs of the individual and the needs of the community. Each of these forces, by definition, impinges upon the other. In order to maintain the rules necessary for communal governance, a society must, of necessity, place limits upon personal freedoms (one cannot, to cite the well-known example, scream fire in a crowded theatre with impunity [immune from punishment]). On the other hand, a society must limit the restrictions it places upon its citizens in order to allow for individual freedom of expression and action.
The particular balance that a society creates between these two forces determines the very nature of the society itself.
The difference between [what was] Communist Russia, [today’s] Communist China, [North Korea, etc] and the United States of America [as long-time Olim remember it pre-Biden/Harris and woke-ism] lay in the vastly different ways these… societies chose to strike this very balance.
Watching the world today, is mankind edging toward a collective kind of corruption via advanced technology (personal information, property ownership, etc. stolen out from under the individual), open national borders where illegal criminals and derelicts (noun: a person abandoned by society, especially a person without a permanent home and means of support; vagrant; bum) are permitted free passage into a country at the expense of that country’s citizenry, where human trafficking and fentanyl trafficking are rampant killing tens of thousands each year, where government national policies call for collective “equity,” as well as same-genderism (this author’s code word for glbtq+-, i.e. gender identity or orientation) and federal governmental mandated public education teaching gender-related subjects and compelling youth to choose their orientation over parental objections, “woke” anti-semitism and much more?
All of the above as the world moves toward a “New World Order,” i.e. One World Government where the nations of the world lose their individual national sovereignty — seeming a possible throw-back to the world collectivity of Tower of Bavel.
May we daven, with unsurpassed intensity and unity, for an end to these modern-day dual catastrophies and that Hashem, our Creator see that we, Am Yisrael merit that they not afflict us!
May it be that our Chayalim, regardless of the machinations of their high command, emerge totally victorious — eradicating from the face of the earth Hamas, their terrorist buddies and the so-called “innocent civilians” of Gaza who joined with Hamas in their murderous deeds, that the Chayalim return home whole — physically, mentally and spiritually and that the Chayalim Liberate and bring home all remaining hostages. And may we see the restoration of true unity within Am Yisrael.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually and may all of the remaining hostages brutally taken by the wild beasts of Hamas be liberated and brought home to their families. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his fourth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and continues in a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, as should the remains of the two chayalim from the Gaza War of ten years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we see, in 5785, the REAL Jews from the Ukraine and Russia as well as the US and Canada, the real Jews via matrilineal descent, make Aliyah enmass — via thorough review by Misrad HaPanim. And may we soon and finally see the total end to the Communist Chinese Wuhan Lab corona virus pandemic and all like viruses and variants. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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