Today's date and time:

Sermon for Sidra Noach
October 2007
by Rabbi Geoffrey Hyman

Bershis boro Elokim es ho-shomayim ves ho-retz” - In the beginning G-d created the heaven and the earth. The very first words of the Torah and last week.s Sidra; what a beginning!!! But by the end of the Sidra: “Vayar Hashem ki rabboh roas ho-odom, boaretz; vechol yetzer machshevos lebo, rak ra kol hayom” - “And G-d saw that the evil of man was excessive on the earth, and that all day long the desires of his heart were for evil.” So G-d decided to wipe man off the face of the earth, but Noah found favour in the eyes of G-d and as we read in this sidra, he was saved from the mighty flood.

So from the great creation of the heaven and earth, to the formation of humanity - all was great. But by the end of Bershis - man is filled with evil - except one man - Noach!!! The only one worthy to be saved - how horrific!!! What a failure!!!

So Noach is to be saved and under G-d’s instruction he builds an ark - the Titanic of its day - that doesn’t sink. He goes off on a once in a lifetime world cruise - G-d even invites his family to join him, and of course all the animals are to go with. Apparently, he travelled first class - upper deck - some Rabbis say that his suite had a sea-facing window. Now that is an extra.

By the way isn’t it ironic that the Jewish Chronicle chose to publish its supplement on Kosher Cruises - for parshas Noach, rather off-putting isn’t it?

So here we have one man and his family - a man who found favour in the eyes of G-d, saved from the utter destruction of all civilization. How amazing to be the only one saved out of the entire world. Eventually the waters of the flood receded, the earth dried out, Noach and his family piled out of the Ark at the behest of G-d. They had been in the Ark a whole year, what an incredible experience. To be the only ones to survive - hand-picked by G-d Himself, magnificent.

So Noah gets out of the Ark - and what does he do? “Vayeven Noach mizbeach La-shem” - Noah builds an altar to G-d (he was obviously good at DIY!) - and brings offerings to the Almighty. G-d blesses him and his family. That is good.

But what happens next!!! In chapter 9 verse 20: “Va - yoch-el Noach ish ho-adomoh, vayita korem” - “ And Noach the man of the earth, began and planted a vineyard”. ....

He made wine, drank a bit too much and was found by his son Cham, rolling around in his home in somewhat a rather undignified way!!!

Some Rabbis took the word Vayochel not to mean he began but that he became profaned. So what happened to this great man singled out for his greatness as a Tzaddik bedorosov ? Now lying fallen on the ground - profaned - rolling around naked upon G-d’s earth?

Is this man and his fate? G-d created Adam and Eve and they fall and fail; the whole of humanity, and they fall and fail, and even the man chosen by G-d to be saved from the obliteration and to be the future progenitor of mankind falls and fails. So what hope is there for humanity? Were humans created to do only evil? Didn’t G-d originally see good in all his creation - va-yar Hashem ki tov. What happened to the yetzer hatov - the desire for a person to do good?

But look what happened next - after Cham who had furthered the disgrace of his father, told his brothers Shem and Yefes, about Noach, it was then Shem assisted by Yefes, who took a garment and taking it upon their shoulders, stepped into the tent backwards, to avoid seeing the shame of their father, and they covered up his dignity. Note the wording of the verse how they avoided seeing their father. It is here we see a change in the behavior of humanity - this is the turning point for mankind. Yes, their act may have only consisted of a few steps backwards, but for humanity it was a huge leap forward. This was humans not murdering and plundering, not committing acts of violence and immorality but showing respect, and behaving responsibly; displaying human dignity, sensitivity and kindness to their father. That was a whole new beginning in the chapter of humanity.

Ten generations after Noach, Abraham a descendant of Shem was born, and through him humanity was ultimately able to find the path to G-d, and no longer to be a lost cause. The human was more than capable of subduing the evil inclination that had reared its ugly head in the days of Adam and Eve - Man was truly capable of living in the image of G-d - “betzelem Elokim.”

As the Rabbis said: “Borosi yetzer hatov uvorosi yetzer hora, uvrosi Toroh tavlin”. I created the good and evil inclination but I also created the Torah as its remedy.

And that my friends is the powerful lesson of this weeks Sidra!!!