Printable PDF available here. Previous pieces on Parshat Noach are available here and here.

Based on Rav Kook (Olat Re’iah)

“And G-d said: “This is the sign of the covenant, which I am placing between Me and between you, and between every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations. My rainbow I have placed in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Myself and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I cause clouds to come upon the earth, that the rainbow will appear in the cloud. And I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and between you and between every living creature among all flesh, and the water will no longer become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will see it, to remember the everlasting covenant between G-d and between every living creature…” (Bereishit 9:12-16)

Generations of commentators have pondered the message of the rainbow in the wake of the Flood. How exactly does the rainbow express G-d’s covenant not to destroy the world? What is the meaning of its symbolism? Many answers have been offered, but the Torah always contains additional layers of meaning for us to uncover.  Let us note that the covenant is not described as the mere appearance of a rainbow. G-d declares that the rainbow will appear when He “cause[s] clouds to come upon the earth,” and “in the cloud.” As if this wasn’t enough, the last verse excerpted above mentions clouds a third time, declaring that “the rainbow shall be in the cloud.” Clearly, the clouds are an integral part of the rainbow’s symbolism.

To understand why, some basic science is in order. We perceive sunlight as white, but it really contains many different colors of lights that mix together. When sunlight shines through raindrops at a particular angle, it gets separated into its component colors. Those raindrops come from clouds, and so – generally speaking – rainbows don’t form without clouds.

Put simply, a rainbow is pure light refracted and divided into a multitude of hues and colors. This is a precise expression of the way that humanity’s spiritual task changed in the wake of the Flood. Prior to the Flood, the world was illuminated with a pure, undifferentiated Divine light. Serving G-d did not make specific demands of a person’s inner, emotional world, nor did it provide a framework for ethical conduct and behavior. It wasn’t that G-d considered these to be unimportant. Rather, He expected that man could achieve them on his own and didn’t need Divine guidance. The hope was that proper conduct and a refined inner world would emerge organically, from man’s total intellectual clarity and perception of Divine truth, from the pure Light that permeated every corner of existence.

But it was not to be. “And G-d saw the earth, and behold it had become corrupted, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth.” The pure Divine Light was too blinding for humanity to chart its path. The challenges and temptations of earthly reality were too great. Humanity stumbled and demonstrated that it was unable to attain ethical and holy conduct on its own. Pure intellectual awareness of G-d was insufficient. Even though people knew with clarity what G-d wanted of them, they simply could not implement it in practice.

Thus, in the wake of the Flood, G-d shifted to a new model for advancing humanity’s spiritual development. Instead of being pure and undifferentiated, the Divine Light would be refracted into a detailed spectrum of laws and rules. The realm of practical conduct and man’s emotional world be addressed, regulated and formed directly, by a Divine system of tamei and tahor, mutar and assur – a system that we know as Torah. Only through such a framework can humanity achieve the spiritual completeness desired by G-d, and traverse the path upward and onward, thus guaranteeing that G-d never needs to bring another Flood upon the world.

Food for Thought

Rav Joseph Soloveitchik (Abraham’s Journey, pg. 94): How does the rainbow symbolize the covenant between G-d and man that ensures humanity’s survival on earth? The rainbow appears because of the refraction and reflection of the rays of the sun in the droplets of water contained in the clouds. The arc of multicolored light in the midst of a dark cloud symbolizes the luminous endowment of a lowly, obscure, absurd creature like man that reflects the supranatural light emanated by the Creator. G-d stands opposite man, even as the sun is opposite the cloud. He makes man susceptible to the educational gesture and guarantees his eventual rise from a brutish existence to a redeemed life. G-d does not want to exterminate mankind and all the other living creatures, because in spite of his remoteness from G-d, man is capable of redeeming himself through a slow ascent to the Almighty.

Rav Aharon Lichtenstein: With its pervasive psychological realism, Halakhah has recognized that ordinary mortals need to be jogged out of their spiritual lethargy, and that unless they are prodded to specific action, many will be quite content to neglect the religious life completely. Habitual observance ingrains moral and religious sensibility into the very fiber of the personality. It strengthens the inner power of spirit and, at a deeper level, human emotion is profoundly affected by the very process of externalization . . . We should keep in mind, however, what we often tend to forget: the most legalistic ritualism is better than no worship whatever; and the individual who, within Halakhah, lapses into a formalistic rut, would very likely be bereft of religious awareness completely were he without it. At the very least, ritual establishes a floor for religion; at most, it leads man to the scaling — and holding — of the loftiest spiritual heights.

Eliezer Berkovits (G-d, Man and History): None of the extant theories of ethics are able to show that ethical obligation has its source in the essence of the good itself. Let us assume, for example, that hedonism is a logically valid theory. What law is there in reason to forbid a person to behave unreasonably and to act contrary to the pleasure principle? Reason may, of course, describe the consequences of such “foolish” action—but what if one does not care about the consequences? Or consider utilitarianism. Let it be granted that the greatest happiness of the greatest number is indeed the essence of goodness. How can it be proved that one ought to care about it, and that one should be morally condemned if one does not? It is not different with intuitive ethics either. Man may have some innate concepts of good and evil; he may even be able to entertain an intuitive appreciation that he ought to act in accordance with the standards of such an inborn ethical code. But since he is capable of disobeying his moral “instinct,” what is there in the intellectual grasp of those intuitive ideas that will obligate him to obey?…

We are thus left with the Socratic and Christian answers to the question of how goodness may be acquired by man. Neither of them, however, is supported by experience. Man may have ample knowledge of the good, yet more often than not he will act against his better insight. Moreover, the conduct in history of nations and societies, of classes and castes, provides us with a record of inhumanity that reduces to irrelevance the most sadistic crimes of individuals. In this respect, there seems to be little difference between ages of greater or lesser enlightenment; except that in times of greater intellectual advancement, as knowledge increases man grows in power proportionately and becomes correspondingly more dangerous. The evil done by the power that knowledge provides has always eclipsed the good done by the same power. Notwithstanding enlightenment, man seems to remain an essentially unethical being.

Prof. Jonathan Grossman (Creation: The Story of Beginnings): Among the various suggestions, one likely explanation is that the shape of the rainbow, its curve from the sky to the ground, represents the connection between heaven and earth, but the most widely accepted interpretation is that of Nahmanides… Nahmanides compares the rainbow to a bow and arrow. Not only does its shape recall the archers’ weapon of war… but it echoes the biblical notion that G-d fights by shooting arrows down from the heavens. Even if this is only true in a figurative sense, the rainbow can still be characterized as G-d’s weapon – turned backward as a symbol of truce.

Moreover, this sense of reconciliation is reflected not only through the bow’s shape, but through its sheath of cloud. The rainbow is never referred to as just a bow; throughout the covenant, it is always associated with clouds: “My bow I have given in the clouds …when I bring clouds over the earth and My bow is seen in the clouds …when the bow is in the clouds” (9:13—16). The cloud is a prevalent biblical symbol of covering and concealment, as in, for example, “The Presence of the Lord dwelled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud hid it for six days” (Ex. 24:16). Compare this to Ezekiel’s prophecy about Pharaoh: “I will cover the sky and darken its stars; I will cover the sun with clouds and the moon shall not give its light” (Ezek. 32:7). The symbol of the covenant is not just an upturned bow; it is a bow covered in cloud, sheathed, concealed, obscured. In the ancient Near East, bows were sometimes broken as rites of peace when forming a treaty, so that the image of a bow sheathed in cloud is an apt symbol of peace and reconciliation.

Questions for Discussion

1. Do you agree with Rav Kook’s claim that the generations before the Flood had the potential to be on an extremely high spiritual level? Why or why not?
2. See the quote from Rav Soloveitchik in “Food for Thought” above. How does his analysis fit with Rav Kook’s?
3. Why do people do things that they know are wrong?
4. See the quote from Rav Eliezer Berkovits in “Food for Thought” above. What do you think he means by the “Christian answer to the question of how goodness may be acquired by man.”
5. How do Torah and mitzvot help us develop ethically and create the kind of world that G-d desires?
6. How can the rainbow symbolize a new Divine covenant if it is a natural phenomenon?

Printable PDF available here.

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Based on Mussar Avicha, Chapter 2

And the Flood blotted out all beings upon the face of the earth… only Noach and those with him in the ark survived…And G-d remembered Noach and all the animals that were with him in the ark, and G-d caused a spirit to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided….And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noach opened the window of the ark that he had made, and sent forth the raven, and it went out, back and forth until the waters dried up off the earth…. And he sent forth the dove to see whether the waters had abated…

Every story in the Torah has eternal relevance and contains lessons for future generations. Sometimes, these lessons are relatively easy to find. At other times, it is challenging to extract them. One solution is to read certain stories allegorically, to insist that they aren’t intended to be taken literally. According to this approach, the straightforward meaning of the Torah isn’t always factually correct, and sometimes conceals a true, deeper meaning. Many great Torah figures (such as Maimonides) made use of allegory, but others of equal stature were uncomfortable with sacrificing the literal meaning of the Torah to uncover deeper truths.

It seems that these two approaches are polar opposites. Either the ‘inner’ meaning or the literal meaning of the Torah is true, but they cannot both be true simultaneously. However, Kabbalah offers a way out of this apparent contradiction. According to Kabbalah, G-d’s supervision of the world is structured and mediated through certain channels. These channels shape the path of the spiritual development of all humanity (much of which is described in Sefer Bereishit), but they also apply to the development of each individual soul. Understood in this light, the central narratives of Bereishit are not allegories, but expressions of a profound spiritual architecture – one that, once understood, can guide every individual to develop a deeper relationship with G-d.

According to R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (a.k.a. the Ramchal), Noach’s time in the ark contains many lessons in this regard. In the Ramchal’s commentary on a section of the Zohar known as Idra Rabba, he writes that Noach had to be sequestered away while the floodwaters destroyed the world. During this time of seclusion, the inner goodness of the world was re-established under Noach’s direction. As Noach fed and looked after the animals in his care, he renewed the world on a basis of kindness and purity. However, Noach was not meant to stay in the ark forever. G-d wanted the fullness of his spiritual talents to be applied to a post-mabul world as well.[1]Even so, Noach did not simply run out as soon as the earth looked dry, but used the raven and the dove as scouts. He did not disembark until it was clear to him that the world was safe for him to re-enter.[2]

A similar process applies to moral and spiritual growth. Although G-d created us yashar, with an innate yearning for holiness and a desire to live rightly, we can unthinkingly drift into self-centeredness and pursuit of pleasure. But simply deciding to change is not enough. Once the will and intellect become subjugated to the desires of the body, they lose their vigor and cannot be immediately rehabilitated. Thus, after going astray, a person must withdraw the various powers of his soul, his strengths and talents, and gather them in like lines radiating outward that are pulled back to their focal point. There is a pain that comes from this period of constraint, while the “furious waters” (lit. מים הזידונים) rage outside. The soul, which yearns for freedom and independence, must instead bear a delicate pain of inwardness and limitation.

But the period of retreat from the world is not meant as an ideal. G-d wants a person to express himself vigorously in the world of action, to allow his G-d-given talents to flower forth in holiness. G-d wants our powers to eventually leave ‘confinement,’ just as Noach eventually had to leave the ark. Eventually, one succeeds in rehabilitating his will, purifying his desires and refining his character. Now, all aspects of his personality can be allowed to express themselves in a healthy, natural way. Physical life is now more than just a challenge or a temptation. It is an opportunity to infuse everything with G-dliness, an invitation to shape the raw material of worldly living according to the Divine plan.

But in bringing this period of retreat to an end, we must proceed gradually. It is not prudent to throw oneself back into the world of action. We must be confident that our powers are truly ready to be set free. We need to ‘test the waters,’ like Noach did when he sent the raven and the dove to check whether the earth was dry. He did not send creatures that could be endangered by the floodwaters. Similarly, we must find opportunities to re-engage our powers in a calibrated and cautious way.

Like Noach, we may find that when we try to leave, matters are not yet rectified. We may have to draw our powers back inward and defer setting them free to some later time, like Noach did when he gathered the raven back into the ark. But eventually, the “land” will be completely dry. At that time, G-d will command each of us serve Him with the fulness of our talents and abilities, with an unfettered soul full of strength, courage and healthy vigor. Eventually, G-d will tell each of us, like he told Noach – “Leave the ark!”

[1]It seems that this did not go as intended. Noach appears to fall apart after the mabul, and we aren’t told about any of his accomplishments after leaving the ark.

[2]Ramchal writes that the same process happened many generations later with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, when he spent thirteen years hiding in a cave from the Romans. Ostensibly, this was just a pragmatic choice that he made to save his life (see Gemara Shabbat דף לג). However, Ramchal writes that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai needed this period of seclusion to purify and prepare himself for the inner light of kabbalistic teaching that would eventually be revealed to him.

Food for Thought

Rav Kook (as reported by Rabbi Dr. Benjamin Levin, Hamizrach 1903): Literature, painting, and sculpting are able to bring to fruition all the spiritual concepts engraved in the depths of the human spirit, and so long as one brush is missing, which is stored away in the depths of the spirit – which ponders and feels – but has not been realized, there is still an obligation on the purposeful worker to realize it. The matter is self-evident, that only regarding those treasuries, that when they are opened will sweeten the air of all existence, is it good and beautiful to open them. ‘From every utterance which came out of G-d’s mouth, the entire world was filled with fragrance’ (Gemara Shabbat 88b).

Zohar (Beha’alotkha 152a): Woe to the person who says that the Torah comes to give instructions and tell descriptive stories or simple tales. If this were true, even in our own time we would be able to make our own ‘Torah’ out of simple stories, and embellish them even better than the Torah’s stories… Of course this is not the case. Every word in the Torah reflects higher wisdom and higher secrets… The narratives of the Torah are only the ‘outer garments’ of the Torah. Whoever thinks that this outer clothing is in fact the Torah and there is nothing underneath is spiritually backward and has no portion in the World to Come. So it was that King David begged, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things in Your Torah.” (Tehillim 119:18)

This ‘body’ of Torah is dressed in stories from this world. The fools of this world only look at this outer clothing of stories. They don’t delve into what is contained beneath the outer shell. Those who know better gaze upon the body beneath the outer shell. The wise ones, servants of the Highest King, those who stood at Mount Sinai, see through to the soul of the Torah that is truly her essence…

Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch (The Nineteen Letters, Letter 4):From the slightest mental faculty… to the strength of your hand, with which you are able to bring about changes in Creation and to which the entire realm of nature and every being within your reach are subject – all of your capabilities are but tools lent to you, which will one day appear before the throne of G-d as witnesses for or against you, testifying whether you neglected them or used them well, whether you wrought blessing with them or curse.

Dr. Gregg Stern (TheTorah.com): Philosophic allegory is essential, according to Maimonides and his followers… who believe, for example, that no biblical reference to G-d’s body or G-d’s emotions may be understood literally. In such a case, the goal of the allegorist is to vitiate the surface meaning of the biblical text and allow its deeper philosophic meaning to shine forth. More frequently, however, the philosophic interpreter uses allegory to reveal, ever so carefully and selectively, the text’s inner meaning, without harming its superficial meaning. In this context, Maimonides refers to the biblical text as “an apple of gold, encased within a silver filigree.” This suggests that the text’s external meaning is only slightly less precious and should be preserved in the process of peering through its lattices.

Questions for Discussion

1. Is there a special talent or aptitude you have that could make the world a more G-dly place? What can you do to bring out the potential you have in that area?
2. Based on what happens later in the parshah, does it seem like Noach succeeds in re-entering the world in a proper way? Why or why not?
3. Does the dynamic Rav Kook describes apply only to individuals, or to the Jewish people as well? If the latter, do you think we’re living in a time of retreat from worldly concerns or re-engagement with them? Why?
4. How often does the cycle that Rav Kook describes occur? Is there a constant process of retreating and re-engaging?
5. What are the spiritual dangers presented by being overly engaged in the broader world? In being overly withdrawn from the broader world?
6. Based on the piece above, what do you think Rav Kook would say about young people in the Orthodox community feeling constrained in their career choices to law, medicine, finance, etc.?
7. How do Rav Kook’s insights apply to the process of someone becoming a ba’al teshuvah?

Translation – Midbar Shur, Parshat Noach

The Torah states that “Noach was a perfect tzaddik…Noach walked with Hashem.” [1] Chazal teach that Avraham was on a higher level, as the Torah describes him as walking in front of Hashem. [2] [3] This has to be more than just a play on words. What exactly do these terms signify?

We know that at the outset of Creation, Hashem intended man to achieve his purpose in a straightforward and established manner. Adam haRishon sinned and the order of creation changed. However, G-d’s supernal will did not desire an instantaneous repairof everything that had become broken. Rather, the process of rectification would proceed gradually. Humanity would ascend the ladder of perfection in stages (and sometimes descend to prepare the way for later ascents). Only at a later point in history would the highest level of perfection be reached, when “the entire world will be filled with knowledge of G-d” [4], when G-d will “transform all of the nations…to call out in the name of Lord and worship him of one accord.” [5]

In the interim, G-d, who “assigns measure to the spirit” [6], determines how much Divine inspiration manifests in each generation to spur humanity to its ultimate perfection. As Chazal teach, “Even ruach ha’kodesh rests on the prophets in precise measure (lit. במשקל).” [7] The same goes for every illumination of ruach ha’kodesh and Divine wisdom, regarding how much it is able to express itself and how much its effects are felt in a particular generation.

From the time of Adam’s sin until the Torah was given, humankind was in a lowly spiritual/educational state. The Torah’s light could not be revealed in its totality, but only according to what humanity was able to receive. Even so, the world still contains within it the potential for emerging to a higher state, at a time when it will be able to receive the fullness of the Torah’s light. It follows that there are two possible approaches to the path one charts for himself and others. One is to take measured steps, according to the appropriate spiritual level and situation of the moment in history, without striving to accelerate the world’s movement tothe highest spiritual perfection. The other is to raise yourself and your contemporaries to a level beyond what your generation is prepared for, to lay the foundations for bringing that perfection even closer.

The first level is referred to as ‘walking with G-d,’ and is in accordance with the process that G-d has arranged in nature and history. Although every generation lays the foundation for the spiritual advancement of its successors, this approach is fundamentally focused on the measure of Divine light that manifests in its own specific generation. One who ‘walks with G-d’ is concerned only with his generation’s incremental movement toward perfection.

However, the second level, which is referred to as ‘walking ahead of G-d,’ is concerned with future generations as well. It does whatever it can to accelerate the world’s movement to the highest levels of spiritual perfection.

Chazal are not just making a play on words, but perfectly encapsulating the difference between Avraham and Noach. Noach was תמים בדורותיו, perfect in his generations. He did was was good and upright according to the level of his generation, but was not concerned with advancing the world’s spiritual state. In contrast, Avraham taught righteousness to everyone he came in contact with and did everything possible to bring more Divine light into the world. [8] Perhaps this is why Chazal teach us that “Avraham kept the entire Torah before it was given.” [9] Although the world was not ready for the Torah, which hadn’t even been given, Avraham did what he could to bring the spiritual perfection of the future. He walked ahead of Hashem.

This explains why Avraham, who reached this higher level of perfection and Divine holiness, is the rock from which the עם סגולה of the Jewish people were hewn.

[1] Bereishit 6:7

[2] Bereishis 17:1, 48:15

[3] Midrash Tanchuma, Parshas Noach, cited by Rashi on 6:7

[4] Yeshaya 11:9

[5] Tzefania 3:9

[6] Iyov 28:25

[7] Vayikra Rabba 15:2

[8] See Netziv’s explanation to Sefer Bereishit, where he discusses Avraham’s concern for the wellbeing (physical and spiritual) of even the idolatrous members of his generation.

[9] Gem. Kiddushin 82a. According to Rav Kook, Chazal are being very precise when they identify Avraham (and not any of the other Avot) as keeping the Torah before Sinai. It was Avraham in particular who epitomized this trait of walking in front of Hashem. See also Shut Rama 10, who makes the radical suggestion that the other Avot did not keep the Torah before it was given. I am not sure that Rav Kook would go so far.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

• Who do I know that embodies the trait of Avraham of ‘walking with G-d’, as described by Rav Kook?
• What causes and accomplishments are the Jewish people disproportionately known for that reflects our being descended from someone who walked with G-d? (Hint – think Nobel prizes, humanitarian causes and/or social justice movements.)
• What does the Torah tell us about Noach that fits with Rav’s Kook’s description of someone not focused on accelerating the spiritual state of his generation? What about Noach’s name supports that description? What about the 7 Noachide laws, as contrasted with the 613 commandments?
• What else does the Torah tell us about Avraham that indicates how he walked ahead of G-d, as understood by Rav Kook?
• From this piece, it sounds like walking ahead of G-d is a good thing. Could it ever be bad? Is there such a thing as walking too far ahead?

About This Piece

This piece was published in Midbar Shur, which is a collection of drashot on the parsha that Rav Kook wrote when he was the rav of Zeimel, Lithuania. Unlike Rav Kook’s later works, Midbar Shur is written in normal (i.e. non-poetic and non-kabbalistic) rabbinic Hebrew. Although the drashot were written in the 1880s, Midbar Shur was not published until 1999. It has not been translated into English, but various excerpts are adapted in the works Gold From The Land of Israel, Silver From the Land of Israel, and Sapphire From the Land of Israel, available here,  here and here.