Patriarch/Biblical

Noach

נח

The tzaddik who stayed whole in a corrupt generation, built the teivah, fed Hashem's creatures through the Flood, and became the father of all mankind.

YahrzeitNot recorded

Lifetimec. 2705 – c. 1755 BCE (traditional chronology; 1056–2006 from Creation; age 950)

Biography

A Son Who Brought Comfort

Noach zy"a was born in the year 1056 from Creation, in the tenth generation from Adam HaRishon, to Lemech, who was then one hundred and eighty-two years old. His grandfather was the tzaddik Mesushelach. Lemech named the baby Noach, saying, "This one will comfort us from our work and from the toil of our hands, from the ground that Hashem has cursed."

Chazal explain that the name was a promise of rest. Since Adam's sin, the earth had brought up thorns and thistles even where wheat was sown, and people worked the ground with their bare hands. In Noach's days the curse eased, and Rashi teaches that he prepared tools for farming that the world had never had before. The Midrash counts him among the few people born already circumcised, a sign of the purity he would keep all his life.

The Midrash teaches that his wife was Naamah, the sister of Tuval-Kayin, named for her pleasant deeds. Noach waited far longer than the men before him to have children. Only at the age of five hundred did his three sons, Shem, Cham and Yefes, begin to be born. Chazal explain that Hashem held them back so that none would reach the age of punishment before the Flood: if they turned out wicked, their deaths would not grieve their righteous father, and if they were righteous, he would not have to build many arks.

It was a generation of ease and plenty, and its comfort turned into arrogance. What do we need Hashem for, the people said, even for a drop of rain, when we have rivers and springs of our own? They stole in amounts too small for any court to recover, each person taking a few beans from a peddler's basket, until the earth was filled with robbery. Hashem saw that every thought of man's heart was evil, and regretted having made him. "But Noach found favor in the eyes of Hashem."

Building the Teivah

The Torah calls Noach "a righteous man, wholehearted in his generations," who "walked with G-d." Chazal weigh the words "in his generations" in two ways. Read as praise, they teach that if he stayed righteous among such people, how much greater he would have been among tzaddikim. Read as a measure, they teach that among the people of his time he stood out, like a barrel of wine in a cellar full of vinegar. The Midrash adds that Avraham walked "before" Hashem by his own strength, while Noach walked "with" Him, held up by Hashem so that he would not sink into the mud of his generation.

Hashem told Noach that the end of all flesh had come and commanded him to build a teivah (ark) of gopher wood, three hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, with three decks, a door in its side and a tzohar to give light. Chazal describe the tzohar both as a window and as precious stones that shone through all the months on the water. Hashem gave the people one hundred and twenty years to return, and all that time Noach worked before their eyes, planting cedars and cutting them down, and warning them of what was coming. They called him a contemptible old man. "Noach did according to everything that Hashem commanded him; so he did."

As the end drew near, Mesushelach passed away, and Hashem held back the waters for the seven days of mourning for that tzaddik, one last chance for the world to return. Then Noach entered the teivah with his wife, his three sons and their wives, and the animals came to him on their own, two of every kind and seven pairs of every pure kind. Chazal note that he went in by broad daylight, so that no one could say they would have stopped him had they known.

Twelve Months on the Water

On the seventeenth of Cheshvan in the year 1656, when Noach was six hundred years old, the fountains of the great deep burst open and the windows of heaven were opened. Chazal teach that the rain first fell gently, as rain that could still become blessing had the people done teshuvah; only when they did not did it become a flood. The waters rose fifteen cubits above the highest mountains, and every living thing on dry land perished. Only Noach was left, and those with him in the teivah.

For twelve months Noach and his sons hardly slept. Each creature had to be fed its own food at its own hour, some in the morning and some in the middle of the night, straw for the camel and barley for the donkey. Chazal relate that once Noach was late bringing food to a lion, and the lion struck him. Through it all he davened, "Bring my soul out of prison." When the Torah says that Hashem remembered Noach, the Midrash explains what He remembered: that Noach had fed and sustained His creatures all those months.

The teivah came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noach sent out the raven and then the dove, which returned the second time at evening with an olive leaf in its mouth. Even when the ground was dry, he would not leave until Hashem told him to go out. Then he built a mizbeach (altar) and brought offerings of every pure animal and bird, and Hashem promised never again to destroy the world with a flood, setting His bow in the clouds as the sign of the covenant.

His Enduring Legacy

Hashem blessed Noach and his sons to be fruitful and fill the earth, and from his three sons the whole world spread out. Noach began to work the land and planted a vineyard, and when he drank of its wine and lay uncovered in his tent, Shem and Yefes covered him with their faces turned away. Noach blessed them, cursed Kenaan the son of Cham, and declared, "Blessed is Hashem, the G-d of Shem."

Noach lived three hundred and fifty years after the Flood and passed away at the age of nine hundred and fifty, in the year 2006 from Creation (about 1755 BCE), ten years after the builders of the Tower were scattered. Avraham Avinu was then fifty-eight years old. No date of his passing and no place of burial are recorded. Chazal teach that Noach was one of three men who saw a world built, destroyed and built again, and that he is called a tzaddik because he fed Hashem's creatures.

The navi Yeshayahu calls the Flood "the waters of Noach," and Hashem's oath never to bring them again stands behind every rainbow. On the opening words of the parshah, "These are the offspring of Noach: Noach was a righteous man," Rashi teaches that the true offspring of tzaddikim are their good deeds. When a Jew sees a rainbow and says its bracha, he remembers the covenant Hashem made with Noach, and whenever a person keeps faith with Hashem while those around him do not, he walks in Noach's path.

Stories

A Hundred and Twenty Years of Cedars

For a hundred and twenty years Noach planted and cut cedars in front of a mocking world, hoping that one question would lead someone back to Hashem.

The Midrash relates that Hashem did not bring the Flood at once. He gave the generation a hundred and twenty years to return, and He told Noach to build the teivah slowly, in front of everyone. Hashem could have saved Noach in countless other ways. The building itself was meant to be a call to teshuvah.

So Noach planted cedar trees. People passed by and asked him what the trees were for. "Hashem is going to bring a flood upon the world," he answered, "and He has told me to build an ark, so that my family and I may be saved." They laughed at him and went on their way.

Noach tended the trees until they grew tall, and the people asked again. He gave the same answer. Then he cut the trees down and sawed them into planks, and again they asked, and again he warned them. The Gemara records how they answered him: Old man, if it is a flood of fire, we have something to protect us from fire; if the water rises from the ground, we will cover the earth with plates of iron; and if it falls from the sky, we have something that will soak it up. Noach told them that Hashem could bring the water up from between their very feet.

Year after year he spoke to them with words that burned like torches, and year after year they mocked him. Not one of them listened. Yet the Midrash calls Noach Hashem's one herald in that generation, the man who never stopped calling.

Source: Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 5; Midrash Bereishis Rabbah 30:7; Gemara, Sanhedrin 108a–108b (with Rashi on Bereishis 6:14). English: Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, trans. Samuel A. Berman; The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah (2022); The William Davidson Talmud (Koren–Steinsaltz).

Practical lessonKeep the door open

Noach kept answering the same question for a hundred and twenty years, without anger and without giving up. Think of one person you have stopped speaking to about something that matters, because they never seem to listen. This week, find a calm moment and say one kind, honest sentence to them again, without pressing. You are not responsible for their answer. You are only asked, like Noach, to leave the door open in case one day they decide to walk through it.

The Olive Leaf

A dove taught Noach that bitter food from Hashem's hand is sweeter than honey from a person's hand, and Noach waited for Hashem's word before he stepped out of the teivah.

Chazal relate that all through the months in the teivah, Noach davened, "Bring my soul out of prison." Hashem answered him that he would not leave until twelve months had passed.

When the teivah came to rest and the mountaintops appeared, Noach opened the window and sent out the raven, and then the dove. The dove found no place to rest its feet and came back, and Noach stretched out his hand and brought it inside. He waited seven more days and sent it out again. At evening it returned, and in its mouth was an olive leaf.

Why an olive leaf, of all things? The Gemara explains that the dove was speaking through it. "Master of the world," it said, "let my food be bitter as an olive, as long as it comes from Your hand, rather than sweet as honey and dependent on the hand of flesh and blood." Rebbi Abbahu points out that the dove could have brought something finer. It chose the bitter leaf to teach Noach a lesson.

Noach waited another seven days, and the dove did not return. The ground was drying, and soon it was completely dry. Yet still Noach did not step out. The Midrash says that he reasoned: I came into the teivah only with Hashem's permission, and I will go out only with His permission. Only when Hashem said, "Go out of the teivah," did Noach step out with his family into the new world.

Source: Gemara, Eruvin 18b and Sanhedrin 108b; Midrash Bereishis Rabbah 33:6 and 34:4; Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 11. English: The William Davidson Talmud (Koren–Steinsaltz); The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah (2022); Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, trans. Samuel A. Berman.

Practical lessonTaste where it comes from

The dove preferred a bitter leaf from Hashem's hand to sweetness that would leave it depending on people. Before you eat today, hold the food for a moment and say the bracha slowly, thinking that it comes from Hashem's hand, even if it is plain. And if there is something you are waiting for, a job, an answer, a recovery, try saying once this week: I will go out when You tell me to go out. Patience can be a way of trusting Him.

The Partnership in the Vineyard

When Noach planted a vineyard, a strange partner offered to help, and the righteous man learned how wine can lower even a great person.

When Noach came out of the teivah, he had with him vine shoots and fig and olive branches that he had carried in for planting. The Midrash says that he should have begun with something else, a fig tree or an olive tree. Instead, the first thing he planted was a vineyard.

Chazal relate that as he was planting it, the Satan came and asked him what he was planting. "A vineyard," said Noach. "Its fruit is sweet, fresh or dried, and from it comes wine that gladdens the heart." "Let us be partners in it," said the Satan, and Noach agreed.

The Satan brought a lamb and slaughtered it beneath the vines. Then he brought a lion, then a pig, then an ape, and slaughtered each of them there, and their blood soaked into the ground. This was his message: before a person drinks, he is gentle as a lamb. With a little wine he feels as strong as a lion and thinks no one is his equal. With too much he wallows like a pig, and when he is completely drunk he dances and chatters like an ape, with no idea of what he is doing.

Rebbi Chiya bar Abba said that on the very day Noach planted, he drank, and on that day he was disgraced. The Midrash draws the lesson: if this could happen to the righteous Noach, whom Hashem Himself had praised, how careful every person must be.

Source: Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 13 and 15; Midrash Bereishis Rabbah 36:3–4; Rashi on Bereishis 9:20. English: Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, trans. Samuel A. Berman; The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah (2022).

Practical lessonChoose what you plant first

Noach had a whole new world to plant, and he began with the vine. When you start something new, a new week, a new job, a new year, decide what you will put first. This Shabbos, make your Kiddush wine a mitzvah and not a habit: say the words slowly, drink what the bracha needs, and let the rest of the meal be about the people at the table. If wine or anything else tends to lower you, it is no shame to set a quiet limit in advance.

Teachings

The True Offspring of a Tzaddik

The parshah opens, "These are the offspring of Noach," and we expect to hear the names of his sons. Instead the verse says, "Noach was a righteous man, wholehearted." Rashi explains that the Torah is teaching us what a tzaddik truly leaves behind: the real offspring of the righteous are their good deeds. The Midrash reads the same idea into the verse "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life": the fruit is mitzvos and good deeds. It adds "he who gathers souls is wise," and applies it to Noach, who in his wisdom fed and sustained every creature in the teivah for twelve months. Children are a blessing that not everyone is given, and not every child follows his parents' way. But every person can bring into the world mitzvos and kindness that live on after him.

Rashi on Bereishis 6:9; Bereishis Rabbah 30:6

Practical lessonCount one child of the day

Tonight, before you sleep, ask yourself what you brought into the world today. Not what you earned or finished, but one mitzvah or act of kindness that would not exist without you: a meal you served, a call you made, a bracha said with care. Name it to yourself and thank Hashem for it. If the day had none, choose one small one for tomorrow. Over time you will see a family of good deeds growing, offspring that no one can take away.

Each Generation's Own Mitzvah

Why does the Torah say Noach was whole "in his generations" and not "in his generation"? The Noam Elimelech answers that Noach lived through several generations, and the plural teaches something more than the familiar debate over whether the words are praise or a measure. Every generation, the Rebbe explains, has at its root one particular mitzvah it is meant to repair more than the others. In his own generation, he writes, it was the mitzvah of tzitzis. Noach was whole in each of his generations because in each one he found the mitzvah at its root and held fast to it. And when a tzaddik fulfills a mitzvah at its root, it sets him burning with warmth and moves him to sing Hashem's praise, as the verse says, "Those who seek Him will praise Hashem; may your hearts live forever."

Noam Elimelech, Bereishis, Noach (on Bereishis 6:9)

Practical lessonFind the mitzvah of your time

Ask yourself which mitzvah your home, your community or this season of your life most needs right now. It might be shalom in the family, honest speech, or simply davening with a minyan. Choose one, and this week give it extra care: do it a little earlier, a little more fully, with a moment of thought before you begin. Notice whether it starts to warm you from the inside. That warmth is a sign you have found its root.

Never Finished Climbing

"These are the offspring of Noach: Noach was a righteous man." The Noam Elimelech reads this as a warning. When a person thinks of himself as a tzaddik, that very thought makes him fall from his level, even if he truly was one. But a person who feels he has not yet done his duty, who sees himself as only an image of what service of Hashem should be, stands firm and keeps rising, and Hashem supports him and satisfies him with higher and higher levels without end. This is the hint in "offspring": if you tell yourself, I am Noach, a righteous and wholehearted man, you are still only an offspring, standing in place of the father, and not yet at the root of avodah (the service of Hashem). The Rebbe finds the same idea in Dovid HaMelech's words, "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Your image."

Noam Elimelech, Bereishis, Noach (on Bereishis 6:9 and Tehillim 17:15)

Practical lessonStay a beginner

Think of an area where you feel you are already doing well: your davening, your chessed, your learning. Instead of resting there, ask quietly what the next step would be. Before Shemoneh Esrei tomorrow, say to Hashem in your own words: I have not yet arrived; help me go a little higher. Then pick one small improvement and try it. Feeling like a beginner is not a failure. It is what keeps a person climbing.

Family & talmidim

Children: Shem, Cham, Yefes

Historical sources