Patriarch/Biblical

Shem

שם בן נח

The righteous son of Noach, king of Shalem and kohen to the Most High, whose beis midrash taught Torah to the Avos long before Sinai.

YahrzeitNot recorded

Lifetimec. 2203 – c. 1603 BCE (traditional chronology; 1558–2158 from Creation; age 600)

Biography

Early Life

Shem zy"a, the son of Noach, was born when his father was five hundred and two years old, in the year 1558 from Creation by the Torah's count. His brother Yefes was older than he. Yet the Torah lists Shem first among Noach's sons, and Chazal explain why: he was the righteous one, born already circumcised, the son with whose name Hashem would join His own, and the ancestor from whom Avraham Avinu would come.

He grew up in the last generation before the Flood, while his father worked year after year on the teivah (ark) and warned the people to return to Hashem. The Midrash calls Shem the carpenter who helped build it. He was ninety-eight years old when he went into the teivah with his parents, his wife, his brothers and their wives, and through the twelve months of the Flood he worked beside his father, feeding every creature at its own hour, by day and by night. Chazal teach that in the teivah the men and the women lived apart, for it was not fitting to build a family while the whole world was being destroyed; only when Hashem told them to go out did they leave together, husbands with their wives.

The Midrash relates that as Noach left the teivah, a lion struck him and left him maimed and unfit to bring offerings, and so it was Shem who served at the mizbeach (altar) in his father's place. Many years later, Shem himself would describe those months to Eliezer, the servant of Avraham.

A New World

When Noach planted a vineyard and lay uncovered in his tent, Shem was the first to take a garment, and Yefes joined him. Walking backward with their faces turned away, they covered their father. When Noach awoke he said, "Blessed is Hashem, the G-d of Shem," joining Hashem's Name to his son's, and prayed that Hashem would enlarge Yefes and let him dwell in the tents of Shem. Chazal explain that the Shechinah would rest in the tents of Shem, in the Beis HaMikdash built by his descendant Shlomo HaMelech.

Two years after the Flood, when Shem was a hundred years old, his son Arpachshad was born, and he had other sons, Elam, Ashur, Lud and Aram, and daughters as well. From Arpachshad came Shelach and then Ever, and the Torah calls Shem "the father of all the children of Ever." Nine generations after Shem, from that same line, Avraham was born to Terach.

Chazal see a hint of Hashem's patience in Shem's very name. Its letters add up to three hundred and forty, and that is how many years Hashem waited, after the Flood, before He scattered the builders of the Tower.

Malki-Tzedek, King of Shalem

Chazal teach that Shem is the Malki-Tzedek of the Torah, king of Shalem and kohen to the Most High G-d. The Midrash explains the name: the place itself makes its people righteous, and Yerushalayim is called tzedek (righteousness). Avraham called the mountain of the Akeidah Yireh, and Shem called the city Shalem, and Hashem joined the two names into one: Yerushalayim.

When Avraham returned from his war against the four kings, Malki-Tzedek came out to him with bread and wine and blessed him, and Avraham gave him a tenth of everything. The Midrash says the bread and wine hinted at the lechem hapanim and the wine libations that Avraham's children would one day bring in that very place, and it sees in them a picture of the Torah, which Scripture compares to bread and wine.

Chazal relate that Hashem had wanted the kehunah (priesthood) to come from Shem's own children. But Shem blessed Avraham before he blessed Hashem, and so the kehunah was given instead to the children of Avraham, who were Shem's descendants too. Even so, the Midrash remembers Shem as one who served as kohen gadol, and the Beis HaMikdash would one day stand in the land that was his portion.

The meeting with Avraham was the beginning of a bond between the two greatest men of their time. Chazal describe Shem as the craftsman and Avraham as the smith whom Hashem refined in the fiery furnace, and they say that Avraham, whose teaching drew the nations away from Nimrod's idols, in turn strengthened Shem in mitzvos and good deeds. Each had something to give the other.

His Enduring Legacy

Shem's greatest legacy was his beis midrash (house of Torah study), remembered as the beis midrash of Shem and Ever. Chazal relate that after the Akeidah, Avraham sent Yitzchak to learn Torah with Shem. He explained with a parable: a woman who grew wealthy from her spinning says that her spindle will never leave her hand. So too, Avraham said, everything he had came to him only because he busied himself with Torah and mitzvos, and he did not want it ever to depart from his children. When Rivka felt her twins struggling inside her, she went "to inquire of Hashem," and Chazal explain that she went to the beis midrash of Shem. Whenever she passed its doors, the child who would be Yaakov struggled to come out.

Yaakov, "the dweller of tents," grew up learning in two tents, the tent of Shem and the tent of Ever, and later hid for fourteen years in the house of Ever before going to Charan. From Rivka's visit Chazal learn that one who comes before a talmid chacham is like one who comes before the Shechinah.

Shem lived five hundred years after Arpachshad was born, six hundred years in all. Counting by the Torah's years, he passed away in 2158 from Creation (about 1603 BCE), outlived his father by a hundred and fifty-two years, and saw Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. No date of his passing and no place of burial are recorded. The Midrash pictures Shem and Avraham as two islands standing out in the sea of their generation, each at first wary of the other, then each helping the other, one with blessings and one with gifts. In every beis midrash where Jews still sit and learn, the tents of Shem are standing.

Stories

Shem's Report from the Ark

Years after the Flood, Shem told Eliezer how his family cared for every creature in the teivah, and how one quiet bird earned his father's blessing.

The Gemara relates that Eliezer, the servant of Avraham, once asked Shem the Great a question. The Torah says the animals left the teivah "by their families," each kind in its place. "Where were you," Eliezer asked, "and what did you do for them all that time?"

"We had great trouble in the teivah," Shem answered. "A creature that eats by day, we fed by day. A creature that eats by night, we fed by night." There was the chameleon, he said, and his father did not know what it ate. One day Noach sat peeling a pomegranate, and a worm fell out of it, and the chameleon ate it. From then on Noach would knead bran with water, and when worms grew in it, he fed them to the chameleon. As for the lion, a fever kept it going, and it did not need to eat.

Then Shem told of the bird called the avarshina. His father found it lying quietly in its corner of the teivah. "Don't you want food?" Noach asked. "I saw that you were busy," the bird answered, "so I said to myself, I will not trouble you."

Noach was moved. "May it be Hashem's will," he said, "that you never die." Chazal say that this blessing came true, and they read in it the words of Iyov: "I shall multiply my days like the chol."

Source: Gemara, Sanhedrin 108b (Talmud Bavli); English: The William Davidson Talmud (Koren–Steinsaltz translation), Sanhedrin 108b.

Practical lessonNotice the quiet one

Shem remembered the bird that asked for nothing because his father was so busy. In your home, office or shul there is probably someone like that: the person who never asks, so no one thinks to offer. This week, find that person and ask one simple question, "Can I bring you something?" or "How are you managing?" And if you are the quiet one, know that your consideration is seen, and that it can draw a blessing.

Walking Backward

When Noach lay uncovered in his tent, Shem was the first to act, covering his father without looking, and his children were rewarded for generations.

After the Flood, Noach planted a vineyard, drank of its wine and lay uncovered inside his tent. His son Cham saw him and went out to tell his two brothers.

Shem did not wait to discuss it. The Torah says "Shem and Yefes took" a garment, but uses a word for "took" that speaks of one person, and Chazal explain that Shem moved first and Yefes followed his lead. They laid the cloth across both their shoulders and walked into the tent backward. The Torah adds that their faces were turned away, and the Midrash explains why it needs to say so: even when they came close and had to turn to cover him, they covered their faces with their hands, out of respect for their father.

When Noach woke and learned what had happened, he blessed them. "Blessed is Hashem, the G-d of Shem," he said.

Chazal teach that Hashem repaid each brother measure for measure. The descendants of Yefes would one day receive an honorable burial. Because Shem took the garment first, his children merited the tallis with its tzitzis, a garment that Jews wrap themselves in every morning. The Midrash adds that Shem's covering of his father was repaid in another way, generations later, when Chananya, Mishael and Azarya were thrown into the furnace still wearing their garments and came out alive.

Source: Midrash Bereishis Rabbah 36:6; Rashi on Bereishis 9:23 (from Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 15). English: The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah (2022); Pentateuch with Rashi's Commentary, trans. M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann.

Practical lessonCover, don't tell

Cham saw his father's shame and went to tell others; Shem took a garment and covered it. The next time you hear about someone's embarrassing moment, ask yourself which brother you want to be. Decide not to pass it on. If you can help quietly, by fixing a mistake before others notice or by changing the subject, do it. And when you put on your tallis or tzitzis, remember that they began with a son who protected his father's dignity.

Bread and Wine for Avraham

After Avraham's war, the old king of Shalem came out to greet him with bread, wine and a blessing, and two great men who feared each other became friends.

Avraham had just come back from war. To rescue his nephew Lot, he had chased four mighty kings and defeated them. Among the soldiers who fell were descendants of Shem.

The Midrash says that each of the two great men of that generation was now afraid of the other. Avraham thought, perhaps Shem is angry with me, because I killed his descendants. Shem thought, perhaps Avraham resents me, because so many wicked people came from me. They were like two islands standing out in the sea, one at each end of the earth.

Then they came toward each other. Malki-Tzedek, king of Shalem, who was Shem, came out to Avraham with bread and wine, the food one brings to men worn out from battle. Rashi explains that he was showing Avraham that he bore him no ill will. He blessed him: "Blessed is Avram to the Most High G-d, Maker of heaven and earth, and blessed is the Most High G-d, who delivered your enemies into your hand." And Avraham gave him a tenth of everything.

The Midrash sums it up with the navi's words, "Each man helped his friend." Shem helped Avraham with blessings, and Avraham helped Shem with gifts.

Source: Midrash Bereishis Rabbah 44:7 and 43:6; Rashi on Bereishis 14:18; Bereishis 14:18–20. English: The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah (2022); Pentateuch with Rashi's Commentary, trans. M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann.

Practical lessonGo out with bread

Shem and Avraham each feared the other was angry, and Shem chose to go out first, with bread and a blessing. Is there someone you have been avoiding because you are not sure where you stand with them? This week, take the first step: a short message, a small gift, a warm word of congratulations on something good in their life. You do not need to settle the past. Often a simple gesture is enough to show there is no ill will.

Teachings

Fear, Love and Splendor

"Noach begot three sons: Shem, Cham and Yefes." The Noam Elimelech reads the verse as the path of the tzaddik, who must rise step by step through three levels. The first is Shem, which means "the Name": a person begins by serving Hashem with fear, repairing the sins of his youth through teshuvah, and so mending the blemish he made in Hashem's great Name. When the holy Name stands before his eyes, the Rebbe writes, it is a sign his teshuvah is complete. Next comes Cham, warmth: the love of Hashem, which must be purified of old desires, until even the lower loves of his past are raised to holiness. Last is Yefes, beauty, when all his deeds are beautiful in every eye. One who reaches all three becomes like a saraf, an angel burning with love without pause.

Noam Elimelech, Bereishis, Noach (on Bereishis 6:10)

Practical lessonStart with the Name

Before you aim for great love and inspiration, begin where the Noam Elimelech begins: with fear of Heaven and repair. Tonight, think of one thing you did this week that you regret, and say a short, honest sentence of teshuvah about it. Then, at some point tomorrow, picture Hashem's Name before your eyes for a moment, perhaps when you see it in your siddur. The warmth and beauty can come later. The first step is setting things right.

Beauty in the Tents of Shem

Noach blessed his sons, "May G-d enlarge Yefes, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem." The Gemara uses this blessing to explain why Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel allowed a sefer Torah to be written in Greek, and no other foreign language. Rebbi Chiya bar Abba explains that the word for "enlarge," yaft, is close to yofi, beauty: the beauty of Yefes will dwell in the tents of Shem. Greek, the language of Yavan, a son of Yefes, was the most beautiful of his children's languages, so it could enter Shem's tents, where the Torah is learned. The Midrash adds that the Shechinah rests only in the tents of Shem. Beauty does not compete with holiness. When it enters the tents of Shem, it serves them.

Gemara, Megillah 9b (on Bereishis 9:27); Bereishis Rabbah 36:8

Practical lessonBring beauty into the tent

Think of one beautiful thing in your life: a voice for singing, a talent for design, a love of good writing, a well-set table. This week, bring it into the tents of Shem. Sing one zemer at the Shabbos table with real care, set the table for a Torah class you host, or write a Dvar Torah with the same polish you would give a work report. Let what is beautiful in you dress up the Torah instead of competing with it.

Bless Hashem First

When Malki-Tzedek, whom Chazal identify with Shem, greeted Avraham, he said, "Blessed is Avram to the Most High G-d," and only afterward, "Blessed is the Most High G-d." The Gemara teaches that Hashem had wanted the kehunah to come from Shem's own children. But Avraham said to him, "Does one place the blessing of the servant before the blessing of his master?" At that moment, the Gemara says, the kehunah was given to Avraham's descendants instead. Rebbi Zecharya reads the verse in Tehillim, "You are a kohen forever, al divrasi Malki-Tzedek," as "because of the words of Malki-Tzedek." Shem was a great tzaddik, a king and a kohen, and his blessing was sincere. Yet the order of his words mattered, and even honoring a tzaddik comes after honoring Hashem.

Gemara, Nedarim 32b (on Bereishis 14:18–20 and Tehillim 110:4)

Practical lessonThank Him before them

When something good happens, it is natural to thank the people who helped, and right to do so. Try putting Hashem first. The next time you hear good news, say "Baruch Hashem" before anything else, and then thank the doctor, the teacher, the friend. When you praise someone at a simcha, open with a word of thanks to Hashem. It takes a second, and it keeps every other blessing in its proper place.

Family & talmidim

Talmidim: Yitzchak Avinu, Yaakov Avinu

Children: Elam, Ashur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram

Historical sources