October 15, 2015
Why Doesn’t the Jewish Tradition Hold Noah in Higher Esteem?
Abraham and Moses are considered wholly righteous men, but Noah isn't quite. That's because, unlike them, he does what he’s told without question.
This week’s reading of Noah (Genesis 6:9 – 11:32) actually starts in the previous week’s portion of B’reshit as the Almighty becomes gradually disillusioned with the human race in the period after Adam and Eve, Cain, and the sadly missed Abel. What exactly is it that bothers Him?
And it came to be that men started multiplying over the face of the earth
And they bore girls:
And the sons of God looked over the daughters of men,
Because they were fine, and they took for themselves wives
From among any they fancied. And the Lord said,
My spirit will not judge man for all time
For he is also flesh, so let his days last a hundred-twenty years.
The sons of God, as the text refers to them, were not acting like sons of the true God but like upstarts, taking women without consideration, by force and in excessive numbers, to satisfy their lust and not for the sake of the marital bond and for children. The Lord’s solution is to limit mankind’s lifespan to 120 years—unlike the lifespan of the previous generation, which lasted for centuries—and in that defined span to give them the time to repent. But repent they don’t, and in the end, a much more radical solution is called for: