I've never written one of these before. I couldn't see just regurgitation quotes from others, to me, the weekly pershot should be something that starts me thinking. I hope I do that for you.
Almost everyone has a passing knowledge of "Noah (or Noach) and his Ark". But, because of the length of the peshat (read), most kids books, cartoons, etc, don't go through the whole thing. During Noah's time, ten generations after the creation of the world, or ten generations after Adam and Eve were expelled, the world was corupt. I never understood that; Adam and Eve had been given only a few instructions, "Don't eat from this tree, eat all this other stuff, be fruitful and multiply. Oh, and you can't really obey the third rule until you break the first." and then comes, "by the sweat of your brow..." as they are evicted.
So, ten generations after that, G-d is surprised that people aren't particularly "good", whatever that means. (We also don't know how long a "generation" was in those days, Noah was 600 years old when he built the Ark, which is a little more than the 27 years we assign to a generation back then now.) But Noah was good and righteous by rules and mores that are never mentioned. Not surprisingly, this has been a good Rabbinic argument for 2000 years. Rabbi Aaron Alexander presents one of the lighter hearted one skits. You can use the names of the characters+Noah+righteous to Google the person's opinions.(except Obi-Wan Kenobi.)
Below that orange-thingy, I'm going to just skim the well known parts of the story, the good stuff comes in the middle and at the end.
So, okay Noah is better than the average Joe back then. And G-d tells him to make an Ark of Gopher wood. R Joseph Teluskin tells us that the ark...was about 500 feet long, 80 feet wide, and 50 feet high. It was three stories tall, divided into compartments, and had a (much needed) skylight.
It wasn't just two types of every animal, some got special treatment. And he only had seven days to get everything loaded up!
7:2. Of all the clean animals you shall take for yourself seven pairs, a male and its mate, and of the animals that are not clean, two, a male and its mate.
7:3. Also, of the fowl of the heavens, seven pairs, male and female, to keep seed alive on the face of the earth
7:4. For in another seven days, I will make it rain upon the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out all beings that I have made, off the face of the earth."
How did Noah know which animals were clean and which were unclean? Nobody really knows.
Ever plan a trip, or a voyage on the sea? What's missing from this list? There's food for the crew, from back in
6:21. And you, take for yourself of every food that is eaten and gather it in to you, and it shall be for you and for them to eat."
But, not a whole lot for the animals, and the humans had food; okay the carnivores had food, if Noah didn't mind showing up a few vegetarians short. And the vegetarian animals were screwed from the beginning, unless some of the humans gave up some of their food. (BTW, the humans on the boat were all still vegans*.)The tip jar will have a cartoon about some of the logistics of packing a fairly small boat with lots of animals.
Oh, and the reason why seven of each of the "fowl of the heavens" were taken aboard seven pairs at a time and not two-by-two? G-d knew Noah would need extras.
8:6. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made.
7. And he sent forth the raven, and it went out, back and forth until the waters dried up off the earth.8. And he sent forth the dove from with him, to see whether the waters had abated from upon the surface of the earth. 8:9. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of its foot; so it returned to him to the ark because there was water upon the entire surface of the earth; so he stretched forth his hand and took it, and he brought it to him to the ark. d he waited again another seven days, and he again sent forth the dove from the ark.
8:11. And the dove returned to him at eventide, and behold it had plucked an olive leaf in its mouth; so Noah knew that the water had abated from upon the earth.
8:12. And he again waited another seven days, and he sent forth the dove, and it no longer continued to return to him.
8:13. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first [month], on the first of the month, that the waters dried up from upon the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and he saw, and behold, the surface of the ground had dried up.
So, Noah opens the ark and lets everybody out. And takes one of the "clean" animals, and burns it as an offering. (Relax, it's just overdone BBQ!) And global warming? Doesn't exist, G-d promises.
8:22. So long as the earth exists, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
Remember that part about the people being vegans? Well, that's over, with some restrictions.
9:2. And your fear and your dread shall be upon all the beasts of the earth and upon all the fowl of the heaven; upon everything that creeps upon the ground and upon all the fish of the sea, [for] they have been given into your hand[s]. 9:3. Every moving thing that lives shall be yours to eat; like the green vegetation, I have given you everything. 9:4. But, flesh with its soul, its blood, you shall not eat.
Notice something missing? No
kosher laws! Lobster dinner, pork chops, Texas fried steak (it comes with "cream gravy.") From Adam and eve to Noah,everyone was vegan. From Noah to mid-Leviticus, cotton-wool blends were fine. (They didn't have Rayon or Spandex.) Bit flesh had to be dead and as much blood removed as possible. A Sizzler franchise would have cleaned up.
Finally, as Rabbi Telushkin reminds us, The ancient world had many stories of a devastating primordial flood, that extinguished life in most of the world, suggesting the historical background for the biblical tale. In the most famous Near Eastern parallel, the Babalonian Gilgamesh Epic, the gods also destroy the world through a flood, but not for moral reasons; rather, mankind's noisiness has disturbed their sleep.Only one man, Utnapishtim, is saved because the god Ea intervenes. Utnapishtim is his favorite for personal, rather than moral reasons. In Genesis, on the other hand, Noah is God's favorite precisely because he is righteous.
*From Rabbi Yisorael Ciner:
Rashi, quoting the Talmud [Sanhedrin 59B], explains that Hashem was telling Noach the following: I didn't allow Adom Harishon {Adam, the first man} to eat meat--only vegetables. But for you, Noach, like the green herbs that I gave to Adom, I give you everything.
Most people focus on the point that Adom and the generations which followed him couldn't eat meat and from the time of Noach and on, people could. However, the Daas Torah points out a very telling lesson which could have easily been missed. We understand that without express permission from Hashem, Noach would not have been allowed to eat meat. In the same way, without express permission from Hashem, all of mankind would not have been allowed to eat vegetables!
From this we can see the myriad gifts we are constantly receiving from Hashem but are taking for granted…
I'd Google what he'd written when the parsha(s) that introduce
kosher come along, but it's late.