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Week of October 17, 2026

Noach

נֹחַ

This week’s parsha

One generation ruins the world, and one man is told to build a boat and wait. A year later the door opens on an empty, washed earth, and everything starts again from eight people and a boatload of animals. It ends with a tower, a scattering, and a quiet list of names that leads straight to Avram.

אֵ֚לֶּה תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת נֹ֔חַ נֹ֗חַ אִ֥ישׁ צַדִּ֛יק תָּמִ֥ים הָיָ֖ה בְּדֹֽרֹתָ֑יו אֶת־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֖ים הִֽתְהַלֶּךְ־נֹֽחַ׃

These are the progeny of Noach. Noach was a righteous man, flawless in his generations; Noach walked with Elohim.

Genesis 6:9

This week’s songs

New songs for this parsha — the words of the pesukim and the vorts of the mefarshim below, set to be sung. Paste any of them into Suno with its style line and you have the niggun.

Vayizkor Elokim Es Noach

Lyrics & style line

Style for Suno

slow hartzig chassidic kumzitz niggun, deep warm male baritone lead over low male humming harmonies, nylon acoustic guitar, soft cello and strings, one answering clarinet, brushed cajon, opens almost whispered and builds to a full-voiced peak, minor key turning major, warm intimate live-room sound

[Intro — one voice, spoken plainly over a single guitar chord]

פָּרָשַׁת נֹחַ — the week the world goes under water, and one wooden boat carries everything that is left.

[Chorus — everyone together, slow and warm]

וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹקִים אֶת־נֹחַ —

and He remembered Noach.

A year of water and no ground,

and He had not forgotten him.

[Verse 1 — quiet, unhurried]

The whole world had gone wrong at once,

and one man was still walking straight.

נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים —

Noach was a righteous man, whole.

Rashi says look at the order of the words —

it promises us his children,

and then it praises the man instead,

because the real children of a righteous man

are the good things that he does.

[Chorus — everyone together, slow and warm]

וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹקִים אֶת־נֹחַ —

and He remembered Noach.

A year of water and no ground,

and He had not forgotten him.

[Verse 2 — a little fuller, harmonies enter]

הַשֵּׁם could have saved him any way at all.

Instead the word came down: build.

עֲשֵׂה לְךָ תֵּבַת עֲצֵי־גֹפֶר —

make yourself an ark of gopher wood.

Rashi says it took one hundred and twenty years

so the whole generation would walk past and ask him,

what do you need this boat for out here —

and maybe, hearing the answer, turn back.

Not one of them did.

[Chorus — everyone together, slow and warm]

וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹקִים אֶת־נֹחַ —

and He remembered Noach.

A year of water and no ground,

and He had not forgotten him.

[Verse 3 — softer, almost whispered]

Sforno says he walked with הַשֵּׁם

by being useful to the people near him,

teaching them, telling them the truth.

And Midrash Tanchuma says he fed them all —

straw for the camel, barley for the donkey,

every animal the food it was used to,

every single day, inside a closed boat.

[Chorus — everyone together, slow and warm]

וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹקִים אֶת־נֹחַ —

and He remembered Noach.

A year of water and no ground,

and He had not forgotten him.

[Verse 4 — full voice, then pulling back]

And then the dove came home at evening

with something small held in her mouth.

עֲלֵה־זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ —

a torn off olive leaf in her beak.

Rashi brings the Midrash on that leaf,

and it is the whole year in one line:

better my food be bitter as an olive

and come from the hand of הַשֵּׁם,

than sweet as honey from the hand of men.

[Chorus — everyone together, slow and warm]

וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹקִים אֶת־נֹחַ —

and He remembered Noach.

A year of water and no ground,

and He had not forgotten him.

[Outro — near silence, one voice, fading]

וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹקִים אֶת־נֹחַ —

and He remembered Noach.

Shnayim Shnayim Bau El Noach

Lyrics & style line

Style for Suno

fast freilich Jewish wedding dance tune, bright clarinet lead trading with trumpet over accordion and upright bass, tight snare with hand claps and tambourine, male tenor lead with a big male call-and-response backing choir, major key, relentless joyful drive, punchy live band sound

[Intro — one male voice, spoken quickly over a single clarinet run]

פָּרָשַׁת נֹחַ — hold on, the whole parsha in one dance.

[Chorus — full choir, everyone together, loud and bouncing]

שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם בָּאוּ אֶל־נֹחַ —

(two by two!) they came to Noach,

two by two right up the ramp,

זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה — male and female, every kind!

[Verse 1 — fast, driving, backing choir answering]

One good man in a rotten world, (one good man!)

נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים — a righteous man, whole.

The earth was full of stealing and it could not stand, (it could not stand!)

so הַשֵּׁם said, Noach, here is what you do —

עֲשֵׂה לְךָ תֵּבַת עֲצֵי־גֹפֶר,

make an ark of gopher wood!

Three hundred long and fifty wide, (measure it!)

thirty high with three decks inside,

וַיַּעַשׂ נֹחַ כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה אֹתוֹ —

and Noach did exactly what he was told!

[Chorus — full choir, everyone together, loud and bouncing]

שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם בָּאוּ אֶל־נֹחַ —

(two by two!) they came to Noach,

two by two right up the ramp,

זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה — male and female, every kind!

[Verse 2 — same drive, clarinet answering each line]

בֹּא־אַתָּה וְכָל־בֵּיתְךָ אֶל־הַתֵּבָה —

come inside, you and all your house!

Seven pairs of every clean one, (seven pairs!)

two of every other kind,

and the door swung shut behind them —

אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וְאַרְבָּעִים לָיְלָה,

forty days and forty nights of rain.

The water lifted up the boat, (up it went!)

and everything outside was gone.

One year floating in the dark,

feeding camels, feeding birds!

[Chorus — full choir, everyone together, loud and bouncing]

שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם בָּאוּ אֶל־נֹחַ —

(two by two!) they came to Noach,

two by two right up the ramp,

זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה — male and female, every kind!

[Verse 3 — brighter, lifting]

וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹקִים אֶת־נֹחַ — (He remembered!)

He remembered Noach in the boat!

A wind went over all the water, (down it goes!)

וַתָּנַח הַתֵּבָה — the ark came down to rest,

עַל הָרֵי אֲרָרָט — on the mountains of Ararat!

Out went the raven, out went the dove, (send her out!)

back she came with nothing in her beak,

then — עֲלֵה־זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ,

an olive leaf! An olive leaf! Dry land!

[Chorus — full choir, everyone together, loud and bouncing]

שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם בָּאוּ אֶל־נֹחַ —

(two by two!) they came to Noach,

two by two right up the ramp,

זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה — male and female, every kind!

[Verse 4 — biggest, hands in the air]

Out of the boat and onto the ground! (out they come!)

וַיִּבֶן נֹחַ מִזְבֵּחַ — Noach built a מִזְבֵּחַ, an altar,

and the promise came back down:

לֹא־אֹסִף לְקַלֵּל עוֹד אֶת־הָאֲדָמָה —

never again will I curse the ground!

פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ, (fill it up!)

be fruitful, multiply, fill up the earth!

אֶת־קַשְׁתִּי נָתַתִּי בֶּעָנָן —

I put My bow up in the cloud,

וְהָיְתָה לְאוֹת בְּרִית — a sign of a promise that holds!

[Chorus — full choir, everyone together, loud and bouncing]

שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם בָּאוּ אֶל־נֹחַ —

(two by two!) they came to Noach,

two by two right up the ramp,

זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה — male and female, every kind!

[Verse 5 — fast, storytelling, then pulling into the last chorus]

The world filled up with families again, (count them out!)

seventy nations, every land, every tongue.

וַיְהִי כָל־הָאָרֶץ שָׂפָה אֶחָת —

the whole earth still had one language.

נִבְנֶה־לָּנוּ עִיר וּמִגְדָּל, they said, (build it high!)

let us build a city and a tower —

וְנַעֲשֶׂה־לָּנוּ שֵׁם, and make ourselves a name.

So their words got mixed and the building stopped,

עַל־כֵּן קָרָא שְׁמָהּ בָּבֶל — and He called the place Bavel!

And the names run down the page to Terach,

and Terach had a son called Avram. (Avram!)

[Chorus — full choir, everyone together, loud and bouncing]

שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם בָּאוּ אֶל־נֹחַ —

(two by two!) they came to Noach,

two by two right up the ramp,

זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה — male and female, every kind!

[Outro — clarinet screaming, choir shouting the last line, hard stop]

שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם בָּאוּ אֶל־נֹחַ —

two by two, every kind! Hey!

Es Kashti Nasati Beanan

Lyrics & style line

Style for Suno

spoken-word storyteller over soft Jewish acoustic backing, warm male narrator close to the mic, fingerpicked nylon guitar, low upright bass, brushed drums, a sung male choir chorus with rich harmony between the spoken sections, unhurried, cinematic and intimate

[Intro — male narrator, spoken warmly, guitar alone underneath]

פָּרָשַׁת נֹחַ — sit down. This one takes a year to get through, and we have about four minutes.

[Chorus — male choir, sung, warm and full]

אֶת־קַשְׁתִּי נָתַתִּי בֶּעָנָן —

I have set My bow inside the cloud.

A sign of a בְּרִית, a promise that holds,

between Me and the earth,

never again, never again.

[Spoken Word 1 — warm storyteller over soft guitar]

The first thing the Torah tells you is not the water. It is a man.

נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים — Noach was a righteous man, whole, in his generations, and he walked with הַשֵּׁם.

And the truth was hard. The earth was corrupt and full of violent crime, and הַשֵּׁם told him it was over.

Then came the strangest instruction in the parsha: עֲשֵׂה לְךָ תֵּבַת עֲצֵי־גֹפֶר — make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Three hundred amos long, fifty wide, thirty high. A door in the side, a skylight, three decks.

וַיַּעַשׂ נֹחַ כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה אֹתוֹ — and Noach did exactly what he was told.

[Spoken Word 2 — steady, a little quicker, bass enters]

בֹּא־אַתָּה וְכָל־בֵּיתְךָ אֶל־הַתֵּבָה — come in, you and your whole household, because I have seen you righteous before Me in this generation.

שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם בָּאוּ אֶל־נֹחַ — two by two they came to him, male and female, and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer sorts out where they all slept: the animals on the lowest deck, the birds on the second, the creeping things and the people on the third.

Noach was six hundred years old. On the seventeenth day of the second month the wellsprings of the great deep burst open and the windows of the heavens were opened, אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וְאַרְבָּעִים לָיְלָה — forty days and forty nights of rain — and the door was shut behind him.

The water lifted the ark until it went over the mountains, and everything that lived on dry land died.

And for one hundred and fifty days there was nothing to do but stay alive and keep everything else alive. That is what he did all year, in the dark.

[Chorus — male choir, sung, warm and full]

אֶת־קַשְׁתִּי נָתַתִּי בֶּעָנָן —

I have set My bow inside the cloud.

A sign of a בְּרִית, a promise that holds,

between Me and the earth,

never again, never again.

[Spoken Word 3 — quieter, almost tender, drums brushed in]

And then four words turn the whole story around.

וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹקִים אֶת־נֹחַ — Elokim remembered Noach, and every animal with him in the ark.

A wind passed over the earth and the water began to sink. The wellsprings closed, the rain was held back, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, וַתָּנַח הַתֵּבָה — the ark came to rest, עַל הָרֵי אֲרָרָט, on the mountains of Ararat.

He opened the window. He sent out the raven, and it went back and forth. He sent the dove, and she found no place to put her foot down, and came back, and he reached out his hand and took her in.

Seven days later he sent her again, and toward evening she came back — וְהִנֵּה עֲלֵה־זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ — with a torn off olive leaf in her mouth.

Seven days after that, he sent her out and she did not come back. She had somewhere to be.

[Spoken Word 4 — opening up, fuller, hopeful]

צֵא מִן־הַתֵּבָה — come out of the ark. You, your wife, your sons, their wives, and every living thing with you, and fill the earth again.

וַיִּבֶן נֹחַ מִזְבֵּחַ — Noach built an altar and brought up offerings, and הַשֵּׁם said in His heart, never again will I curse the ground because of man.

עֹד כָּל־יְמֵי הָאָרֶץ — as long as the earth is standing: זֶרַע וְקָצִיר וְקֹר וָחֹם — seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night — לֹא יִשְׁבֹּתוּ — they will never stop.

פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ — be fruitful, multiply, fill up the earth.

And then the promise got a sign you can see from your own window.

אֶת־קַשְׁתִּי נָתַתִּי בֶּעָנָן — I have set My bow in the cloud, וְהָיְתָה לְאוֹת בְּרִית, and it will be the sign of the promise between Me and the earth. When the clouds come over the earth and the bow appears in them — וְזָכַרְתִּי אֶת־בְּרִיתִי — I will remember.

[Chorus — male choir, sung, warm and full]

אֶת־קַשְׁתִּי נָתַתִּי בֶּעָנָן —

I have set My bow inside the cloud.

A sign of a בְּרִית, a promise that holds,

between Me and the earth,

never again, never again.

[Outro — male choir, sung, softer each time, fading]

אֶת־קַשְׁתִּי נָתַתִּי בֶּעָנָן —

I have set My bow inside the cloud.

never again, never again.

Lo Yishbosu

Lyrics & style line

Style for Suno

anthemic stadium rock, driving distorted electric guitars with a big ringing delay lead, huge live drums, deep bass, male lead vocal with a massive male gang-vocal singalong choir, quiet clean-guitar verses building to an enormous soaring chorus, major key, wide arena reverb production

[Intro — one male voice, spoken low over a single clean guitar note]

פָּרָשַׁת נֹחַ — after the water went down, He made a promise. It is still running.

[Verse 1 — quiet, clean guitar only, restrained]

Everything I knew was under water.

One year in the dark and no shore.

And four words came and turned the whole thing over —

וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹקִים אֶת־נֹחַ,

He remembered Noach in the boat.

[Pre-Chorus — drums enter, building hard]

The wind came over the water.

וַתָּנַח הַתֵּבָה — the ark came down to rest.

And You said it out loud so we would never wonder —

[Chorus — everyone together, massive gang vocals, soaring]

עֹד כָּל־יְמֵי הָאָרֶץ —

as long as this earth is standing,

זֶרַע וְקָצִיר וְקֹר וָחֹם —

seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

וְיוֹם וָלַיְלָה — day and night —

לֹא יִשְׁבֹּתוּ,

they will never stop.

They will never stop.

[Verse 2 — quiet again, one guitar, voice close]

You could have taken us out any way.

Instead You told him, build.

Rashi says the boat stood there one hundred and twenty years

like an open question in the field,

so somebody would ask, and hear, and come home.

[Pre-Chorus — drums enter, building hard]

A dove came back at evening.

עֲלֵה־זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ — an olive leaf in her mouth.

And Rashi says a bitter thing from Your hand is better

than honey out of anyone else's —

[Chorus — everyone together, massive gang vocals, soaring]

עֹד כָּל־יְמֵי הָאָרֶץ —

as long as this earth is standing,

זֶרַע וְקָצִיר וְקֹר וָחֹם —

seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

וְיוֹם וָלַיְלָה — day and night —

לֹא יִשְׁבֹּתוּ,

they will never stop.

They will never stop.

[Bridge — near silence, one voice and a single guitar, then everything explodes]

אֶת־קַשְׁתִּי נָתַתִּי בֶּעָנָן —

I have set My bow in the cloud.

וְזָכַרְתִּי אֶת־בְּרִיתִי —

and I will remember My promise.

You put it in the sky

where a child could point at it.

Every colour of it means the same thing —

never again, never again, never again!

[Chorus — everyone together, massive gang vocals, soaring]

עֹד כָּל־יְמֵי הָאָרֶץ —

as long as this earth is standing,

זֶרַע וְקָצִיר וְקֹר וָחֹם —

seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

וְיוֹם וָלַיְלָה — day and night —

לֹא יִשְׁבֹּתוּ,

they will never stop.

They will never stop.

[Outro — guitars ringing out, choir dropping to one voice, slow fade]

לֹא יִשְׁבֹּתוּ —

they will never stop.

לֹא יִשְׁבֹּתוּ —

they will never stop.

The parsha in brief

The parsha opens on one man standing in a world that has gone bad. Noach was a righteous man, flawless in his generations, and Noach walked with Elohim, and he had three sons, Sheim, Cham and Yafes. Everything around him is the opposite: the earth was corrupt before Elohim, filled with violent crime, and when Elohim looked at the earth He saw that all flesh had corrupted its way. So He tells Noach plainly what is coming — the end of all flesh has come before Me — and then, instead of simply saving him, He hands him a building plan. An ark of gopher wood, divided into compartments, tarred inside and out, three hundred amos long and fifty wide and thirty high, with a skylight, a door in the side, and three decks. Rashi asks the obvious question: Hashem had a hundred ways to save one family, so why the carpentry? So that for one hundred and twenty years the men of that generation would walk past a man building a boat far from any sea and ask him what it was for, and hear the answer, and perhaps come back. Nobody did. Noach did so; all that he was commanded by Elohim, he did.

Then the door of the ark opens for the animals. Seven pairs of every clean animal and of the birds of the heaven, two of every animal that is not clean, and they came to Noach two by two, male and female, as Elohim had commanded. Noach was six hundred years old. In the second month, on the seventeenth day, all the wellsprings of the great deep burst open and the windows of the heavens were opened, and there was rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and Adonoy shut him in. The water lifted the ark until it covered the high mountains, and every living thing on dry land died; only Noach and those with him in the ark survived, and the waters were powerful over the earth for one hundred and fifty days. What Noach and his family did all that time was work. Midrash Tanchuma says he fed and sustained every animal on board, and not out of one sack either — straw for the camel, barley for the donkey, each creature given the food it was accustomed to eat. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer even sorts out the housing: the cattle and animals on the lowest deck, the birds on the second, the creeping things and the people on the third.

Then comes the turn of the whole story, in four words: Elohim remembered Noach, and all the beasts and animals with him in the ark. A wind passes over the earth and the water begins to sink. The wellsprings close, the rain is withheld, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark rests on the mountains of Ararat. By the first of the tenth month the mountaintops are visible. Noach opens the window and sends the raven, which goes back and forth; then he sends the dove, and she finds no place to rest her foot and comes back to him, and he puts out his hand and takes her in. Seven days later he sends her again, and she comes back toward evening with a torn off olive leaf in her mouth, and Noach knows the water has gone down. Rashi brings the Midrash on that little leaf, and it is the sentence the whole year in the ark was teaching: better that my food should be bitter as an olive and come from the hand of Hashem, than sweet as honey and come from the hand of men. Seven days after that he sends the dove out and she does not come back.

The ground dries, and Elohim tells him to come out — him, his wife, his sons, their wives, and every living thing, to spread over the earth and be fruitful. Noach builds an altar and brings up burnt-offerings, and Adonoy smells the pleasing fragrance and says in His heart that He will never again curse the ground because of man: so long as the earth exists, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never be suspended. Then the promise is made out loud and given a sign. Never again will all flesh be cut off by flood waters, never again will flood waters destroy the earth — and I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Myself and the earth. When the clouds come and the bow is seen in them, He will remember. Afterwards Noach plants a vineyard, drinks the wine and is uncovered in his tent; Cham sees it and tells his brothers, and Sheim and Yafes carry a cloak in backwards on their shoulders and cover their father without looking at him. Noach lived nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

The last stretch of the parsha is the world filling up again — the families of Yafes and Cham and Sheim, nation after nation, each to its language and its land, with Nimrod in the middle of the list building his kingdom in Babylon and Erech and Akad in the land of Shinar. And then the earth, which still had one language and conforming words, gathers in a valley in Shinar and says: come, let us mold bricks; let us build a city and a tower with its top in the heavens and make ourselves a name, so we will not be scattered. Adonoy comes down to see the city and the tower, jumbles their language so no man understands his neighbor, and scatters them over the face of the earth, and the building stops, and the place is called Bavel. Rashi asks a hard question there — the generation of the Flood did not raise their hands against Hashem and were drowned, and this generation did and was only scattered — and answers that the generation of the Flood were robbers and full of strife with each other, while these people conducted themselves in love and friendship, and from that, he says, you can learn how hateful strife is and how great is peace. Then the names come quickly: Sheim, Arpachshad, Shelach, Eiver, Peleg, Re'u, Serug, Nachor, Terach — and Terach took his son Avram and his grandson Lot and his daughter-in-law Sarai out of Ur Kasdim to go to the land of Canaan, and they came as far as Charan, and settled there.

And that is where the parsha stops, one country short.

At the Shabbos table

  1. What did the dove bring back to Noach in her mouth?
  2. After Noach came out of the ark, what did Hashem put in the clouds, and what was it a sign of?
  3. Rashi asks why Hashem made Noach spend one hundred and twenty years building the ark, when He could have saved him any other way. What is his answer?

Answers

  1. A torn off olive leaf. That is how Noach knew the water had gone down.
  2. The rainbow. It is the sign of the covenant that flood waters will never again destroy the earth.
  3. So that the people of that generation would see him building it and ask him what it was for, and hear that a flood was coming, and perhaps repent.

“God doesn't want to destroy the world. He wants people to change.”

The whole parsha, aliyah by aliyah

All seven aliyos, in order, with the verse ranges as they are leined. The account of what happens stays to what the pesukim say; anything that explains why is quoted below.

  1. 1.The plan for the ark

    Genesis 6:9-6:22

    Noach was a righteous man, flawless in his generations, and Noach walked with Elohim; he fathered three sons, Sheim, Cham and Yafes. The earth was corrupt before Elohim and filled with violent crime, and Elohim saw that all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth. He told Noach that the end of all flesh had come before Him, and that He was bringing flood waters to destroy all flesh in which there is the breath of life. He gave Noach the plan: an ark of gopher wood made into compartments and caulked inside and out with tar, three hundred amos long, fifty wide and thirty high, with a skylight, an opening in its side, and a lower, second and third deck. Noach was to come in with his wife, his sons and their wives, bring two of every living thing, male and female, and gather all the food that would be eaten. Noach did so; all that he was commanded by Elohim, he did.

    וַיַּ֖עַשׂ נֹ֑חַ כְּ֠כֹל אֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֥ה אֹת֛וֹ אֱלֹהִ֖ים כֵּ֥ן עָשָֽׂה׃ (ס)

    Noach did so. All that he was commanded by Elohim, he did.

    Genesis 6:22

  2. 2.Everyone comes aboard

    Genesis 7:1-7:16

    Adonoy told Noach to come into the ark with his whole household, because He had seen him righteous before Him in that generation. Of every ritually clean animal he was to take seven pairs, and of the animals that are not clean, two; of the birds of the heaven, seven pairs, to keep seed alive on the face of the earth. In another seven days it would rain forty days and forty nights, and every living substance would be obliterated from the face of the earth. Noach did all that Adonoy commanded him. He was six hundred years old, and in the six hundredth year of his life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, all the wellsprings of the great deep burst open and the windows of the heavens were opened. On that very day Noach came into the ark with Sheim, Cham and Yafes, his wife and the three wives of his sons; the animals came to him two by two, male and female, as Elohim had commanded, and Adonoy shut him in.

    וְהַבָּאִ֗ים זָכָ֨ר וּנְקֵבָ֤ה מִכָּל־בָּשָׂר֙ בָּ֔אוּ כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה אֹת֖וֹ אֱלֹהִ֑ים וַיִּסְגֹּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה בַּֽעֲדֽוֹ׃

    Those that came were male and female, of all flesh they came, as Elohim had commanded him. Adonoy then [protectively] shut him in [the ark.]

    Genesis 7:16

  3. 3.The water, and the dove

    Genesis 7:17-8:14

    There was a Flood on the earth for forty days; the waters increased and lifted the ark, and it moved on the surface of the waters until they covered all the high mountains under the heavens, fifteen amohs above them. All flesh that moved on the earth perished, and only Noach and those with him in the ark survived, and the waters were powerful over the earth for one hundred and fifty days. Then Elohim remembered Noach and all the beasts and animals with him in the ark, and caused a wind to blow over the earth, and the water subsided; the wellsprings of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed. The ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat, and by the first of the tenth month the mountaintops became visible. After forty days Noach opened the window and sent out the raven, which went to and fro; then he sent the dove, and she found no place to rest her foot and came back to him. Seven days later he sent her again and she came toward evening with a torn off olive leaf in her mouth, and seven days after that he sent her and she did not return.

    וַתָּבֹ֨א אֵלָ֤יו הַיּוֹנָה֙ לְעֵ֣ת עֶ֔רֶב וְהִנֵּ֥ה עֲלֵה־זַ֖יִת טָרָ֣ף בְּפִ֑יהָ וַיֵּ֣דַע נֹ֔חַ כִּי־קַ֥לּוּ הַמַּ֖יִם מֵעַ֥ל הָאָֽרֶץ׃

    The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her mouth was a torn off olive leaf. Noach knew then that the water had subsided from the earth.

    Genesis 8:11

  4. 4.Out of the ark

    Genesis 8:15-9:7

    Elohim told Noach to depart from the ark with his wife, his sons and their wives, and to bring out every living thing with him so they would spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply. They all went out from the ark according to their families. Noach built an altar to Adonoy, took of every ritually clean animal and clean bird, and brought up burnt-offerings on the altar. Adonoy smelled the pleasing fragrance and said in His heart that He would never again curse the ground because of man, and never again smite every living thing as He had done; so long as the earth exists, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never be suspended. Elohim blessed Noach and his sons and told them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth; the animals and birds and fish were given into their hands, and every moving creature that lives would be theirs for food, but not flesh with its lifeblood, and He would demand an account for the blood of man, for in the image of Elohim He made man.

    עֹ֖ד כָּל־יְמֵ֣י הָאָ֑רֶץ זֶ֡רַע וְ֠קָצִיר וְקֹ֨ר וָחֹ֜ם וְקַ֧יִץ וָחֹ֛רֶף וְי֥וֹם וָלַ֖יְלָה לֹ֥א יִשְׁבֹּֽתוּ׃

    So long as the earth exists, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never be suspended.

    Genesis 8:22

  5. 5.The rainbow and the promise

    Genesis 9:8-9:17

    Elohim spoke to Noach and to his sons with him, saying that He was making a covenant with them and with their offspring after them, and with every living creature that had departed from the ark. He would keep His covenant: never again would all flesh be cut off by flood waters, and never again would flood waters destroy the earth. Elohim said this is the sign of the covenant that He pledges between Himself and them and every living creature, for the generations of all time — He has set His bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Himself and the earth. When He brings clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, He will remember His covenant, and the waters will never again destroy all flesh. Elohim said to Noach: this is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Myself and all flesh that is on the earth.

    אֶת־קַשְׁתִּ֕י נָתַ֖תִּי בֶּֽעָנָ֑ן וְהָֽיְתָה֙ לְא֣וֹת בְּרִ֔ית בֵּינִ֖י וּבֵ֥ין הָאָֽרֶץ׃

    I have set My [rain] bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Myself and the earth.

    Genesis 9:13

  6. 6.The vineyard and the nations

    Genesis 9:18-10:32

    The sons of Noach who went out of the ark were Sheim, Yafes and Cham, and from these three the whole world developed. Noach began to be a man of the soil and planted a vineyard; he drank of the wine and was intoxicated and uncovered himself in his tent. Cham saw his father's nakedness and told his brothers outside; Sheim and Yafes took the cloak, placed it on their shoulders and walked backwards to cover their father, facing away so they did not see. When Noach awoke and realized what had been done to him, he said that Canaan was cursed and would be a slave of slaves to his brothers, blessed Adonoy the God of Sheim, and said that Elohim will enlarge Yefes but will dwell in the tents of Sheim. Noach lived three hundred and fifty years after the Flood, nine hundred and fifty years in all, and he died. The Torah then lists the descendants of Yafes, Cham and Sheim, nation by nation, each to its language and its land — among them Nimrod, a mighty hunter, whose kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Akad and Kalneh in the land of Shinar — and from these the nations were separated on the earth after the Flood.

    וַיִּקַּח֩ שֵׁ֨ם וָיֶ֜פֶת אֶת־הַשִּׂמְלָ֗ה וַיָּשִׂ֙ימוּ֙ עַל־שְׁכֶ֣ם שְׁנֵיהֶ֔ם וַיֵּֽלְכוּ֙ אֲחֹ֣רַנִּ֔ית וַיְכַסּ֕וּ אֵ֖ת עֶרְוַ֣ת אֲבִיהֶ֑ם וּפְנֵיהֶם֙ אֲחֹ֣רַנִּ֔ית וְעֶרְוַ֥ת אֲבִיהֶ֖ם לֹ֥א רָאֽוּ׃

    Sheim and Yafes took the cloak, placed it on their shoulders, and walked backwards, covering the nakedness of their father. They faced away from him, and did not see the nakedness of their father.

    Genesis 9:23

  7. 7.Bavel, and the road to Avram

    Genesis 11:1-11:32

    The whole earth had one language and conforming words. Journeying from the east they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there, and said one to another: come, let us mold bricks and bake them thoroughly — and the brick served them as stone and the clay as mortar. Then they said: come, we will build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach the heavens, and make ourselves a name, so that we will not be scattered all over the face of the earth. Adonoy descended to see the city and the tower, and said that they are one people with one language and now nothing would be unattainable for them; He jumbled their language so they would not understand one another, scattered them over the face of the earth, and they stopped building the city, and He called its name Bavel. The Torah then counts the generations from Sheim through Arpachshad, Shelach, Eiver, Peleg, Re'u, Serug and Nachor down to Terach, who had Avram, Nachor and Haran. Haran died in Ur Kasdim during his father's lifetime; Avram married Sarai, who was barren; and Terach took Avram, Lot and Sarai and left Ur Kasdim for the land of Canaan, but they came to Charan and settled there.

    וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ הָ֣בָה ׀ נִבְנֶה־לָּ֣נוּ עִ֗יר וּמִגְדָּל֙ וְרֹאשׁ֣וֹ בַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְנַֽעֲשֶׂה־לָּ֖נוּ שֵׁ֑ם פֶּן־נָפ֖וּץ עַל־פְּנֵ֥י כָל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

    Then they said, Come, we will build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach the heavens. Thus we will make ourselves a name, so that we will not be scattered all over the face of the earth.

    Genesis 11:4

From the mefarshim

Every one of these is the mefaresh’s own words, fetched and checked — not a summary.

  1. 1.Rashi — the real children of a tzaddik are his good deeds

    אלה תולדת נח נח איש צדיק. הוֹאִיל וְהִזְכִּירוֹ סִפֵּר בְּשִׁבְחוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר זֵכֶר צַדִּיק לִבְרָכָה (משלי י'). דָּבָר אַחֵר לִמֶּדְךָ שֶׁעִקַּר תּוֹלְדוֹתֵיהֶם שֶׁל צַדִּיקִים מַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים:

    אלה תולדת נח נח איש צדיק THESE ARE THE PROGENY OF NOAH: NOAH WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN — Since the text mentions him it sings his praise, in accordance with what is said, (Proverbs 10:7) “The mention of the righteous shall be for a blessing.” Another explanation is: since after stating “These are the progeny of Noah”, it does not at once mention the names of his children but declares that he “was a righteous man”, Scripture thereby teaches you that the real progeny of righteous people are their good deeds (Genesis Rabbah 30:6).

    Rashi on Genesis 6:9:1

  2. 2.Sforno — walking with Hashem means being useful to other people

    אֶת הָאֱלֹהִים הִתְהַלֶּךְ נֹחַ. הָלַךְ בִּדְרָכָיו לְהֵיטִיב לְזוּלָתוֹ, וְהוֹכִיחַ בְּנֵי דּוֹרוֹ כְּדִבְרֵי רַבּוֹתֵינוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה. וְכֵן כָּתַב עָלָיו בְּרוּס הַכַּלְדִּיִּי:

    את האלוקים התהלך נח, he walked in G’d’s way trying to be helpful to others, and to instruct and if necessary to rebuke them, as our sages pointed out. This is also in accordance with what the historian Berussi Hacaldaii (3rd century B.C.) wrote about him.

    Sforno on Genesis 6:9:5

  3. 3.Rashi — why one hundred and twenty years of building

    עשה לך תבת. הַרְבֵּה רֶוַח וְהַצָּלָה לְפָנָיו, וְלָמָּה הִטְרִיחוֹ בְּבִנְיָן זֶה? כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּרְאוּהוּ אַנְשֵׁי דוֹר הַמַּבּוּל עוֹסֵק בָּהּ ק"כ שָׁנָה, וְשׁוֹאֲלִין אוֹתוֹ מַה זֹּאת לְךָ, וְהוּא אוֹמֵר לָהֶם עָתִיד הַקָּבָּ"ה לְהָבִיא מַבּוּל לָעוֹלָם, אוּלַי יָשׁוּבוּ:

    עשה לך תבת MAKE THEE AN ARK — There are numerous ways by which God could have saved Noah; why, then, did he burden him with this construction of the Ark? So that the men of the generation of the Flood might see him employed on it for 120 years and might ask him, “What do you need this for”? and so that he might answer them, “The Holy One, blessed be He, is about to bring a flood upon the world” — perhaps they might repent (literally, return to God) (Sanhedrin 108b).

    Rashi on Genesis 6:14:1

  4. 4.Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer — who lived on which deck

    מְדוֹר כָּל בְּהֵמָה וְחַיָּה בַּיָּצִיעַ הַתַּחְתּוֹן. מְדוֹר לְכָל הָעוֹפוֹת בַּיָּצִיעַ הַשְּׁנִיָּה. מְדוֹר שְׁקָצִים וּרְמָשִׂים וּבְנֵי אָדָם בַּיָּצִיעַ הַשְּׁלִישִׁית. מִכָּאן אַתָּה לָמֵד בִּשְׁלֹשִׁים וְשֵׁשׁ מִינֵי עוֹפוֹת בָּאָרֶץ וְשס״ה מִינֵי שְׁקָצִים בָּאָרֶץ, וְכֵן בַּיָּצִיעַ הַתַּחְתּוֹנָה וְכוּ' בַּיָּצִיעַ הַשְּׁנִיָּה וְכֵן בַּמַּעֲלָה שְׁלִישִׁית, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״תַּחְתִּיִּם שְׁנִיִּם וּשְׁלִשִׁים תַּעֲשֶׂהָ״.

    The dwelling-place of all the cattle and animals was in the lowest compartment, the dwelling-place for all fowl was in the second compartment, and the dwelling-place for the reptiles and the human beings was in the third compartment. Hence thou mayest learn that there were 366 kinds of cattle on the earth, and 366 kinds of fowl on the earth, and 366 kinds of reptiles on the earth, for thus was (the number) in the lowest compartment, so in the second compartment, and so in the third floor, as it is said, "With lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it" (Gen. 6:16).

    Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 23:2

  5. 5.Midrash Tanchuma — every animal got the food it was used to

    וְלֹקֵחַ נְפָשׁוֹת חָכָם, זֶה נֹחַ שֶׁזָּן וּמְפַרְנֵס אֶת הַבְּהֵמָה. וּמֶה הָיָה מַאֲכִילָן? אָמַר רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא, דְּבֵלָה הָיוּ כֻלָּן אוֹכְלִין, כְּמוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: וְהָיָה לְךָ וְלָהֶם לְאָכְלָה. וְרַבּוֹתֵינוּ אָמְרוּ, לֹא, אֶלָּא כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד מִכָּל מִין וָמִין הֶאֱכִיל מַה שֶּׁלָּמֵד. הַגָּמָל, תֶּבֶן. וְהַחֲמוֹר שְׂעוֹרִים. וְכֵן כֻּלָּם מַה שֶּׁלָּמֵד הָיָה אוֹכֵל, הֱוֵי וְלֹקֵחַ נְפָשׁוֹת חָכָם.

    And he that is wise winneth souls (ibid.). This applies to Noah, who fed and sustained the animals. What food did he feed them? R. Akiba maintained: All of them ate dried figs, as it is written: And it shall be for food for thee and for them (Gen. 6:21). Our sages, however, said: This was not so. He provided each of them with the kind of food it was accustomed to eat—straw for the camel, barley for the ass, and so forth. Each animal was fed what it was accustomed to eat. Hence, And he that is wise winneth souls.

    Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 2:4

  6. 6.Rashi — bitter as an olive, but from His hand

    טרף. חָטַף. וּמִדְרַשׁ אַגָּדָה (עיר' י"ח) לְשׁוֹן מָזוֹן; וְדָרְשׁוּ בְּפִיהָ לְשׁוֹן מַאֲמָר, אָמְרָה יִהְיוּ מְזוֹנוֹתַי מְרוֹרִין כְּזַיִת בְּיָדוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּבָּ"ה וְלֹא מְתוּקִין כִּדְבַשׁ בִּידֵי בָשָׂר וָדָם:

    טרף means IT HAD PLUCKED OFF — The Midrashic explanation takes it as meaning “food”, and interprets בפיה as “speaking” — viz., she said. “Rather that my food be bitter as an olive but from the hand of God, than as sweet as honey and from the hand of mortal men” (Eruvin 18b; Genesis Rabbah 33).

    Rashi on Genesis 8:11:2

  7. 7.Rashi — how hateful strife is, and how great peace is

    ומשם הפיצם. לִמֵּד שֶׁאֵין לָהֶם חֵלֶק לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא; וְכִי אֵיזוֹ קָשָׁה, שֶׁל דּוֹר הַמַּבּוּל אוֹ שֶׁל דּוֹר הַפַּלָּגָה? אֵלּוּ לֹא פָשְׁטוּ יָד בָּעִקָּר וְאֵלּוּ פָשְׁטוּ יָד בָּעִקָּר לְהִלָּחֵם בּוֹ, וְאֵלּוּ נִשְׁטְפוּ וְאֵלּוּ לֹא נֶאֱבְדוּ מִן הָעוֹלָם? אֶלָּא שֶׁדּוֹר הַמַּבּוּל הָיוּ גַּזְלָנִים וְהָיְתָה מְרִיבָה בֵינֵיהֶם, לְכָךְ נֶאֱבְדוּ; וְאֵלּוּ הָיוּ נוֹהֲגִים אַהֲבָה וְרֵעוּת בֵּינֵיהֶם, שֶׁנֶּ' שָׂפָה אֶחָת וּדְבָרִים אֲחָדִים, לָמַדְתָּ שֶׁשָּׂנְאוּי הַמַּחֲלֹקֶת וְגָדוֹל הַשָּׁלֹום:

    ומשם הפיצם AND FROM THENCE DID THE LORD SCATTER THEM —This teaches that they have no portion in the world to come (Sanhedrin 107b). Which sin was greater: that of the generation of the Flood or that of the generation of the Dispersion? The former did not stretch forth their hands against God; the latter did stretch forth their hands against God to war against him (surely, then, the sin of the generation of the Dispersion was greater) and yet the former (the generation of the Flood) were drowned and these did not perish from the world! But the reason is that the generation of the Flood were violent robbers and there was strife among them, and therefore they were destroyed; but these conducted themselves in love and friendship, as it is said, “They were one people and had one language”. — You may learn from this how hateful to God is strife and how great is peace (Genesis Rabbah 38:6).

    Rashi on Genesis 11:9:1

Vorts & shmuessen on this parsha

Good vorts and shmuessen on this parsha from around the Torah world — a taste of each, and the link to learn it properly. Every excerpt is verbatim, checked against the page itself.

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Texts from Sefaria — Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934 (Public Domain) · Vocalized Edition (Public Domain) · Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash (CC-BY) · Pirke DeRabbi Eliezer, Sefaria Vocalized Edition (Public Domain) · Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, trans. Rabbi Gerald Friedlander, London, 1916 (Public Domain) · Midrash Tanchuma -- Torat Emet (Public Domain) · Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, trans. Samuel A. Berman (CC-BY) · Tanach with Ta'amei Hamikra (Public Domain) · Metsudah Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009 (CC-BY)