Noach
Genesis 6:9-11:32
Isaiah 66:1-66:24
“The Mystery of Picasso” is a wonderful film from 1956 well worth seeing. The filmmaker sets up transparent canvases so that we can see the great Picasso’s brushstrokes as they appear — but without seeing the artist himself. It’s an amazing view into the creative process.
In one sequence, Picasso barks out “worse!” and then “even worse!” while working on a large painting. In a time-lapse style, we see him paint over his work and then start again.
At this time of year, we do the same thing, albeit on a more spiritual level: We clear out that which we find unacceptable, problematic and overgrown, and we refocus on the beauty that we know to be a part of the lives we have created.
We hope to promulgate only goodness in the New Year, for ourselves, our families, our communities, the world.
This year, even my garden is being cleared of all the unwanted brush: dead branches, overgrown trees threatening the roof, ivy that has overtaken the pathway to the garbage cans. This also is the time of tidying up after the harvest, clearing the stalks and turning the soil.
This is hard work, but it seems natural to us, part of the cycle of growth and decay, planting and sowing, working always to better ourselves and the world around us.
Parshat Noach speaks of this same action. That which was taking over in a negative way needs to be removed: “The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with lawlessness. When God saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its ways on earth, God said to Noach, ‘I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with lawlessness because of them: I am about to destroy them with the earth.’ ”
There is an interesting implication that somehow the flesh was causing the corruption of the earth itself. We do understand this — look at how our overuse of pesticides has damaged water systems and endangered animals and plants, not to mention humans. The coral reefs are threatened, the polar ice is contaminated; we certainly have done a good job of “corrupting” the earth, even though it is in the name of progress or well-being for some.
The shocking thing about this parsha is the lack of compassion, connection or even a recognition that there are people involved whose lives are now at stake. They have no names, no faces, no dwellings that we hear of. They are just lawless and corrupt.
Only Noach and his sons are named, only they have access to the Divine plan. Are they are too busy scurrying to make the ark to question, to debate, to sneak a friend on board? Or are they in such agreement with God that they make no effort?
Perhaps it does not matter. Perhaps the empathy for others was undeveloped, and that is the cause of the corruption. In any case, they build and gather, storing up seeds and gametes for the new spring when the growth will be started again. They enter the ark, allow God to close the door, and wait out the flood — the erasing, the annihilation of all that they knew.
The covenant made with them is the covenant of kindness. Was it possible that God forgot to add kindness to the world before? Things are certainly not described as especially pleasant up until the flood for the first generations of people.
Perhaps that is what is meant by the description of Noach as “tamim,” often translated as righteous among his generation. Suppose he was someone who did have the ability to create kindness, and thus was chosen to become the founder of a new generation, guided by the covenant of law that leads to communal security and welfare.
The earth is washed clean of its lawlessness. The biggest mikvah ever helps to reestablish a balance, a blank canvas, upon which our future takes shape.
So we, too, come into the New Year with promise. May it be for us all a wonderful year of cleansing and possibility.
Rabbi Elisheva Salamo is the spiritual leader of Keddem Congregation in Palo Alto.