by Rabbi Avi Billet
A parsha joke for this week: when Noach opened the door to the Ark, all the animals started to sing “Aitz Chaim Heeeee.”
While certainly chuckle worthy, the truth is that this time of year is a good time to consider what the opening of the Ark means to us. In the last few weeks, between the High Holidays, Zom Gedalia, Sukkos, Shmini Atzeres, and Simchas Torah, we have read portions of the Torah from each of the books of the Torah. On Rosh Hashana we read from Bereishis, on Zom Gedaliah we read from Shemos, on Yom Kippur we read from Vayikra, on all the holidays we read Maftirs from Bamidbar, and on different holidays we might be reading from Devarim or Vayikra. Of course, Simchas Torah concludes the book of Devarim and begins the book of Bereishis.
In a small window of less than a month we get a round-the-world taste of Torah, even as we formally complete the yearly cycle of weekly-readings and begin a new cycle once again.
This challenge of rebooting is exactly what Noach experienced after a full solar year on the Ark, 365 days. When he got off the Ark, what was he thinking? We don’t know, but certainly each of us could come up with a few possibilities.
"Thank God we survived. We have a real task ahead of ourselves. This is a big world that needs people to fill it. This is a big world that needs animals to fill it. We must set ourselves up for success. We must put all stops in place so we don’t fall to the depravity that caused us to have to get onto the boat in the first place. Even if God promises never to send a flood to destroy the whole world again, that may be legal jargon. He can still send floods and other means of destruction. He can still destroy the whole world again. It just won’t happen with that specific combination..."
Of course, humans are a curious bunch. Some humans crave grandeur and power. Some humans will readily oppress others if they become aggrandized as a result – this is the story of human history. Even in a democratic republic, there are some people who stay in positions of power (which they explain as “a life in public service”) because they enjoy the power that comes with the position. Even if someone else could do a better job, or even if they have worn out their forty plus years in office, stepping off into the sunset doesn’t appeal to them.
Other humans are happy to never get involved in that kind of work, simply enjoying life as it comes.
For us, the challenge Noach was surely faced with is very similar to the challenges we face yearly at this time of year, and often enough throughout our lives.
At this time of year, we can ask ourselves how will we reembrace the Torah? How will we study it anew? How will we make our re-viewing of the Torah into a fresh viewing of the Torah? What new questions and insights will we come up with? Which commentaries will we discover whose approaches to understanding the Torah come from vantage points we never considered?
With this new cycle, in my weekly parsha class we are studying the commentary of Rabbi Ovadiah Seforno (Italy 15th-16th century). This week he introduced us to Berossus the Chaldean, an early Babylonian historian from the 3rd century who wrote works similar in scope to those of Josephus. Berossus analyzes the early travels and settlings of mankind post the Flood, tapping into what is clearly human nature – conquer, own, rule (and oppress in order to hold onto power?). Most of his writings are lost, but live on in the quotations of those who cite him. Finding some of the citations of his writings surrounding the post Flood era has been an exercise in the fascinating, at the very least.
I received an email this week from a friend with a list of questions, one of which was “If you were to meet Rashi, what would you ask?”
A decent enough question, perhaps everyone might have a different response. I would most likely ask, “What do you think of the almost deification of your commentary by some people – do you believe what you wrote is the end-all, an unquestionable conglomerate of the only way to understand the Torah?”
This is what I would ask, even though I am pretty confident that I know the answer. Rashbam, Rashi’s grandson, writes in his commentary to Parshas Vayeshev, וגם רבנו שלמה אבי אמי מאיר עיני גולה שפירש תורה נביאים וכתובים נתן לב לפרש פשוטו של מקרא, ואף אני שמואל ב"ר מאיר חתנו זצ"ל נתווכחתי עמו ולפניו והודה לי שאילו היה לו פנאי היה צריך לעשות פרושים אחרים לפי הפשטות המתחדשים בכל יום
“And Rabbenu Shlomo, my mother’s father, the illuminator of the Disapora, who explained the Torah, Prophets and Writing, put his heart to explaining the simple understanding of the text. And even I, Shmuel son of R Meir (his son-in-law) argued with him and before him. And he (Rashi) admitted to me that had he only had the time he would have to come up with new explanations because of the new understandings that come up every day.”
According to his grandson, who questioned his commentary and spoke with him about it, Rashi would have rewritten his commentary on the Bible. Which means, A. Rashi was constantly learning new ideas, B. He was clearly open to the reality that nothing need be set in stone forever. People evolve, ideas evolve, and nothing in the realm of Torah study should remain static and not subject to further scrutiny or analysis.
Just as Noach contemplated what to do with the new world and opportunities opened to him for the remainder of the life he was prepared to face, we too should challenge ourselves, especially as we begin this new cycle of the Torah, to contemplate how we can make our commitments to God and Torah, mitzvos and observance-of-them into something much more than static and routine, as we consider how to make the most of the new world presented to us every year post Simchas Torah.
“Noach opened the Ark and the animals sang Aitz Chaim Heeeeeee.” It’s a joke, of course. But the idea that we open the Ark and sing without extracting the most we can out the Torah contained in the Ark is no joke.
That is, after all, our task in this life of being a Jew – to grow in our Torah knowledge and commitment to God – more and more each day.
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