Parashat Noah

By the end of the week, in the Jewish world, everyone will be reading the portion that talks about the story of Noah. I want to attempt to interface the various portions with the BC, if/when possible.Here's some outtakes by yours truly...

Quick Background: Briefly that is where Noah is told that the earth will be wiped clean. Too much wickedness going on.   He's told to build an ark, which he does. Takes all the living creatures he's told to take in there in there. Shuts the door behind him and that's that.

Afterwards, as a sign that He would never destroy the world via flood, the rainbow is declared as a sign. Okay. Nice big rainbow in the sky. The end.

Many BW are building arks and preparing to leave the DBR BC. Hooray!!

There are still many who won't even leave a bad situation. Its as if there is a coin in the way of them seeing how good life can be. They can't see the large but distant mountain because they're too busy looking at the coin that's close up and blocking their view. If that coin could be removed; if their eyes could be diverted from the bad situations that they may be entrenched in, then they could see the beauty that the world has to offer.

The Rainbow

As a sign to Noah that God would not destroy his world again, He declared the rainbow would stand.

When someone is angry with me, I feel like there is heat. Like that person is breathing down my throat with hot air! Or that that person's eyes are piercing through me with lazer beams. In the same way, at times it can get so hot outside that the sun's heat can be associated with a godly "anger".

I once heard that the sunshine -that piercing bright light- which produces this heat (the godly anger), when blocked by rain water (i.e. mercy), produces the rainbow (a breakdown of all the colors. A prism. Something that mitigates the anger). The rainbow is the sign that the anger has been broken.

I think that any BW leaving a very bad situation, and who created an ark and departed, ought to look out for a rainbow -a sign that her anger (hurt directed outwardly) and her hurt (anger directed inwardly) has subsided.  That never again will she be in that terrible situation.

Now what would that "rainbow" look like?

Well, let's create a picture of the typical struggle situation (unfortunately, each situation is different). The scenario would typically be media blaring negative imagery of what she can 'aspire' to; angry, lustful, uncouth men attempting to box her into those images; no apparent help around and/or no different points of view to consider; threat of the 'black card' being revoked if the imagination wonders too far off the 'plantation' lol.

The coin would be anybody thing or idea that stands in her way.

The ark, whatever method or excuse she uses to get out of there. "I want to divest!" "I want to make tons of money!" "I need to find a really good quality man" "I deserve it" or "Its Friday!!"

It doesn't matter. Whatever you need to say to yourself to begin to push yourself out of a bad situation is fine. The true goal, really, should be to have a happy, better, productive, meaningful life. A life where you use your God given skills and produce, where we take the high road of unity and harmony, rather digress to hurtful ways. A life where we take a moment or two to extract the beauty in the world with our seven candles (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth) --and perhaps even the spiritual bounty that awaits us. A life guided by truth and self control.

Once we've made up our minds and we're sailing away, it behooves us to get some guarrantee that we won't be put in that situation again, no? Gotta get that rainbow. And what would the rainbow of today look like for BW?

I think that when our reality is different, when our anxiety is allayed, when we can turn to someone we love and say, "Come! Its good over here!"  Then we are seeing the rainbow!

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Another side of the Noah story is how he contrasts to Abraham and Moses....

Noah was righteous and just. Meaning, he was okay with the world going down and drowning with minimal protest on his part because he felt they deserve it. They did wrong and their punishment must be metted out. Finished.  As long as he and his family could get in that ark and shut the door behind themselves, he was fine.  He was so justice oriented, that when his grandson, Canaan did wrong, rather than giving him reparations to do -as God would- instead he cursed Canaan.  Compare this to Moses: time and time again he put up with the grievance of the Jewish people. He worked tirelessly to bring everyone to the light of the Holy One, Blessed be He because he had mercy on them all. We can even compare Noah to Abraham who, upon hearing of the eminent destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, pleaded to God, "what of there were 50 good people still in the land? What if there were 40? 30?" and so on and so forth.He cared and showed mercy.

It is very easy to condemn. To destroy. To give people their "just dessert". But there is an element that brings soothing to the world: Compassion.

With compassion, we can still met out justice -just temper it with some understanding.  With compassion we must still be discriminating about our taste and preference, just not hurtful about it.  With compassion we do things with understanding.