The Power of Peace
There are two times in this Torah portion when humanity took a wrong turn and faced Divine punishment. The first occupies the bulk of the portion. It speaks of the human race becoming corrupt, particularly in the areas of theft and sexual immorality. Men stole the wives of other men. It was a true breakdown of society. And then there was the monetary theft, which the Midrash explains was of a unique nature. In every society, there is a minimum amount of money for which it is worth it to sue another person in court. For example: In a Michigan small claims court, there is a $25 filing fee for a claim of $600 or less. That makes it practically impossible to regain a loss of $25 or less. In practical terms, this means that if someone steals $25 or less from me, I am left with no way of getting it back, since getting it back will cost me $25. That was the way the generation of the flood stole. A large gang would approach a man selling apples from a small pushcart. Each member of the gang stole just 2 or 3 apples, and the unfortunate seller had all his merchandise stolen, but had no way to get it back. You just couldn’t claim 2 apples from each perpetrator. Their fate of destruction by flood was sealed because of the theft; a crime committed between one man and his fellow man.
In contrast, at the end of the Torah portion, we encounter the builders of the Tower of Babel. The Torah states that their building project displeased God, but it doesn’t say why God wasn’t happy with their conduct. What was the nature of the tall tower they were trying to build? The Midrash offers two explanations: The first is that they were trying to reach all the way up to the heavens to wage a war against God. Why this displeased God is understood. The second explanation is that they thought back to the great floodwaters of Noah, and figured that the sky opened up every 1656 years to flood the world. They sought to prevent the next great flood. In this approach, their mistake was that they totally missed the message of the flood. They didn’t attribute it to God as punishing the evil of the generation, but rather to a natural disaster which occurred at regular intervals.
According to both explanations, the builders of the Tower were in conflict with God. Either directly, or by misattributing the source of the great flood. Yet, their punishment is less severe than their predecessors. Their language is scrambled, so that they no longer understand each other, and they are dispersed across the lands. You’d think they are deserving of a harsher punishment- they seek to fight with God Himself! Yet, the ones who are destroyed, washed off the face of the earth, are the people who committed theft, stealing from their fellow man. The Talmud uses this as an example of just how much Hashem values peace and tranquility between people. Yes, they were looking to fight against Hashem, but they were united in that endeavor. Their lives are spared. But those who lived in the days of Noah, fought with each other, taking the possessions and wives of others. God would not allow a society like that to continue.
The Ark
God instructs Noah to build an ark to save his family and the entire animal kingdom. A minimum of two of every single species of animal, one male and one female, came on their own accord to the ark to seek refuge. For the kosher animals, Noah was instructed to bring more; 7 pairs of each kosher species of animal. This included birds, beasts, and domesticated farm animals. All of these living beings approached the ark to seek refuge from the flood.
The ark was built with three floors. The top floor was meant for Noah and his family. There were a total of 8 people. Noah and his wife Na’ama, and his three sons, Shem, Cham, and Yefes, and each of their wives. The second floor housed all of the animals. And the third floor was for all of the garbage that was bound to accumulate over the course of the year that everyone was aboard the ark. The ark was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits tall. There is some debate on how exactly to convert cubits into modern day measurements, but according to all opinions, it isn’t more than two feet. So that gives the ark at most the dimensions of 600 ft long, 100 ft wide, and 60 ft tall. That’s a length equal to two football fields, but less width than a football field, which is 160 ft wide. Your average aircraft carrier has a length of about 1,000 feet. Taking all this into consideration, we see that the Ark wasn’t really that big. Yet it was able to fit 8 human beings and a minimum of two of every kind of animal. 2 elephants. 2 hippos. Two rhinos, and the list goes on. 14 of every kind of kosher animal. Every bird species imaginable. Then we have to consider the amount of food necessary to feed all these animals and humans for an entire year. If we think about the quantity of food we eat over the course of a year, it will take up a lot more space than our body. Each man or woman eats an average of 11 to 12 times their body weight each year! And that’s true for the animals as well. How did Noah fit all this in the ark?
The great Torah commentary, known as Ramban, or Nachmanides, explains that this was truly a supernatural occurrence. The Torah speaks of many miracles. The 10 plagues in Egypt, and the splitting of the Red Sea. Since God is Creator of Heaven and Earth, He has the ability to go beyond the natural limits of this world. Noah’s ability to fit everything in the Ark for a whole year is another one of these great miracles that we find in the Torah. There was no natural way to have done it.
The Window
One of the architectural instructions Noach is given by God is to build a window into the Ark. Why was it necessary to command Noach to include a window in the plans? It could have been left up to the design process families usually follow in new construction. If Noach’s wife wanted a window, he’d be sure to build one, and if she didn’t, then, he’d leave it out. But it was not left up to their discretion. God makes it clear. They must build a window. Why?
Life in the Ark must not have been easy. I feel cooped up if I don’t spend a good chunk of time outdoors each day. During the flood, Noah did not step foot outdoors for an entire year. He was stuck inside a small boat, clustered up, not only with his children, but also with his children-in-law (I think you know what I’m trying to say…). He was tasked with the overwhelming responsibility of caring for every imaginable animal. Each animal had to be fed a specific diet at a designated time. It was exhausting. After some time, Noach may come to look at his situation inside the ark and feel sorry for himself. That is why he needed a window, to see what was going on outside of the Ark. Utter destruction. All life washing away in hot sulfurous water. In contrast to what was going on outside the Ark, Noach finds himself to be living in paradise. The window was for him to gain insight into just how good his situation was.
In life, we all have our hard moments. You’re stopped at a red light and someone rear ends you at high speed, while texting on his/her phone. Your car is totalled. A lot of money is lost. But you walk out of the destroyed car totally unscathed. What a blessing! You’re a bit short on finances, but everyone in your family is healthy. Someone in the family is ill, but is showing signs of improvement. We all have darkness in our lives. A window doesn’t only allow light from the outside to come in, it allows us to see the light that we already have inside.
There is a scene from the movie Schindler’s List which stands out in my memory. A Jewish family of means is herded into one of the small apartments in the area now designated in Krakow as the Jewish Ghetto. Coming from a sprawling mansion, and now clustered into a one room apartment, the family exclaims that things couldn’t possibly get any worse. As soon as they make that statement, another 3 families as large as their own, are brought in to share the apartment with them. Throughout our lives we will have challenges and difficulties. We will do a lot better if we apply the concept of the Ark’s window, always trying to see the positive in the situations we find ourselves in.
Vegetarians and Carnivores
Adam and Eve were not allowed to kill animals and eat them. Hashem tells them that their diets will consist of plants; fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes:
Genesis 1:29
God said, “Behold, “I have given you all herbage yielding seed that is on the surface of the entire earth, and every tree that has seed yielding fruit; it shall be yours for food.
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים הִנֵּה֩ נָתַ֨תִּי לָכֶ֜ם אֶת־כׇּל־עֵ֣שֶׂב ׀ זֹרֵ֣עַ זֶ֗רַע אֲשֶׁר֙ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י כׇל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וְאֶת־כׇּל־הָעֵ֛ץ אֲשֶׁר־בּ֥וֹ פְרִי־עֵ֖ץ זֹרֵ֣עַ זָ֑רַע לָכֶ֥ם יִֽהְיֶ֖ה לְאׇכְלָֽה׃
But after the flood, Noah is granted permission to eat meat. He may now slaughter an animal and eat it.
Genesis 9:3
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; like the green herbage, I have given you everything.
כׇּל־רֶ֙מֶשׂ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר הוּא־חַ֔י לָכֶ֥ם יִהְיֶ֖ה לְאׇכְלָ֑ה כְּיֶ֣רֶק עֵ֔שֶׂב נָתַ֥תִּי לָכֶ֖ם אֶת־כֹּֽל׃
The question is why were Adam and Eve not allowed to eat meat. They had to maintain a vegetarian diet. But once Noah lives through the flood, then, humanity gets the green light to dine at a steakhouse? What changed?
- Nachmanides explains that the whole world was slotted for destruction at the time of the flood. Humanity had become so immoral that it even impacted the animals. Animals no longer cohabited only with their own species. In the merit of Noach, the animal kingdom was saved from obliteration. He built an Ark to shield them from the flood. This allowed him to be dominant over them and use them to fulfill all of his physical needs, even the need for food.
- There’s another explanation given. The generation of Noah had become so degenerate that they were like animals. When human beings see themselves as mere animals, devoid of an ability to exert self-control, it becomes very difficult to live a high moral life. In order for humans to see themselves as something totally different than animals, God gave them permission to eat animals. This makes it clear to us that we are not just another kind of animal. We live a whole different level of existence. We can control our desires and passions, even though animals cannot.
This can also be the answer to another question, which is troubling from last week’s Torah portion. The snake is punished for enticing Eve and Adam to eat the forbidden fruit. God takes away his legs, removes his ability to speak, and places animosity between snakes and mankind. According to our tradition, the Primordial Snake was the evil inclination of man. Rather than being an internal force within us, as it is today, in the Garden of Eden, it was an external force, in the form of a snake. Its job was to entice the man and woman to violate God’s command, so that they’d receive reward for overcoming temptation.
The snake did its job well. It got Adam and Eve to succumb to temptation. So why is it punished? It should be rewarded for a job well done. Maybe it should get a bonus or promotion? Some commentators explain that the snake wasn’t punished. All of its downgrades were meant not as a punishment, but as a way to diminish its power over man. The snake tries to convince us that we are animals. That we have no ability to control ourselves. We are pre-programmed and folly is a foregone and inevitable conclusion. The snake said to Eve, “Look, you are an animal just like me. You walk on two legs, well so do I! You can talk, me too! We are almost mishpacha!”. The snake was too powerful. His argument was too convincing. If he was an animal, unable to exert self control, and looked just like a human, then maybe a human is really also just another animal? That’s why God took away the snake’s legs. From now on, it will slither on its belly. It will no longer speak. And great hatred will develop between humans and snakes. As a matter of fact, snakes kill 5 times more people every year, than all the other animals combined! (Snakes kill 100,000 people annually. The rest of the animals kill 20,000 total.) Now it will become clear that there is a deep divide between the animal, the snake, and the human being.
Suicide & Abortion
I knew I’d get your attention with a title like that! Let’s first talk about suicide. Is it against the Torah law to take your own life? The very question implies that there can be some kind of consequence for violation of the law. Meaning, no legal system will prohibit something unless there can be a negative consequence for its violation. What can possibly be done to punish someone for committing suicide? If it is forbidden, well then, the perpetrator is already dead! The whole discussion about whether or not suicide is forbidden by Torah law presumes the notion of the continuity of the soul into an afterlife. If the soul will continue to live on after death, then the soul can be accountable for committing suicide, just like the soul can be taken to task for the other misdeeds it committed during its lifetime.
The Torah does forbid suicide and the verse is in this week’s Torah portion:
Genesis 9:5
However, your blood which belongs to your souls I will demand.
This verse is understood by the Talmud to mean that God will demand an accounting from one who spills his own blood; for a human being’s life belongs not to him, but to God. Only God has the right to end human life.
Let’s take a step back for a moment to analyze this. It is my body, and for many things I am given autonomy over it. I can decide to grow my hair long or trim it very short. If I don’t like the angle of my nose, I can see a cosmetic surgeon to make the necessary adjustments. I can pierce my ears, my nose and even my lip, if that’s how I like to roll. If I’ve drank too many beers and developed an overly rounded tummy, I can do liposuction to remove my excess belly fat. If I had tremendous success on Ozempic and lost 50 pounds, but now suffer from excess loose hanging skin, I can surgically remove it. It’s my body, and for many things I can do what I want with it. But there are limitations. When it comes to my life itself, I have no autonomy. I can’t choose to end my own life. Only God can do that. My freedom to choose for my body is halted when it comes to my very life force.
And this is what I find so confusing about the huge tumult around abortion. It is such an emotionally charged topic. It seems to be a key factor in who we will choose to be our next president. It may impact which state I choose to live in. But I don’t understand the intense emotion that revolves around this topic. To me, it seems like one very simple question that can be answered simply by either science or religion. At what point does a fetus become its own independent life. If it’s not its own separate life force, and simply a part of the mother’s body, then performing an abortion should be no different than removing excess belly fat. No one will object to me removing a wart on my finger, or a bullion at the bottom of my foot.
But at the point that a fetus does become its own independant life force, then one should have no more authority to end its life than one has to take his or her own life in suicide. How we determine this point of a fetus becoming its own life can be debated in the halls of science or religion.
Maybe it’s toward the end of pregnancy when if delivered the baby can be viable and live on its own. By that time, it certainly seems that a fetus is an independent life. Maybe it’s at the end of the first trimester. Maybe at the beginning of the third? According to the Torah, it’s 40 days past conception. But whatever that time is, then we should say that before that point, it’s just part of the mother’s body. But after that point, when science or religion will determine that it is an independent life, then how can one exert the authority to end it? If a person can’t end his own life, even though it’s his or her own body, then how can one exert the authority to end the life of this independent life force?
To clarify, I’m not looking to offer any clear ruling in Jewish law about abortion. Nor am I looking to make any political statements. I’m not talking about a case where the unborn child poses a threat to the mother’s life. This piece is in no way a comprehensive covering of abortion within Torah law. I look to make a single point within a really big and complicated topic. All I offer is a perspective based on the law that suicide is forbidden, which I think influences the way we ought to approach abortion. In the law which forbids suicide, we see that the Torah curtails the choices that we are allowed to make for our own bodies.
