Parsha Talk Noach 5784 2023

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Noah [Genesis 6:10–11:32] is the second parashah in the Book of Genesis. The main story in the parashah is the flood that God brings in order to destroy God’s creation, to begin again with Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their wives. Our tone was more somber than usual, in the wake of the news in Israel since Sh’mini Atzeret/Simhat Torah. We call the Torah a tree of life to those who hold fast to it; when the events of the day threaten to restore the pre-Creation chaos, the tohu va-vohu of Genesis 1:2, we cling to what we can. For us as Jews, it is Torah, and for the three of us, it is our weekly conversation about the parashah. Our thoughts and prayers are with Israel: the Land, the State, the People. We say Shabbat Shalom about time; in the qaddish we express our wish for peace about space: עושה שלום במרומיו הוא יעשה שלום עלינו ועל כל ישראל ועל כל יושבי תבל – May God who makes peace from God’s heights, grant peace to us, to all Israel, and to all who dwell on earth. Amen.