Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 30 Tishri 5785
6th Portion of Noah

Good morning! It is the FIRST day of November, and the LAST day of Tishri. What a transition for all of us. The new moon is tonight! What intentions do we have for the month ahead? We have a blank slate to create our reality?

What are we thinking about in terms intentions?

Because after yesterday’s lesson? We are seeing something in today’s portion. Noah DID come out of his prison. The Ark that saved him.

And? It did not go well.

I wrote this last year:

• • Noah was righteous before the flood
  • Noah built an ark – a lifeboat. And a prison.
  • The flood came
  • The flood left
  • Noah was on dry ground and knew it. He stayed on the ark
  • Hashem called him out.
  • He left the ark.
  • Hashem told Noah to be fruitful and multiply

That’s the context.

And what did Noah do? Planted a vineyard and got drunk.

Noah was free. He stepped off the ark. And? Got drunk.

And? Assaulted by his son. Possibly even sexually.

Trauma.

We are free. The month of Cheshvan is a chance to play in this new sandbox of freedom. Can we live without planting a vineyard and getting drunk? Likely no. And? Possibly yes?

This morning, in Mark Nepo’s Book of Awakening – this was the lead passage:

“To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of the activist neutralizes their work for peace”. — THOMAS MERTON

When we step into our freedom, do we look for OTHERS to fix, or do we sit and reflect and contemplate within?

Can we RECEIVE  this freedom and utilize it for our own PEACE – protecting OUR peace first. And when (inevitably) our peace creates conflicts for others? Let THEM navigate their own self-inflicted violence – instead of trying to rescue them because we believe our PEACE has CAUSED them VIOLENCE?

Our peace does not cause others violence. Their RESPONSE to our PEACE may trigger violence – but that is THEIR work to do. This is a significant shift in paradigms for us, isn’t it?

When Noah stepped off the ark, he had peace. He did not protect that peace, because it was a different peace than what he felt on the ark, SURVIVING the flood.

SURVIVING violence sometimes feels safer and more peaceful than the FREEDOM of PEACE and shifting into the role of PROTECTING our peace and freedom.

Thoughts?

Read more below from last year. I think it will add to these ideas.

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 5 Cheshvan, 5784
Parsha Noah: (Genesis 6:9- 11:32) 
Sixth Portion: Genesis 9:18 – 10:32

Today’s portion is significant.  After Adam and Chavah eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we see another descent into slavery.  Let’s look at the beginning of the passage (Genesis 9:18-22):

18And the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham he was the father of Canaan.

19These three were the sons of Noah, and from these, the entire earth spread out.

20And Noah began to be a master of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.

21And he drank of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself within his tent.

22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness, and he told his two brothers outside.

There is a lot of confusion in the text here.  Reading it there are questions.

• Why is Canaan introduced here? He didn’t seem to be pivotal.
• Why did Noah plant a vineyard?
• Why did Noah become drunk, and what does “he uncovered himself within his tent” mean?
• And why did Ham “see” his father’s nakedness, and why tell his brothers outside?

Let’s keep going (Genesis 9:23-27):

23And Shem and Japheth took the garment, and they placed [it] on both of their shoulders, and they walked backwards, and they covered their father’s nakedness, and their faces were turned backwards, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.

24And Noah awoke from his wine, and he knew what his small son had done to him.

25And he said, “Cursed be Canaan; he shall be a slave among slaves to his brethren.”

26And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be a slave to them.

27May God expand Japheth, and may He dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be a slave to them.”

More questions:

• Why was it so important for Shem and Japheth NOT see their father’s nakedness.
• How did Noah know what Ham did to him? If it was just about seeing nakedness, there is NO WAY Noah would have known if he was passed out drunk.
• Why did Noah curse Canaan? What did Canaan do?
• Why is Ham not mentioned in these verses?

After these passages, we get into more of a family tree; so we are going to focus on these passages.

I’ve written a ton in answer to these questions below over the past two years. But I want to highlight some things:

• Noah was righteous before the flood
• Noah built an ark – a lifeboat. And a prison.
• The flood came
• The flood left
• Noah was on dry ground and knew it. He stayed on the ark
• Hashem called him out.
• He left the ark.
• Hashem told Noah to be fruitful and multiply

That’s the context.

And what did Noah do? Planted a vineyard and got drunk.

And. Likely was sexually assaulted by his son. Or at least physically assaulted. But Noah, as a response to trauma he experienced “degraded himself” and got drunk.  And instead of owning the responsibility? He placed the burden on someone else.  And instead of getting angry at Ham? He cursed Ham’s son. Noah used Ham’s kids to hurt Ham.

So now – because of Noah’s decision to plant a vineyard – instead of going out to be fruitful and multiply – we have new trauma introduced into Humanity.

Let’s bring this back to us.

We go through amazing times of safety with storms raging around us.  And Hashem takes care of us.  Keeps us safe. And the storm ends, and we leave our survival – and we really don’t know what to do with ourselves.  We don’t want to live in peace.  Even those who were righteous before the storm.  Noah is flawed. And yet, he is a venerated person in the Torah. 

We don’t have to be ashamed of our past. If Noah can navigate this, so can we. 

The final takeaway – are we living out our purpose (being fruitful and multiply was Noah’s – but our purpose may be different) or are we planting vineyards so we can get drunk and distract ourselves from the Trauma of our past?

That is my takeaway today.  What is yours?