parshat Noach

The end of parshas Noach teaches about the beginning of languages…

The greater a person is or believes he or she is, the smaller the room for error in one’s life decisions

This week's Torah portion of Noah takes us up to (and past) the birth of Avraham Avinu, in the year 1948 after Creation – and nary a word seems to be mentioned about the Land of Israel throughout these almost two millennia! Is this not very strange, considering that the Foundation Stone – Even HaShtiyah – from where the world was actually created, is located in the Land, on what later became the Temple Mount? The longed-for Garden of Eden, too, is located in our Holy Land. How could the Land play such a minor role in the first 2,000 years of human history?

Once upon a time, a man came to see a marriage counselor, and began to complain: "My wife is too passive and quiet. I do all the cooking and cleaning, and she barely helps out. And I even have to do all the talking – if I don't start a conversation, you'd be able to hear a pin drop in our house. I always have to initiate and start discussions. I can't go on this way!"...

The world changed after the Deluge. Ours can as well.

In books of Chassidus (Tzidkat Hatzadik 107, Torah Ohr Parshat Noach) the Mabul is described as one great 'Mikve' (ritual bath).