Summary:
In this well-known story, God decides to cause a flood that will destroy the world, sparing only Noah's family and the animals that Noah gathers together on the ark. Life starts over again after the 40 days and 40 nights of the flood. The Noahide Commandments are listed, and God famously uses a rainbow to make a symbol of the first covenant. People start to build a city and the Tower of Babel in order to reach the heavens. As a result, God scatters the people and gives them different languages to speak. Finally, the ten generations from Noah to Abram are listed.
Note: Each Torah portion of the week has a Haftarah, a section from the prophets, attached to it. Unlike the Torah, which is read in its entirety over the year, only selected sections of the prophets are read each week. These portions are read publicly after the Torah portion is read. Often the connection between the Torah portion and the Haftarah is quite clear. Sometimes the only connection is a single shared word. However, the Haftarah portion has much to say to us today. As Professor Michael Fishbane teaches, “this public reading reflected three sources of authority: the Torah, which is the ultimate source of law; the haftarah, which presents the words of the Prophets, who provided moral instruction and uplift; and the sermon or homily, which drew on the authority of the Rabbis to interpret and legislate.”
In order to expose us to new texts, I’ve chosen to focus on the Haftarah this week.
Lesson from our Haftarah Portion:
Our haftarah this week is from the book of Isaiah 54:1-55:5. While the Torah portion focuses on the flood God brings upon the world as a result of the sins of humanity, the Haftarah focuses on Israel’s sins against God and the fact that Israel has broken the Covenant agreed upon at Sinai. After the covenant of the rainbow God makes a new start with humanity, so too in our Haftarah is divine mercy extended to Israel, through redemption from exile.
There is an enormous difference in the focus of our Torah portion and our Haftarah. Noah is chosen by God to save humanity as well as the animals because he is a Tzadik – he is righteous. The covenant of the rainbow is made because God finds one righteous person. In our Torah portion, the focus is on the individual and his personal sense of righteousness. The world is saved because of the moral character of one man. Noah is a model for us of personal piety and virtuous living. He is a truly religious man.
In our Haftarah, Isaiah writes about the “disciples of the Eternal” who establish the city “through righteousness – tz’dakah.” Isaiah focuses on the community and its ability, as a collective, to live a virtuous life. While Noah is challenged as an individual to build the ark, in Isaiah, the challenges posed are communal and public.
Maimonides, in the 12th century, when he organized and listed the 613 commandments, bases the obligation to give Tzedakah, charity, on a verse from our Haftarah which teaches that we are only established as a people when we do Tzedakah, again focusing on the communal obligation to be righteous.
Genesis is a narrative of individual and personal relationships with God. By the time Isaiah writes his text, in the 6th century, BCE, the relationship with God has transformed to be communal and public. The obligation that Noah takes on in our Torah portion is quite personal. By the time of Isaiah, the prophet challenges us to go further. Individual piety is no longer enough. The covenant between God and the Jewish people requires that together as a people our obligation is to build a righteous society for all. We learn from our Torah portion that Noah was a righteous individual in his generation. Our Haftarah challenges us to be a righteous people in our generation.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Don Goor