Proof that Noah was a Republican
First of all, my daughter, Cassie, is now saying a few words. Apple currently means anything that tastes good. She is doing very well exhausting her parents, running around and climbing on things. She wants to wish everyone a happy Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year. My wife, Elizabeth, and I, took Cassie to synagogue for services this morning. We dropped Cassie with the babysitter and went into the adult services. For me, sometimes my mind wanders during services. This was one of those days.
I started leafing through the prayer book for something interesting and happened to find a Midrash that proves my namesake, Noah, of the flood, was a Republican. A midrash is defined as “an early Jewish interpretation of or commentary on a Biblical text, clarifying or expounding a point of law or developing or illustrating a moral principle.”
The story starts at the end of The Flood. For those of you that do not know the flood story I suggest reading /Genesis for Dummies/. The floodwaters have started to recede. Noah opens the door to the ark and starts to look around at his surroundings.
Trees were uprooted. Houses, and buildings were strewn all over the place. Dead plants and animals were left all over the place. A great flood had overwhelmed the Earth for forty days. Needless to say it looked even worse than my room as a teenager. Noah looks around at the mess before him and cries out to G-D.
He says G-D, what am I to do, the land is now unlivable. There is nowhere to live. The lands where I lived are now destroyed; my family and I can no longer live here. G-D becomes very angry with Noah at this point. G-D tells Noah to build a dwelling for he and his family because there will one more smaller flood to wash away most of the debris.
As the Holy One explains this to Noah, He goes on to compare Noah’s response to crisis with that of two future great leaders of the Jews. Abraham will argue with G-D, and try to save all of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Moses will try to stop The Almighty when G-D considers severely punishing the Israelites for worshiping the golden calf. Noah was faced with a crisis of even larger proportion.
Rather than try to avoid the calamity that faces a large community, Noah focused on how to create the ark and save his family. Rather than working with the world forces around him, Noah made a choice that only benefited him. Now you tell me, which party do you think he would affiliate with?
I started leafing through the prayer book for something interesting and happened to find a Midrash that proves my namesake, Noah, of the flood, was a Republican. A midrash is defined as “an early Jewish interpretation of or commentary on a Biblical text, clarifying or expounding a point of law or developing or illustrating a moral principle.”
The story starts at the end of The Flood. For those of you that do not know the flood story I suggest reading /Genesis for Dummies/. The floodwaters have started to recede. Noah opens the door to the ark and starts to look around at his surroundings.
Trees were uprooted. Houses, and buildings were strewn all over the place. Dead plants and animals were left all over the place. A great flood had overwhelmed the Earth for forty days. Needless to say it looked even worse than my room as a teenager. Noah looks around at the mess before him and cries out to G-D.
He says G-D, what am I to do, the land is now unlivable. There is nowhere to live. The lands where I lived are now destroyed; my family and I can no longer live here. G-D becomes very angry with Noah at this point. G-D tells Noah to build a dwelling for he and his family because there will one more smaller flood to wash away most of the debris.
As the Holy One explains this to Noah, He goes on to compare Noah’s response to crisis with that of two future great leaders of the Jews. Abraham will argue with G-D, and try to save all of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Moses will try to stop The Almighty when G-D considers severely punishing the Israelites for worshiping the golden calf. Noah was faced with a crisis of even larger proportion.
Rather than try to avoid the calamity that faces a large community, Noah focused on how to create the ark and save his family. Rather than working with the world forces around him, Noah made a choice that only benefited him. Now you tell me, which party do you think he would affiliate with?
posted by Noah at 8:50 AM
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