Noach (parashah) e Organicismo: differenze tra le pagine

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{{Nota disambigua|il significato di Organicismo in psicologia|Organicismo (psicologia)}}

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Si definisce '''organicismo''' ogni dottrina filosofica, politica o sociologica che interpreti il mondo, la natura o la società in analogia ad un organismo vivente<ref>Nicola Abbagnano, ''Dizionario di Filosofia'', UTET 1971, pp 640 e 641</ref>.<ref>L'organicismo non è da confondere col [[organicismo (psicologia)|termine omonimo]] usato in ambito [[medicina|medico]] che identifica la [[malattia]] con l'[[organo (anatomia)|organo]] malato, e presume di curare esclusivamente quest'ultimo a prescindere dalla complessità [[psicosomatica|psicologica]] del paziente nella sua interezza (cfr. Marco L. Bellani, ''Psicologia medica'', pag. 195, Armando Editore, 1991).

{{T|lingua=inglese|argomento=ebraismo|data=febbraio 2013}}

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[[File:Noahs Ark.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|L'[[Arca di Noè]] (dipinto di Edward Hicks del 1846)]]

Nell'ambito della [[filosofia politica]] e della [[sociologia]] l'organicismo teorizza che la società sia basata, oppure suggerisce debba basarsi, sul modello di un organismo vivente, ove i singoli rappresentano le cellule e gli ordini gerarchici di società, aziende, imprese e governi, siano tessuti, organi e apparati<ref>N. Bobbio, ''Liberalismo e democrazia'', Simonelli Editore, 2006,Cap 9 "Individualismo e organicismo"</ref> in relazione di interdipendenza fra di loro e quindi senza singole autonomie.

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|titolo = Parashah Noach 1

|descrizione = [[Cantillazione]] con pronuncia e melodia [[aschenazita|aschenazite]], esecuzione di Asael

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La visione organicistica si contrappone alla visione individualistica che considera la società come il risultato combinato, ma non coordinato e diretto, delle azioni dell'insieme di individui indipendenti.

'''Noach''' o '''Noah''' ([[ebraico]]: '''נֹחַ''' — [[ebraico]] del nome proprio "[[Noè]]", terza parola e [[incipit]] della relativa [[parashah]]) è la seconda porzione settimanale della [[Torah]] (''[[parashah]]'' o anche ''parsha/parscià'') nel ciclo annuale ebraico di letture bibliche dal [[Pentateuco]]. Rappresenta il passo {{passo biblico|Genesi|6:9-11:32}} della [[Libro della Genesi|Genesi]]. Gli [[ebrei]] lo leggono durante il secondo [[Shabbat]] dopo [[Simchat Torah]], generalmente in ottobre o novembre.

In alcuni casi si sono ispirate a principi organicistici forme di governo [[autocrazia|autocratiche]], in cui una "testa" comanda, esercitando un potere assoluto, le membra dell'organismo rappresentate dalle varie classi sociali.

La parashah narra le storie del [[Diluvio universale]] e dell'[[Arca di Noè]], della successiva [[ubriachezza]] di Noè, della maledizione di [[Canaan]] e della [[Torre di Babele]].

L'organicismo è normalmente una visione ''metaforica'' della [[sociologia]] e della [[filosofia politica]], tuttavia alcuni autori si sono spinti fino a considerare la forma organica della [[società (sociologia)|società]] come una realtà materiale e non meramente speculativa.

==Letture==

Nella lettura tradizionale della [[Torah]] durante lo [[Shabbat]], la parshah è suddivisa in sette letture, o in [[ebraico]] עליות, ''aliyot''. Nel [[testo masoretico]] del [[Tanakh]] ([[Bibbia ebraica]]), Parshah Noach ha sei divisioni a "porzione aperta" ([[ebraico|ebr.]] פתוחה, ''[[petuchah]]'') (circa equivalenti a paragrafi, spesso abbreviati con la [[alfabeto ebraico|lettera ebraica]] '''פ''' - ''peh'', approssimativamente equivalente alla [[lingua italiana|lettera italiana]] "P"). La Parshah Noach ha numerose altre suddivisioni, chiamate a "porzione chiusa" ([[ebraico|ebr.]] סתומה, ''[[setumah]]'') (abbreviate con la lettera ebraica ס - ''samekh'', circa equivalente alla lettera italiana "S") nell'ambito delle divisioni a porzione aperta (פתוחה, ''petuchah''). La prima porzione aperta (פתוחה, ''petuchah'') divide la prima lettura (עליה, ''aliyah''). La seconda porzione aperta (פתוחה, ''petuchah''), ricopre la rimanenza della prima e di tutte le lettura dalla seconda alla quinta (עליות, ''aliyot''). La terza e quarta divisione a porzione aperta (פתוחה, ''petuchah'') suddividono la sesta lettura (עליה, ''aliyah''); e la quinta e sesta divisione a porzione aperta (פתוחה, ''petuchah'') suddividono divide la settima lettura (עליה, ''aliyah''). Le divisioni a porzione chiusa (סתומה, ''setumah'') introducono la terza e quarta lettura (עליות, ''aliyot'') e suddividono la sesta e settima lettura (עליות, ''aliyot'').<ref>Cfr. per es. ''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis'', curato da Menachem Davis, 32–59. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2006. ISBN 1-4226-0202-8.</ref>

==Cenni storici==

[[File:Französischer Meister um 1675 001.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.6|Costruzione dell'Arca di Noè (dipinto di artista francese del 1675)]]

===Età antica===

[[File:Deluge.png|thumb|upright|Il Diluvio (illustrazione di [[Gustave Doré]] dalla ''La Sainte Bible'' del 1865)]]

Una visione politica organicistica la si ritrova in Oriente, nell'antica [[India]] con la suddivisione in [[casta|caste]] della società basata su una spiegazione mitologica di tipo organicista: nel ''[[Rig Veda]]'' ([[VII secolo a.C.]])<ref>X, 90</ref>, è infatti scritto che le caste derivano dal [[Puruṣa]], l'Uomo cosmico: i [[brāhmaṇa]] (sacerdoti) dalla bocca, gli [[kshatrya]] (re-guerrieri) dalle braccia, i [[vaishya]] (agricoltori) dalle cosce e gli [[shudra]] (servitori) dai piedi.

Il primo in Occidente a concepire l'universo come un grande organismo fu il filosofo greco [[Anassagora]] che in opposizione al meccanicismo atomistico pensava all'esistenza di un ''Nous'' (mente) che organizzasse il cosmo risollevandolo dal caos originario<ref>Discussa tra gli studiosi la questione se la visione di Anassagora implichi un finalismo nell'azione del Nous. Si trovano infatti sia sostenitori dell'azione dell'Intelligenza ordinatrice in senso finalistico, cioè diretta alla realizzazione del meglio:«Finalismo: teoria secondo la quale il mondo e i singoli eventi sono organizzati in vista di un fine. Il filosofo greco Anassagora (sec. V a.C.) ritenne ogni cosa diretta nel modo migliore da un'intelligenza ordinatrice (nous). ([http://www.simone.it/newdiz/newdiz.php?action=view&dizionario=10&id=68 Cfr.])» sia coloro che negano possa attribuirsi una finalità all'azione naturalisticamente ordinatrice del Nous in quanto «Ciò non comporta che per Anassagora il Nous sia una sostanza spirituale né che esso si identifichi con la divinità. Pur chiamando questo motore originario "intelletto", Anassagora non gli attribuì la funzione di progettare secondo un fine e precisamente in vista del meglio»</ref>.

===Prima lettura===

Nella prima lettura (עליה, ''aliyah''), la [[Torah]] narra di Noè che "era uomo giusto e integro tra i suoi contemporanei e camminava con [[nomi di Dio nella Bibbia|Dio]]."<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:9}}</ref> Noè aveva [[Figli di Noè|tre figli]]: [[Sem (Bibbia)|Sem]], [[Cam (Bibbia)|Cam]], e [[Jafet]].<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:10}}</ref> "Dio guardò la terra ed ecco essa era corrotta, perché ogni uomo aveva pervertito la sua condotta sulla terra.".<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:11–12}}</ref> La prima porzione aperta (פתוחה, ''petuchah'') finisce qui.<ref>''int. al.'' ''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a p. 33.</ref>

Una teoria organicista presentata come una reale organizzazione politica è presumibilmente quella presentata da [[Agrippa Menenio Lanato]] ai [[plebei]] secessionisti contro i [[patrizio (storia romana)|patrizi]] romani nel [[493 a.C.]]

Nella continuazione della lettura, Dio dice a Noè di aver deciso di mandare un diluvio per "distruggere sotto il cielo ogni carne, in cui è alito di vita."<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:13-17}}</ref> Dio dirige Noè a costruire un'[[Arca di Noè|arca]] di legno di [[cipresso]] e di spalmarla di [[pece]] dentro e fuori.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:14}}</ref> L'Arca doveva essere "trecento cubiti di lunghezza, cinquanta di larghezza e trenta di altezza", e avere un'apertura per la luce vicino al tetto, da un lato la porta e tre [[Ponte (nautica)|ponti]].<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:15-16}}</ref> Dio poi annuncia che formerà un'[[alleanza (Bibbia)|alleanza]] con Noè, e che questi, i suoi figli, sua moglie, le mogli dei figli e due di ogni specie di animale — maschio e femmina — sopravviveranno nell'Arca.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:18-20}}</ref> Noè esegue tutto come Dio gli aveva comandato di fare.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:22}}</ref> La prima lettura (עליה, ''aliyah'') termina qui con la fine del capitolo {{passo biblico|Genesi|6}}<ref>''int. al.'' ''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a p. 35.</ref>

Secondo il magistrato romano, il corpo sociale e quello umano sarebbero equivalenti, e così come uno sciopero degli arti contro lo stomaco porterebbe alla morte per inedia di tutto l'organismo, alla stessa maniera la separazione fra patrizi e plebei porterebbe entrambe le classi sociali all'estinzione. Questo discorso, espresso sotto forma di [[apologo]] alla plebe sul [[Monte Sacro]] risultò talmente convincente da far mutare parere ai secessionisti, e ricompattò il popolo di [[Roma]].

===Seconda lettura===

Nella seconda lettura (עליה, ''aliyah''), al capitolo {{passo biblico|Genesi|7}} sette giorni prima del Diluvio, Dio dice a No di entrare nell'Arca insieme alla famiglia, e di prendere sette paia di animali [[casher|puri]] e di ogni [[uccello]], e un paio di ogni altro animale, per tenere in vita le loro specie.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|7:1-4}}</ref> Quando Noè compì 600 anni, il Diluvio arrivò e nello stesso giorno Noè, la sua famiglia e gli animali, entrarono nell'Arca e Dio li chiuse dentro.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|7:6-16}}</ref> La seconda lettura (עליה, ''aliyah'') finisce qui.<ref>''int. al.'' ''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a p. 38.</ref>

[[Platone]]<ref>Laura Tundo, ''L'utopia di Fourier'', pag. 270: «L'idea dell'universo come organismo vivente è ampiamente formulata in Platone, poi negli stoici, in Plotino e nel neoplatonismo (Cfr. ''Enneadi'', II, 7, 9; III, 2, 16; IV, 4, 32, 35, 36; tr. it., Bari 1947-49)».</ref> (427 a.C. – 347 a.C.) nei dialoghi del ''[[Timeo (dialogo)|Timeo]]'' e della ''[[Repubblica (dialogo)|Repubblica]]'' suggerisce una forma di società perfetta che si strutturi in tre classi che ripropongono le tre parti dell'anima che convivono in armonia nell'uomo giusto e saggio:

[[File:Millais - Die Rückkehr der Taube zur Arche Noah.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.6|''Il ritorno della colomba'' (dipinto di [[John Everett Millais]] del 1851)]]

*classe dei lavoratori (popolo, caratteristica la temperanza (''sophrosúnê''); parte dell'anima: concupiscibile)

*classe dei guardiani (''phylakes'' o guerrieri, caratteristica il coraggio (''andreia''); parte dell'anima: irascibile)

*classe governativa (filosofi-reggitori, caratteristica saggezza (''sophía''); parte dell'anima: razionale)

[[Aristotele]] (384 a.C. - 322 a.C.), partendo dal presupposto che l'uomo sia «un animale politico», sottintende la necessità dell'organizzazione sociale e teorizza che le società naturali (come la [[famiglia]]) siano organi intermedi dell'organismo più grande che è la ''[[polis]]''. Nelle pagine iniziali della sua opera ''[[Politica]]'' scrive: «il tutto precede necessariamente la parte, perché tolto il tutto, non ci sarà più ne il piede ne la mano» conseguentemente «la città è per natura anteriore all'individuo.»<ref>Autore citato in nota nº61 in ''Liberalismo e democrazia'' di [[Norberto Bobbio]], Simonelli Editore, 2006 pag.62</ref>

===Terza lettura===

Nella terza lettura (עליה, ''aliyah''), le piogge caddero per 40 giorni e 40 notti, le acque inondarono ovunque superando le montagne di 15 cubiti, e tutto perì, eccetto Noè e coloro che erano con lui sull'Arca: "Perì ogni essere vivente che si muove sulla terra, uccelli, bestiame e fiere e tutti gli esseri che brulicano sulla terra e tutti gli uomini... Così fu sterminato ogni essere che era sulla terra."<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|7.12-23}}</ref> Dopo che le acque furono restate alte sopra la terra per centocinquanta giorni, Dio si ricordò di Noè e degli animali, e fece soffiare un vento che spinse via le acque dalla terra, cosicché l'Arca si posò sui monti di [[Ararat]].<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|7:24-8:4}}</ref> Alla fine dei 40 giorni, Noè aprì la finestra e mandò fuori un corvo " per vedere se le acque si fossero ritirate, ed esso uscì andando e tornando finché si prosciugarono le acque sulla terra."<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:6-7}}</ref> Poi mandò fuori una colomba, per accertare se le acque si fossero ritirate dal suolo, ma la colomba, "non trovando dove posare la pianta del piede, tornò a lui nell'arca, perché c'era ancora l'acqua su tutta la terra."<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:8-9}}</ref> Aspettò quindi altri sette giorni, poi di nuovo fece uscire la colomba, che "tornò a lui sul far della sera; ecco, essa aveva nel becco un ramoscello di ulivo."<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesis|8:10-11}}</ref> Noè aspettò altri sette giorni e poi rimandò fuori la colomba, che non tornò più.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:12}}</ref> Quando tolse la copertura dell'arca, vide che la superficie del suolo era asciutta.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:13-14}}</ref> La terza lettura (עליה, ''aliyah'') e la porzione chiusa (סתומה, ''setumah'') finiscono qui.<ref>Cfr. per es., ''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a p. 42.</ref>

===Cristianesimo===

[[File:Joseph Anton Koch 006.jpg|upright=1.5|thumb|''Offerta di Ringraziamento di Noè'' (c.1803) di [[Joseph Anton Koch]]. Noè costruisce un altare al Signore dopo essere stato trasportato dal Diluvio; Dio manda l'arcobaleno come un segno del suo patto. ([[Genesi]] 8-9).]]

In [[Cristianesimo|epoca cristiana]] la chiesa (ovvero la società dei fedeli) viene considerata il ''corpo mistico del [[Cristo]]'', e lo stesso [[Paolo di Tarso]] sostiene che i cristiani sono le membra d'un corpo la cui testa è il Nazareno:

{{quote biblico|Poiché, come in un solo corpo abbiamo molte membra e queste membra non hanno tutte la medesima funzione, così anche noi, pur essendo molti, siamo un solo corpo in Cristo e ciascuno per la sua parte siamo membra gli uni degli altri.|1Cor|12,4-5}}

La concezione organicistica religiosa si ritrova nella metafora evangelica dell'unica vite di cui Gesù Cristo è la pianta viva e tutti gli altri sono i tralci alimentati da Lui (cfr. [[Vangelo di Giovanni|Gv]] {{passo biblico|Gv|15,5}}).

===Quarta lettura===

Nella quarta lettura (עליה, ''aliyah''), Dio dice a Noè di uscire dall'Arca con la sua famiglia e di liberare gli animali.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:15-16}}</ref> Poi Noè eleva un [[altare]] a Dio e offre in [[korban|sacrificio]] uno di ogni animale mondo e di ogni uccello mondo.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:20}}</ref> "Il Signore ne odorò la soave fragranza e pensò: «Non maledirò più il suolo a causa dell'uomo, perché l'istinto del cuore umano è incline al male fin dalla adolescenza; né colpirò più ogni essere vivente come ho fatto. Finché durerà la terra, seme e messe, freddo e caldo, estate e inverno, giorno e notte non cesseranno»".<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:21-22}}</ref> Dio benedì Noè ed i suoi figli e disse loro: «Siate fecondi e moltiplicatevi e riempite la terra. Il timore e il terrore di voi sia in tutte le bestie selvatiche e in tutto il bestiame e in tutti gli uccelli del cielo ... Quanto si muove e ha vita vi servirà di cibo.»<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:1-3}}</ref> Dio proibì la consumazione di "carne con la sua vita - cioè il suo [[sangue]] dentro"<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:4}}</ref> – dicendo inoltre: «ne domanderò conto ad ogni essere vivente e domanderò conto della vita dell'uomo all'uomo, a ognuno di suo fratello. Chi sparge il sangue dell'uomo dall'uomo il suo sangue sarà sparso, perché ad immagine di Dio Egli ha fatto l'uomo.»<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:5-6}}</ref> Dio ripete quindi che siano fecondi e prolifichino.<ref name="passo biblico2|Genesi|9:7">{{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:7}}</ref> La quarta lettura (עליה, ''aliyah'') e la porzione chiusa (סתומה, ''setumah'') terminano qui.<ref>''int. al.'' ''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a p. 46.</ref>

===Quinta letturaMedioevo===

Nel [[Medioevo]] la visione organicista - di derivazione cristiana - è diffusa e considerata alla base dell'ordine feudale.

Nella quinta lettura (עליה, ''aliyah''), Dio stabilisce un'[[alleanza (Bibbia)|alleanza]] con Noè, coi suoi figli e con ogni creatura vivente, che mai più avrebbe mandato un diluvio a distruggere la terra.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:8-11}}</ref> Dio mette l'[[arcobaleno]] tra le nuvole in cielo quale segno della Sua alleanza in terra cosicché, «quando radunerò le nubi sulla terra e apparirà l'arco sulle nubi ricorderò la mia alleanza che è tra me e voi e tra ogni essere che vive in ogni carne e noi ci saranno più le acque per il diluvio, per distruggere ogni carne.»<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:12-17}}</ref> La quinta lettura (עליה, ''aliyah'') e la seconda porzione aperta (פתוחה, ''petuchah'') terminano qui.<ref>''int. al.'' ''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a pp. 47–48.</ref>

I teorici medievali paragonano le varie classi e funzioni sociali della società fortemente gerarchizzata del mondo [[feudalesimo|feudale]] ai singoli [[Organo (anatomia)|organi]] ed apparati di un corpo umano: [[Giovanni di Salisbury]], che nella sua opera ''Policraticus'' del [[1159]] non a caso riprende l'apologo di Menenio Agrippa<ref>G. di Salisbury, ''Policraticus'', VI 24</ref> vedendo nel principe il capo, nel [[senato]] il [[cuore]], nei giudici e negli altri funzionari gli [[occhio|occhi]], le [[orecchio|orecchie]] e la [[Lingua (anatomia)|lingua]], nei soldati le mani, nei consulenti i fianchi, negli ispettori l'[[intestino]], nei contadini i piedi<ref>Adriana Cavarero, ''Corpo in figure: filosofia e politica della corporeità'',Feltrinelli Editore, 1995</ref>.

===Età moderna===

[[File:Noah Cursing Canaan.png|thumb|left|Noè maledice Canaan (illustrazione di [[Gustave Doré]] da ''La Sainte Bible'' del 1865)]]

[[File:Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes.jpg|thumb|Frontespizio del "Leviatano"]]

Il [[Rinascimento]] - attraverso la riscoperta del [[Platonismo]] e sotto la suggestione dell'umanesimo (che concepiva l'uomo come metro d'ogni cosa) riprende la dottrina organicista sia dal punto di vista funzionale che da quello metaforico. L'idea della società ordinata armonicamente attraverso le diverse funzioni dei suoi organi in vista di un governo sano si ritrova nelle concezioni politiche di [[Giordano Bruno]], [[Marsilio Ficino]] e [[Tommaso Campanella]].

Tuttavia proprio durante il XVI secolo, l'affermarsi del concetto di [[individuo]] inizia a corrodere la concezione organicista, tanto che il massimo pensatore politico di quegli anni, [[Niccolò Machiavelli|Machiavelli]], esprime teorie politiche del tutto incentrate sulle singole personalità eccezionali, come quella del ''[[Principe]]'', e su una concezione atomistica della società.

===Sesta lettura===

La concezione atomistica sarà alla base anche della visione empiristica di [[Locke]] e di [[Hume]] e del liberalismo classico. In questo senso sono legati a questa tradizione [[Montesquieu]] e [[Kant]] e pur nel superamento [[Rousseau]].

{{vedi anche|Tavola delle Nazioni}}

L'organicismo è comunque molto bene rappresentato, nell'epoca moderna dalla visione di [[Thomas Hobbes]], che lo propone come rimedio per una umanità che per istinto naturale e primigenio tende a soddisfare i propri egoismi sopraffacendo gli altri. Lo stesso [[contratto sociale]], chiamato ''Patto di Unione'' (''Pactum Unionis''), che è composto dal ''Patto di Società'' (''Pactum Societatis'') è il risultato di un ''Patto di Soggezione'' (''Pactum Subiectionis''), che, per non incorrere nella inevitabile autodistruzione della società, consiste nella rinuncia di ciascuno al proprio diritto originale (su tutto e su tutti) ceduto a un terzo (il Sovrano) verso il quale è suddito assolutamente obbediente e a cui potrà ribellarsi solo se questi attenta al diritto inalienabile alla vita.

Nella sesta lettura (עליה, ''aliyah''), Noè è il primo a piantare una vigna e si ubriaca, rimanendo scoperto nella sua tenda.<ref>{{passo biblico|Genesi|9:20-21}}</ref> Cam, padre di Canaan, vede la nudità di suo padre e lo dice ai suoi fratelli.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:22}}</ref> Sem e Jafet pongono un panno su entrambe le loro schiene e, camminando all'indietro, coprono loro padre senza guardare la sua nudità.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:23.|HE}}</ref> Quando Noè si sveglia e apprende cosa Cam gli aveva fatto, maledice Canaan, il figlio di Cam, che diventi "schiavo degli schiavi" di Jafet e Sem, mentre prega Dio di arricchire Jafet e benedire Sem.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:24-27}}</ref> "L'intera vita di Noè fu di novecentocinquanta anni, poi morì."<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:28-29}}</ref> La terza porzione (פתוחה, ''petuchah'') finisce qui.<ref>''int. al.'' ''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a p. 50.</ref>

Nella concezione hobbesiana lo Stato assoluto è un grande corpo le cui membra sono i singoli cittadini: tale è il senso della copertina del trattato di Hobbes del [[1651]] che raffigurava il ''[[Leviatano]]'' un gigante costituito da tanti singoli individui; il gigante regge in una mano una [[spada]], simbolo del potere temporale, e nell'altra il [[pastorale (liturgia)|pastorale]], simbolo del potere religioso.

Successivamente, nella filosofia della natura di Schelling e in generale delle dottrine degli idealisti la codificazione di teorie come quella di [[Fichte]] si sposta sul [[nazionalismo]], e sullo [[statalismo]], arrivando a considerare le intere nazioni come organismi. All'interno dell'Idealismo però è [[Hegel]] il pensatore politico più importante: la sua concezione dello Stato come [[stato etico]] costituisce la vetta dell'organicismo moderno, che segna anche in maniera indelebile il pensiero politico tedesco dell'800. Con il suo statalismo, Hegel influenzerà direttamente ed indirettamente anche la filosofia politica del '900. In questo senso va considerato il pensiero politico di [[Gentile]].

Anche [[Marx]] e il [[Marxismo]], seppur criticando e rileggendo in senso economicistico la filosofia hegeliana del diritto e dello Stato, hanno una visione organicista della società, in contrapposizione al liberalismo atomistico e individualistico.

In opposizione al [[positivismo]] l'organicismo diviene la teoria prevalente in biologia, che vede l'essere vivente non come l'effetto meccanico della somma delle sue parti costituenti ma come una totalità strutturata finalisticamente.

===Età contemporanea===

[[File:Noahsworld map.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Figli di Noè|La dispersione dei discendenti di Sem, Cam e Jafet]] (mappa dello ''Historical Textbook and Atlas of Biblical Geography'' del 1854)]]

Nell'[[età contemporanea]], [[Alfred North Whitehead]] schierandosi con le critiche antipositivistiche designò la sua filosofia come organicismo di un universo concepito come un divenire di eventi uniti da «prensioni» sensoriali. Egli tentò una mediazione tra l'istanza filosofica e la visione scientifica del mondo e formulò una metafisica organicistica, basata sulle idee di [[Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz|Leibniz]] e di [[Henri Bergson|Bergson]]. In particolare egli sostituiva alle monadi di Leibniz, intese come sostanze, il concetto di [[relazione (filosofia)|relazione]] esaminato anche dal punto di vista della fisica relativistica e della logica matematica nelle opere ''Il concetto di natura'' ([[1920]]) e ''Principi della conoscenza naturale'' ([[1921]])

La lettura continua col capitolo {{passo biblico2|Genesi|10}}, che elenca i [[Figli di Noè|discendenti di Sem, Cam e Jafet]] dai quali provennero le nazioni della terra dopo il Diluvio. Tra i discendenti di Jafet ci furono le nazioni marittime.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|10:2-5}}</ref> [[Cush (Bibbia)|Cush]], figlio di Cam, ebbe un figlio di nome [[Nimrod (Bibbia)|Nimrod]], che divenne il primo potente della terra, grande cacciatore, re di [[Babilonia]] e del territorio di [[Shinar]].<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|10:6-10}}</ref> Da lì originò [[Assur|Asshur]], che edificò [[Ninive]].<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|10:11-12}}</ref> [[Mizraim]], figlio di Cam, ebbe dei figli che originarono i [[filistei]] e i [[caphtor]]iti.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|10:13-14}}</ref> Un porzione chiusa (סתומה, ''setumah'') finisce qui.<ref>''int. al.'' ''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a p. 51.</ref>

Le teorie di Whitehead sono state riprese e sviluppate in Italia da Enzo Paci nella sua opera di ispirazione [[husserl]]iana ''Tempo e relazione'' ([[1954]])

Proseguendo la lettura, i discendenti di Canaan — Sidone, [[Ittiti|Heth]], i [[gebusei]], gli [[amorrei]], i girgasiti, gli hiviti, gli arkiti, i siniti, gli arvaditi, gli zemariti e gli amatiti — si sparsero da [[Sidone]] fino a Gherar, vicino [[Gaza]], e a [[Sodoma e Gomorra]].<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|10:15-19}}</ref> Un'altra porzione chiusa (סתומה, ''setumah'') termina qui.<ref>Cfr anche ''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a p. 52.</ref>

Nell'ambito [[sociologia|sociologico]] si interessarono all'organicismo anche [[Auguste Comte]] e [[Herbert Spencer]] (''Principi di sociologia'' del [[1876]]) che tuttavia considerava questa teoria politica più come una metafora esplicativa che una realtà che, per le complicate connessioni di tipo [[psicologia|psicologico]], non trovava corrispondenze nell'organismo animale.

Il resto della lettura elenca i discendenti di Sem, tra cui fu [[Eber]].<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|10:21-32}}</ref> la sesta lettura (עליה, ''aliyah'') e la quarta porzione aperta (פתוחה, ''petuchah'') terminano qui con la fine del capitolo {{passo biblico|Genesi|10}}<ref>''int. al.'', ''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a p. 53.</ref>

Infine, dottrine organicistiche quali il nazismo e il comunismo - appoggiandosi alle più diverse correnti di pensiero come il [[razzismo]] o il [[classismo]] - entrano in polemica con il liberalismo di stampo giusnaturalista<ref>Paolo Bellinazzi, ''L'utopia reazionaria, lineamenti per una storia comparata delle filosofie comunista e nazionalsocialista'', Neme editore; [[Piero Ostellino]], ''Due culture contro l'individuo'' in ''[[Corriere della Sera]]'' del 22/08/2004</ref>. La polemica, peraltro, era condivisa anche da teorici di parte opposta, che contrapposero un'«organica» e integratrice concezione della [[comunità internazionale]] alle regole, giudicate meramente «meccanicistiche», dell’allora [[Società delle Nazioni]]: "l’immagine idealizzata del [[Sacro Romano Impero#Nella filosofia della comunità sovranazionale|Reich]] fa già da sfondo all’utopia «paneuropea» che, negli anni fra le due guerre mondiali, ebbe quale assertore il conte [[Richard Nikolaus di Coudenhove-Kalergi|Richard von Coudenhove Kalergi]]"<ref>C. Tommasi, ''La ragione prudente. Pace e riordino dell'Europa moderna nel pensiero di [[Leibniz]]'', Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008, pp. 9-11 (ed. digit.: 2009, doi: 10.978.8815/141170, ''Introduzione'', doi capitolo: 10.1401/9788815141170/p1). Vi si sostiene anche che "all’alba del Duemila, la stessa immagine vale, per gli epigoni più o meno diretti dello statista austriaco, come modello di un’Europa unita (o di una [[Mitteleuropa]] allargata) che, oltre a facilitare il dialogo fra Ovest ed Est, sia in grado «di impedire la globalizzazione» e la conquista del mondo da parte di […] un nuovo “disumanesimo” materialistico, relativistico e anticristiano. Venuto a termine «il regno sventurato dei vincitori della seconda guerra mondiale», pare così rianimarsi, con altri sogni, anche quello della comunità dei popoli, non più composta di Stati sovrani né divisa in due blocchi egemonici, ma restituita, almeno idealmente, al governo congiunto del trono e dell’altare".</ref>.

[[File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Tower of Babel (Vienna) - Google Art Project - edited.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|La ''[[Torre di Babele]]'' (dipinto di [[Pieter Bruegel]] del 1563)]]

==I presupposti teorici e le conseguenze==

===Settima lettura===

Presupposto fondamentale dell'organicismo è l'impossibilità dell'individuo isolato. Già [[Aristotele]] aveva postulato, infatti, che solo un Dio od una bestia potevano vivere separati dai propri simili, l'uomo giammai. L'individuo, infatti, quando nasce è inerme, e può sopravvivere solo grazie alle cure parentali. Si sviluppa all'interno di una società e cresce grazie ai rapporti coi propri simili. Con essi collabora e realizza le proprie imprese. Quando è vecchio o malato, dai propri simili ottiene aiuto e protezione. Per il pensiero organicista, dunque, l'individuo è in tutto o in parte dipendente dai propri rapporti sociali.

Nella settima lettura (עליה, ''aliyah''), al capitolo {{passo biblico2|Genesi|11}} tutti sulla terra parlavano la stessa lingua.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:1}}</ref> Con le migrazioni dei popoli dall'oriente, alcuni si stabilirono nella terra di Shinar (Sennaar).<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:2}}</ref> la gente del posto iniziò a farsi dei mattoni e costruire una città dicendo: "Venite, costruiamoci una città e una torre, la cui cima tocchi il cielo e facciamoci un nome, per non disperderci su tutta la terra."<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:3-4}}</ref> Il Signore scese a vedere la città e la torre che gli uomini stavano costruendo e disse: «Ecco, essi sono un solo popolo e hanno tutti una lingua sola; questo è l'inizio della loro opera e ora quanto avranno in progetto di fare non sarà loro impossibile.»<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:5-6}}</ref> Dio scese e confuse la loro lingua, cosicché non comprendessero più l'uno la lingua dell'altro, e li disperse per tutta la terra ed essi cessarono di costruire la città.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:7-8}}</ref> Per questo la città si chiamò [[Babilonia|Babele]], perché là il Signore confuse la lingua di tutta la terra e di là il Signore li disperse su tutta la terra.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:9}}</ref> La quinta porzione aperta (פתוחה, ''petuchah'') finisce qui.<ref>''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a p. 53.</ref>

Conseguenza di ciò è che gli individui non sono detentori di diritti di per sé stessi, ma per grazia della società in cui vivono.

Il paragone fra corpo sociale e corpo organico, inoltre, porta talvolta a individuare negli individui dai comportamenti antisociali una forma di "malattia sociale": i criminali sono così considerati come ''il cancro della società'', una visione che - soprattutto nel XIX secolo - si è andata sommando a considerazioni analoghe nei confronti dei malati di mente, dei vagabondi e in generale degli individui non produttivi.

Il continuo della lettura elenca i discendenti di Sem.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:10-26}}</ref> Otto divisioni di porzioni chiuse (סתומה, ''setumah'') separano ogni generazione.<ref>''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a pp. 56–57.</ref>

La concezione razzista della società nazionale ha poi spinto all'estremo questa ipotesi, suggerendo che le minoranze allogene interne ad un corpo nazionale possano essere considerate a loro volta come "tumori" da estirpare nelle più disparate maniere. Il colmo di questa concezione si è raggiunta con la [[Germania]] nazista, mentre - ''mutatis mutandis'' - gli stessi concetti, applicati però su base classista anziché razziale, hanno mosso le azioni delle dittature comuniste in [[Unione Sovietica]], [[Cina]] e in molti altri paesi marxisti.

==Organicismo "debole" ed organicismo "forte"==

La lettura prosegue con la lista di otto generazioni dopo Sem, e [[Terah]] che ebbe tre figli: Abram (che diventerà [[Abramo]]), Nacor e Aran.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:26}}</ref>

È possibile individuare due forme sostanzialmente differenti di organicismo: una prima, "debole", basata su una visione metaforica della società come organismo, che mutua dalla biologia modelli ed espressioni per comodità di teorizzazione, ed una, "forte", invece, che sostiene l'effettiva "biologicità" della società e dello stato concepito come un vero e proprio organismo vivente ed agente secondo le medesime leggi che regolano i corpi degli individui:

Aran ebbe un figlio, [[Lot]], e due figlie, Milca e Isca, e poi morì a [[Ur]] mentre il padre Terah era ancora in vita.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:27-28}}</ref>

{{Citazione|[[File:Otto von Gierke 02.jpg|upright=0.7|thumb|Otto von Gierke]] L'organicismo assume in modo metaforico la tesi che la società sia un vero organismo vivente e che gli individui ne siano i piedi, le mani, la testa. Se la società vive, vivono i suoi organi ma se l'organismo muore non vivranno più né piedi né mani. Organicistico è il punto di partenza aristotelico ma ancor di più lo è quello di Platone, per il quale l'intero universo, e non solo la società, costituisce un grande organismo vivente. Nel pensiero cristiano delle origini gli spunti organicistici del Vangelo che descrivono il legame dei credenti con Cristo come quello dei tralci con la vite, vengono amplificati ed estremizzati da San Paolo. Per lui la Chiesa è un unico corpo di cui Cristo è la testa ed i cristiani sono le membra. Siamo nel campo del più assoluto organicismo. In alcuni autori medioevali, ad esempio John di Salisbury, la rappresentazione antropomorfica della società si spinge anche oltre lo schema tripartito di origine platonica (classi dirigenti-testa; soldati-cuore; lavoratori-intestino) fino a vedere nel principe il capo, nel senato il cuore, nei giudici e negli altri funzionari gli occhi, le orecchie e la lingua, nei soldati le mani, nei consulenti i fianchi, negli ispettori l'intestino, nei contadini i piedi, sempre a contatto con la terra. Agli schemi dell'organicismo platonico si richiamano anche il pensiero rinascimentale (Ficino) ed in tempi più recenti quello romantico (Schelling). L'organicismo ha trovato, in tempi a noi più vicini, molti sostenitori tra i biologi, sempre sulla base di una estensione metaforica degli studi specifici compiuti sugli organismi viventi; e ha trovato sostenitori tra i sociologi, anche se la maggior parte di essi ha avvertito il carattere meramente analogico, e perciò in qualche misura inadeguato, di tale modello esplicativo. Tuttavia "tutti i progressi intellettuali sono compiuti con l'aiuto di metafore ed anche i nostri concetti astratti sono creati da immagini metaforiche, ed anche nella scienza è lecito servirsi della metafora<ref>[[Otto von Gierke]], 1902 [http://www.societalibera.org/it/librisoclibera/testi/carlomonaco/02_temiragcm.htm in Società Libera.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514053356/http://www.societalibera.org/it/librisoclibera/testi/carlomonaco/02_temiragcm.htm |date=14 maggio 2008 }}</ref>}}

Nella [[Parashah#Lettura pubblica|lettura del maftir]] (מפטיר), questa parte conclude la parshah,<ref>''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a pp. 57–58.</ref> Abram sposa [[Sara (Bibbia)|Sarai]] e Nacor sposa la figlia di Aran, Milca.<ref>{{passo biblico|Genesi|11:29}}</ref> Sarai era sterile.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:30}}</ref> Terah prende Abram, Sarai e Lot, e insieme partono da Ur verso la terra di [[Canaan]], ma quando arrivano a Carran, ci si fermano e lì muore Terah.<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:31-32}}</ref> La settima lettura (עליה, ''aliyah''), la sesta porzione aperta (פתוחה, ''petuchah''), capitolo {{passo biblico|Genesi|11}} e la parshah terminano qui.<ref>''The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash'', a p. 58.</ref>

==Antichi paralleli==

[[File:GilgameshTablet.png|thumb|La ''Tavoletta del Diluvio'' dell'[[Epopea di Gilgamesh]]]]

===Genesi 6-8===

[[s:The Epic of Gilgamesh#Tablet XI|Tavoletta 11]] dell'[[Epopea di Gilgamesh]], composta in [[Mesopotamia]] nei secoli XIV-XI prima dell'[[era volgare]] (a.e.v.), presenta una storia del Diluvio parallela a quella della Parshah Noach.<ref>Epopea di Gilgamesh. Tavoletta 11. Mesopotamia, secoli XIV-XI a.e.v. ''Int. al.'' su James B. Pritchard, ''Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament'', 93–95. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. ISBN 0-691-03503-2.</ref> L'[[archeologo]] e [[storico]] Gary Rendsburg nota le seguenti similarità e differenze:<ref>Gary A. Rendsburg [http://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/graduate-faculty/gary-rendsburg]. "Lecture 7: Genesis 6–8, The Flood Story." In ''The Book of Genesis'', Course Guidebook, p. 29. Chantilly, Virginia: The Teaching Company, 22006. ISBN 1-59803-190-2.</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; background:Ivory;"

|-

! style="border:1px white; background:Navajowhite;"|Ordine

! style="border:1px white; background:Navajowhite;"|Elementi della storia

! style="border:1px white; background:Navajowhite;"|In Gilgamesh?

! style="border:1px white; background:Navajowhite;"|Versetti

|-

!1

!Fattore morale

!No

!{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:5-13}}

|-

|2

|Legno, pece, canne

|Sì

|{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:14}}

|-

|3

|Dimensioni

|Sì

|{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:15}}

|-

|4

|[[ponte (nautica)|ponti]]

|Sì

|{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:16}}

|-

!5

!Alleanza

!No

!{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:17-22}}

|-

|6

|Popolazione

|Sì

|{{passo biblico2|Genesi|7:1-5}}

|-

|7

|Diluvio

|Sì

|{{passo biblico2|Genesi|7:6–23}}

|-

|8

|Sbarco sulla montagna

|Sì

|{{passo biblico2|Genesi|7:24-8:5}}

|-

|9

|Inviati uccelli

|Sì

|{{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:6-12}}

|-

|10

|Terra ferma

|Sì, ma di meno

|{{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:13-14}}

|-

|11

|Liberati tutti

|Sì

|{{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:15-19}}

|-

|12

|Sacrifici

|Sì

|{{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:20-22}}

|}

==Interpretazione intrabiblica==

===Genesi 11===

{{passo biblico2|Giosuè|24:2}} narra che [[Terah]], padre di [[Abramo]], viveva oltre il fiume [[Eufrate]] e serviva altri dèi.

Mentre {{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:31}} riferisce che Terah prese Abram, Lot e Sarai e uscì da Ur dei [[Caldei]] giungendo a Carran, e {{passo biblico2|Genesi|12:1}} successivamente narra l'intimazione di Dio ad Abram di lasciare il suo paese e la casa di suo padre, {{passo biblico2|Neemia|9:7}} riferisce che Dio scelse Abram e lo portò fuori da Ur dei Caldei.

[[File:Tissot God Appears to Noah.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.6|Dio appare a Noè (acquerello di [[James Tissot]], c. 1896–1902)]]

==Interpretazione rabbinica classica==

{{Ere Rabbiniche}}

La parashah viene discussa in queste fonti rabbiniche dell'era della [[Mishnah]] e del [[Talmud]].

===Genesi 6===

Interpretando le parole "Noè era uomo giusto e integro tra i suoi contemporanei" in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:9}} [[Rabbino|Rabbi]] [[Yochanan bar Nafcha]] insegna che Noè era considerato giusto tra i suoi contemporanei, ma non sarebbe stato considerato giusto in altre generazioni. [[Shimon ben Lakish]] tuttavia asserisce che se Noè era considerato giusto durante la sua generazione, allora sicuramente sarebbe stato un giusto anche in altre generazioni. Rabbi [[Haninah]] paragona l'opinione su Noè di Rabbi Yochanan a una botte di vino che giace in una volta di acido: dove si trova, il suo aroma è fragrante (rispetto all'acido), altrove però non verrebbe considerato fragrante. Rabbi [[Hoshaiah|Oshaia]] paragona l'opinione di Lakish ad una fiala di olio di [[Nardostachys grandiflora|nardo]] che giace tra i rifiuti. Se è fragrante dove si trova, quanto più lo sarebbe tra le spezie!<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108a.] [[Babilonia]], [[VI secolo]]. Ristampato, ''int. al.'', su ''Talmud Bavli'', annotato da Asher Dicker, Joseph Elias, e Dovid Katz; curato da Yisroel Simcha Schorr e Chaim Malinowitz, volume 49, p. 108a⁵. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1995. ISBN 1-57819-628-0</ref>

[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 016.png|thumb|upright=1.4|''La Profezia del Diluvio'' (incisione di [[Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld]] dalla ''Bible in Pictures'', 1860)]]

Similmente, [[Judah bar Ilai|Rabbi Judah]] e [[Rabbi Nehemiah]] differivano nell'interpretare le parole "Noè era uomo giusto e integro tra i suoi contemporanei" in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:9}}. Rabbi Judah insegnava che solo "tra i suoi contemporanei" egli era un uomo giusto (in paragone). Se fosse vissuto nella generazione di [[Mosè]] o [[Samuele (profeta)|Samuele]], Noè non sarebbe stato chiamato giusto. Rabbi Judah diceva che sulla strada dei ciechi, colui che ha un solo occhio è chiamato lungimirante, e l'infante è chiamato dotto. Rabbi Judah lo paragonava all'uomo con una cantina che apre un barile e lo trova di aceto, ne apre un altro e trova ancora aceto, ne apre un terzo e trova che si sta inacidendo. Quando la gente gli dice che si stava inacidendo, allora chiede se la cantina contenesse qualcosa di meglio. Allo stesso modo, "tra i suoi contemporanei" Noè era un uomo giusto. Tuttavia Rabbi Nehemiah insegnava che se Noè era un uomo giusto persino tra i suoi contemporanei (nonostante l'ambiente corrotto), quanto più lo sarebbe stato se fosse vissuto ai tempi di Mosè. Rabbi Nehemiah paragonava Noè ad una fiala di profumo chiusa ermeticamente in un cimitero, che nonostante ciò emanava un aroma fragrante. Quanto più fragrante sarebbe stata la fiala se si fosse trovata fuori dal cimitero.<ref>''Genesi Rabbah'' [http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n284/mode/1up 30:9.]</ref>

<!--- da tradurre

Rabbi Judah contrasted the words "Noah walked with God" in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:9|HE}} with God’s words to Abraham, "walk before Me," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|17:1.|HE}} Rabbi Judah compared it to a king who had two sons, one grown up and the other a child. The king asked the child to walk ''with'' him. But the king asked the adult to walk ''before'' him. Similarly, to Abraham, whose moral strength was great, God said, "Walk before Me." But of Noah, who was feeble, {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:9|HE}} says, "Noah walked with God."<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n285/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 30:10.]</ref>

Similarly, Rabbi Abba bar Kahana read {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:7–8|HE}} together to report God saying, "I repent that I have made them and Noah." Thus even Noah, who was left, was not worthy, save that (in the words of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:8|HE}}) "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord."<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n286/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 31:1.]</ref>

[[File:Figures The Earth was corrupt before God.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((250 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((250 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (250 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence (illustration from the 1728 ''Figures de la Bible'')]]

The Mishnah concluded that the generation of the Flood and the generation of the dispersion after the Tower of Babel were both so evil as to have no share in the world to come.<ref>Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:3. Land of Israel, circa 200 CE. Reprinted in, e.g., ''The Mishnah: A New Translation''. Translated by [[Jacob Neusner]], 604–05. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-300-05022-4. [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_107.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 107b–08a.] Reprinted in, e.g., ''Talmud Bavli''. Elucidated by Asher Dicker, Joseph Elias, and Dovid Katz; edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr and Chaim Malinowitz, volume 49, page 107b⁴–08a¹.</ref> Rabbi [[Akiba ben Joseph|Akiba]] deduced from the words of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:23|HE}} that the generation of the Flood will have no portion in the world to come; he read the words "and every living substance was destroyed" to refer to this world and the words "that was on the face of the ground" to refer to the next world. Rabbi [[Judah ben Bathyra]] deduced from the words "My spirit will not always enter into judgment with man" of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:3|HE}} that God will neither revive nor judge the generation of the Flood on Judgment Day.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108a.]</ref>

[[File:Figures 008 The Earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence (right plate).jpg|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((225 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((225 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((225 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((225 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (225 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Earth Was Corrupt before God and Filled with Violence (illustration from the 1728 ''Figures de la Bible'')]]

The [[Tosefta]] taught that the generation of the Flood acted arrogantly before God on account of the good that God lavished on them. So (in the words of [[Book of Job|Job]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Job|21:14–15|HE}}) “they said to God: ‘Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit should we have, if we pray unto Him?’” They scoffed that they needed God for only a few drops of rain, and they deluded themselves that they had rivers and wells that were more than enough for them, and as {{Bibleverse||Genesis|2:6|HE}} reports, “there rose up a mist from the earth.” God noted that they took excess pride based upon the goodness that God lavished on them, so God replied that with that same goodness God would punish them. And thus {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:17|HE}} reports, “And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth.”<ref>Tosefta Sotah 3:6–8.</ref> Similarly, the Rabbis taught in a [[Baraita]] that the good that God lavished upon the generation of the Flood led them to become arrogant.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108a.]</ref>

Interpreting the words, "And the earth was corrupt ({{Hebrew|תִּשָּׁחֵת}},''tishachet'') before God," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:11,|HE}} a Baraita of the School of [[Rabbi Ishmael]] taught that whenever Scripture uses the word "corruption," it refers to sexual immorality and idolatry. Reference to sexual immorality appears in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:12,|HE}} which says, "for all flesh had corrupted ({{Hebrew|הִשְׁחִית}},''hishchit'') their way upon the earth" (and the use of the term "their way" ({{Hebrew|דַּרְכּוֹ}},''darko'') connotes sexual matters, as [[Book of Proverbs|Proverbs]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Proverbs|30:19|HE}} indicates when it says, "the way ({{Hebrew|דֶרֶךְ}},''derech'') of a man with a young woman"). And [[Book of Deuteronomy|Deuteronomy]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Deuteronomy|4:16|HE}} shows that "corruption" connotes idolatry when it says, "lest you deal corruptly ({{Hebrew|תַּשְׁחִתוּן}},''tashchitun''), and make a graven image."<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_57.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 57a.]</ref>

Rabbi Johanan deduced from the words "all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth" in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:12|HE}} that they mated domesticated animals with wild animals, and animals with humans. Rav Abba bar Kahana taught that after the Flood, they all returned to their own kind, except for the tushlami bird.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108a.]</ref>

Interpreting {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:13,|HE}} Rabbi Johanan deduced that the consequences of robbery are great. For though the generation of the Flood transgressed all laws, God sealed their decree of punishment only because they robbed. In {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:13,|HE}} God told Noah that "the earth is filled with violence (that is, robbery) through them, and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth." And [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Ezekiel|7:11|HE}} also states, "Violence (that is, robbery) is risen up into a rod of wickedness; none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor any of theirs; neither shall there be wailing for them." [[Eleazar ben Shammua|Rabbi Eleazar]] interpreted {{Bibleverse||Ezekiel|7:11|HE}} to teach that violence stood up before God like a staff, and told God that there was no good in any of the generation of the Flood, and none would bewail them when they were gone.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108a.]</ref>

Similarly, [[Midrash]] interpreted the words, "the earth is filled with violence," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:13|HE}} to teach that it was because they were steeped in robbery that they were blotted out from the world.<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n286/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 31:1;] see also [http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n286/mode/1up 31:2–4.]</ref>

Interpreting {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:13,|HE}} Rabbi Haninah told what the people of the age of the Flood used to do. When a person brought out a basket of beans for sale, one would come and seize less than the worth of the smallest coin in circulation, a ''perutah'' (and thus there was no redress under the law). And then everyone would come and seize less than a ''perutah's'' worth, so that the seller had no redress at law. Seeing this, God said that the people had acted improperly, so God would deal with them improperly (in a way that they would not relish).<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n287/mode/2up Genesis Rabbah 31:5.]</ref>

Interpreting {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:13,|HE}} Rabbi Levi taught that "violence" ({{Hebrew|חָמָס}}, ''chamas'') connotes idolatry, sexual immorality, and murder, as well as robbery. Reference to sexual immorality appears in [[Book of Jeremiah|Jeremiah]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Jeremiah|51:35,|HE}} which says, "The violence done to me ({{Hebrew|חֲמָסִי}}, ''chamasi'') and to my flesh ({{Hebrew|שְׁאֵרִי}}, ''she'eri'') be upon Babylon" (and שְׁאֵר, ''she'er'' refers to sexual immorality, for example, in [[Book of Leviticus|Leviticus]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Leviticus|18:6|HE}}). And reference to murder appears in [[Book of Joel|Joel]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Joel|4:19,|HE}} which says, "for the violence ({{Hebrew|חָמָס}}, ''chamas'') against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land."<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n288/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 31:6.]</ref>

Interpreting God’s words in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:13,|HE}} "I will destroy them with the earth," [[Rav Huna]] and [[Rabbi Yirmeyah|Rabbi Jeremiah]] in [[Rav Kahana II|Rav Kahana's]] name taught that the Flood washed away even the three handbreadths of the Earth's surface that a [[plough]] turns. It was as if a prince had a tutor, and whenever the prince did wrong, the king punished the tutor. Or it was as if a young prince had a nurse, and whenever the prince did wrong, the king punished the nurse. Similarly, God said that God would destroy the generation of the Flood along with the earth that nurtured them.<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n288/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 31:7.]</ref>

[[File:Tissot Building the Ark.jpg|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((275 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((275 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((275 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((275 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (275 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Building the Ark (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot)]]

[[Adda bar Ahavah|Rav Adda]] taught that the scholars of [[Rav Shela|Rav Shila]] interpreted "gopher wood" in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:14|HE}} to mean ''mabliga'' (a resinous species of [[Cedrus libani|cedar]]), while others maintained it was ''golamish'' (a very hard and stone-like species of cedar).<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b.]</ref>

While {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:14|HE}} tells that Noah’s Ark had pitch "within and without," [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Exodus|2:3|HE}} tells that [[Jochebed]] daubed the Ark of the infant Moses "with slime and with pitch." A [[Tannaim|Tanna]] taught that the slime was inside and the pitch outside so that that righteous child would not have to smell the bad odor of the pitch.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sotah/sotah_12.html Babylonian Talmud Sotah 12a.]</ref>

Rabbi Johanan interpreted the words, "A light ({{Hebrew|צֹהַר}}, ''tzohar'') shall you make to the Ark," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:16|HE}} to teach that God instructed Noah to set therein luminous precious stones and jewels, so that they might give light as bright as noon ({{Hebrew|צָּהֳרָיִם}}, ''tzaharayim'').<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b.]</ref> Similarly, Rav Achava bar Zeira taught that when Noah entered the Ark, he brought precious stones and jewels with him to keep track of day and night. When the jewels shone dimly, he knew that it was daytime, and when they shone brightly, he knew that it was night. The [[Gemara]] noted that it was important for Noah to be able to tell day from night, for some animals eat only during the day, and others east only during the night, and thus Noah could determine the proper feeding times for the animals under his care. The Gemara noted that if in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:16|HE}} God told Noah, “A window shall you make to the ark,” then Noah should have been able to tell day from night. The Gemara explained that Noah needed the jewels because the account of Noah bringing jewels into the Ark followed the view that the celestial bodies – including the sun – did not serve during the year of the Flood. (Thus, no sunlight entered the Ark, and {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:16|HE}} must refer to jewels rather than a window.)<ref>[[Jerusalem Talmud]] Pesachim 2a.</ref>

[[File:Jacopo da Ponte 002.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((300 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((300 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((300 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((300 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (300 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Building of Noah’s Ark (16th Century painting by [[Jacopo Bassano]])]]

The Gemara read the words, "and to a cubit shall you finish it upward," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:16|HE}} to ensure that thus would it stand firm (with the sides of the roof sloping, so that the rain would fall off it).<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b.]</ref>

A Tanna read the words, "with lower, second, and third stories shall you make it," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:16|HE}} to teach that the bottom story was for the dung, the middle for the animals, and the top for Noah’s family.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b.]</ref> A Midrash, however, reported that some said that the words, "with lower, second, and third stories shall you make it," meant that the bottom story was for waste, the second for Noah’s family and the clean animals, and the third for the unclean animals. And the Midrash reported that others said that the bottom story was for the unclean animals, the second for Noah’s family and the clean animals, and the top for the garbage. The Midrash taught that Noah managed to move the waste by arranging a kind of trapdoor through which he shoveled it sideways.<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n291/mode/2up Genesis Rabbah 31:11.]</ref>

Noting that {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:9|HE}} calls Noah "a man," a Midrash taught that wherever Scripture employs the term "a man," it indicates a righteous man who warned his generation. The Midrash taught that for 120 years (deduced from {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:3|HE}}), Noah planted cedars and cut them down. When they would ask him what he was doing, he would reply that God had informed him that God was bringing a flood. Noah’s contemporaries replied that if a flood did come, it would come only on Noah’s father’s house. Rabbi Abba taught that God said that one herald arose for God in the generation of the Flood — Noah. But they despised him and called him a contemptible old man.<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n282/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 30:7.]</ref>

[[File:Nuremberg chronicles f 11r 1.png|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((300 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((300 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((300 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((300 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (300 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Noah’s Ark (illustration from the 1493 [[Nuremberg Chronicle]])]]

Similarly, Rabbi Jose of [[Caesarea]] read the words, "He is swift upon the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth, he turns not by the way of the vineyards," in {{Bibleverse||Job|24:18|HE}} to teach that the righteous Noah rebuked his contemporaries. Noah urged them to repent, or God would bring a deluge upon them and cause their bodies to float upon the water like gourds, reading {{Bibleverse||Job|24:18|HE}} to say, "He floats lightly upon the face of the waters." Moreover, Noah told them that they would be taken as a curse for all future generations, as {{Bibleverse||Job|24:18|HE}} says, "their portion is cursed." And Rabbi Jose of Caesarea taught that the words, "he turns not by the way of the vineyards," indicate that as the people worked in their vineyards, they asked Noah what prevented God from bringing the Flood at that moment. And Noah replied that God had one dear one, one dove, to draw out before God could bring the Flood. (That is, the aged [[Methuselah]] had to die first, so that he would not suffer the punishment of the Flood).<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108a.]</ref>

Similarly, a Midrash taught that Noah reproved them, calling them good-for-nothings who forsook the One whose voice breaks cedars, to worship a dry log. But they reacted as in [[Book of Amos|Amos]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Amos|5:10,|HE}} which says, "They hate him that reproves in the gate, and they abhor him that speaks uprightly."<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n287/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 31:3.]</ref>

[[File:Noahs Ark-Memberger.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((300 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((300 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((300 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((300 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (300 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Construction of Noah's Ark (late 16th Century painting by Kaspar Memberger the Elder)]]

And [[Rava (amora)|Rava]] interpreted the words of {{Bibleverse||Job|12:5,|HE}} "He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a stone despised in the thought of him that is at ease," to teach that when Noah rebuked them and spoke words as hard as fiery flints, they would deride him. They called Noah "old man," and asked him what the Ark was for. Noah replied that God was bringing a flood upon them. They asked with what God would flood the earth. If God brought a flood of fire, they said, they had a thing called alitha (that would extinguish fire). If God brought a flood of water up from the earth, they said, they had iron plates with which they could cover the earth (to prevent the water from coming up). If God brought a flood of water from heaven, they said, they had a thing called akob (or some say akosh) (that could ward it off). Noah replied that God would bring it from between the heels of their feet, as {{Bibleverse||Job|12:5|HE}} says, "He is ready for the steps of your feet."<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b.]</ref>

Similarly, a Baraita interpreted {{Bibleverse||Job|12:5|HE}} to teach that the waters of the Flood were as hot and viscous as bodily fluids. And [[Rav Chisda|Rav Hisda]] taught that since it was with hot passion that they sinned, it was with hot water that they were punished. For {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:1|HE}} says, "And the water cooled" ({{Hebrew|יָּשֹׁכּוּ}}, ''yashoku''), and [[Book of Esther|Esther]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Esther|7:10|HE}} says, "Then the king's wrath cooled down" ({{Hebrew|שָׁכָכָה}}, ''shachachah'').<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b;] see also [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Rosh_HaShanah.pdf Babylonian Talmud Rosh Hashanah 12a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Zevachim.pdf Zevachim 113b.]</ref>

Rabbi Hanan said in the name of Rabbi Samuel ben Isaac that as soon as Noah entered the Ark, God prohibited his family from cohabitation, saying in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:18:|HE}} "you shall come into the Ark, you, and your sons," speaking of them apart, and, "your wife, and your sons’ wives," speaking of them apart. When Noah left the Ark, God permitted cohabitation to him again, saying in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:16:|HE}} "Go forth from the Ark, you and your wife," speaking of them together.<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n292/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 31:12.]</ref> Similarly, Rabbi Johanan deduced from the same sources that God had forbidden cohabitation for all the Ark’s inhabitants. The Rabbis taught in a Baraita that three nonetheless cohabited in the Ark — the dog, the raven, and Ham — and they were all punished.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b.]</ref>

[[File:Foster Bible Pictures 0020-1.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((225 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((225 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((225 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((225 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (225 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Noah’s Ark (illustration from the 1897 ''Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us'' by Charles Foster)]]

[[File:Tissot The Animals Enter the Ark.jpg|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((225 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((225 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((225 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((225 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (225 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Animals Enter the Ark (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot)]]

===Genesis chapter 7===

Reading in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:2|HE}} the command that "of every clean beast you shall take seven, man and wife," the Gemara asked whether beasts have marital relationships. Rabbi [[Samuel ben Nahman|Samuel bar Nahman]] said in [[Rabbi Jonathan]]'s name that the command means of those animals with which no sin had been committed (that is, animals that had not mated with other species). The Gemara asked how Noah would know. Rav Hisda taught that Noah led them past the Ark, and those that the Ark accepted had certainly not been the object of sin, while those that the Ark rejected had certainly been the object of sin. And Rabbi [[Abbahu]] taught that Noah took only those animals (fulfilling that condition) that came of their own accord.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b;] see also [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Zevachim.pdf Zevachim 116a.]</ref> Similarly, Rav Hisda asked how Noah knew (before the giving of {{Bibleverse||Leviticus|11|HE}}) which animals were clean and which were unclean. Rav Hisda explained that Noah led them past the Ark, and those that the Ark accepted (in multiples of seven) were certainly clean, and those that the Ark rejected were certainly unclean. Rabbi Abbahu cited {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:16,|HE}} "And they that went in, went in male and female," to show that they went in of their own accord (in their respective pairs, seven of the clean and two of the unclean).<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Zevachim.pdf Babylonian Talmud Zevachim 116a.]</ref>

Reading in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:3|HE}} the command to take into the Ark "of the fowl also of the air, seven each," a Midrash hypothesized that the command might have meant seven of each kind of animal (three of one gender and four of the other). But then one of them would lack a mate. Hence the Midrash concluded that God meant seven males and seven females. Of course God did not need them, but they were to come (in the words of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:3|HE}}) "to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth."<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n298/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 32:4.]</ref>

Rabbi [[Shimon bar Yochai|Simeon ben Yohai]] taught that because the generation of the Flood transgressed the Torah that God gave humanity after Moses had stayed on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights (as reported in {{Bibleverse||Exodus|24:18|HE}} and {{Bibleverse-nb||Exodus|34:28|HE}} and {{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|9:9–11,|HE}} [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0509.htm#18 18,] [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0509.htm#25 25], and {{Bibleverse-nb||Deuteronomy|10:10|HE}}), God announced in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:4|HE}} that God would "cause it to rain upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights." Similarly, Rabbi Johanan taught that because the generation of the Flood corrupted the features that take shape after 40 days (in the womb), God announced in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:4|HE}} that God would "cause it to rain upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights, and every living substance that I have made will I blot out."<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n299/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 32:5.]</ref>

[[File:Всемирный потоп.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((350 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((350 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((350 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((350 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (350 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Deluge (1869 painting by Wassilij Petrovich Wereschtschagin)]]

[[File:Le déluge - musée de beaux arts de Nantes 20091017.jpg|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((350 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((350 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((350 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((350 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (350 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Deluge (late 19th Century painting by [[Léon Comerre]])]]

Reading in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:4|HE}} that God said, "every living substance ({{Hebrew|יְקוּם}}, ''yekum'') that I have made will I blot out," Rabbi Abin taught that this included the one who rose up ({{Hebrew|יָּקָם}}, ''yakam'') against his brother — [[Cain and Abel|Cain]]. Rabbi Levi said in the name of Resh Lakish that God kept Cain’s judgment in suspense until the Flood and then God swept Cain away. And thus Rabbi Levi read {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:23|HE}} to say, "And He blotted out every one that had arisen."<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n299/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 32:5.]</ref>

A Midrash read the words "And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:5|HE}} narrowly to refer to the taking in of the animals, beasts, and birds.<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n299/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 32:5.]</ref>

The Gemara read {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:8|HE}} to employ the euphemistic expression "not clean," instead of the brief, but disparaging expression "unclean," so as not to speak disparagingly of unclean animals. The Gemara reasoned that it was thus likely that Scripture would use euphemisms when speaking of the faults of righteous people, as with the words, "And the eyes of [[Leah]] were weak," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|29:17.|HE}}<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/bababathra/bababathra_123.html Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 123a;] see also [http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n298/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 32:4] (attributing a similar teaching to Rabbi Judan in Rabbi Johanan’s name).</ref>

Reading in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:10|HE}} that "it came to pass, after seven days, that the waters of the Flood were upon the earth," the Gemara asked what the nature of these seven days was (that God delayed the Flood on their account). [[Abba Arika|Rab]] taught that these were the days of mourning for Methuselah, and thus that lamenting the righteous postpones retribution. Another explanation is that during "the seven days" God reversed the order of nature ({{Hebrew|בְּרֵאשִׁית}}, ''bereishit'') (established at the beginning of creation), and the sun rose in the west and set in the east (so that sinners might be shocked into repentance). Another explanation is that God first appointed for them a long time (the 120 years to which {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:3|HE}} alludes), and then a short time (a seven-day grace period in which to repent). Another explanation is that during "the seven days," God gave them a foretaste of the world to come, so that they might know the nature of the rewards of which they were depriving themselves.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b.]</ref>

A Midrash taught that God kept seven days of mourning before God brought the Flood, as {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:10|HE}} reports, “And it came to pass after ''the seven days'', that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.” The Midrash deduced that God was mourning by noting that {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:6|HE}} reports, “And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it ''grieved'' Him ({{Hebrew|וַיִּתְעַצֵּב}}, ''vayitatzeiv'') at His heart.” And [[Books of Samuel|2 Samuel]] {{Bibleverse-nb|2|Samuel|19:3|HE}} uses the same word to express mourning when it says, “The king ''grieves'' ({{Hebrew|נֶעֱצַב}}, ''ne’etzav'') for his son.”<ref>Midrash [[Tanhuma]] Shemini 1.</ref>

[[File:Baldung, Hans - Deluge - 1516.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((250 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((250 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (250 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Flood (1516 painting by [[Hans Baldung]])]]

[[File:Michelangelo Buonarroti 020.jpg|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((500 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((500 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((500 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((500 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (500 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Noah's Ark floats in the background while people struggle to escape the rising water of the Flood (fresco circa 1508–1512 by [[Michelangelo]] in the [[Sistine Chapel]])]]

[[Joshua ben Hananiah|Rabbi Joshua]] and [[Eliezer ben Hurcanus|Rabbi Eliezer]] differed about when the events took place in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:11,|HE}} where it says, "In the sixth hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month." Rabbi Joshua taught that the events of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:11|HE}} took place on the seventeenth day of [[Iyar]], when the constellation of the [[Pleiades (star cluster)|Pleiades]] sets at daybreak and the fountains begin to dry up. Because the generation of the Flood perverted its ways (from the way of creation), God changed for them the work of creation and made the constellation of the Pleiades rise at daybreak. God took two stars from the Pleiades and brought the Flood on the world. Rabbi Eliezer, however, taught that the events of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:11|HE}} took place on the seventeenth of [[Cheshvan]], a day on which the constellation of the Pleiades rises at daybreak, and the season when the fountains begin to fill. Because the generation of the Flood perverted its ways (from the way of creation), God changed for them the work of creation, and caused the constellation of the Pleiades to rise at daybreak. God took away two stars from it and brought the Flood on the world. If one accepts the view of Rabbi Joshua, then one can understand why {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:11|HE}} speaks of the "second month" (to describe Iyar, because {{Bibleverse||Exodus|12:2|HE}} describes [[Nisan]] as the first month, and Iyar follows Nisan). If one accepts Rabbi Eliezer's view, the "second month" means the month that is second to the Day of Judgment ([[Rosh Hashanah]], which {{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|11:12|HE}} recognizes as the beginning of a year when it says, "The eyes of the Lord are upon it (the [[Land of Israel]]) from the beginning of the year"). If one accepts Rabbi Joshua's view, the change in the work of creation was the change in the constellation and the waters. If one accepts Rabbi Eliezer's view, the Gemara asked what change there was in the natural order (as the constellation usually rose at that time and that time of year is usually the rainy season). The Gemara found the answer in the dictum of Rabbi Hisda, when he said that with hot passion they sinned, and with hot waters were they punished. The Rabbis taught in a Baraita that the Sages of Israel follow Rabbi Eliezer in dating the Flood (counting Rosh Hashanah as the beginning of the year) and Rabbi Joshua in dating the annual cycles (holding that God created the world in Nisan). The scholars of other peoples, however, follow Rabbi Joshua in dating the Flood as well.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Rosh_HaShanah.pdf Babylonian Talmud Rosh Hashanah 11b–12a.]</ref>

Rabbi Johanan taught that because the corruption of the generation of the Flood was great, their punishment was also great. {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:5|HE}} characterizes their corruption as great ({{Hebrew|רַבָּה}}, ''rabbah''), saying, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth." And {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:11|HE}} characterizes their punishment as great ({{Hebrew|רַבָּה}}, ''rabbah''), saying, "on the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up." Rabbi Johanan reported that three of those great thermal fountains remained open after the Flood — the gulf of Gaddor, the hot-springs of [[Tiberias]], and the great well of [[Kfar Bar'am|Biram]].<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108a.]</ref>

The Gemara interpreted the words "every bird ({{Hebrew|צִפּוֹר}}, ''tzippor'') of any winged ({{Hebrew|כָּנָף}}, ''kanaf'') [species]" in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:14.|HE}} The Gemara read the word "bird" ({{Hebrew|צִפּוֹר}}, ''tzippor'') here to refer only to clean birds, and "winged" ({{Hebrew|כָּנָף}}, ''kanaf'') to include both unclean birds and grasshoppers.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Chullin.pdf Babylonian Talmud Chullin 139b.]</ref>

[[File:Foster Bible Pictures 0019-1.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((275 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((275 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((275 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((275 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (275 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Noah’s Ark (illustration from the 1897 ''Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us'' by Charles Foster)]]

In a Baraita, Rabbi [[Eleazar of Modi'im]] interpreted {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:22,|HE}} "Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered." Rabbi Eleazar of Modi'im asked whether waters that measured fifteen cubits high on the mountains could also measure fifteen cubits in the valley. To do so, the waters would have to stand like a series of walls (terraced with the topography). And if so, the ark could not have come to rest on the top of the mountains. Rather, Rabbi Eleazar of Modi'im taught that all the fountains of the great deep came up first until the water was even with the mountains, and then the water rose fifteen more cubits.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Yoma.pdf Babylonian Talmud Yoma 76a.]</ref>

Reading in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:22|HE}} that "all that was on the dry land died," the Gemara deduced that the fish in the sea did not die (apparently not having committed the transgressions that land animals had).<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108a;] see also [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Zevachim.pdf Babylonian Talmud Zevachim 113b.]</ref>

The Tosefta taught that the Flood killed people before animals (as seen in the order of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:23|HE}}), because man sinned first (as shown in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:5|HE}}).<ref>Tosefta Sotah 4:11.</ref>

[[File:Noah mosaic.JPG|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((125 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((125 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((125 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((125 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (125 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Noah and the Dove (mosaic circa 12th–13th century in [[St Mark's Basilica]], [[Venice]])]]

[[Judah haNasi|Rabbi]] taught that, in conferring honor, the Bible commences with the greatest, in cursing with the least important. With regard to cursing, the Gemara reasoned that Rabbi must have meant the punishment of the Flood, as {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:23|HE}} says, "And He blotted out every living substance which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle," starting with the people before the cattle.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/berakoth/berakoth_61.html Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 61a.]</ref>

Reading in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:23|HE}} that "every living substance was destroyed that was upon the face of the ground" — people and animals alike — the Gemara asked how the beasts had sinned (to deserve this punishment). A Baraita on the authority of Rabbi [[Joshua Ben Karha]] compared this to a father who set up a bridal canopy for his son, and prepared a banquet with every sort of food. But then his son died. So the father broke up the canopy, saying that he had prepared it only for his son. Now that the son was dead, the father had no need for a banquet. Thus God created the animals only for the benefit of people. Now that people had sinned, God had no need for the animals.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108a.]</ref>

The Mishnah taught that those who vow not to benefit from the children of Noah may not benefit from non-Jews, but may benefit from Jews.<ref>Mishnah Nedarim 3:11; [http://www.halakhah.com/nedarim/nedarim_31.html Babylonian Talmud Nedarim 31a.]</ref> The Gemara asked how Jews could be excluded from the “children of Noah,” as {{Bibleverse||Genesis|7:23|HE}} indicates that all humanity descended from Noah. The Gemara answered that since God singled out Abraham, Jews are considered descendants of Abraham.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/nedarim/nedarim_31.html Babylonian Talmud Nedarim 31a.]</ref>

===Genesis chapter 8===

Reading "and he sent forth a raven" in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:7,|HE}} Resh Lakish taught that the raven gave Noah a triumphant retort, arguing that both God and Noah must have hated the raven. It was evident that God hated the raven because God commanded Noah to save seven pairs of the clean creatures on the Ark, but only two of the unclean (among which the raven counted itself under {{Bibleverse||Leviticus|11:15|HE}}). And it was evident that Noah hated the raven because Noah had left in the Ark the species of which there were seven pairs, and sent one of which there were only two. If the angel of heat or cold had smitten the raven, the world would have been missing the raven’s kind.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b.]</ref>

[[File:Aegidius of Roya deluge.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((200 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((200 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((200 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((200 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (200 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Noah sends off a dove from the Ark (miniature on vellum by Jean Dreux circa 1450–1460 at the [[Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum]], [[The Hague]])]]

[[File:Tissot The Dove Returns to Noah.jpg|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((200 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((200 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((200 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((200 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (200 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Dove Returns to Noah (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot)]]

Similarly, interpreting the words, "and it went forth to and fro" in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:7,|HE}} Rabbi Judan said in the name of Rabbi Judah ben Rabbi Simon that the raven began arguing with Noah. The raven asked Noah why of all the birds that Noah had in the Ark Noah sent none but the raven. Noah retorted that the world had no need of the raven; the raven was fit neither for food nor for sacrifice. [[Rabbi Berekiah]] said in Rabbi Abba's name that God told Noah to take that back, because the world would need ravens in the future. Noah asked God when the world would need ravens. God replied that (in the words of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:7|HE}}) "when the waters dry off from on the earth," a righteous man ([[Elijah]]) would arise and dry up the world (threatening drought, and then see the threat fulfilled). And God would cause him to have need of ravens, as [[Books of Kings|1 Kings]] {{Bibleverse-nb|1|Kings|17:6|HE}} reports, "And the ravens ({{Hebrew|עֹרְבִים}}, ''orvim'') brought him bread and flesh." Rabbi Judah maintained that the word ''orvim'' ({{Hebrew|עֹרְבִים}}) referred to a town within the borders of [[Bashan]] called Arbo. But Rabbi Nehemiah insisted that {{Bibleverse|1|Kings|17:6|HE}} literally meant ravens, and the ravens brought Elijah food from King [[Jehoshaphat]]'s table.<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n311/mode/2up Genesis Rabbah 33:5.]</ref>

From the discussion of the dove in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:8,|HE}} Rabbi Jeremiah deduced that the clean fowl lived with the righteous people on the Ark. (Of the raven, {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:7|HE}} says, "he sent forth a raven." But of the dove, {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:8|HE}} says, "he sent forth a dove ''from him''" indicating that the dove was ''with him''.)<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b.]</ref>

Reading of the dove in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:11,|HE}} "and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf," a Midrash asked where the dove found it. Rabbi Abba taught that the dove brought it from the young shoots of the Land of Israel. Rabbi Levi taught that the dove brought it from the [[Mount of Olives]], for the Flood had not submerged the Land of Israel. Thus God told [[Ezekiel]] (in {{Bibleverse||Ezekiel|22:24|HE}}): "Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon on the day of indignation.’" Rabbi Birai (or some say Rabbi Berekiah) taught that the gates of the [[Garden of Eden]] were opened for the dove, and from there the dove brought the olive leaf. Rabbi Abbahu asked if the dove had brought it from the Garden of Eden, would the dove not have brought something better, like cinnamon or a balsam leaf. But in fact the dove was giving Noah a hint, saying to him in effect that better is bitterness from God than sweetness from Noah’s hand.<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n312/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 33:6.]</ref>

[[File:Ноев ковчег.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((375 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((375 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((375 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((375 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (375 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Noah’s Ark (1882 painting by [[Andrei Ryabushkin]] at the State [[Russian Museum]], [[Saint Petersburg]])]]

Similarly, reading of the dove in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:11,|HE}} "and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf," Rabbi Eleazar (or others say Rabbi Jeremiah ben Eleazar) taught that the dove prayed to God that God might let the dove’s sustenance be as bitter as the olive but given by God, rather than sweet as honey and given by flesh and blood (upon whom the dove was therefore dependent).<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b] (attributing to Rabbi Eleazar); [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Eiruvin.pdf Eruvin 18b] (attributing to Rabbi Jeremiah ben Eleazar).</ref>

[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 018.png|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((250 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((250 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (250 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Ark Rests upon Ararat (woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld from the 1860 ''Die Bibel in Bildern'')]]

A Midrash taught that when {{Bibleverse||Psalm|142:8|HE}} says, "Bring my soul out of prison," it refers to Noah’s imprisonment 12 months in the Ark, and when {{Bibleverse||Psalm|142:8|HE}} says, "for You will deal bountifully with me," it refers to God’s bounty to Noah when God told Noah in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:16,|HE}} "Go forth from the Ark."<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n316/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 34:1.]</ref>

Rabbi Johanan interpreted the words, "After their kinds they went forth from the Ark," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:19|HE}} to teach that the animals went out by their families, not alone. Rabbi Hana bar Bizna taught that Abraham's servant [[Eliezer]] once inquired of Noah’s son Shem about these words in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:19,|HE}} asking Shem how his family managed. Shem replied that they had a difficult time in the Ark. During the day they fed the animals that usually fed by day, and during the night they fed those that normally fed by night. But Noah did not know what the [[chameleon]] ate. One day Noah was cutting a [[pomegranate]], when a worm dropped out of it, and the chameleon ate it. From then on, Noah mashed up bran for the chameleon, and when the bran became wormy, the chameleon would eat. A fever struck the [[lion]], so it lived off of its reserves rather than eating other animals. Noah discovered the ''avarshinah'' bird (some say the [[Phoenix (mythology)|phoenix]] bird) lying in the hold of the Ark and asked it if it needed food. The bird told Noah that it saw that Noah was busy and decided not to give him any more trouble. Noah replied by asking that it be God’s will that the bird not perish, as {{Bibleverse||Job|19:18|HE}} says, "Then I said: ‘I shall die with my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the phoenix.’"<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 108b.]</ref>

[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 019.png|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((250 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((250 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (250 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Covenant of the Rainbow (woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld from the 1860 ''Die Bibel in Bildern'')]]

A Midrash recounted that Noah fed and provided for the Ark’s inhabitants for all of 12 months. But Rav Huna said in Rabbi Liezer's name that when Noah was leaving the Ark, a lion nonetheless set on him and maimed him, so that he was not fit to offer sacrifices, and his son Shem sacrificed in his stead. The Midrash took this as an application of the words of {{Bibleverse||Proverbs|11:31:|HE}} "the righteous shall be requited on earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner." From this, the Midrash inferred that if in spite of his comparative righteousness, Noah was punished for his sins, "how much more" was the generation of the Flood.<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n281/mode/2up Genesis Rabbah 30:6.]</ref>

[[File:Tissot Noah's Sacrifice.jpg|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((250 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((250 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (250 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Noah's Sacrifice (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot)]]

Rav Huna cited the report in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:20|HE}} that Noah offered burnt offerings from every clean animal and bird to support the proposition in a Baraita that all animals were eligible to be offered, as the words "animal" (''behemah'') and bird (''bear'') refer to any animal or bird, and the term "animal" (''behemah'') includes wild beasts (''hayyah'').<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Zevachim.pdf Babylonian Talmud Zevachim 115b.]</ref>

Rabbi Haninah cited the report of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:21|HE}} that "the Lord smelled the sweet savor; and . . . said . . . ‘I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake,’" for the proposition that those who allow themselves to be pacified when drinking wine possess some of the characteristics of the Creator.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Eiruvin.pdf Babylonian Talmud Eruvin 65a.]</ref>

Rav Awira (or some say Rabbi [[Joshua ben Levi]]) taught that the Evil Inclination (''[[yetzer hara]]'') has seven names. God called it "Evil" in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:21,|HE}} saying, "the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth." Moses called it "the Uncircumcised" in {{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|10:16,|HE}} saying, "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart." [[David]] called it "Unclean" in {{Bibleverse||Psalm|51:12;|HE}} [[Solomon]] called it "the Enemy" in {{Bibleverse||Proverbs|25:21–22;|HE}} [[Isaiah]] called it "the Stumbling-Block" in {{Bibleverse||Isaiah|57:14;|HE}} [[Ezekiel]] called it "Stone" in {{Bibleverse||Ezekiel|36:26;|HE}} and [[Joel (prophet)|Joel]] called it "the Hidden One" in {{Bibleverse||Joel|2:20.|HE}}<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Sukkah.pdf Babylonian Talmud Sukkah 52a.]</ref>

The Rabbis taught in a Baraita that the Evil Inclination is hard to bear, since even God its Creator called it evil, as in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|8:21,|HE}} God says, “the desire of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/nashim/Kiddushin.pdf Babylonian Talmud Kiddushin 30b.] Reprinted in, e.g., ''Talmud Bavli''. Elucidated by David Fohrman, Dovid Kamenetsky, and Hersh Goldwurm; edited by Hersh Goldwurm, volume 36, page 30b². Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1992. ISBN 1-57819-642-6.</ref>

[[File:Noah Ayvazovsky.jpg|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((375 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((375 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((375 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((375 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (375 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|left|Noah Descending from Ararat (1889 painting by [[Ivan Aivazovsky]])]]

===Genesis chapter 9===

[[File:Parashat Noah.jpg|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((200 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((200 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((200 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((200 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (200 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|{{Bibleverse|Genesis|6:18–7:8|HE}} in a Torah scroll]]

The Rabbis interpreted {{Bibleverse||Genesis|9|HE}} to set forth [[Seven Laws of Noah|seven Noahide laws]] binding on all people: (1) to set up courts of justice, (2) not to commit idolatry, (3) not to commit blasphemy, (4) not to commit sexual immorality, (5) not to commit bloodshed,<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:6.|HE}}</ref> (6) not to commit robbery, and (7) not to eat flesh cut from a living animal.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:4.|HE}}</ref><ref>Tosefta Avodah Zarah 8:4–6; see also [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_56.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 56a;] [http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n318/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 34:8.]</ref> Rabbi Hanina taught that they were also commanded not to consume blood from a living animal. Rabbi Leazar taught that they were also commanded not to cross-breed animals. [[Shimon bar Yochai|Rabbi Simeon]] taught that they were also commanded not to commit witchcraft. Rabbi Johanan taught that they were also commanded not to emasculate animals. And [[Rabbi Assi]] taught that the children of Noah were also prohibited to do anything stated in {{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|18:10–11:|HE}} "There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that uses divination, a soothsayer, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or one that consults a ghost or a familiar spirit, or a necromancer."<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n318/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 34:8.]</ref> The Tosefta instructed that Israelites should not tempt anyone to violate a Noahide law.<ref>Tosefta Demai 2:24.</ref>

Rabbi Shimon ben Eleazar deduced from {{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:2|HE}} that even a one-day-old child scares small animals, but said that the corpse of even the giant [[Og]] of [[Bashan]] would need to be guarded from weasels and rats.<ref>Tosefta Shabbat 17:19.</ref>

Rabbi Tanhum ben Hanilai compared the laws of [[kashrut]] to the case of a physician who went to visit two patients, one whom the physician judged would live, and the other whom the physician judged would die. To the one who would live, the physician gave orders about what to eat and what not to eat. On the other hand, the physician told the one who would die to eat whatever the patient wanted. Thus to the nations who were not destined for life in the World to Come, God said in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:3,|HE}} "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you." But to Israel, whom God intended for life in the World to Come, God said in {{Bibleverse||Leviticus|11:2,|HE}} "These are the living things which you may eat."<ref>[[Leviticus Rabbah]] 13:2.</ref>

[[Rabbi Akiva]] said that it demonstrated the value of human beings that God created us in God’s image, and that it was an act of still greater love that God let us know (in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:6|HE}}) that God had created us in God’s image.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/nezikin/Avoth.pdf Mishnah Avot 3:14.]</ref> And Rabbi Akiva also said that whoever spills blood diminishes the Divine image.<ref>Tosefta Yevamot 8:7.</ref> Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah and Ben Azzai both said that whoever does not have children diminishes the Divine image as demonstrated by proximity of the notice that God created us in God’s image ({{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:6|HE}}) and the command to be fruitful and multiply ({{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:7|HE}}).<ref>Tosefta Yevamot 8:7.</ref> Similarly, a Midrash taught that some say a man without a wife even impairs the Divine likeness, as {{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:6|HE}} says, “For in the image of God made He man,” and immediately thereafter {{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:7|HE}} says, “And you, be fruitful, and multiply (implying that the former is impaired if one does not fulfill the latter).<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n179/mode/2up Genesis Rabbah 17:2.]</ref>

[[Rabbi Meir]] taught that while it was certain that God would never again flood the world with water ({{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:11|HE}}), God might bring a flood of fire and brimstone, as God brought upon [[Sodom and Gomorrah]].<ref>Tosefta Taanit 2:13</ref>

[[File:Tissot Noah's Drunkenness.jpg|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((300 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((300 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((300 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((300 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (300 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Noah's Drunkenness (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot)]]

[[File:Michelangelo drunken Noah.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((300 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((300 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((300 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((300 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (300 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Drunkenness of Noah (1509 fresco by Michelangelo at the Sistine Chapel)]]

The Mishnah taught that the rainbow (of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:13|HE}}) was one of ten miraculous things that God created on the sixth day of creation at twilight on the eve of the Sabbath.<ref>[[s:Mishnah/Seder Nezikin/Tractate Avot/Chapter 5/6|Mishnah Avot 5:6]].</ref> [[Jose ben Halafta|Rabbi Jose]] and Rabbi Judah disagreed whether verses of remembrance referring to the rainbow ({{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:15–16|HE}}) needed to be said together or individually.<ref>Tosefta Rosh Hashanah 2:14</ref>

The Gemara helped explain why (as {{Bibleverse||Genesis|9:13|HE}} reports) God chose a rainbow as the symbol of God’s promise. The Mishnah taught with regard to those who take no thought for the honor of their Maker, that it would have been better if they had not been born.<ref>Mishnah Chagigah 2:1; [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Chagigah.pdf Babylonian Talmud Chagigah 11b.]</ref> Rabbi Abba read this Mishnah to refer to those who stare at a rainbow, while [[Rav Yosef b. Hiyya|Rav Joseph]] said that it refers to those who commit transgressions in secret. The Gemara explained that those who stare at a rainbow affront God’s honor, as {{Bibleverse||Ezekiel|1:28|HE}} compares God’s appearance to that of a rainbow: "As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." Thus those who stare at a rainbow behave as if they were staring directly at God. Similarly, Rabbi Judah ben Rabbi Nahmani, the speaker for Resh Lakish, taught that because {{Bibleverse||Ezekiel|1:28|HE}} compares God’s appearance to that of a rainbow, staring at the rainbow harms one’s eyesight.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Chagigah.pdf Babylonian Talmud Chagigah 16a.]</ref>

[[File:Ksenophontov noah.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((225 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((225 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((225 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((225 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (225 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Noah damning Ham (19th Century painting by Ivan Stepanovitch Ksenofontov)]]

[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 020.png|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((250 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((250 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (250 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Noah’s curse of Canaan (engraving by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld from the 1860 ''Bible in Pictures'')]]

The Talmud deduced two possible explanations (attributed to [[Abba Arika|Rav]] and [[Samuel of Nehardea|Rabbi Samuel]]) for what Ham did to Noah to warrant Noah's curse of Canaan. According to one explanation, Ham [[Castration|castrated]] Noah, while the other says that Ham sexually abused Noah. The textual argument for castration goes this way: Since Noah cursed Ham by his fourth son Canaan, Ham must have injured Noah with respect to a fourth son, by emasculating him, thus depriving Noah of the possibility of a fourth son. The argument for abuse from the text draws an analogy between "and he saw" written in two places in the Bible: With regard to Ham and Noah, it was written, "And Ham the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father (Noah)"; while in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|34:2|HE}}, it was written, "And when Shechem the son of Hamor saw her ([[Dinah]]), he took her and lay with her and defiled her." Thus this explanation deduced that similar abuse must have happened each time that the Bible uses the same language.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_70.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 70a.] See also [http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n339/mode/2up Genesis Rabbah 36:7;] Leviticus Rabbah 17:5.</ref>

===Genesis chapter 10===

A [[Baraita]] employed {{Bibleverse||Genesis|10:6|HE}} to interpret the words "and Hebron was built seven years before [[Tanis, Egypt|Zoan]] in [[Egypt]]" in [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Numbers|13:22|HE}} to mean that Hebron was seven times as fertile as Zoan. The Baraita rejected the plain meaning of "built," reasoning that Ham would not build a house for his younger son Canaan (in whose land was Hebron) before he built one for his elder son [[Mizraim]] (in whose land was Zoan, and {{Bibleverse||Genesis|10:6|HE}} lists (presumably in order of birth) "the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and [[Phut|Put]], and Canaan." The Baraita also taught that among all the nations, there was none more fertile than Egypt, for {{Bibleverse||Genesis|13:10|HE}} says, "Like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt." And there was no more fertile spot in Egypt than Zoan, where kings lived, for {{Bibleverse||Isaiah|30:4|HE}} says of [[Pharaoh]], "his princes are at Zoan." And in all of Israel, there was no more rocky ground than that at Hebron, which is why the Patriarchs buried their dead there, as reported in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|49:31.|HE}} But rocky Hebron was still seven times as fertile as lush Zoan.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/kethuboth/kethuboth_112.html Babylonian Talmud Ketubot 112a.]</ref>

Rab and [[Samuel of Nehardea|Samuel]] equated the [[Amraphel]] of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|14:1|HE}} with the Nimrod whom {{Bibleverse||Genesis|10:8|HE}} describes as "a mighty warrior on the earth," but the two differed over which was his real name. One held that his name was actually Nimrod, and {{Bibleverse||Genesis|14:1|HE}} calls him Amraphel because he ordered Abraham to be cast into a burning furnace (and thus the name Amraphel reflects the words for "he said" (''amar'') and "he cast" (''hipil'')). But the other held that his name was actually Amraphel, and {{Bibleverse||Genesis|10:8|HE}} calls him Nimrod because he led the world in rebellion against God (and thus the name Nimrod reflects the word for "he led in rebellion" (''himrid'')).<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Eiruvin.pdf Babylonian Talmud Eruvin 53a.]</ref>

[[File:Tissot Building the Tower of Babel.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((325 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((325 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((325 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((325 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (325 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|Building the Tower of Babel (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot)]]

===Genesis chapter 11===

The Tosefta taught that the men of the Tower of Babel acted arrogantly before God only because God had been so good to them (in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:1–2|HE}}) as to give them a single language and allow them to settle in Shinar. And as usage elsewhere indicated that "settle" meant "eat and drink" (see {{Bibleverse||Exodus|32:6|HE}}), this eating and drinking was what led them to say (in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:4|HE}}) that they wanted to build the Tower.<ref>Tosefta Sotah 3:10.</ref>

[[File:Tour de babel.jpeg|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((375 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((375 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((375 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((375 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (375 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Tower of Babel (1594 painting by [[Lucas van Valckenborch]] at the [[Musée du Louvre|Louvre]])]]

Rabbi Levi, or some say Rabbi Jonathan, said that a tradition handed down from the Men of the [[Great Assembly]] taught that wherever the Bible employs the term "and it was" or "and it came to pass" ({{Hebrew|וַיְהִי}}, ''wa-yehi''), as it does in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:2,|HE}} it indicates misfortune, as one can read ''wa-yehi'' as ''wai'', ''hi'', "woe, sorrow." Thus the words, "And it came to pass," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:2|HE}} are followed by the words, "Come, let us build us a city," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:4.|HE}} And the Gemara also cited the instances of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:1|HE}} followed by {{Bibleverse||Genesis|6:5;|HE}} {{Bibleverse||Genesis|14:1|HE}} followed by {{Bibleverse||Genesis|14:2;|HE}} {{Bibleverse||Joshua|5:13|HE}} followed by the rest of {{Bibleverse||Joshua|5:13;|HE}} {{Bibleverse||Joshua|6:27|HE}} followed by {{Bibleverse||Joshua|7:1;|HE}} {{Bibleverse|1|Samuel|1:1|HE}} followed by {{Bibleverse|1|Samuel|1:5;|HE}} {{Bibleverse|1|Samuel|8:1|HE}} followed by {{Bibleverse|1|Samuel|8:3;|HE}} {{Bibleverse|1|Samuel|18:14|HE}} close after {{Bibleverse|1|Samuel|18:9;|HE}} {{Bibleverse|2|Samuel|7:1|HE}} followed by {{Bibleverse|1|Kings|8:19;|HE}} [[Book of Ruth|Ruth]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Ruth|1:1|HE}} followed by the rest of {{Bibleverse||Ruth|1:1;|HE}} and [[Book of Esther|Esther]] {{Bibleverse-nb||Esther|1:1|HE}} followed by [[Haman (Bible)|Haman]]. But the Gemara also cited as counterexamples the words, "And there was evening and there was morning one day," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|1:5,|HE}} as well as {{Bibleverse||Genesis|29:10,|HE}} and {{Bibleverse|1|Kings|6:1.|HE}} So [[Rav Ashi]] replied that ''wa-yehi'' sometimes presages misfortune, and sometimes it does not, but the expression "and it came to pass in the days of" always presages misfortune. And for that proposition, the Gemara cited {{Bibleverse||Genesis|14:1,|HE}} {{Bibleverse||Isaiah|7:1|HE}} {{Bibleverse||Jeremiah|1:3,|HE}} {{Bibleverse||Ruth|1:1,|HE}} and {{Bibleverse||Esther|1:1.|HE}}<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Megilah.pdf Babylonian Talmud Megillah 10b.]</ref>

[[File:Foster Bible Pictures 0025-1.jpg|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((250 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((250 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (250 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Tower of Babel (illustration from the 1897 ''Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us'' by Charles Foster)]]

Rabbi Johanan said in the name of Rabbi Eleazar the son of Rabbi Simeon that wherever you find the words of Rabbi Eleazar the son of Rabbi [[Jose the Galilean]] in an [[Aggadah]], make your ear like a funnel (to receive the teaching). (Rabbi Eleazar taught that) God bestowed greatness on Nimrod, but Nimrod (did not humble himself, but) said, in the words of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:4,|HE}} “Come, let us build ourselves a city.”<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Chullin.pdf Babylonian Talmud Chullin 89a.]</ref>

The Mishnah taught that the generation of the dispersion has no portion in the world to come.<ref>Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:3. Reprinted in, e.g., ''The Mishnah: A New Translation''. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 604. [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_107.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 107b.] Reprinted in, e.g., ''Talmud Bavli''. Elucidated by Asher Dicker, Joseph Elias, and Dovid Katz; edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr and Chaim Malinowitz, volume 49, page 107b⁴.</ref> The Gemara asked what they did to justify this punishment. The scholars of the academy of Rav Shila taught that they sought to build a tower, ascend to heaven, and cleave it with axes, that its waters might gush forth. In the academies of the Land of Israel, they laughed at this, arguing that if the generation of the dispersion had sought to do so, they should have built the tower on a mountain. Rabbi Jeremiah bar Eleazar taught that the generation of the dispersion split into three parties. One party sought to ascend to heaven and dwell there. The second party sought to ascend to heaven and serve idols. And the third party sought to ascend and wage war with God. God scattered the party that proposed to ascend and dwell there. God turned into apes, spirits, devils, and night-demons the party that sought to ascend and wage war with God. As for the party that sought to ascend and serve idols, God responded, in the words of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:9,|HE}} “for there the Lord did confound the language of all the earth.” It was taught in a Baraita that [[Nathan the Babylonian|Rabbi Nathan]] said that the generation of the dispersion were all bent on idolatry. For {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:4|HE}} says, “let us make us a name,” while {{Bibleverse||Exodus|23:13|HE}} says, “and make no mention of the name of other gods.” Rabbi Nathan reasoned that just as the word “name” indicates idolatry in {{Bibleverse||Exodus|23:13,|HE}} so does the word “name” in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:4.|HE}} Rabbi Jonathan taught that a third of the tower was burned, a third sank into the earth, and a third still stood at his time. Rav taught that the atmosphere of the tower caused forgetfulness. Rav Joseph taugh that Babylon and the neighboring city of Borsif were both evil omens for the Torah, because one soon forgets one's learning there. Rabbi Assi said that the name “Borsif” means “an empty pit” (''bor shafi''), for it empties one of knowledge.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_109.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 109a.] Reprinted in, e.g., ''Talmud Bavli''. Elucidated by Asher Dicker, Joseph Elias, and Dovid Katz; edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr and Chaim Malinowitz, volume 49, page 109a^1–3.</ref>

Rabbi Phineas taught that the land of Babel had no stones with which to build the city and the tower. So they baked bricks until they built the tower seven miles high. The tower had ramps on its east and its west. Laborers took up the bricks on the eastern ramp, and people descended on the western ramp. If a man fell and died, the laborers paid him no heed, but if a brick fell, they sat and wept, asking when another brick would come in its stead.<ref>[[Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer]], chapter 24. Early 9th century. Reprinted in, e.g., ''Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer''. Translated and annotated by Gerald Friedlander, 176. London, 1916. Reprinted New York: Hermon Press, 1970. ISBN 0-87203-183-7.</ref>

[[File:Confusion of Tongues.png|thumb{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((200 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((200 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((200 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((200 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (200 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Confusion of Tongues (engraving by Gustave Doré from the 1865 ''La Sainte Bible'')]]

Rabbi [[Shimon bar Yochai|Simeon bar Yohai]] taught that the report of {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:5|HE}} that "the Lord came down to see the city and the tower" was one of ten instances when the Torah reports that God descended.<ref>[http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n355/mode/1up Genesis Rabbah 38:9.]</ref>

Rabbi Johanan taught that wherever heretics have taken Biblical passages as grounds for their heresy, another passage nearby provides the refutation. Thus (the heretics questioned the use of the plural with regard to God in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:7|HE}}): “Come, let us go down and there confound their language.” (But nearby, in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:5,|HE}} it says in the singular): “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower.” Rabbi Johanan taught that God says, “let us,” in the plural in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:7|HE}} (and elsewhere) to show that God does nothing without first consulting God’s Heavenly Court.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_38.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 38b.] Reprinted in, e.g., ''Talmud Bavli''. Elucidated by Asher Dicker and Abba Tzvi Naiman; edited by Hersh Goldwurm, volume 47, page 38b³. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1993. ISBN 1-57819-629-9.</ref>

The Sages taught that the God who punished the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion would take vengeance on people who renege on their word after money has been paid.<ref>Mishnah Bava Metzia 4:2; [http://www.halakhah.com/babamezia/babamezia_44.html Babylonian Talmud Bava Metzia 44a.]</ref>

[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 021.png|thumb|left{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 1) <= 1.1) and (((250 / 220) round 1) >= 0.9)}}|0|{{subst:!}}upright{{subst:#ifeq:{{subst:#expr: (((250 / 220) round 2) <= 0.8) and (((250 / 220) round 1) > 0.7)}}|0|={{subst:#expr: (250 / 220) round 1}}}}}}|The Dispersion (engraving by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld from the 1860 ''Bible in Pictures'')]]

The Gemara asked what the name Babel (which can mean “to mix” or “confound,” as in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:9|HE}}) connotes. Rabbi Johanan answered that [the study of] Scripture, Mishnah, and Talmud was intermingled (in the study reported in the Babylonian Talmud).<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_24.html Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 24a.] Reprinted in, e.g., ''Talmud Bavli''. Elucidated by Asher Dicker and Abba Tzvi Naiman; edited by Hersh Goldwurm, volume 47, page 24a³.</ref>

The Gemara taught that Abraham asked God if God would ever punish Israel for its sins as God did to the generation of the Flood or the generation of the Dispersion, and God replied that God would not. God told Abraham that God had provided the order of sacrifices for Israel in the Torah, and whenever Jews read these passages, God would consider it as if they had offered the sacrifices, and God would pardon them for all their iniquities.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Taanith.pdf Babylonian Talmud Taanit 27b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Megilah.pdf Megillah 31b.]</ref>

The Gemara taught that Sarah was one of seven prophetesses who prophesied to Israel and neither took away from nor added anything to what is written in the Torah. (The other prophetesses were [[Miriam]], [[Deborah]], [[Hannah (Bible)|Hannah]], [[Abigail]], [[Huldah]], and [[Esther]].) The Gemara derived Sarah’s status as a prophetess from the words, "Haran, the father of Milkah and the father of Yiscah," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:29.|HE}} Rabbi Isaac taught that Yiscah was Sarah. {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:29|HE}} called her Yiscah ({{Hebrew|יִסְכָּה}}) because she discerned (''saketah'') by means of Divine inspiration, as {{Bibleverse||Genesis|21:12|HE}} reports God instructing Abraham, "In all that Sarah says to you, hearken to her voice." Alternatively, {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:29|HE}} called her Yiscah because all gazed (''sakin'') at her beauty.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Megilah.pdf Babylonian Talmud Megillah 14a.]</ref>

[[Rav Nachman|Rav Nahman]] said in the name of Rabbah bar Abbuha that the redundant report, "And Sarai was barren; she had no child," in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|11:30|HE}} demonstrated that Sarah was incapable of procreation because she did not have a womb.<ref>[http://www.halakhah.com/yebamoth/yebamoth_64.html#PARTb Babylonian Talmud Yevamot 64b.]</ref>

--->

==Interpretazione rabbinica medievale==

[[File:Maimonides-2.jpg|thumb|85px|[[Maimonide]]]]

===Genesi 8===

[[Maimonide]] afferma che {{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:21}} si riferisce all'"inclinazione a fare il male" (''[[Principi di fede ebraica#Si nasce con la tendenza a fare sia il bene che il male|yetzer hara]]''). Maimonide insegna che i tre termini — l'avversario (הַשָּׂטָן, ''ha-satan''), l'inclinazione al male (''yetzer hara''), e l'angelo della morte — designano tutti la stessa cosa: le azioni attribuite a questi tre sono in realtà le azioni dello stesso identico agente. Maimonide asserisce che il termine [[ebreo|ebraico]] שָּׂטָן, ''[[satana]]'', deriva dalla stessa [[radice (linguistica)|radice]] di שְׂטֵה, ''seteh'' - "allontanarsi", coma da {{passo biblico2|Proverbi|4:15}} e quindi implica la nozione di allontanarsi e passare oltre da qualcosa/qualcuno. L'avversario quindi fa allontanare le persone dalla verità e conduce sulla via dell'errore. Maimonide insegna che la stessa idea è contenuta in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:21}} «l'istinto del cuore umano è incline al male fin dalla adolescenza.» Maimonide riferisce che i [[maestri ebrei|Saggi]] hanno detto anche che le persone ricevono l'inclinazione al male sin dalla nascita, dato che {{passo biblico2|Genesi|4:7}} afferma "il peccato è accovacciato alla tua porta" e {{passo biblico2|Genesi|8:21}} dice “e l'istinto del cuore umano è incline al male fin dalla adolescenza." Però anche l'inclinazione al bene viene sviluppata. Maimonide insegna che i Saggi si riferiscono all'inclinazione al male e al bene quando asseriscono<ref>Sul [http://www.halakhah.com/shabbath/shabbath_119.html#PARTb Talmud babilonese, Shabbat 119b], ristamp. ''int. al.'' nell'edizione ''Talmud Bavli'', curata da Yisroel Simcha Schorr & Chaim Malinowitz, vol. 6, p. 119b¹. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1997. ISBN 1-57819-618-3.</ref> che ogni persona è accompagnata da due [[angelo|angeli]], uno alla destra e uno alla sinistra, della misericordia e della giustizia o rigore, anche severo, quasi intesi come uno buono e uno cattivo.<ref>Maimonide, ''[[La guida dei perplessi]]'', [[s:Page:Guideforperplexed.djvu/368|parte 3, cap. 22]], [[Cairo]], Egitto, 1190. Ristampato ''int. al.'' nell'ediz. Moses Maimonides, ''The Guide for the Perplexed''. Trad. {{en}} di Michael Friedländer, pp. 298–99. New York: Dover Publications, 1956. ISBN 0-486-20351-4</ref>

==Nell'analisi critica==

[[File:Modern document hypothesis.svg|thumb|Diagramma dell'[[Ipotesi documentale]] o "teoria delle quattro fonti".<br />'J': tradizione ''Jahvista''<br />'E': tradizione ''Elohista''<br />'D': tradizione ''Deuteronomista''<br />'P': tradizione ''Codice Sacerdotale''<br />'R': "Redattore" che ha compilato le fonti<br />* include la maggior parte del Levitico<br />† include la maggior parte del Deuteronomio<br />‡ "'''D'''euteronomic '''H'''istory ''(Storia deuteronomica)''": [[Libro di Giosuè|Giosuè]], [[Libro dei Giudici|Giudici]], [[Libri di Samuele|Samuele 1&2]], [[Libri dei Re|Re 1&2]]]]

Alcuni studiosi [[secolarismo|secolari]] che seguono l'[[Ipotesi Documentale]] trovano evidenza nella parashah di quattro fonti separate, e quindi reputano che la parashah intrecci insieme due resoconti della storia del Diluvio composti dai ''[[Genesi#Racconto Jahvista|Jahvisti]]'' (a volte abbreviati con '''J''') che scrissero probabilmente verso il X secolo [[era volgare|a.e.v.]] e dal ''Codice Sacerdotale'' prodotto nel VI e V secolo a.e.v.<ref>Cfr. per es. Richard Elliott Friedman, ''The Bible with Sources Revealed'', a pp. 3–5, 42–46.</ref> Uno di tali studiosi, [[Richard Elliott Friedman]], attribuisce alla tradizione ''Jahvista'' i passi {{passo biblico2|Genesi|7:1-5}} [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0107.htm#7 7,] [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0107.htm#16 16b–20,] [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0107.htm#22 22–23;] {{passo biblico|Genesi|8:2b-3a}} [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0108.htm#6 6,] [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0108.htm#8 8–12,] [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0108.htm#13 13b], e [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0108.htm#20 20–22.]<ref>Richard Elliott Friedman, ''The Bible with Sources Revealed'', a pp. 43–46.</ref> Attribuisce inoltre al tradizione ''Codice Sacerdotale'' i passi {{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:9b-22}} {{passo biblico|Genesi|7:8-16}} [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0107.htm#21 21,] [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0107.htm#24 20;] {{passo biblico|Genesi|8:1-2a}} [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0108.htm#3 3b-5,] [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0108.htm#7 7,] [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0108.htm#13 13a], e [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0108.htm#14 14–19.]<ref>Richard Elliott Friedman. ''The Bible with Sources Revealed'', a pp. 42–46.</ref> Per una distribuzione simile, si veda "[[v:Bible, English, King James, Documentary Hypothesis, Genesis|l'esposizione di Genesi secondo l'Ipotesi Documentale]]" a [[Wikiversità]] {{en}}. Friedman inoltre attribuisce ad un Redattore successivo (a volte abbreviato con '''R''') la clausola introduttiva in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:9a}} e ad un'altra fonte il resoconto dell'età di Noè durante il Diluvio in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|7:6}}<ref>Richard Elliott Friedman, ''The Bible with Sources Revealed'', a pp. 5, 42–43.</ref>

Friedman attribuisce alla tradizione ''Jahvista'' anche la narrazione dell'ubriachezza di Noè e la maledizione di Canaan in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:18-27}}, le genealogie in {{passo biblico|Genesi|10:8-19}} [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0108.htm#21 21], [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0108.htm#24 24–30;] e la storia della [[Torre di Babele]] in {{passo biblico|Genesi|11:1-9}}<ref>Richard Elliott Friedman, ''op. cit.'', pp. 47–49.</ref> Assegna al ''Codice Sacerdotale'' la narrazione dell'Alleanza dell'arcobaleno in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:1-17}} e le genealogie in {{passo biblico|Genesi|10:1b-7}} [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0110.htm#20 20,] [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0110.htm#22 22–23,] [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0110.htm#31 31–32;] e {{passo biblico|Genesi|11:27b-31}}<ref>Richard Elliott Friedman, pp. 46–48.</ref> Assegna al '''R'''edattore le clausole introduttive in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|10:1a}} {{passo biblico|Genesi|11:10a}} e [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0111.htm#27 27a] e il resoconto di Terah in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:31b}} e [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0111.htm#32 32b.]<ref>Richard Elliott Friedman, pp. 47, 49–50.</ref> Attribuisce inoltre ad un'altra fonte la [[genealogia]] di Sem in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:11b-26}} e [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0111.htm#32 32a.]<ref>Richard Elliott Friedman, pp. 49–50.</ref>

Gary Rendsburg rileva tuttavia che la storia del Diluvio ha molte analogie con l'[[Epopea di Gilgamesh]]. Egli sostiene che la maggioranza delle fonti non avrebbero rintracciato questi elementi dalla trama della Epopea di Gilgamesh in modo indipendente. Quindi Rendsburg sostiene che la storia del Diluvio fu composta come un tutto unificato.<ref>Gary A. Rendsburg, “Lecture 7: Genesis 6–8, The Flood Story”, su ''The Book of Genesis'', Guida al Corso, pp. 27–29.</ref>

==Comandamenti==

[[Maimonide]] cita la parshah per un [[Mitzvah|comandamento]] positivo:<ref>Maimonide, ''[[Mishneh Torah]]'', Comandamento Positivo 212. [[Cairo]], [[Egitto]], 1170–1180. Ristamp. su [[Maimonide]], ''The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides''. Trad. {{en}} di Charles B. Chavel, 1:228. Londra: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4.</ref>

*«Siate fecondi e moltiplicatevi»<ref name="passo biblico2|Genesi|9:7"/>

Tuttavia, il [[Sefer haChinukh]],<ref>The '''''Sefer ha-Chinuch''''' ([[ebraico]]: '''ספר החינוך''': "Libro dell'Istruzione"), spesso citato semplicemente come "il '''''Chinukh'''''" è un'opera che sistematicamente esamina i [[613 mitzvot|613 comandamenti]] della [[Torah]]. Fu pubblicato anonimamente nella [[Spagna]] del [[XIII secolo]]. La numerazione dei comandamenti (''mitzvot''; sing. ''[[mitzvah]]'') si basa sul sistema di conteggio di [[Maimonide]], secondo il suo ''[[Sefer Hamitzvot]]''; ciascuna mitzvah viene elencata in base alla sua presenza nella [[parashah]] settimanale e l'opera è quindi strutturata nel suo rispetto. Prima dell'edizione di [[Francoforte]] del [[1783]] le mitzvot erano stampate nello stesso ordine dato dall'opera di Maimonide - cfr. Gersion Appel, ''A Philosophy of Mitzvot'', cap. 2. Ktav 1975. ISBN 0-87068-250-4</ref> attribuisce il comandamento a {{passo biblico2|Genesi|1:28}}: «Siate fecondi e moltiplicatevi, riempite la terra.»<ref>''Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education''. Trad. {{en}} di Charles Wengrov, 1:82–85. Gerusalemme: Feldheim Pub., 1991. ISBN 0-87306-515-8.</ref>

==Nella liturgia==

Il dominio di Dio sul Diluvio in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|7:6-8:14}} è riflesso da {{passo biblico2|Salmi|29:10}} che a sua volta è uno dei sei [[Salmi]] che vengono recitati all'inizio del [[preghiera ebraica|servizio di preghiera]] ''Kabbalat Shabbat'' e nuovamente quando la [[Torah]] viene riposta nella sua [[Aron haQodesh|Arca]] (''[[Aron haQodesh]]'') alla fine della funzione mattutina dello [[Shabbat]].<ref>Reuven Hammer, ''Or Hadash: A Commentary on "Siddur Sim Shalom" for Shabbat and Festivals'', 20, 153. New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 2003. ISBN 0-916219-20-8. Menachem Davis. ''The Schottenstein Edition Siddur for the Sabbath and Festivals with an Interlinear Translation'', 69, 399. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2002. ISBN 1-57819-697-3</ref>

Alcune comunità ebraiche leggono le parole "perché ad immagine di Dio

Egli ha fatto l'uomo" da {{passo biblico2|Genesi|9:6}} mentre studiano il Capitolo 3<ref>[http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/682516/jewish/Text.htm Capitolo 3] {{en}}</ref> del ''[[Pirkei Avot]]'' durante lo Shabbat tra [[Pesach]] e [[Rosh Hashanah]].<ref>Davis,

''Siddur for the Sabbath and Festivals'', a p. 553.</ref> e quindi si intrattengono sulla discussione delle dieci generazioni da [[Adamo]] fino al Diluvio e altre dieci generazioni da Noè ad [[Abramo]] (elencate in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|11:10-26}}) mentre successivamente studiano il Capitolo 5<ref>[http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/682520/jewish/English-Text.htm Capitolo 5] {{en}}</ref> del ''Pirkei Avot''.<ref>Davis, ''Siddur for the Sabbath and Festivals'', a p. 568.</ref>

[[File:Isaiah-Michelangelo.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Isaia]] (affresco del 1509 di [[Michelangelo]] nella [[Cappella Sistina]])]]

==Haftarah==

La [[haftarah]] della [[parashah]] è:

*per gli [[aschenaziti]], [[yemen]]iti e [[mizrahi]]: [[Libro di Isaia|Isaia]] {{passo biblico|Isaia|54:1-55:5}}

*per gli [[sefarditi]]: {{passo biblico2|Isaia|55:1-10}}

*per alcune comunità [[yemen]]ite: {{passo biblico2|Isaia|54:1-55:3}}

*per gli [[Ebraismo in Italia|ebrei italiani]]: {{passo biblico2|Isaia|54:1-55:5}}

*per i [[Caraismo|caraiti]]: {{passo biblico2|Isaia|54:9-55:12}}

*per [[Frankfurt am Main]] e [[Chabad Lubavitch]]: {{passo biblico2|Isaia2|54:1-10}}

===Collegamenti alla Parashah===

Sia la parshah che la haftarah narrano la potenza dell'[[alleanza (Bibbia)|alleanza]] di Dio. Sia la parshah<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:18}} e {{passo biblico2|Genesi||9:8-11}}</ref> che la [[haftarah]]<ref>{{passo biblico2|Isaia|54:9-10}}</ref> riportano il [[alleanza (Bibbia)|patto]] di Dio con Noè di non distruggere mai più la terra con un diluvio. Nella parshah<ref>{{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:13}}</ref> e nella haftarah,<ref>{{passo biblico2|Isaia||54:7-8}}</ref> Dio rivela la sua ira per le trasgressioni umane. Nel corso della punizione divina, {{passo biblico2|Genesi||9:11,15}} e {{passo biblico2|Isaia||54:10}} e {{passo biblico2|Isaia|55:3}} tutte usano le parole "mai . . . più" (''lo’ ‘od''). La "rettitudine" dei [[Figli di Israele]] in {{passo biblico2|Isaia|54:14}} riecheggia la "rettitudine" di Noè nel suo tempo in {{passo biblico2|Genesi|6:9}}.

==Note==

<references />

{{Reflist|2}}

== Bibliografia ==

*{{cita web|url=http://books.google.it/books?id=f6wJQETD8RIC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=|titolo=Norberto Bobbio, ''Liberalismo e democrazia'', Simonelli Editore, 2006 ISBN 88-7647-114-6}}

La parashah ha paralleli o viene discussa nelle seguenti fonti {{en}}{{he}}{{it}}{{yi}}:

*{{cita web|http://www.ibs.it/code/9788806211554/kantorowicz-ernst-h-/due-corpi-del.html|Ernst Kantorowicz, ''I due corpi del Re'', Einaudi, 1989 ISBN 9788806211554}}

*Adriana Cavarero, ''Corpo in figure: filosofia e politica della corporeità'', Feltrinelli Editore, 1995 ISBN 88-07-10177-7

=== Testi antichi===

* {{cita libro|autore=D.S. Barberis|anno=2003|titolo=In search of an object: Organicist sociology and the reality of society in fin-de-siècle France. History of the Human Sciences|volume=16|città=|editore=}}

*[[Atraḫasis]]. [[Mesopotamia]], XVIII secolo [[era volgare|a.e.v.]] ''Int. al.'' su W.G. Lambert E [[Alan Millard|A.R. Millard]], ''Atra-Hasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood''. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1999. ISBN 1-57506-039-6

* {{cita libro|autore=Scott F. Gilbert, Sahotra Sarkar|anno=2000|titolo=Embracing complexity: Organicism for the 21st Century|editore=}}

*[[Epopea di Gilgamesh]]. [[s:The Epic of Gilgamesh#Tablet XI|Tavoletta 11]]. Mesopotamia, XIV secolo a.e.v. ''Int. al.'' su [[James B. Pritchard]]. ''Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament'', 93–95. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. ISBN 0-691-03503-2.

* {{cita libro|autore=William Wimsatt|titolo=Re-engineering Philosophy for Limited Beings: Peicewise Approximations to Reality|editore=Harvard University Press|anno=2007}}

=== Testi biblici===

*{{passo biblico2|Genesi|1:28}} (prolificare); {{passo biblico2|Genesi|19:23-29}} (distruzione di [[Sodoma e Gomorra]]); {{passo biblico2|Genesi| 35:11}} (essere fecondi).

*{{passo biblico2|Esodo|12:29-30}}(distruzione dei primogeniti egiziani).

*{{passo biblico2|Isaia|54:9-10}}.

*{{passo biblico2|Jeremiah|18:1-10}}; {{passo biblico2|Geremia|23:3}}.

*{{passo biblico2|Ezekiel|9:4-6}} (distruzione dei peccatori di Gerusalemme); {{passo biblico2|Ezechiele|14:20}} (Noè come intercessore giusto).

=== Testi non rabbinici===

*[http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/booknoah.html ''Il Libro di Noè''], [[Gerusalemme]], primo II sec. a.e.v.

*[http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/jcreeves/1qapGenesishtm ''The Genesis Apocryphon'']. [[Manoscritti del Mar Morto]] 1Q20. [[Terra di Israele]], I secolo [[era volgare|a.e.v.]]. Ristampato su [[Geza Vermes]], ''The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English'', 448, 450–53. New York: Penguin Press, 1997. ISBN 0-7139-9131-3.

*[[Flavio Giuseppe]], ''[[Antichità giudaiche]]'' [http://www.interhack.net/projects/library/antiquities-jews/b1c3.html 1:3:2–3, 5, 7–8,] [http://www.interhack.net/projects/library/antiquities-jews/b1c4.html 4:1,] [http://www.interhack.net/projects/library/antiquities-jews/b1c6.html 6:1, 3–5.] Circa 93–94. Ristampato ''int. al.'' su ''The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition''. Trad di [[William Whiston]], 32–38. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 1987. ISBN 0-913573-86-8.

*[[Qur'an]] [[s:Quran/3#31-41|3:33–34;]] [[s:Quran/4#163-171|4:163;]] [[s:Quran/6#83-90|6:84;]] [[s:Quran/7#59-64|7:59–64;]] [[s:Quran/9#67-72|9:70;]] [[s:Quran/71|71:1–28.]] [[Arabia]], [[VII secolo]]. Vedi anche surat in {{it}} su [http://www.corano.it/corano.html ''corano.it''].

=== Testi rabbinici classici===

*[[Mishnah]]: Sanhedrin 10:3; [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/nezikin/Avoth.pdf Avot 3:14,] [[s:Mishnah/Seder Nezikin/Tractate Avot/Chapter 5/6|5:6]]. Land of Israel, circa 200 CE. Reprinted in, e.g., ''The Mishnah: A New Translation''. Translated by [[Jacob Neusner]]. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-300-05022-4.

*[[Tosefta]]: Demai 2:24; Shabbat 17:19; Rosh Hashanah 1:3, 2:14; Taanit 2:13; Yevamot 8:7; Sotah 3:6–10, 4:11, 10:3; Bava Kamma 9:31; Sanhedrin 13:6–7; Avodah Zarah 8:4–6. Land of Israel, circa 300 CE. Reprinted in, e.g., ''The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew, with a New Introduction''. Translated by Jacob Neusner. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 2002. ISBN 1-56563-642-2.

*[[Sifra]] 34:1, 4; 35:2; 93:1; 99:5; 108:2; 109:3; 243:1. Land of Israel, 4th century CE. Reprinted in, e.g., ''Sifra: An Analytical Translation''. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 1:211, 214–15, 219; 2:87, 134, 173, 178; 3:286. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988. Vol. 1 ISBN 1-55540-205-4. Vol. 2 ISBN 1-55540-206-2. Vol. 3 ISBN 1-55540-207-0.

*[[Talmud gerosolimitano]]: Berakhot 40a, 45a; Pesachim 2a, 78b; Megillah 12a, 18a; Sanhedrin 30a. Land of Israel, circa 400 CE. Reprinted in, e.g., ''Talmud Yerushalmi''. Edited by Chaim Malinowitz, Yisroel Simcha Schorr, and Mordechai Marcus, vols. 1, 18–19, 26. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2005–2012.

*Genesis Rabbah [http://www.archive.org/stream/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n279/mode/2up 30:1–38:14.] Land of Israel, 5th century. Reprinted in, e.g., ''Midrash Rabbah: Genesis''. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.

*[[Leviticus Rabbah]] 17:5. Land of Israel, 5th century. Reprinted in, e.g., ''Midrash Rabbah: Leviticus''. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.

*Babylonian [[Talmud]]: [http://www.halakhah.com/berakoth/berakoth_25.html#PARTb Berakhot 25b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/berakoth/berakoth_40.html 40a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/shabbath/shabbath_31.html#PARTb Shabbat 31b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/shabbath/shabbath_109.html 109a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/shabbath/shabbath_113.html#PARTb 113b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/shabbath/shabbath_137.html 137a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/shabbath/shabbath_150.html 150a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/shabbath/shabbath_151.html#PARTb 151b;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Eiruvin.pdf Eruvin 18a–b, 53a, 65a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Pesachim.pdf Pesachim 3a, 54a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Yoma.pdf Yoma 9b–10a, 52b, 75a, 76a, 85a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Sukkah.pdf Sukkah 52a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Rosh_HaShanah.pdf Rosh Hashanah 10b, 11b–12a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Taanith.pdf Taanit 19a, 27b;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Megilah.pdf Megillah 9b, 14a, 17a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Moed_Katan.pdf Moed Katan 25b;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Chagigah.pdf Chagigah 12a, 16a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/yebamoth/yebamoth_62.html Yevamot 62a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/yebamoth/yebamoth_63.html#PARTb 63b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/yebamoth/yebamoth_64.html#PARTb 64b;] [http://www.halakhah.com/kethuboth/kethuboth_8.html Ketubot 8a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/kethuboth/kethuboth_77.html#PARTb 77b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/kethuboth/kethuboth_112.html 112a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/sotah/sotah_34.html#PARTb Sotah 34b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/sotah/sotah_45.html#PARTb 45b;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/nashim/Kiddushin.pdf Kiddushin 13a, 30b;] [http://www.halakhah.com/babakamma/babakamma_91.html#PARTb Bava Kamma 91b;] [http://www.halakhah.com/babakamma/babakamma_44.html Bava Metzia 44a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/babakamma/babakamma_106.html#PARTb 106b;] [http://www.halakhah.com/bababathra/bababathra_16.html#PARTb Bava Batra 16b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/bababathra/bababathra_74.html 74a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_17.html Sanhedrin 17a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_24.html 24a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_38.html#PARTb 38b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_44.html 44a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_56.html 56a–57b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_58.html#PARTb 58b–59b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_69.html#PARTb 69b–70a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_72.html#PARTb 72b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_84.html#PARTb 84b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_91.html 91a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_100.html#PARTb 100b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_108.html 108a–09a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/nezikin/Makkoth.pdf Makkot 8b, 11a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/nezikin/Shevuoth.pdf Shevuot 36a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/zarah/zarah_5.html Avodah Zarah 5a–6a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/zarah/zarah_11.html#PARTb 11b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/zarah/zarah_19.html 19a,] [http://www.halakhah.com/zarah/zarah_23.html#PARTb 23b,] [http://www.halakhah.com/zarah/zarah_51.html 51a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/horayoth/horayoth_13.html Horayot 13a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Zevachim.pdf Zevachim 108b, 113b, 115b–16a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Chullin.pdf Chullin 23a, 89a, 102a, 139b;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Bechoroth.pdf Bekhorot 46b, 57a;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Tmurah.pdf Temurah 28b;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Krithoth.pdf Keritot 6b;] [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/kodoshim/Meilah.pdf Meilah 16a.] Babylonia, 6th century. Reprinted in, e.g., ''Talmud Bavli''. Edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr, Chaim Malinowitz, and Mordechai Marcus, 72 vols. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.

=== Testi medievali===

*[[Rashi]]. ''Commentary''. [http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=8171&showrashi=true Genesis 6–11.] [[Troyes]], France, late 11th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Rashi. ''The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated''. Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, 1:65–114. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1995. ISBN 0-89906-026-9.

*[[Zohar]] [http://www.kabbalah.com/k/index.php/p=zohar/zohar&vol=4 59b–76b.] Spain, late 13th century. Reprinted in, e.g., ''The Zohar''. Translated by Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon. 5 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1934.

=== Testi moderni===

*[[Thomas Hobbes]]. ''[[Leviatano (Hobbes)|Leviatano]]'', [[s:Leviathan/The Third Part#Chapter XXXIV: Of the Signification of Spirit.2C Angel.2C and Inspiration in the Books of Holy Scripture|3:34]], [[s:Leviathan/The Third Part#Chapter XXXVIII: Of the Signification in Scripture of Eternal Life.2C Hell.2C Salvation.2C the World to Come.2C and Redemption|38.]] England, 1651. Ristampa curata da C. B. Macpherson, 430–31, 486. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982. ISBN 0-14-043195-0.

*"Mary Don't You Weep." [[Stati Uniti]], [[XIX secolo]].

*[[Emily Dickinson]]. [[s:Once more, my now bewildered Dove|''Poem 48 (Once more, my now bewildered Dove)''.]] Circa 1858. [[s:The Winters are so short —|''Poem 403 (The Winters are so short —)''.]] Circa 1862. [[s:We talked with each other about each other|''Poem 1473 (We talked with each other about each other)''.]] Circa 1879. In ''The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson''. Edited by Thomas H. Johnson, 27, 192, 623. New York: Little, Brown & Co., 1960. ISBN 0-316-18414-4.

*[[Thomas Mann]]. ''[[Giuseppe e i suoi fratelli]]''. Trad. {{en}} di [[John E. Woods]], 5, 8–12, 15–16, 19–24, 35–36, 64, 68, 71, 73, 88–89, 107, 109, 154, 172, 183, 323–24, 333, 337, 339–41, 347, 355, 441–42, 447–48, 515, 547, 604–05, 715, 783, 806, 926. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4001-9. Originally published as ''Joseph und seine Brüder''. Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943.

*[[Jay Macpherson]]. ''The Boatman''. Oxford Univ. Press Canada, 1957.

*[[James Baldwin]]. ''The Fire Next Time ([[La prossima volta, il fuoco: due lettere]])''. 1963. Rist. Modern Library, 1995. ISBN 0-679-60151-1.

*Lloyd R. Bailey. ''Noah: The Person and Story in History and Tradition''. University of South Carolina Press, 1989. ISBN 0-87249-571-X.

*Marc Gellman. ''Does God Have a Big Toe? Stories About Stories in the Bible'', 27–45. New York: HarperCollins, 1989. ISBN 0-06-022432-0.

*Mario Brelich. ''Navigator of the Flood''. Marlboro, Vermont: Marlboro Press, 1991. ISBN 0-910395-80-2.

*[[Elie Wiesel]]. "Noah." In ''Sages and Dreamers: Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Portraits and Legends'', 19–34. New York: Summit Books, 1991. ISBN 0-671-74679-0.

* Robert A. Di Vito. "The Demarcation of Divine and Human Realms in Genesis 2–11." In ''Creation in the Biblical Traditions''. Curato da Richard J. Clifford & [[John J. Collins]], 39–56. Washington, D.C.: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1992. ISBN 0-915170-23-X.

*[[Neal Stephenson]]. ''[[Snow Crash]]''. New York: Bantam Spectra, 1992. ISBN 0-553-08853-X.

*[[Aaron Wildavsky]]. ''Assimilation versus Separation: Joseph the Administrator and the Politics of Religion in Biblical Israel'', 5. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1993. ISBN 1-56000-081-3.

*[[Jacob Milgrom]]. "Bible Versus Babel: Why did God tell Abraham to leave Mesopotamia, the most advanced civilization of its time, for the backwater region of Canaan?" ''[[Bible Review]]''. 11 (2) (Apr. 1995).

*[[Karen Armstrong]]. ''In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis'', 39–53. New York: Knopf, 1996. ISBN 0-679-45089-0.

*[[Norman Cohn]]. ''Noah's Flood: The Genesis Story in Western Thought''. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1996. ISBN 0-300-06823-9.

*Marc Gellman. ''God’s Mailbox: More Stories About Stories in the Bible'', 24–29, 107–11. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1996. ISBN 0-688-13169-7.

*Jacob Migrom. "The Blood Taboo: Blood should not be ingested because it contains life. Whoever does so is guilty of murder." ''Bible Review''. 13 (4) (Aug. 1997).

*[[Adin Steinsaltz]]. ''Simple Words: Thinking About What Really Matters in Life'', 49. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. ISBN 0-684-84642-X.

*David M. Goldenberg. ''The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam''. Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-691-11465-X.

*[[Joseph Telushkin]]. ''The Ten Commandments of Character: Essential Advice for Living an Honorable, Ethical, Honest Life'', 87–91, 275–78. New York: Bell Tower, 2003. ISBN 1-4000-4509-6.

*[[David Maine]]. ''The Preservationist''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004. ISBN 0-312-32847-8.

*Kacy Barnett-Gramckow. ''The Heavens Before''. Chicago: Moody, 2004. ISBN 0-8024-1363-3.

*Kacy Barnett-Gramckow. ''He Who Lifts the Skies''. Chicago: Moody, 2004. ISBN 0-8024-1368-4.

*Kacy Barnett-Gramckow. ''A Crown in the Stars''. Chicago: Moody, 2005. ISBN 0-8024-1369-2.

*[[Chris Adrian]]. ''The Children's Hospital''. McSweeney's, 2006. ISBN 1-932416-60-9.

*[[Esther Jungreis]]. ''Life Is a Test'', 168, 218–19, 229–30. Brooklyn: Shaar Press, 2007. ISBN 1-4226-0609-0.

*Suzanne A. Brody. "Coloring." In ''Dancing in the White Spaces: The Yearly Torah Cycle and More Poems'', 63. Shelbyville, Kentucky: Wasteland Press, 2007. ISBN 1-60047-112-9.

*[[Jonathan Goldstein (author)|Jonathan Goldstein]]. "Noah and the Ark" and "The Tower of Babel." In ''[[Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bible!]]'' 44–78. New York: Riverhead Books, 2009. ISBN 978-1-59448-367-7.

*T.K. Thorne. ''Noah’s Wife.'' Fountain Hills, Arizona: Chalet Publishers, 2009. ISBN 978-0-9840836-4-0.

==Voci correlate==

*[[ArcobalenoOlismo]]

*[[ColombaMaterialismo]]

*[[Figli di NoèVitalismo]]

*{{cita web|url=https://it.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=Biologia_teoretica&oldid=50807|titolo=Biologia Teoretica}}

*[[Haftarah]]

*[[Leggi noachiche]]

*[[Letteratura rabbinica]]

*[[Noè]]

*[[Parashah]]

*[[Rabbinismo]]

*[[Torah]]

== Altri progetti ==

{{interprogetto|en|s|Vayavinu Bamikra/Book of Genesis/Parashat Noach}}

{{interprogetto|en|s|Tanakh/Torah/Bereishit/Noach|etichetta=Testo masoretico e trad. JPS 1917}}

==Collegamenti esterni==

===Testi===

*[http://www.archivio-torah.it/testotorah/02.pdf "Parasha Noah"], su ''torah.it''

*[http://Bible.ort.org/books/torahd5.asp?action=displaypage&book=1&chapter=6&verse=9&portion=2 Parshah cantata] (audio)

*[http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/ptmp3prq.htm#mp3 Parshah in ebraico] (audio)

===Commentari===

{{div col|2}}

*[http://www.archivio-torah.it/testotorah/02.pdf "Parasha Noah"], su ''torah.it''

*[http://www.archivio-torah.it/HTM/indiceaudio.htm Archivio ''tefillot torah.it''], con file audio [http://www.archivio-torah.it/HTM/indiceaudio.htm]

*[http://ajrca.org/index.php?s=Noach&search.x=15&search.y=14 Academy for Jewish Religion, California]

*[http://ajrsem.org/tag/noah/ Academy for Jewish Religion, New York]

*[http://www.aish.com/tp/43919117.html Aish.com]

*[http://judaism.ajula.edu/Content/InfoUnits.asp?CID=896 American Jewish University]

*[http://www.anshe.org/parsha/noach.htm Anshe Emes Synagogue, Los Angeles]

*[http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/noah/noah.shtml Bar-Ilan University]

*[http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?AID=9168 Chabad.org]

*[http://www.eparsha.com/#drash eparsha.com]

*[http://www.g-dcast.com/noah G-dcast]

*[http://www.vbm-torah.org/bereishit.htm The Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash]

*[http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Jewish+Time/Jewish+Sources/Iyunum/6.+Parashat+Noah.htm Jewish Agency for Israel]

*[http://www.jtsa.edu/x1941.xml Jewish Theological Seminary]

*[http://www.mishpacha.com/Browse/Article/156/Noach-Giving Miriam Aflalo]

*[http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/Weekly_Torah_Commentary/noah_index.htm MyJewishLearning.com]

*[http://ohr.edu/yhiy/article.php/2370 Ohr Sameach]

*[http://www.ou.org/torah/archive1.htm Orthodox Union]

*[http://www.oztorah.com/category/noach/ OzTorah, Torah dall'Australia]

*[http://www.netivot-shalom.org.il/eparsha.php Oz Ve Shalom — Netivot Shalom]

*[http://www.pardes.org.il/online_learning/parsha_quizzes/02_noah.php Pardes da Gerusalemme]

*[http://www.parshaparts.com/archive/5767/full_Email-noach.pdf Parshah Parts]

*[http://rabbidovlinzer.blogspot.com/search/label/Parshat%20Noach Rabbi Dov Linzer]

*[http://rabbishimon.com/?s=noah&searchsubmit= RabbiShimon.com]

*[http://www.ohrtorahstone.org.il/parsha/index.htm Rabbi Shlomo Riskin]

*[http://www.rabbishmuel.com/browse.cgi?type=torah_sermons Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld]

*[http://www4.jrf.org/recon-dt#No'ah Reconstructionist Judaism]

*[http://www.judaicseminar.org/ Sephardic Institute]

*[http://www.shiur.com/index.php?category=Noach Shiur.com]

*[http://www.613.org/par-ber.html#b2 613.org Jewish Torah Audio]

*[http://tanach.org/noach.htm Tanach Study Center]

*[http://www.teach613.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=71&Itemid=48 Teach613.org, Torah Education at Cherry Hill]

*[http://www.tfdixie.com/parshat/noach/ Torah from Dixie]

*[http://www.torah.org/learning/parsha/parsha.html?id1=2 Torah.org]

*[http://www.urj.org/torah/genesis/ Union for Reform Judaism]

*[http://www.chiefrabbi.org/ReadContent1847.aspx United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth]

*[http://www.uscj.org/JewishLivingandLearning/WeeklyParashah/TorahSparks/Archive/Default.aspx United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism]

*[http://www.shemayisrael.com/parsha/bonchek/archives/archives.htm What’s Bothering Rashi?]

*[http://www.yctorah.org/index.php?option=com_search&Itemid=99999999&searchword=noach&submit=Search&searchphrase=any&ordering=newest Yeshivat Chovevei Torah]

*[http://www.yutorah.org/ Yeshiva University]

{{div col end}}

{{Portale|filosofia|politica|sociologia}}

{{Figli di Noè}}

{{Popolo ebraico}}

{{Torah Bereshit|state=collapsed}}

{{Portale|Ebraismo}}

[[Categoria:ParashotTeorie politiche]]

[[Categoria:Filosofia politica]]

[[Categoria:Sociologia politica]]