Parshas Noach
1 Cheshvan 5768
November 13, 2007

Daf Yomi: Kesuvos 42

Guest Author:
Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld

Young Israel of Kew Garden Hills, NY

 

                                                                                                                                                                         

In most cases where we are told in the Torah of the birth of biblical personalities we are also told of the reasons for their names given to them by their parents. One of the exceptions to this practice is in the case of Noach.  While the Portion of the Week is called Noach, his name has already been mentioned at the end of Bereishit.  In Chapter 5, Verse 29, we read "And he called his name Noach saying, 'this one will bring us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands, from the ground which HaShem has cursed'."

 

Rashi comments as follows:  This was said in reference to the invention of the plowshare which was attributed to Noach.  Until his time in consequence of the curse decreed upon Adam, the earth produced thorns and thistles when one planted wheat.  In Noach's day this ceased (ArtScroll translation).  In other words, the word Noach which means "to rest" was meant to indicate that farmers would now be able to rest more easily from their hard work because of the plow which Noach invented.

 

What does a plow really accomplish?  When plowing the soil the seeds may completely be dispersed by the wind, or it may produce weeds and thorns.  Seeds are not able to penetrate beyond the top soil and the surface of the land.  In order to allow the wheat to grow, the seeds must penetrate the hard crust of the land and begin to gestate and, eventually, find their way through the hard core of earth and grow towards heaven.

 

Symbolically, what is suggested here is that Noach removed superficiality from the life of the farmers; a concept that not only applies to the farming community but, in the view of the Torah, to all moments in the area of life.  What Judaism rejects is superficiality in our thoughts and in our actions.  If, for example, one is engaged in a prayer and merely recites the words, then we are said to be involved only in lip service.  When we study a text of Torah we are not supposed to read it simply and to glance at the words, not to study it superficially but to go beyond the surface.  When we perform a mitzvah of chesed, we should not simply convey our feelings towards our fellow human beings in a superficial manner and perform this mitzvah pro forma.  It was this concept of going beyond the surface which the plowshare invented by Noach was to accomplish.

 

This is why he was named Noach as Rashi explains as quoted above.  He conveyed to the Jewish people the need not to do things purely mechanically but to probe beneath the surface.  This is the meaning of Noach's name and this is why he was given this name by the Torah.

 

In our commitment in the study of Torah, we must not perform the mitzvot towards our fellow man with a superficial and indifferent attitude.  Like Noach, we must use the plowshare to reach the inner depth of our soul and of our life.

 

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