Parashas Noach
6 Cheshvan 5770
October 24, 2009

Daf Yomi: Bava Basra 64

Guest Author:
Rabbi Eli Baruch Shulman

Young Israel of Midwood, Brooklyn, NY

www.yimidwood.org

                                                                        

Noach first had children when he was 500 years old. That was pretty old even in those days. And Rashi feels the need to explain that, writing: R’ Yudan said, why is it that all the other generations (mentioned at the end of Parshas Breishis) gave birth at (around) the age of one hundred, but Noach only at five hundred? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, said: If his children will be wicked they will perish in the flood and it will be bad for their righteous father; and if they will be righteous I will have to bother him to make many Tayvas! Therefore He withheld children from him until he was 500 years old.

 

This leads to an obvious question. What would have been so difficult about building several arks? Noach could have hired contractors; he had 120 years at his disposal! We know that contractors can be slow, but in 120 years a lot can be done, and he could have built as many תיבהs as he needed.

 

Apparently the תיבה could only be built by Noach himself, and no one else. Why should that be so?

 

Consider this: The Torah says that when the flood came everything was wiped out. The water, the Gemara in Sanhedrin tells us, was boiling hot, so nothing could stand up to it. So how did the תיבה itself remain intact?

 

 

The Mgulah Omekes explains that the Name of HaShem was built into the dimensions of the תיבה . The four letters of the Shem H' have the values 10, 5, 6 & 5. The letters of Shem Adonus have values 1, 4, 50 & 10. Taking the first letter of Shem H' and first letter of Shem A' and multiplying we get 1x10=10. Doing the same with second letters gives 4x5=20; with the third letters gives 50x6=300; with the fourth letters give 5x10=50. So we have 10, 20, 300 & 50. 10 and 20 together are 30, the height of Tavya; 300 was its length, and 50 its width. Because the dimensions of the Tayva reflected the Shem H'  in this way it was impervious to the raging and boiling waters of the flood.

 

Of course, we could build a boat with the same dimensions and it wouldn't have any such power. Rather, the תיבה was the physical embodiment of Noach’s tremendous faith in the Rebono Shel Olam. For 120 years he was building it, despite the mockery and disbelief of his friends and neighbors. Think of the courage it required, and of the sacrifices that it must have entailed. Remember that Noach had shown tremendous promise as a youth, which everyone had recognized: he had been named Noach when he invented agricultural tools, and everyone said: "this one will comfort me", he's the hope of the future. He was looked up to and admired. And at the height of his powers he embarked on this seemingly wild, quixotic project to build a giant boat because the end of the world was coming. What strength of character that must have taken! What unshakable faith! What courage!

 

And so the very dimensions of the תיבה reflected

 

the Shem Hashem; they were the outer reflection of the faith and trust and self-sacrifice went into every plank and every nail of the תיבה . And it was that which made it impervious to destruction.

 

And that is why Noach had to build the Tayva himself. It couldn't be contracted out. Because no contractor could built into the תיבה that faith and courage which alone would give it the power to stand up to the corrosive waters of the flood to come.

 

Noach’s תיבהs, of course, is long gone. And HaKadosh Baruch Hu has promised not to bring another flood, at least of water.

 

But there are other types of floods which threaten to engulf us. There is the flood of assimilation, which has swept away so much of our people. There is the flood of hedonism, the non-stop bacchanal which threatens our youth. And there is the flood of Sinas Yisrael, the feral hatred that boils around us, which the pasuk describes so strikingly with the words: the wicked are like a foul and churning sea which is never still.

 

And so we need a תיבה of our own, to stand up to these floods.

 

And we have such a Tayva . It's no coincidence that in Hebrew the word Tayva means - not only an ark, but also - a word. Words are also Tayvos. Words of truth, of honesty, of faith, have tremendous power. And most powerful of all are words of Torah. Like Noach's Tayva, every word of Torah is an embodiment of our faith and trust in the Ribono Shel Olam . And just as the dimensions of  Noach's Tayva reflected the Shem Hashem, so too each word of Torah reflects the Shem Hashem; indeed, as the Ramban explains in his introduction to the Torah, each word of Torah is a Shem Hashem. And so like Noach's Tayva , each word of Torah is a haven and a bulwark against the raging flood.

 

We saw before deep significance in the dimensions of the Tavya of Noach. There is another allusion in those dimensions, which is also pointed out in early sources. The dimensions of the Tayva were 30x50x300. 30 is ל' , 50 is נ' , and 300 is ש' . Together they spell lashon, the tongue, whose task it is to produce Tayvos, words of Torah, each word a Tayva, an ark floating serenely above the raging sea.

 

The floodwaters are rising. We have to be sure that the Tayvos are ready. With every word of Torah that we learn, with every shiur in which we participate, with every effort that we expend to support to Talmidai Chachamim and Yeshivos, we add to that fleet of Tayvos. And in those Tayvos, because of those Tayvos, we can hope to make it safely home to port, despite the floodwaters, as did Noach finally, when yonah matzah bo manoach, he found rest at last, as shall we, BeEzras Hashem Yisborach.

 

Good Shabbos.

                                                     * * * * *

THE WEEKLY SIDRA- NOACH

Rabbi Moshe Greebel

 

            Very often, a person is judged on how well he keeps his word.  Concerning this, the Torah warned us:

 

            “That which is gone out of your lips you shall keep and perform…..according to what you have vowed to HaShem your G-d, which you have promised with your mouth.”  (D’varim 23:24)

 

            Shlomo HaMelech put it this way in Koheles 5:4:

 

            “It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.”

 

            In this week’s Sidra, we are given a dramatic explanation of how serious the crime of not keeping one’s word is, by comparing it to the corruption of the generation that perished in the Mabul (deluge):

 

            “And HaShem said to Noach, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with corruption through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’”  (B’raishis 6:13) 

 

            Now, the Yerushalmi Bava M’tziya in the 4th chapter- 2nd Halacha states:

 

            “It was taught, how were they corrupt?  A man would carry a basket filled with lupines (to sell), and they (the generation) would calculate and take (steal lupines) less than the value of a P’ruta, a matter which would not be decided by Dayanim (judges).”

 

            That is, any matter dealing with less than the value of a very inexpensive P’ruta coin, is not something deemed fit to come before Dayanim for deliberation.  And so, that generation’s corruption was to steal less than the value of a P’ruta to avoid punishment.  However, their strategy failed, when they drowned in the Mabul.

 

            Now, it was taught by Rav Baruch HaLaivi Epstein (1860- 1941) of blessed memory, in the Torah T’mima, that in addition to explaining this corruption of the Dor HaMabul (generation of the deluge), this Gemarah of the Yerushalmi also clarifies what has been stated in the Bavli Gemarah of Bava M’tziya 47b:

 

            “He Who punished the Dor HaMabul, He will take vengeance of him who does not stand by his word!”

 

            At first glance, posed Rav Baruch, what is the relationship between the Dor HaMabul and not standing by one’s word?  The Torah or our Chachamim, never stated that the Dor HaMabul was punished because they did not stand by their word.  Rav Baruch however, explained that a little later on in the same Gemarah (49a), we are taught:

 

            “…..That your ‘yes’ should be just and your ‘no’ should be just!  Abayai said, ‘That means that one must not speak one thing with the mouth and another with the heart.’”

 

            Even though it is very essential for one to firmly stand by his word, if one does not stand by his word, he cannot be summoned before Dayanim, as long as no one suffers lost money, property, any other assets, or harm of any kind.  He has only desecrated his words- nothing more.

 

            The same is true for the Dor HaMabul.  They incorrectly thought they would escape punishment by stealing an amount less than would be deliberated upon by Dayanim.  And so, explained Rav Baruch, the Gemarah in the Bavli meant to say that just as HaShem punished the Dor HaMabul for something that was technically not punishable, so too will He take vengeance of the one who does not stand by his word- a matter which also is technically not punishable.  And, here is the relationship between the two.

 

            As Jews, we must be very concerned that we always stand by our word- that we are dependable and reliable, especially, when it comes to others.  Without the commitment and resolve to do as we have pledged, we are left with nothing more than a shortcoming in human dignity.  Our word, whether in business or in any other human interaction, is who we most basically are.  By firmly standing by one’s word, a great Kiddush HaShem (sanctification of HaShem) is accomplished, and all humanity benefits.

 

May we soon see the G’ulah Sh’laimah in its complete resplendency- and in our times.  Good Shabbos.

 

 

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