Remembering Noah

Torah Study with Rabbi Sarah Wolf
3.28.09

Noah is in the ark with all those animals and it says in Chapter 8:1 that God remembered them.

This sparked a rather lengthy discussion on what this could mean.

Remember as in ‘take notice’ or ‘pay attention’.
Does this imply that God might have forgotten about them during those months they were afloat in the ark?

There are other times in Torah when “God remembers…” like Rachel when she wanted a child, Abraham when his nephew would have been caught in the destruction of Sodom, or in Exodus when “God remembered the Hebrews and His covenant with Abraham…”

Some say that God ‘closed His eyes’ or ‘hid His face’ during the Holocaust.

Then the discussion turned to the fact that God is referred to as Elohim in this part.
Elohim is often used to reference the God of Justice in contrast to Adonai – the God of Mercy. In the case of remembering Noah – it relates to the actions of the righteous.

But memory is an act of both justice and mercy. It is noted that they must balance each other in application.

Memory of a Righteous Person = Blessing
Memory of Justice = Accountability or Revenge

The influence of Justice or Mercy does influence how you view an event in memory.

We are commanded to remember.

We make remembering a ritual . NOTED Passover especially.

Joseph Yerushalmi, who wrote a book called Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory

NEXT: God caused a wind to blow so the waters would receed

Ruach of Elohim – Spirit of God

There are several connections between ‘breath’ or ‘ruach’ to ‘life’ and now it is a connection to the ‘rebirth’ of life again as the ark holds the animals and people who will start the next ‘beginning’.