Sermons, essays, articles, arguments and thought pieces from a Liberal Jewish perspective.
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What would it have felt like to be cooped up in a travelling zoo?
I do not do numbers so forgive me if it is not entirely accurate according to your calculation, but what I gleaned from the internet:
According to the Hebrew Flood narrative, Noah and his family and animals were on the ark for 371 days:
What a superhuman effort to live through such an experience, Noah and his wife, their sons and their wives.
Noach – his name, what he represents or symbolises is rest, tranquil, comforted.
The Rabbis dispute the name of Mrs Noah. Mrs Noah is mentioned five times in the biblical account but is not named.
In the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah), one Rabbi suggests that her identity is that of Na’amah, who was earlier said to be “the sister of Tubal-Cain.” Na’amah, one who is pleasant, suggesting that her character was pleasing to God.
Somewhat naturally, and consistent with the Rabbinic tendency to devalue many of the female characters of the Torah, think, Eve and Lilith thus far in our cycle, the majority viewpoint of this midrash is to identify that Na’amah was pleasant musically, in other words that she had a beautiful voice. Naturally, that voice, the one the male rabbis ban from being heard in Synagogues, they say was used to sings songs of idolatry, luring the pious to forsake the One God.
Whilst the Torah leaves no need for Rabbis to interpret poor character traits of Noah, at least after the Flood, I like to eulogise Noah and Na’amah positively. The one who finds rest and tranquility together with the soothing balm of Na’amah and her sublime voice. Who else would have survived 371 days in the ark and all that filled it.
For a moment, let us allow ourselves to consider those who have endured even longer, today 393 days of captivity in the tunnels and rubble of Gaza. We know that too many have not lived. We pray for the return of their bodies for burial and that the spirit of those still alive will soon be returned, find rest, tranquility and be soothed by the voices of their dear ones.
I used the words to ‘eulogise’ Noah and Na’amah, having read the self-penned eulogy of Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer, who died this month aged 98. I encourage you to read the full version and to subscribe to Haaretz newspaper online to do so.
Yehuda Bauer has been called a tzadik, a righteous man by many, just as Noah was called in the Torah.
He writes poignantly and with great humour:
I realize that it isn’t customary for a deceased to eulogize himself. More often than not, his role is to be lying silently, deaf to the praises and veneration…
I have decided to write my own eulogy, clearly realizing that the person most familiar with me is me. This is going to be a long eulogy. What can you do?
For now, I was drawn by his words about his People and country. A country he arrived at from Prague, enlisted in the Palmach, left for studies in Cardiff, Wales, the single recipient of a scholarship that the Mandate government awarded Jews in the humanities, to return to his country at Kibbutz Shoval in 1952.
A country and People he describes as such:
Was I an Israeli patriot? A Zionist? Though I was not born here, this is my country and I wouldn’t leave it even if I was promised fortunes – in fact, they did promise, and I turned them down. I hope that my offspring here don’t leave it, because that battered cliché is true: we have no other country, and don’t have another people, screwed up though this one is. As Chaim Weizmann once said: This is the best Jewish people we have got. We have to do what we can with it. I belong to this people despite the fact that, in principle, I find it hard to belong to any human group that will accept me as a member. But I did not choose to be Jewish, I was born into this business through no fault of my own. The truth is, I have not only made my peace with this, I am even happy about it. If you have to be born into some ethnic group, it’s better to be born Jewish. It is a fascinating, annoying, disgusting, exciting, horrific, wonderful people.
I do not believe in utopias because every utopia eventually leads to murder. But I do believe that you can fix, at least somewhat, even the Jews. Even the world – if only very slightly. So, as I have said, give it a try. Forgive me this long eulogy, I promise not to write another one. And don’t cry – smile a little. It’s best to smile, even to laugh, as long as you still can. So give it a try. Peace be unto you.
Peace be unto Yehudah Bauer, peace be to Noach and Na’amah, and in time peace be to Ukraine, Israel, all those wish to live along with it so that we may be quieted, rest in tranquility, soothed by the balm of a beautiful voice.
Let’s give it a try.
Shalom Aleichem – Peace be unto you.
