Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

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Avram and Lot Part Ways

Lot, due to his traveling with Avram had also accumulated wealth, so he too had flocks, cattle and tents.

They had so much cattle that the land was unable to supply them sufficiently.

Lot's herdsmen were unethical and pastured their cattle in other people's fields. Avram's herdsmen rebuked them for this thievery to which Lot's herdsmen replied that since Avram had no heir and the land was given to him, Lot will inherit it, so it wasn't thievery. This reasoning was false however since the land was not yet given to Avram and at that time Canaanites and Perizzites were living in it.

Avram tried to make peace by telling Lot that they were relatives and according to some interpretations, they looked alike. Avram went on to request that they separate paths, asking Lot to leave and saying that he, Avram would travel in the opposite direction of where Lot would go, however he would not distance himself from him. Rather he would stand by to protect and help him if needed (and Lot did end up needing him, as will be seen soon in Breishis 14:14).

Lot looked up and saw the entire Jordan and saw that it had streams of water running through it, as this was before G-d destroyed Sdom and Amorah. It was a good land to grow trees, like Egypt. So he chose this land for himself, encompassing the whole area up until Zoar. According to the Midrash, this selection of land is meant in an unflattering way, as he chose it out lechery.

Lot then traveled westward away from Avram. A Mirashic interpretation of this wording is that traveling away from "the east" is an allusion to him traveling away from G-d.

Avram set upa tent for himself, his herdsmen and cattle within Canaan until Sdom.

The people living in Sdom were very evil with their bodies and sinned with their money. They recognized G-d and sinned against Him intentionally. Nonetheless, Lot did not have a problem living amongst them.

So long as Lot was with Avram, G-d did not appear to Avram*. Now that Lot left him, G-d spoke to Avram once again.

*Side note: Except for one time earlier, in Breishis 12:17 where G-d did appear to Avram even though Lot was there, from which we must conclude that Lot was righteous at that time.

G-d told Avram to look up and all around and see where he was. He told him that He will give this entire land to him and to his progeny for eternity. G-d goes on to say that He will make his descendants so numerous that they will be uncountable, like the dust of the earth.

G-d instructs Avram to walk through the entire land.

Avram pitched his tent and rested in the plain of Mamre (which was the name of a man) which was in Chevron. There he built an altar to G-d.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Avram and Sarai Arrive in and Leave Egypt

So it was that when they arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians did not see Sarai at first since Avram hid her in a trunk. Yet once they demanded him to pay for the tax for customs, they opened it and saw her and saw how pretty she was.

Pharaoh's princes spoke fondly about her amongst themselves, saying how she was fit for the king, and they took her to Pharaoh's home.

Because of Sarai, Pharaoh gave Avram flocks, cattle, donkeys, camels and servants.

G-d cause Pharaoh and his household (including the walls, pillars and utensils) to be stricken with a plague called "ra'athan', which made engaging in intimate relations harmful to him. This plague came about through Sarai who would speak to an angel, who would strike them every time she told him to.

Pharaoh called Avram and exclaimed, "What have you done to me? Why did you tell me she was your sister when she's really your wife?!" And he demanded that Avram take back his wife and leave, since the Egyptians were a salacious people. This is in contrast to the incident later with Avimelech (see Breishis 20:15) who presented the land to him.

Pharaoh instructed men to escort and protect Avram and his wife and so they did.

So Avram and his family traveled northwards out of Egypt till they arrived in southern Israel.

Avram was overburdened with heavy cattle, silver and gold.

He continued to travel until Beth El, where he had originally made an altar to G-d and called out in His name, stopping along the way in the same inns he had on the way to Egypt. Rashi explains that this could be 1)to teach us that it is proper to stay in the same places one did previously, otherwise it might be interpreted as dissatisfaction with their prior experience or alternatively, he revisited the same inns 2)To pay his debts to them. Now too, Avram called out in the name of G-d.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Avram's Journeys

G-d tells Avram to "go forth"* from his land**, from his birthplace and from his father's house to the land that G-d will show him. In listing "the land" last, we learn that 1) G-d refrained from showing the Land to Avram right away so as to increase Avram's feelings towards it as well as 2) G-d wanted to reward him for each commandment (i.e. to go forth from his land, from his birthplace etc...)

*Side note: The text literally reads "go to you" (לֶךְ לְךָ,), implying that the journey is for Avram's benefit whereby G-d will make him into a great nation and famous, whereas if he were to stay where he was he would not merit to have children.

**Side note: Although he had already left his land with his father and reached as far as Charan, G-d was instructing him here to distance himself more from there and leave his father's home.

Rashi outlines three things which travel diminishes:

* Procreation

* Money

* Fame

So G-d blesses Avram in all three of these areas, telling him that He will make him into a great nation (i.e that he will have many children, bless him (i.e. with much money), aggrandize his name (i.e he will be famous) and says that he will be a blessing (meaning that up until then, only G-d was able to bless (ie. He blessed Adam and Noach) and from then on, Avraham will have the capacity to bless) . Another explanation for the idea of aggrandizing his name is that this is an allusion to G-d adding the letter hei to his name so that from now on he will be called אַבְרָהָם (which has the numerical value of 248 which is the number of a person's limbs), as opposed to אַבְרָם.

Another explanation regarding this section is that whenever G-d is later mentioned as being the G-d of one of the forefathers, it is an allusion to one aspect of this blessing, i.e.:

"The G-d of Avraham" is alluding to G-d blessing Avram with a great nation.

"The G-d of Yitzchok" is alluding to G-d saying that He will "bless" Avraham.

"The G-d of Yaakov" is alluding to G-d blessing Avram with aggrandizing his name.

And by saying that Avram will "be a blessing", this indicates why the first blessing of the Amida prayer concludes with "the shield of Avraham".

G-d goes on to say that He will bless all who bless Avraham and curse all who curse him.

Additionally, all the families on earth will be blessed in him. Simply understood, this means that a father will bless his son to "be like Avraham.

So at the age of seventy five, Avram obeyed G-d and traveled to the land of Canaan with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot (his brother's son), their possessions, as well as the people they had converted to believe in G-d in Charan.

They arrived in Canaan and Avraham traveled through until he reached Shechem, otherwise known as "the plain of Moreh". He stopped in Shchem in order to pray for Yaakov's sons for when they would come to wage war in Shecham. Here, G-d showed Avram the Mountain of Gerizim and the Mountain of Ebal where Israel accepted the Torah.

At the time that Avram traveled there, the Canaanites were gradually taking over the Land.

G-d appeared to Avram and told him that he would bless his progeny with that land.

When Noach divided the land amongst his sons, he gave the Land of Israel to Shem's descendants, thus in G-d blessing Avram here, this was a blessing to have the land restored to their proper owners, as Avraham's children came from Shem.

Avram built an altar to G-d out of gratitude for this blessing.

From there, Avram traveled westward to Beth El where he set up tent, first for his wife and then for himself. He built an altar to G-d there to pray for his sons who he knew prophetically were destined to fall there due to Achan's sins.

Avram continued to travel, moving southward, towards Jerusalem. He would rest for a month or more in various locations along the way.

There was a famine in the land* so Avram traveled down to Egypt to stay there for awhile.

*Side note: This was a test as the famine was only in the Land of Israel at that time, and G-d wanted to see if Avram would think badly of G-d who first told him to come to that land and then told him to leave it.

As they neared Egypt, Avram told his wife that he sees that she's attractive*, and due to her being attractive, when the Egyptians see her and understand that she is his wife, they will kill him and let her survive. So he told Sarai to tell them that she is his sister so that he doesn't get killed and will instead give him gifts on her account.

*Side note: Scripture pointing out here that he "saw her beauty" can be understood either that 1) Due to both of them being modest, this was the first time that Avram recognized his wife's beauty or alternatively 2) Whereas people tend to become haggard looking when they travel, Sarai retained her beauty or alternatively 3) Avram did recognize her beauty from before, however now is a time for her to be concerned about it since they are soon going to be with the brothers of the Cushites who are unattractive people who are not used to seeing beautiful women.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

The Tower of Bavel. Shem's Geneology. Avram.

The Tower of Bavel

This section of Chumash begins in a time when everyone on earth spoke the same language, namely the Holy Tongue, i.e Biblical Hebrew.

Everyone came together in uniformity against G-d for taking the upper regions for Himself. Their plan was to go up towards the sky and wage war against Him. An alternate explanation is that they uniformly came together to speak against the One G-d. Or alternatively, they wanted to make a support for the sky as they reasoned that the sky wobbles every 1,656 years as it did in the time of the flood.

They traveled from the mountain of the east where they were living to find a place which would fit all of them. They discovered Shinar and settled there.

The nations encouraged one another to prepare to team up to work and make bricks (as there are no stones in Bablylon which is a valley) using fire in a kiln and using clay as mortar to plaster the wall.

They declared that to protect themselves from G-d bringing a plague upon them and thus scattering them, they would build a city and tower reaching up to the heavens for themselves, as well as a name.

Although it wasn't necessary for G-d to descend to see the city and tower that "the sons of Man"* had built, He did so anyhow in order to teach judges not to condemn someone to guilt before really seeing the case and understanding it. *Side note: Scripture refers to them as being the "sons of Man" here as an allusion to Adam, who expressed his ingratitude to G-d by blaming the sin on Chava, the wife who G-d gave to Him. Similarly, this generation who built the tower were ungrateful for G-d having spared them from the flood.

G-d expressed his dismay at what they were doing, especially given the fact that G-d gave them the opportunity to live together as one people in harmony with one language and expressed that He would prevent them from following through with their plans.

G-d, in His Humility, consulted with His Heavenly Court and declared that just as they unified to build the tower, He and His Court would unify to descend and confuse them. This confusion would lead to disharmony amongst them, eventually leading to bloodshed. Rashi provides an example of this, citing the Breishis Rabbah (38:10) whereby one person would request a brick, and his fellow would bring him mortar instead. This would result in the first one getting up and cracking the skull of the second one for not bringing him a brick.

Thus G-d scattered them across the world and they stopped building the city.

This is why G-d named this city Bavel, as it was there that G-d confused the languages of the world and scattered them across the world, representing the fact that they did not have a share in the world to come.

Rashi cites the Breishis Rabbah (38:6) which teaches that as bad as the generation that created this tower was (referred to as the "Generation of the Dispersion", the Generation of the Flood was worse, which is why they were destroyed in the flood while the generation that created the tower was simply scattered but not destroyed. This is because while the Generation of the Dispersion rebelled against G-d, they were harmonious with one another, while the Generation of the Flood consisted of robbers and internal fighting. This teaches how discord is hateful while peace is great.

Shem's Geneology

Shem fathered Aparchshad two years after the flood, which was when he was 100 years old. Shem lived for another 500 hundred years after that, during which time he fathered more children (sons and daughters).

At the age of 35, Araparchshad fathered Shelah. He then lived for 403 more years after that, during which time he fathered more children (sons and daughters).

At the age of 30, Shelah fathered Ever. He then lived for another 403 years, during which time he fathered more children (sons and daughters).

At the age of 34, Ever fathered Peleg. He then lived for another 430 years, during which time he fathered more children (sons and daughters).

At the age of 30, Peleg fathered Reu. He then lived for another 209 years, during which time he fathered more children (sons and daughters).

At the age of 32, Reu fathered Serug. He then lived for another 207 years, during which time he fathered more children (sons and daughters).

At the age of 30, Serug fathered Nachor. He then lived for another 200 years, during which time he fathered more children (sons and daughters).

At the age of 29, Nachor fathered Terach. He then lived for another 119 years, during which time he fathered more children (sons and daughters).

Avram

At the age of 70, Terach fathered Avram, Nachor and Charan.

Charan fathered Lot. Charan died while his father Terach was still alive, in Ur Kasdim. According to the midrash (Breishis Rabbah 38:13), his father caused his death because:

Terach complained to Nimrod about his son Avram crushing his idols, causing Nimrod to cast Avram into a fiery furnace. Charan decided that he would be on whoever's side emerged victorious from this event. So when Avram survived the furnace, and Charan was asked which side he was on, he declared that he was on Avram's side, and thus Charan was cast into the furnace and was burned.

Avram and Nachor each married one of Charan's daughters, Iscah* (also known as Sarai) and Milcah. Avram married Sarai, while Nachor married Milcah. *Side note: In Hebrew - יִסְכָּה, is related to the words "see" (סוֹכָה) as well as related to princedom. Various associations to her name are thus that 1) she would "see" things through Divine Inspiration, 2)everyone would gaze at her beauty and also 3)re it being a reference to royalty, so too is the name Sarah a reference to dominion (שְׂרָרָה).

Sarai was barren.

Terach took his son Avram, his grandson Lot (Charan's son) and Sarai, and together they traveled from Ur Kasdim to Canaan until they reached Charan where they settled.

Avram left Charan at the age of 75 and traveled to Canaan.

He was there for over 60 years when his father Terach died at the age of 205 in Charan.

Rashi makes this calculation based on the fact that Charan was 70 years old when Avram was born, making him 145 years old when Avram left Charan.

Chumash relates Terach's passing before relating Avram leaving Charan (even though that happened first), so as not to publicize this so people wouldn't mock Avram for leaving his father at an old age and thus not honoring him. Scripture refers to Terach as being dead since wicked people are considered dead, while righteous people are considered alive even after they die.

As a side note (as pointed out by Rashi), Charan is written here with an inverted "nun". Rashi explains that this is to demonstrate that when Avram appeared, G-d's anger (חֲרוֹן - related to the word "Charan") changed from Divine wrath to Divine Mercy.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Noach's Sons and Their Descendants

The sons of Noach who emerged from the ark were Shem, Cham and Yafet.

The nation of Can'aan came from Cham. This is an important fact to know at this point since Chumash is about to recount the incident where Noach got drunk in which Cham sinned, which caused Cana'an to be cursed.

The entire earth's population came from Noach's sons.

Noach became a master of the earth and the first thing that he planted was a vineyard, which he was able to do since had brought vine branches and shoots of fig trees with him on the ark. This was a profound mistake - he should have begun with other types of trees.

Noach drank this wine that he produced, got drunk, and uncovered himself in his tent.

Cham saw his father naked and told his two brothers. (An alternate reading is that Cana'an saw and told his father Cham which is why Can'an became cursed). According to some opinions, Cham castrated his father. Other opinions say that he sodomized him.

Shem and Yafet placed the garment on their shoulders and walked backwards. They covered their father's private area and kept their faces turned backwards as they came close to him to cover him. so as not to see. Shem worked harder than Yafet to do this, which is why Shem's sons merited the commandment of tallis with tzitizis whereas Yafet merited burial for his sons. Cham's progeny however were cursed to be held captive and exiled as described in Yehsayahu 20:4.

Noach sobered up and knew what his "small son"* had done to him. *Side note: Rashi cites the midrash (Breishis Rabbah 16:7) which teaches that "small" here is a euphemism for being worthless and despicable. The word small is similarly used in Yermiyahu 49:15.

Noach declared that since Cham prevented Noach from begetting a fourth son, Cham's fourth son Canaan would be cursed to be enslaved to Noach's other sons (Shem and Yafet's) children. Shem and Yafet's children were from there on fated to serve Noach.

The midrash (Breishis Rabbah 5, 22:7) explains that Cham castrated his father since he reasoned that Adam only had two sons, and yet one killed the other so as to inherit the world - and Cham was incredulous that their father Noach already had three sons and wanted a fourth.

Noach blesses G-d, calling Him "the G-d of Shem" as G-d was destined to give the land of Canaan to Shem's progeny. Noach declares that Canaan will be like serfs who pay tribute to these descendants of Shem.

Noach goes on to bless Yafeth to "expand" and to have G-d's presence rest in Shem, AKA Israel. Although Cyrus, who was descendant from Yafeth, built the Second Temple, which was very beautiful, the Schina did not rest there, but rather it rested in the First Temple, which was built by King Shlomo, who was descendant from Shem.

Noach reiterates that Canaan's descendants will be Shem's descendants' slaves, even after Shem's descendants are exiled.

Noach lived for another 350 years after the flood, bringing his total life span to 950 years.

Chumash now gives a list of Noach's progeny:

After the flood, all three of Noach's sons (Shem, Cham and Yafeth) had sons.

Yafet:

Yafet's sons were: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Yavan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras (Rashi comments that this is Persia).

Gomer had three sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.

Yavan had four sons: Elishah, Tarshis, Kittim and Dodanim.

These sons separated according to their families into nations with distinct lands with distinct languages.

Cham:

Cham's sons were: Cush, Mizraim, Put, Canaan, Ludim, Anamim, Lehavim (לְהָבִים - alluding to his face being like a flame (לַהַב), Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim* and the Caphtorim.*Side note: The Pathrusin and Casluhim would have intimate relations with one another's wives and the Philistines emerged from them.

Cush had six sons: Seva, Havilah, Sabta, Raamah, Sabtecha and Nimrod.

Raamah had two sons: Sheba and Dedan

Nimrod, Cush's sixth son, became very powerful and caused the entire world to rebel against G-d in the "Generation of the Dispersion". Scripture calls Nimrod a "mighty hunter" as he trapped people's minds through his speech, and misled them, causing them to rebel against G-d. Anyone who is brazenly wicked, who recognizes G-d yet willingly rebels against Him, is likened to Nimrod, who wanted to provoke G-d to His face.

Nimrods' kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad and Calneh, which was in Shinar.

One of Shem's sons (to be listed later) was Asshur. He saw his sons following Nimrod and rebelling against G-d and building the tower of Bavel and therefore left them to build the cities of Ninveh, which was a "great city to G-d", Rechovot ir, Calah and Resen (which was located between Ninveh and Calah).

Canaan's firstborn son was Zidon. He also had Heth, the Jesubite, the Amorite, the Girgashite, The Chivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, the Arvadite, the Zemarite and the Hamathite. Many families scattered from these.

The Canaanite border ended at Sidon reaching until Gerar as far as Gaza, reaching Sodom, Gemorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, as far as Lesha.

Cham's sons also separated according to their families into nations with distinct lands with distinct languages.

Shem:

There is a dispute as to whether Yafet or Shem was the eldest son of Noach. Rashi, citing the midrash (Breishis Rabbah 37:7) seems to think that Yafet was the eldest as Noach only began having children when he was 500 years old and then the flood occurred in his 600th year, at which time Yafet was 100 years old, when Shem only turned 100 two years later.

Shem is referred to here as being Yafet's brother (but not Cham's) as Cham disgraced their father while Shem and Yafet honored him.

Scripture refers to Shem as being the father of all of the people on the other side of the river. The river referenced was called Shem.

Shem's sons were: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud and Aram.

Aram had four sons: Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash.

Arpachashad had a son named Shelah.

Shelah had a son named Ever.

Ever had two sons: Peleg and Yoktan.

Peleg (פֶּלֶג), related to the word נִפְלְגָה which means dispersed, was so called since the year that he died, people became divided through having different languages and thus being unable to understand one another and becoming scatted throughout the world. Peleg's name demonstrated that Ever was a prophet, having named his son for a future event.

Yoktan, related to the word קָטָן which means small, was so called for being humble. For this humility he merited to raise many families, as listed next.

Yoktan had 13 sons: Almodad, Sheleph, Chazarmaveth*, Yerach, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimel, Sheba, Ophir, Chavilah and Yovav. *Side note: The name Chatzarmaveth (חצרמות) has the word מות in it which means "death". A father would only give his son a name with such a negative connotation if there was a particular reason to. This was an allusion to the place he lived which had such a depressing atmosphere that its inhabitants longed for death.

The area where these sons of Yoktan lived spanned the area from Mesha to Sephar, the mountain of the east.

This concludes the section listing Shem's sons as well as the genealogy of Noah, which became various nations that separated throughout the earth after the flood.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Rainbow Covenant

Noach was scared to procreate before G-d promised that He would never again destroy the world. So G-d tells Noach and his sons that He is setting up a covenant to confirm that He will never again destroy the world with a flood.

G-d says that this covenant is with Noach and all of his descendants (i.e. all of mankind from then on) as well as all animals, including:

* Beasts "who walk with people" (according to the Gur Areyeh this means tame animals and according to the Mizrachi and the Levush HaOrah it means animals in general, who are perceived by people).

* Impure flying creatures like bats and flying insects

* Creeping animals

* "Living creatures of the earth" - according to the Gur Aryeh this means wild animals. According to the Mizrachi and the Levush HaOrah this means demons. These are not described as "walking with people" as they are not perceived by people.

G-d says that He will make a confirmation of this covenant as a sign to future generations of its ongoing establishment. This sign between G-d and earth is the rainbow in a cloud.

Some generations, such as the generation of Cheskiayhu the king of Yehuda or that of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai were so righteous that they did not need this sign.

G-d says that whenever the attribute of Justice comes to accuse earth inhabitants of something and He starts thinking about bringing darkness and destruction to the world, He will see the rainbow in the cloud and will remember His covenant and will refrain from destroying the earth with a flood.

G-d shows Noach this sign.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Blessings and Directives

G-d tells Noach to leave the ark with his family and makes it clear that they are now allowed to be intimate.

G-d tells Noach that all of the animals should also should come out of the ark, if not willingly, then he should take them out. They are all instructed to mate as well but only outside of the ark as they too were forbidden from mating within the ark.

So they all exited the ark and agreed to the condition that they would only mate with their own species.

Noach built an altar to G-d, sacrificing from the kosher animals of which he had taken seven pairs of each of these species for this purpose.

G-d smelled the pleasant smell from the altar and made an oath with himself to never again curse the earth and hurt all living things on account of mankind, as man is born with an evil inclination.

G-d says that as long as the earth exists, so will the different seasons exist as well (Which teaches us that throughout the flood there were no seasons, the planets didn't function, thus day and night were indistinguishable from one another). Six seasons are alluded to in the text, each of which lasts for two months:

* Seedtime: This lasts for half of Tishrei, Marcheshvan and half of Kislev

* Cold: This is more severe than winter and lasts for half of Kislev, Teves and half of Shevat

* Winter: This is the time for sowing barley and beans which ripen fast. This season lasts for half of Shevat, Adar and half of Nissan

* Harvest: This lasts for half of Nissan, Iyar and half of Sivan.

* Summer: This is the time when figs are gathered and dried in the fields and lasts for half of Sivan, Tammuz and half of Av.

* Heat: This is the end of the summer, more severe than the summer itself, when the world is the hottest, and lasts for half of Av, Elul and half of Tishrei.

G-d blesses Noach and his sons:

* To be fruitful and multiply and fill up the earth.

* To have all of the animals fear him so long as he is alive, as they have been given into his hands.

G-d gives them permission to eat all animals. This is in contrast to Adam who was only permitted to eat vegetation, not animals. However, G-d gives the caveat, they may not eat a limb that was cut off from a living animal (even after that animal dies), nor may they eat the blood of a living animal.

Although they are allowed to kill animals, G-d specifies that they are not allowed to commit suicide, even if they do so via strangulation (meaning, no "blood" was officially shed).

During the generation of the flood, G-d let the animals attack humans freely as punishment for their sins. After the flood then, G-d had to instruct them to no longer harm humans.

G-d says that anyone who kills another person intentionally without witnesses, will be killed, and anyone who kills another person unintentionally and doesn't go into exile (seeing as there are no witnesses to sentence him to exile) nor does he beg to be forgiven for his sin (since even unintentional sins must be atoned) will be punished. Rashi cites the gemara Makkos (10b) where an example of how this would work is given, where there are two men, one of whom has killed someone intentionally and the other who killed someone unintentionally. G-d will cause them to meet at the same inn, whereby the one who killed unintentionally climbs a ladder and falls on the one who killed intentionally. Thus the intentional killer meets his punishment of death and the unintentional killer will meet his punishment as he will be sent into exile for this.

If there are witnesses to someone killing another person, the killer is to be killed, as man was created in the image of G-d.

G-d now repeats his directive to Noach to be fruitful and multiply. According to the simple meaning of the text, the first time G-d says this (see above), this was a blessing, whereas here he means it as a commandment. The Midrash (Yevamos 63b) understands the reason for the repetition here to show the contrast of one who begets children to one who kills.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

The Flood

The flood raged for forty days. The ark was partially submerged in the water - to a depth of 11 cubits, lifting the ark up above the earth.

The water became increasingly powerful, on its own, rising to a height of 15 cubits above the peaks of all of the mountains, covering all the mountains on earth up, yet the ark remained moving above the water.

All living creatures on earth died in the flood, yet the fish remained alive.

Noach and all of the people and other creatures on the ark survived as well.

Yet Noach groaned and spitted blood due to the burden of taking care of the animals on the boat. There's an opinion that the lion attacked him after Noach delayed feeding him.

G-d's attribute of Justice shifts to that of Mercy through the prayer of the righteous (and shifts from His attribute of Mercy to that of Justice through the evil of the wicked).

Noach prayed in the ark, shifting G-d's manifestation from Justice to Mercy, causing the waters to subside after 150 days.

This caused G-d to "remember" Noach, as well as the animals (who to their merit were not corrupt before the flood nor did they mate on the ark).

A spirit of of calm and comfort passed before G-d and over the events on Earth. G-d's anger softened, as manifest in the waters subsiding.

After 150 days, the waters began to subside. This was on the 1st of Sivan..

The waters remained on the earth for 150 days, after which time the springs which had opened up to cause the flood closed*. The windows of the heavens closed as well, stopping the rain from above.

*Side note: Some, which were necessary for the world, for example the hot springs of Tveria, remained open.

During the peak of the flood, the ark was submerged 15 cubits into the water.

From the first of Sivan until the first of Av, the waters diminished at a rate of one cubit in four days. So on the 16th of Sivan, it had diminished by four cubits, such that it was then submerged 11 cubits in the water. The following day, on the 17th of Sivan, the ark came to a rest.

The waters continued to diminish at this rate, until finally, on the 1st of Av (the 10th month from Cheshvan when the rain began) the peaks of the mountains appeared. Rashi offers a few alternate possible calculations for when this could have been, but concludes that the 1st of Av is the only time that makes sense.

Forty days after the mountain peaks became visible, Noach opened the windows for light and sent out a raven for a mission. Yet the raven did not fulfill its mission as it suspected Noach in regards to its mate, and instead circled around the ark and flew back and forth.

Seven days after this, Noach sent away a dove to check if the waters had indeed abated. He reasoned that if the dove did not return, it meant that it had found a resting place and that the waters indeed had let up.

Yet the dove did not find a resting place as there was water covering the earth, so the dove returned to the ark and Noach reached out and brought the dove back into the ark.

Seven days later, Noach once again sent out the dove.

This time, the dove returned in the evening with an olive leaf in its mouth which it had plucked*. So now Noach knew that the waters had indeed subsided.

*Side note: Rashi comments on the word "plucked" (טָרָף), saying that it related to food and "mouth" as related to speech, and says that in plucking the olive leaf, the dove praised G-d, saying that his food should be as bitter as olive in the hands of G-d rather than as sweet as honey in the hands of a mortal being.

Seven days after that, Noach sent out the dove once more, and this time, the dove did not return.

On the first of the first* month of the 601st year, the waters became a sort of clay, turning the upper surface of the earth into a crust. Noach removed the ark's covering and saw the dry land.

*Side note: Tishrei according to Rabbi Eliezer, or Nissan according to Rabbi Yehoshua

And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first [month], on the first of the month, that the waters dried up from upon the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and he saw, and behold, the surface of the ground had dried up.

And then on the 27th day of the second month, the earth was properly dry, the way it should be.

The rains began to fall on the 17th day of the second month. The solar year is 11 days longer than the lunar year. Thus the entire judgement of the flood lasted for an entire year.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

The Flood Begins

G-d tells Noach to bring himself and his family into the ark.

G-d calls Noach "righteous" here, however he does not call him "righteous" and "perfect" the way he is referred to earlier in verse 6:9. Rashi derives the idea from here that only part of a person's praise, not his full praise is to said in the person's presence.

G-d tells Noach to take seven pairs of all the kosher animals (which Rashi points out shows that Noach learned Torah). The reason he was to take so many of the kosher species was so he could offer some up as a sacrifice upon leaving the ark.

Noach is to similarly take seven pairs of all of the kosher birds.

Of the non-kosher animals and birds, Noach is only to bring one pair of each species.

Noach was 600 years old when G-d sent the flood. At this time, the righteous Metuselach passed away. G-d delayed the flood by seven days to properly honor his seven days of mourning.

So G-d informs Noach that in seven days time, He will cause rain to fall for forty days and forty nights, eradicating everything which G-d had created. The significance of forty days is that this is the period of time it takes for a fetus to form. The grave sins of that generation involved illicit unions which produced mamzerim (children born of illicit unions) thus it was a fitting consequence for the flood to last that long.

So Noach and his family entered into the ark as per G-d's instructions. Even Noach's faith however fluctuated, and he only entered the ark once the waters of the flood forced him to.

The men and women entered into the ark separately as they were forbidden from having intimate relations on the ark as the world was immersed in pain.

The animals entered into the ark in pairs, on their own.

After seven days, there was a flood on earth. This occurred on the 17th day of the second month* in Noach's 600th year of life.

*Side note: This was Marcheshvan according to Rabbi Eliezer or Iyar, according to Rabbi Yehoshua.

As the evil of humanity at that time was "great", so were they punished with the "great depth" of the springs which split open to send forth.

The rains came down mercifully at first, giving them a chance to repent. When they didn't the rain turned into a flood. The rain lasted for forty days and forty nights. The first day is not included in the count because it began during the day and not that previous night. Thus the end of the rainfall was on the 28th of Kislev according to Rabbi Eliezer.

The people of the generation would mock Noach, saying that if they saw him going into the ark they would break it and kill him. G-d made it so that Noach and his family would enter into the ark in full view of everyone so as to show who's words would prevail.

G-d protected Noach from people breaking the ark by surrounding it with bears and lions who killed some of those who approached. Alternatively, and more simply, the text teaches us that the ark protected Noach from the flood waters.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here  https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

G-d Tells Noach to Build an Ark

Rashi cites Mishlei 10:7 "the mention of the righteous man is for a blessing" as evidence of Noach's righteousness. He also makes note that Noach's children are not listed right after the text writes "These are the generations of Noach", since the main progeny of the righteous are their good deeds, not their children.

The text states that Noach "was perfect in his generation" and Rashi cites two opposing interpretations of this: 1)To his praise - That as righteous as he was back then, how much more righteous would he be had he lived in a different generation or alternatively 2)To his detriment - that although he was considered righteous for his generation, were he to have lived in Avraham's generation, he would not have been considered righteous.

Speaking of Noach vs. Avraham, whereas Noach required G-d's support to remain upstanding, Avraham was able to stay righteous on his own.

The fact that Noach is mentioned in Chumash signifies that he is praiseworthy as it is taught in Mishlei 10:7 that righteous men are mentioned for a blessing. Also, in not listing Noach's children right after.

Noach had three sons: Shem, Cham and Yafeth.

The earth became immoral and idolatrous and filled with robbery.

Even the animals engaged in sexual immorality at that time, mating outside of their own species.

G-d saw all of this and told Noach that because of all of the robbery, He would destroy all living creatures on earth.

Due to his righteousness, G-d wanted to save Noach from the destruction. While there were a number of ways He could do so, He chose to have Noach construct an ark which would take him 120 years to construct so people would see what he was doing and ask him about it and Noach would tell them about the incumbent flood which G-d was sending which would give them the opportunity to repent.

G-d told Noach that he should make an ark out of gopher wood. Rashi points out that this is because the word in Hebrew for "gopher wood"(גֹפֶר) is etymologically related to the word sulphur (גָפְרִית), which was what the created beings were doomed to be killed off with (as the waters of the flood were hot and sulfurous).

G-d instructed Noach to make individual compartments for each domestic animal and wild beast on the ark.

He also told him to smear both the inside and outside of the ark with tar. Rashi points out the contrast here to the boat that was made for Moshe when he was put in the Nile which only had tar on the outside because 1)In the case of Moshe, the Nile waters were calm so it was enough to have tar protection on just the outside, in contrast to the flood waters which were not and 2)so as to protect Moshe from the bad smell of tar.

G-d tells Noach that the ark must be 300 cubits long x 50 cubits wide x30 cubits high.

The ark must have a skylight (some say it was a precious stone which gave them light). The covering of the ark must be slanted upwards until it narrowed at the top for one cubit so the rain would fall down it on either side.

The entrance to the ark was to be in its side so rain would not fall into it.

The ark was to have three decks - the uppermost for people, the middle for animals and the lower for waste.

G-d declares that He is ready now to agree with the angels who once told him not to remember man by bringing a flood to wipe out all living creatures.

G-d tells Noach that He will set up a covenant with Noach and his family. This was necessary to protect the fruits from becoming rotten and to protect Noach from being killed by the wicked people in his generation.

G-d makes it clear that everyone was forbidden from engaging in marital relations on the ark.

G-d tells Noach to take one male and one female of each species of living creatures, including demons into the ark.

Only those creatures which mated exclusively with their own kind were allowed to enter the ark. The ark repulsed those animals who did not.

G-d tells Noach to bring food for him and for the others on the ark to eat.

And so Noach did as G-d commanded him to and built the ark.