NOACH

What With The Water?

The Flood is a strange story; Let us consider two fundamental questions about the story.

First: Why destroy civilization through water?! Why would Hashem choose to bury existence by means of rain? We’re used to thinking of rain as a blessing, so why use a tool of blessing for curse?

Second: why save Noach through an ark? Would it not have been simpler to transfer him to Eretz Yisrael, where- according to some opinions - the flood did not reach, or to lift him to the heavens for the duration of the flood?