Welcome to the month of Heshvan (Kheshvan), the eighth month on the Hebrew calendar.
Welcome to the month of Heshvan (Kheshvan), the eighth month on the Hebrew calendar. Originally, called Marcheshvan, from the ancient Akkadian language, it is a month without holidays! Some say it is time for settling in after the flurry of penitential and renewing holidays in Tishri.
Some of our sages noted how the first two letters of the original name spells Mar, or Bitterness, perhaps feeling the lack of holidays and the intense focus on getting our work done. Of course, it kind of forces us to think more seriously about the kind of work we are engaged in. It also, perhaps, helps us to think about the kind of “work” we need to be doing.
The above sense of Heshvan corresponds beautifully with the Parsha this week about Noah. Noah is a new character in the evolution of humankind as we see in the Torah. After Adam and Eve, we learn of all his ancestors who live hundreds of years. Not much is said about their personalities. Some have suggested that they may have been aliens!
But Noah was the first to be addressed with the mission of saving humanity and life on this planet. Whew! This ancient story is incredibly deep and incredibly relevant to life on this planet today. We see how corrupt the world is, the greed, slavery, war, racism, sexism, pollution etc…etc…. We also see how much goodness there is in the world.
Noah is chosen. And he is chosen with his family to begin anew. I highly recommend a book by Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, Noah’s Wife: the Story of Naamah. Not much is mentioned about her in the Parsha, but, come on, how could Noah have done this alone? And this Torah continues evolving for us.
How are we being addressed? Are we becoming Noah? Are we becoming Naamah?
After the Flood there are promises that “he” receives:
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 9:22) Noah also receives the promise of human dominion over the earth: “Be fertile and increase, and fill the earth. The fear and the dread of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the sky, on everything that crawls on earth and on the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand…”
Human dominion does not mean exploitation. The Hebrew word for dominion is from the root RADAH which means to go down. Get down with the people, the earth, be with life, understand their needs, the needs of the eco system, work together. The Torah says “give unto your (plural) hands" refers to all their descendants. We can only till and protect ourselves and this earth with our hands, reaching out to others, feeling the soil and honoring the spirit of the Creator.
Chodesh Tov,
Reb David