Saturday 2nd November 2024 1st Cheshvan 5785
PARASHAT NO'ACH
Genesis 6:9-11:32; Isaiah 54:1-55:5; Luke 17:20-27
This week's Torah portion opens with:
“These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generation, and Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9).
Noah is the only person in the entire Holy Scripture to be described as a tzaddik – a “righteous” person. It is, in my mind, equally fascinating that the only person in the entire Torah to be called a tzaddik is in fact a non-Jew. God actually tells this to Noah directly, “You and your family shall enter into the ark; for you have I seen to be righteous before me in this generation” (Genesis 7:1).
The Almighty goes on to tell Noah that he should gather all the animals and birds and bring them onto the ark. Noah did as he was told; “And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him” (Ibid 7:5).
Finally – and only as it began to rain – Noah gathered his family and entered the ark, “And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.” (Ibid 7:7).
The famous Biblical commentator known as Rashi quotes a rather astonishing teaching from the sages on this verse. The midrash states that Noah – like the rest of his generation – was lacking in emunah (often described as “faith”). For this reason, he did not enter the ark until the waters began to run over his ankles. In other words, he didn’t enter the ark after God told him to go in; it was the waters of the flood that compelled him into the ark.
This is a stunning statement. How is it possible for Noah – who the Torah describes as a tzaddik – a wholly righteous person, to have a lack of faith? What exactly was he missing in his faith – he was quite literally having a conversation with the Almighty! What does he not “believe”? How is there any possibility for him to have any kind of doubts whatsoever?
Maimonides (1138-1204), the great Jewish philosopher and codifier of Jewish law, authored a work known as a Sefer HaMitzvot – a complete listing of the 613 commandments found in the Torah and a brief description of each.
This compilation of all the mitzvot begins with the very first mitzvah, “The first commandment is that we are commanded in belief – emunas – of God. That is; He is the origin and cause of all that exists and He is the power behind all of existence. The source of this mitzvah is found in (the first sentence of the Ten Commandments); ‘I am the Lord your God […]’” (Exodus 20:2).
Nachmanides (1190-1270), another famous medieval Rabbinic scholar and philosopher – and widely regarded as the greatest of his generation – wrote a commentary on Maimonides’ Sefer HaMitzvot. Nachmanides comments on the points in the work with which he disagrees.
On this very first commandment Nachmanides asks an absolutely devastating question: How is it possible to have a commandment requiring a person to believe in God? A commandment by definition implies a “commander” – so if you have a commandment then you already believe in God who issued the command. If you do not believe in a “commander” then you cannot have a commandment. It is circular logic.
For this reason, Nachmanides disagrees and says that belief in the Almighty is a requirement and prerequisite to all the commandments, and it is therefore not to counted as a separate mitzvah.
I believe that Maimonides has a fundamentally different understanding of what emunah means and it does not mean belief or faith.
It is important to understand that Judaism is not a religion of “belief;” it is a religion that requires a knowledge of God. It is a religion of doing! This is, in fact, what Maimonides writes in his magnum opus on Jewish Law known as Yad HaChazaka, “The foundation of all foundations and pillar of all wisdom is to know that there is a First Being Who brought everything into existence” (Mada 1:1).
Maimonides clearly states that we are commanded to “know” that there is a God and not to merely “believe” in a God. Knowledge is a much higher level of certainty, and that is the very foundation of Judaism.
Every translation is an interpretation. For this reason, it is particularly important to always look at the origin of words and their usage in their original context. A full accounting of the sources for the word emunah in the Torah is beyond the scope of this article, but it seems to be rooted in the concept of being ever-present. A man with his faithful servant or his faithful dog refers to the fact that they are always with him.
The word for this in English is immanence – and a very obvious cognate of the Hebrew word emunah. I believe that Maimonides is describing that the first commandment is to affirm the immanence of the Almighty. In other words, we must constantly be aware and act as if we are continually in the presence of the Almighty. We are commanded to affirm the ever-presence of the Almighty in our lives. (This is also why the word amen (also related to the word emunah) means, “I affirm.”)
Man was created with a desire for self-fulfillment and self-achievement. This is often manifested in the negative trait of self-indulgence. Simply put, we want to do what we want to do and not be constrained by an outside source. At a basic level, when we sin we are saying to God: “You’re not the boss of me and I can do whatever I want.”
Like Noah in this week’s Torah portion, every time we do something that we know is wrong or particularly bad for our health (smoking, overeating, etc.) it involves a cognitive dissonance – some version of “I know this is wrong, but I want to do what I want to do.” Thus, when we sin we are actively ignoring the ever-presence of the Almighty, and it is a failure of the responsibility of affirming His immanence in our lives.
This means that, of course, Noah knows that God told him to go into the ark. The fact that he does not go into the ark until the waters compel him to enter is not a failure of him not “believing” that the flood was coming. Rather his action is one of defiance – like every sin of every human – an assertion that he wants to do what he wants to do when he wants to do it. It’s a failure of affirming of living in the ever-presence of the Almighty.
The only human to ever overcome this and achieve living in the ever-presence of the Almighty is Moses – but that’s a conversation for another time.
And finally, we see that Yeshua who was without any failings and sin, communed with His Father in a manner that is virtually inconceivable to us! “I and the Father are One”!
Genesis 6:9-11:32 ; Isaiah 54:1-55:5; Luke 17:20-27
This week's Torah portion opens with:
“These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generation, and Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9).
Noah is the only person in the entire Holy Scripture to be described as a tzaddik – a “righteous” person. It is, in my mind, equally fascinating that the only person in the entire Torah to be called a tzaddik is in fact a non-Jew. God actually tells this to Noah directly, “You and your family shall enter into the ark; for you have I seen to be righteous before me in this generation” (Genesis 7:1).
The Almighty goes on to tell Noah that he should gather all the animals and birds and bring them onto the ark. Noah did as he was told; “And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him” (Ibid 7:5).
Finally – and only as it began to rain – Noah gathered his family and entered the ark, “And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.” (Ibid 7:7).
The famous Biblical commentator known as Rashi quotes a rather astonishing teaching from the sages on this verse. The midrash states that Noah – like the rest of his generation – was lacking in emunah (often described as “faith”). For this reason, he did not enter the ark until the waters began to run over his ankles. In other words, he didn’t enter the ark after God told him to go in; it was the waters of the flood that compelled him into the ark.
This is a stunning statement. How is it possible for Noah – who the Torah describes as a tzaddik – a wholly righteous person, to have a lack of faith? What exactly was he missing in his faith – he was quite literally having a conversation with the Almighty! What does he not “believe”? How is there any possibility for him to have any kind of doubts whatsoever?
Maimonides (1138-1204), the great Jewish philosopher and codifier of Jewish law, authored a work known as a Sefer HaMitzvot – a complete listing of the 613 commandments found in the Torah and a brief description of each.
This compilation of all the mitzvot begins with the very first mitzvah, “The first commandment is that we are commanded in belief – emunas – of God. That is; He is the origin and cause of all that exists and He is the power behind all of existence. The source of this mitzvah is found in (the first sentence of the Ten Commandments); ‘I am the Lord your God […]’” (Exodus 20:2).
Nachmanides (1190-1270), another famous medieval Rabbinic scholar and philosopher – and widely regarded as the greatest of his generation – wrote a commentary on Maimonides’ Sefer HaMitzvot. Nachmanides comments on the points in the work with which he disagrees.
On this very first commandment Nachmanides asks an absolutely devastating question: How is it possible to have a commandment requiring a person to believe in God? A commandment by definition implies a “commander” – so if you have a commandment then you already believe in God who issued the command. If you do not believe in a “commander” then you cannot have a commandment. It is circular logic.
For this reason, Nachmanides disagrees and says that belief in the Almighty is a requirement and prerequisite to all the commandments, and it is therefore not to counted as a separate mitzvah.
I believe that Maimonides has a fundamentally different understanding of what emunah means and it does not mean belief or faith.
It is important to understand that Judaism is not a religion of “belief;” it is a religion that requires a knowledge of God. It is a religion of doing! This is, in fact, what Maimonides writes in his magnum opus on Jewish Law known as Yad HaChazaka, “The foundation of all foundations and pillar of all wisdom is to know that there is a First Being Who brought everything into existence” (Mada 1:1).
Maimonides clearly states that we are commanded to “know” that there is a God and not to merely “believe” in a God. Knowledge is a much higher level of certainty, and that is the very foundation of Judaism.
Every translation is an interpretation. For this reason, it is particularly important to always look at the origin of words and their usage in their original context. A full accounting of the sources for the word emunah in the Torah is beyond the scope of this article, but it seems to be rooted in the concept of being ever-present. A man with his faithful servant or his faithful dog refers to the fact that they are always with him.
The word for this in English is immanence – and a very obvious cognate of the Hebrew word emunah. I believe that Maimonides is describing that the first commandment is to affirm the immanence of the Almighty. In other words, we must constantly be aware and act as if we are continually in the presence of the Almighty. We are commanded to affirm the ever-presence of the Almighty in our lives. (This is also why the word amen (also related to the word emunah) means, “I affirm.”)
Man was created with a desire for self-fulfillment and self-achievement. This is often manifested in the negative trait of self-indulgence. Simply put, we want to do what we want to do and not be constrained by an outside source. At a basic level, when we sin we are saying to God: “You’re not the boss of me and I can do whatever I want.”
Like Noah in this week’s Torah portion, every time we do something that we know is wrong or particularly bad for our health (smoking, overeating, etc.) it involves a cognitive dissonance – some version of “I know this is wrong, but I want to do what I want to do.” Thus, when we sin we are actively ignoring the ever-presence of the Almighty, and it is a failure of the responsibility of affirming His immanence in our lives.
This means that, of course, Noah knows that God told him to go into the ark. The fact that he does not go into the ark until the waters compel him to enter is not a failure of him not “believing” that the flood was coming. Rather his action is one of defiance – like every sin of every human – an assertion that he wants to do what he wants to do when he wants to do it. It’s a failure of affirming of living in the ever-presence of the Almighty.
The only human to ever overcome this and achieve living in the ever-presence of the Almighty is Moses – but that’s a conversation for another time.
(my comment: And finally, we see that Yeshua who was without any failings and sin, communed with His Father in a manner that is virtually inconceivable to us! “I and the Father are One”!)
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