By Rebbetzin Malkah Forbes
Beit HaShofar, Seattle WA

They've done it again.  The meteorologists have diagnosed a La Nina going strong in the Pacific Ocean.  Colder than normal water in the Pacific Ocean spells only one outlook for those of us in the Pacific Northwest:  a wetter than normal winter. Frankly,  I can't imagine that this year could possibly hold more rain than last year.  But can anyone anywhere else in the country really understand the ramifications of such a prophecy?  Let me spell it out for you:  Noach. 

All right, so maybe it isn't quite the same as a floating zoo and small quarters.  But as I ponder whether Noach was the first Seattleite and if the mayim (waters) and the shamayim (heavens) are setting up to merge where I live,   I recall my secret remedy to manage the grey, the rain and being indoors:  chocolate.  For those who aren't aware of how chocolate comes to be, it starts out growing on a cacao tree in large pods about six inches long and three inches wide.  Inside each pod is a gooey white pulp in which thirty to forty cacao seeds or "beans" hide within.  Once these pods are harvested and the seeds are exposed to air,  a chemical process begins and  they start to change into what we know as chocolate.  And what does this have to do with Noach?  Just as a cacao pod holds the seed that will make the beautiful, necessary chocolate to bring a  Seattleite through a rainy winter, so too does Noach's Ark  house seeds of hope, seeds of restoration,  and seeds of the future to bring a second chance to humanity and all of creation.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

One can imagine Noach  thinking this just a few times as he heard the torrential rains fall upon his humble Ark.  But the very fact that Hashem assigned him to the Ark during this tumultuous time was out of love not only for him, but for all creation.  This pod was resilient enough to handle the world physically being created a second time.  Not only did it have to be robust enough to protect him, his family and all the animals, it also had to be impervious enough to hold back the waters so that every  drop of water would mikvah the land completely.  The sin of man had grown so great that only the convergence of the heavens and the earth would be sufficient to drown out the sin of mankind and restore the land  and humankind to purity.

"G-d said to Noach, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with robbery through them; and behold, I am about to destroy them from the earth....And as for Me - Behold, I am about to bring the Flood-waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which there is a breath of life from under the heavens; everything that is in the earth shall expire"  (Bereisheet 6:13, 17)

Just as a pod nurtures the seeds inside so they may be planted and continue the cycle, so also did Noach spend many days and nights in the refuge of his Ark, tending to his animals.    As the waters surged around them, they were in a state of emergency.  Their refuge was only meant to keep them alive, not to be a home.  Therefore, the Sages say that not only did Noach and his wife hold off from being fruitful and multiplying, but the animals did so as well.  The purification outside of Noach's cocoon was to be swift and vast; there would be no cause for celebration inside.   As if inside a womb waiting to be birthed, they merely sustained life and did not propagate any of the species.

To Begin Again

As we read through the account of the flood, it is amazing how it mirrors the first account of creation that we read in parashat Bereisheet.  As the waters started to descend from the heavens, it says that the "Ark was lifted above the earth" (Bereisheet 7:17).  While that can simply mean that the rising waters caused the Ark to float, it could also symbolically mean that the Ark and all its inhabitants were drawn up so as to be above the carnage.  The souls within were temporarily suspended in the heavens, as seeds for the future, in order to be protected and brought down at the right time to start anew. 

As we enter chapter eight, we see the creation story begin to unfold as a reflection of the first creation's daily account in the beginning of Bereishis:. 

"G-d remembered Noach and all the beasts and all the animals that were with him in the Ark, and G-d caused a spirit to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided." 
Day 1  - G-d's spirit was hovering over the deep. (Bereisheet 8:1)

"The fountains of the deep and the windows were closed, and the rain from heaven was restrained." 
Day 2  - The mayim and the shamayim were separated. (8:2)

"He waited again another seven days and again sent out the dove from the Ark.  The dove came back to him in the evening - and behold! An olive leaf it had plucked with its bill!" 
Day 3 - Herbage has been created (8: 10-11)

"And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first [month], on the first of the month, the waters dried from upon the earth."  
Day 3 - Land and Sea separate (8:13)

"Noach removed the covering of the Ark, and looked - and behold! The surface of the ground had dried."  
Day 4 - the Sun makes a reappearance and dries the earth  (8:13)

"Then he waited again another seven days and sent the dove forth; and it did not return to him anymore.  G-d spoke to Noach, saying, ‘Go forth from the Ark:  you and your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives with you.  Every living being that is with you, and let them teem on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.' " 
Day 5, 6 - the fowl and fish increasing on the earth and mankind being established again (8:12)

"Then Noach built an altar to Hashem and took of every clean animal of every clean bird, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar....And G-d said to Noach and to his sons with him saying:  "And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your offspring after you...This is the sign of the covenant that I give between Me and you, and every living being that is with you, to generations forever:  I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. (8:20, 9: 8-9, 12-13)  
Day 7 - the Shabbat, a day of rest, rejoicing and communing with Hashem

It is clear after the flood waters dry that Hashem wishes to covenant with man on a higher level .  How high?  In the form of a rainbow--that which would cause us to gaze upwards and see the heavens.  This entry covenant would ready us for the Shabbat in the future.  As we read through the account of the flood,  the parallels are remarkable.  The connection  between the covenant of the rainbow, which was to be an everlasting covenant, clearly points ahead to another future everlasting covenant that Hashem would  make with his people:  Shabbat.  Like the rainbow, it a sign of our covenant relationship with G-d  and manifests itself in a visual form:

Blessed is the man that does this, and the son of man that lays hold on it; that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. (Isaiah 56.2)

 One can even contend that the sacrifices that Noach brought upon leaving the Ark were the first sacrifices for the first Shabbat so long ago.  Embodied in Noach's name is the meaning "comfort."  How fitting that the covenant of Shabbat, which would bring comfort to all of Israel in the future,  would be mirrored in Noach and his name through the establishment of the covenant of the rainbow.  While both covenants have a different nature, they are everlasting and those around us are able to see the sign manifest:  be it in the Heavens or in the weekly observance of the Shabbat.  While the Shabbat celebrates rest from creating and destroying,  the rainbow reminds of a newly created world  never to be destroyed by water.  The rainbow was a prelude of Shabbat to come--a pod of time that would house the seeds of salvation, the seeds of Mashiach.

Retreating Inside

So how does all this mesh with our lives and our retreat indoors during winter?  As the rains, the snow, and the cooler weather blanket the northern hemisphere,  we have the opportunity to find respite for a time after the hectic pace of summer and the fall holidays.  We are given a period to tend to the "animals" or things within that need tending.  We find refuge by the warmth of a fire, a warm beverage and retreat into our quiet spaces of study, thought and contemplation.  The weather outside renews the land around us while inside our homes we store up energy--fully anticipating the new life and sap of Tu B'Shevat.  When we arrive at that point,  nature will again commence the cycle being "fruitful and multiplying" and waken us from our dormant period. 

So whether we go from one bean to another--a cup of Joe or a piece of chocolate--to cope with the light deprivation and weather, it is vital to  remember that we are all like pods, like a mighty Ark.   Inside each one of us are seeds of potential fruitfulness.  By floating upon the seas of winter and creating ourselves anew, we will be to the world like the sap in the trees:  slowly, yet faithfully rising ever upwards, nurturing the buds on our branches, and producing fruit to share with a multitude.  This is truly how to be fruitful and multiply,  and bring comfort  to the world around us.

Shabbat Shalom...