© 2014 by Rabbi Zvi Aviner
Noah’s Tree Of Life
These are Noah’s words to his children after the Flood…
Prologue 3/Why then should we procreate?
Fearing Man’s bloodthirsty heart
Let me tell you why I feared so much the returning of BLOODSHED. My generation did not commit it because of a lack in faith. On the contrary, they did it out of excessive piety, just like Cain had killed Abel. To remind you, my generation believed in the CREATOR, but they split into two rival camps. One camp, the Children of Seth to whom my family belongs, emphasized MERCY over JUDGMENT. The other camp, the Children of Cain to whom your mother Naama belongs, opted for JUDGEMENT over MERCY. Those differences were enough to incite tremendous BLOODSHED, each camp fighting the other to the death. Hence, I concluded, the fault is not faith but the human heart, our animalistic, bloodthirsty heart. Mankind just seeks excuses for murdering. If so, why should I procreate?
Would Humanity split again between MERCY and JUDGMENT?
Moreover, I feared that you my sons or your children would also split along MERCY and JUDGEMENT. Mankind is bound to fall into that trap, time and again. It is part of our makeup. Had not Adam and Eve been formed in Eden by the two Heavenly Attributes, MERCY and JUDGMENT, holding Wing against Wing? (Genesis 2: 4) Mankind resembles a child torn apart between loving his parents. Sometimes the child would prefer his mother, then his father, or the other way around. When that happens and Mankind would split again, BLOODSHED would return. Why then should we procreate?
Editor: The entire story of Eden is written under ‘YHVH ELoHiM,’ the Attribute of Mercy and Judgment written close to each other as in no other chapter in the Bible. Noah will elaborate on the Attributes later.
Fearing Bad children of mixed marriages between Cain and Seth
But my fears of BLOODSHED peaked when I thought about your origin, my sons. I have not told you about it, but you should not have been born at all! Your mother is a descendant of Cain, and I come from Seth, and both families had never intermarried. In the past they did, only to produce ‘monstrous children who threatened to destroy the world.’ It was as if mix marriages between our families have combined the worst in each family, producing exceedingly evil people. As a farmer I could understand that. You take two rotten seeds and the product would be exceedingly rotten. Your mother and I were aware of that ancient ban yet our love overcame our fear and we married each other. Yet we pledged to each other that we would never take the risk and bear children of our own.
Thus your mother and were married to each other for almost four hundred years, without bearing a child of our own. While our peers proliferated and produced hundreds and even thousands of children and grandchildren and great grandchildren, the two of us set childless. It was so hard on your mother, who loves children. And then, a hundred years before the Flood, we took the chance and bore the three of you, my sons, then no more. And when the three of you grew up and got married, we asked you to follow our example and bear no child of your own. We did not elaborate on the reason for our unusual request, yet you have fully complied and I appreciate it. Now after the Flood, I still feared the ancient ban. Should we take the risk and bring children to the world, only to see that they are those fearful monsters who would destroy the world?
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Read also: Genesis Vs. Science, Can they Match?” By Zvi Aviner, at www.smashwards.com