What Commandment Underlies
The Stories About Noah’s Generations?
*
Rabbi Dr. Zvi Aviner
*
Noahidesevencommandsments.com
1 Theft by
Canaanites
Sarah and Pharaoh
Lot stealing waters
Evil Sodomites
Four northern kings
King of Sodom
2 Six Comm of Adam in Eden
1: IDOLATRY
2: ADULTERY
3: BLOODSHED
4: THEFT
5: JUSTICE
6: BLASPHEMY
3 The Bloodshed Laws in the Rainbow Covenant
1 Your blood that belongs to your souls (No suicide)
2 Of every beast will I demand (indirect killing)
3 But of man – (by mercenaries)
4 That of his brother – (killing from mercy )
5 Whoever shed blood of Man in Man (no abortion)
6 by man shall his blood taken (direct killing)
4
On Enosh
And to Sheth too was born a son,
whom he named Enosh,
it was then that they began calling
in the name of YHVH. (4: 26)
5
Enosh Cain’s Children of ELKM
Calling only YHVH. Following the harsh ways of ELKM
Overlooking the law. Heartless peoples
6
Structure of the Book of Genesis
IDOLATRY in Chapter One)
Then ADULTERY in the story of Eden
Then BLOODSHED in the stories of Noah’s generations
Then THEFT in the stories about Abraham traveling
Then JUSTICE in the stories about Jacob
Then DESECRATION in the stories of Joseph
What Commandment Underlies
The Stories About Noah’s Generations?
*
Rabbi Dr. Zvi Aviner
*
Noahidesevencommandsments.com
Keeping the Seven comm of Noah is the backbone of the Noahide movement. A Noahide is expected to know those comm and understand where they are written in the Torah.
But very often I hear the complain that nowhere in the Torah you see the Comm presented. Indeed, Noah did not come down the mountain holding stone tablets in his hands on which the Seven Comm are inscribed by G-d. Moreover, he did not descend from a Mountain accompanied by thunder and storms. He did not seek to impress anyone, nor did he wish to enforce his message.
The only Mountain he descended from was Mount Ararat after the Flood, from where he went to Mount Moriah to offer his burnt offering and prayer, that the Flood would not return. As a result, Hashem entered with him the Rainbow covenant under which we still live.
So where in the Torah text we see the seven Comm?
I want to show you that the comm are given by the book of genesis itself. How?
Last class we saw that the entire block in the Torah that describes Abraham’s journey in the holy land, revolves around Theft, which is the Fourth Comm of Adam.
Thus,
Abraham first meets the Canaanites who was conquering the land from the semitic Emorites. Next, his wife Sarah is abducted by Phraoh, also Theft. Then he departs from his nephew Lot , whose shepherds were stealing waters from the locals. Then he meets the evil sodomites who excelled in all sorts of Theft and stealing. Next he fights the four kings of the North who came to the south to establish their empire, an organized form of theft.
Then he meets the King of Sodom with whom he declines to share anything from a thread to a shoelace.
1 Theft by
Canaanites
Sarah and Pharaoh
Lot stealing waters
Evil Sodomites
Four northern kings
King of Sodom
Abraham fought against Theft by being charitable, and by called Hashem by a new name, My Master and Owner, AaDoNai, who owns the Heavens and the earth. Hence stealing is a crime against Hahsem, besides a violation of the law.
We therefore could paint this section of the Torah by one color, that designate Theft, such as green. By this we show that the chain of stories comprises one block, relating to Adam 4th Comm. Theft.
Today let’s turn the Torah’s pages back to Noah and his generations and ask whether we could do the same here, finding
a common thread that underlies the stories, like a common commandment that Noah’s generations violated. Could we also paint those stories with one color?
Let’s start our block with Adam and Eve as they came on Earth to start a new society. That was a great promise, yet only ten generations later humanity went almost extinct apart from Noah and his nascent family.
Hence, we can look at the stories as one block of human experiment, beginning with a small family and ending with large society.
Is there a common thread that permeates all the stories in the block?
Let’s examine it from above, without entering details.
The block begins with Cain killing Abel, the first BLOODSHED ever. It was a violation of Adam’s 3rd Commandment, BOODSHED, which they could not do before that in Eden.
Let’s recall that in Eden Adam and his wife received Six Comm –
2 Six Comm of Adam in Eden
1: IDOLATRY
2: ADULTERY
3: BLOODSHED
4: THEFT
5: JUSTICE
6: BLASPHEMY
Out of the six, Adam and his wife could and did violate the first two.
IDOLATRY – by not listening to G-d’s Comm
ADULTERY – when the married woman conferred [privately with the cunning Serpent.
They could not violate the rest of the comm.
Which were given to them in case they would be chased out to live on earth.
No wonder then that the first transgression the humans did on real earth was neither IDOLATRY nor ADULTERY but
BLOODSHED
So, the block begins with Cain and Abel’s BLOODSHED,
And ends with the Flood and Noah’s Rainbow Cov that is based on BLOODSHED laws
3 The Bloodshed Laws in the Rainbow Covenant
1 Your blood that belongs to your souls (No suicide)
2 Of every beast will I demand (indirect killing)
3 But of man – (by mercenaries)
4 That of his brother – (killing from mercy )
5 Whoever shed blood of Man in Man (no abortion)
6 by man shall his blood taken (direct killing)
Hence the block begins and ends with Bloodshed, which is Adam Comm number 3. If so, the entire chain from Cain and Abel to Noah is dealing with BLOODSHED.
Indeed , the entire chain of stories between Cain and Noah deals within BLOODSHED.
It tells us how BLOODSHED grew from killing one person to the rampant BLOODSHED in Noah’s generation. It tells us the factors that let it grow so big.
Let’s pay attention to those factors, since they may play a role in our society too.
And that chain of stories goes as follows:
,
First, we notice that the first murder occurred when Cain became jealous of Abel regarding their gift offering. Abel’s offering was accepted, while his was rejected. Hence the first murder stemmed from religious jealousy and rivalry.
That event was an opening shot to what came next.
For the Torah tells us next is how the growing society split into two fractions along a religious line.
It began with Adam’s grandson Enosh,
who prayed only to the Merciful attribute YHVH
neglecting ELKM altogether.
4
On Enosh
And to Sheth too was born a son,
whom he named Enosh,
it was then that they began calling
in the name of YHVH. (4: 26)
Opposing Enosh were Cain’s descendants, who followed the harsh ways of ELKM while neglecting the Merciful YHVH altogether. That is why they are called the Children of ELKM (5:4)
Thus, humanity split into two religious fractions along the two Attributes, each fraction preferring one Attribute over the other. One followed and adored Mercy, the other followed and adored i ELKM, or ALLAH.
5
Enosh Cain’s Children of ELKM
Calling only YHVH. Following the harsh ways of ELKM
Overlooking the law. Heartless peoples
Both fractions breached Y-E Oneness, which is a sort of IDOLATRY.
Enosh, according to the RMBM, is considered the father of IDOLATRY in the world.
Next the Torah describes how the two fractions slid into ADULTERY, Adam’s 2ndComm.
in particular, the verse says that the Children of ELKM took for themselves any woman they wished, married or not. (Genesis 5: 4)
according to Rashi, they also degenerated into Homosexuality, Bestiality and other sexual perversions. Thus, from violating Adam’s Comm number 1, IDOLATRY, humanity slid into violating Adam’s Comm number 2, ADULTERY.
Next the Torah tells how humanity continued to slide down the slippery road into violating Ada’s 3rd Comm, Bloodshed.
It began by Tubal Cain, a descendant of Cain, who forged strong metal weapon made by a metal alloy he had discovered. (4:22)
This new technology made his clan, the Children of ELKM, the mightiest military force on Earth. No one could face or overcome Tubal weapons.
The very name Tubal means spices. Tubal Cain means that he put spices and improved the murderous skills of his forefather Cain. If Cain had murdered Abel by his own hands, here came his descendant Tubal and killed thousands by his strong weapons.
It is said in the Midrash that
Tubal’s ferocious gangues roamed the streets killing and robbing people under the watching Sun, with no shame and no fear.
Enosh’s disciples committed their own Bloodshed, and soon the two fractioned engaged in what we may call a religious conflict that filled the Earth with innocent Blood.
The Book of Zohar says that the animosity between the twp fractions was so great that a ban was imposed on any mixed marriages between them.
They spread the idea that the offspring of such mixed marriages would be monsters that would destroy the world.
How fascinating it is that Tubal Cain’s own sister Naama, married Noah who came from the rival fraction of Enosh.
Their love overcame the ban, yet they refrained from bearing children till very close to the Flood. And then they begot only three sons and no more.
You can say that Naama and Noah implemented Y-E Oneness in their marriage. They opposed both Enosh teaching and Cain’s teaching, opting to follow y-E oneness.
That is how they were the only family that were saved by the HC oof y-e from the flood.
Noah fought against Bloodshed. He used Tubal Cain strong metal to build the first metal plough to ease the plight of the farmers.
He also added a new Comm, the 7th, forbidding the consumption of Blood and a limb torn from a living animal.
His seventh Comm came to support his stance against violating Adam’s 3rd, Bloodshed.
We can now paint the entire block of the Torah, from Cain and Abel to Noah’s Covenant, by one color – the color of BLOODSHED, let’s say – red.
Thus, as we have painted Abraham entire section by Green, designating his stance against Theft, Adam’s 3rd comm,
Now we may paint the entire section of the Torah from Cain to Noah by red, recognizing Adam’s 3rd comm. Bloodshed as the common thread underlying the stories.
In the same token,
We can also look farther back in the book into the story of Eden which revolves around ADULTERY, Adam’s 2ND COMM. We may paint it pink.
Then we can turn even farther back into Genesis ch1, where the Comm of IDOLATR Y is introduced – when ELKM spoke in the plural saying let us make an Adam.
By using the plural, tELKM opened the door for idolaters to think there is more than one CREATOR. (As Rashi says).
We may paint chapter 1 in black, designating IDOLATRY.
This way we see that Moses structured the book of Genesis moving from one comm of Adam to the next.
5
Structure of the Book of Genesis
IDOLATRY in Chapter One)
Then ADULTERY in the story of Eden
Then BLOODSHED in the stories of Noah’s generations
Then THEFT in the stories about Abraham traveling
Then JUSTICE in the stories about Jacob
Then DESECRATION in the stories of Joseph
This structure continues into the rest of the Book of genesis,
Moving to 5 and 6 –
from Abraham to Jacob seeking justice,
then to Joseph brothers desecrating Hahsem’s name by selling their brother for slavery.
Noahites are not by standers. They are an essential part in the relationship between Hashem and Mankind
Hence you have an excellent answer to the q we’ve started with.
. The source of the Seven Comm is given by the book of Genesis itself, which presents the Comm one by one.
It is also telling us the proper order of the Comm, which come first, second, third and so on.
Moreover, we have so far discussed the Comm from above, without going into details. The fact is that if you wish to know everything that the Torah think about a comm, its philosophy and its sub laws and ideas, you need to focus on each section in details and learn it time and again all your life.
.
.
What Commandment Underlies
The Stories About Noah’s Generations?
*
Rabbi Dr. Zvi Aviner
*
Noahidesevencommandsments.com
1 Theft by
Canaanites
Sarah and Pharaoh
Lot stealing waters
Evil Sodomites
Four northern kings
King of Sodom
2 Six Comm of Adam in Eden
1: IDOLATRY
2: ADULTERY
3: BLOODSHED
4: THEFT
5: JUSTICE
6: BLASPHEMY
3 The Bloodshed Laws in the Rainbow Covenant
1 Your blood that belongs to your souls (No suicide)
2 Of every beast will I demand (indirect killing)
3 But of man – (by mercenaries)
4 That of his brother – (killing from mercy )
5 Whoever shed blood of Man in Man (no abortion)
6 by man shall his blood taken (direct killing)
4
On Enosh
And to Sheth too was born a son,
whom he named Enosh,
it was then that they began calling
in the name of YHVH. (4: 26)
5
Enosh Cain’s Children of ELKM
Calling only YHVH. Following the harsh ways of ELKM
Overlooking the law. Heartless peoples
6
Structure of the Book of Genesis
IDOLATRY in Chapter One)
Then ADULTERY in the story of Eden
Then BLOODSHED in the stories of Noah’s generations
Then THEFT in the stories about Abraham traveling
Then JUSTICE in the stories about Jacob
Then DESECRATION in the stories of Joseph
What Commandment Underlies
The Stories About Noah’s Generations?
*
Rabbi Dr. Zvi Aviner
*
Noahidesevencommandsments.com
Keeping the Seven comm of Noah is the backbone of the Noahide movement. A Noahide is expected to know those comm and understand where they are written in the Torah.
But very often I hear the complain that nowhere in the Torah you see the Comm presented. Indeed, Noah did not come down the mountain holding stone tablets in his hands on which the Seven Comm are inscribed by G-d. Moreover, he did not descend from a Mountain accompanied by thunder and storms. He did not seek to impress anyone, nor did he wish to enforce his message.
The only Mountain he descended from was Mount Ararat after the Flood, from where he went to Mount Moriah to offer his burnt offering and prayer, that the Flood would not return. As a result, Hashem entered with him the Rainbow covenant under which we still live.
So where in the Torah text we see the seven Comm?
I want to show you that the comm are given by the book of genesis itself. How?
Last class we saw that the entire block in the Torah that describes Abraham’s journey in the holy land, revolves around Theft, which is the Fourth Comm of Adam.
Thus,
Abraham first meets the Canaanites who was conquering the land from the semitic Emorites. Next, his wife Sarah is abducted by Phraoh, also Theft. Then he departs from his nephew Lot , whose shepherds were stealing waters from the locals. Then he meets the evil sodomites who excelled in all sorts of Theft and stealing. Next he fights the four kings of the North who came to the south to establish their empire, an organized form of theft.
Then he meets the King of Sodom with whom he declines to share anything from a thread to a shoelace.
1 Theft by
Canaanites
Sarah and Pharaoh
Lot stealing waters
Evil Sodomites
Four northern kings
King of Sodom
Abraham fought against Theft by being charitable, and by called Hashem by a new name, My Master and Owner, AaDoNai, who owns the Heavens and the earth. Hence stealing is a crime against Hahsem, besides a violation of the law.
We therefore could paint this section of the Torah by one color, that designate Theft, such as green. By this we show that the chain of stories comprises one block, relating to Adam 4th Comm. Theft.
Today let’s turn the Torah’s pages back to Noah and his generations and ask whether we could do the same here, finding
a common thread that underlies the stories, like a common commandment that Noah’s generations violated. Could we also paint those stories with one color?
Let’s start our block with Adam and Eve as they came on Earth to start a new society. That was a great promise, yet only ten generations later humanity went almost extinct apart from Noah and his nascent family.
Hence, we can look at the stories as one block of human experiment, beginning with a small family and ending with large society.
Is there a common thread that permeates all the stories in the block?
Let’s examine it from above, without entering details.
The block begins with Cain killing Abel, the first BLOODSHED ever. It was a violation of Adam’s 3rd Commandment, BOODSHED, which they could not do before that in Eden.
Let’s recall that in Eden Adam and his wife received Six Comm –
2 Six Comm of Adam in Eden
1: IDOLATRY
2: ADULTERY
3: BLOODSHED
4: THEFT
5: JUSTICE
6: BLASPHEMY
Out of the six, Adam and his wife could and did violate the first two.
IDOLATRY – by not listening to G-d’s Comm
ADULTERY – when the married woman conferred [privately with the cunning Serpent.
They could not violate the rest of the comm.
Which were given to them in case they would be chased out to live on earth.
No wonder then that the first transgression the humans did on real earth was neither IDOLATRY nor ADULTERY but
BLOODSHED
So, the block begins with Cain and Abel’s BLOODSHED,
And ends with the Flood and Noah’s Rainbow Cov that is based on BLOODSHED laws
3 The Bloodshed Laws in the Rainbow Covenant
1 Your blood that belongs to your souls (No suicide)
2 Of every beast will I demand (indirect killing)
3 But of man – (by mercenaries)
4 That of his brother – (killing from mercy )
5 Whoever shed blood of Man in Man (no abortion)
6 by man shall his blood taken (direct killing)
Hence the block begins and ends with Bloodshed, which is Adam Comm number 3. If so, the entire chain from Cain and Abel to Noah is dealing with BLOODSHED.
Indeed , the entire chain of stories between Cain and Noah deals within BLOODSHED.
It tells us how BLOODSHED grew from killing one person to the rampant BLOODSHED in Noah’s generation. It tells us the factors that let it grow so big.
Let’s pay attention to those factors, since they may play a role in our society too.
And that chain of stories goes as follows:
,
First, we notice that the first murder occurred when Cain became jealous of Abel regarding their gift offering. Abel’s offering was accepted, while his was rejected. Hence the first murder stemmed from religious jealousy and rivalry.
That event was an opening shot to what came next.
For the Torah tells us next is how the growing society split into two fractions along a religious line.
It began with Adam’s grandson Enosh,
who prayed only to the Merciful attribute YHVH
neglecting ELKM altogether.
4
On Enosh
And to Sheth too was born a son,
whom he named Enosh,
it was then that they began calling
in the name of YHVH. (4: 26)
Opposing Enosh were Cain’s descendants, who followed the harsh ways of ELKM while neglecting the Merciful YHVH altogether. That is why they are called the Children of ELKM (5:4)
Thus, humanity split into two religious fractions along the two Attributes, each fraction preferring one Attribute over the other. One followed and adored Mercy, the other followed and adored i ELKM, or ALLAH.
5
Enosh Cain’s Children of ELKM
Calling only YHVH. Following the harsh ways of ELKM
Overlooking the law. Heartless peoples
Both fractions breached Y-E Oneness, which is a sort of IDOLATRY.
Enosh, according to the RMBM, is considered the father of IDOLATRY in the world.
Next the Torah describes how the two fractions slid into ADULTERY, Adam’s 2ndComm.
in particular, the verse says that the Children of ELKM took for themselves any woman they wished, married or not. (Genesis 5: 4)
according to Rashi, they also degenerated into Homosexuality, Bestiality and other sexual perversions. Thus, from violating Adam’s Comm number 1, IDOLATRY, humanity slid into violating Adam’s Comm number 2, ADULTERY.
Next the Torah tells how humanity continued to slide down the slippery road into violating Ada’s 3rd Comm, Bloodshed.
It began by Tubal Cain, a descendant of Cain, who forged strong metal weapon made by a metal alloy he had discovered. (4:22)
This new technology made his clan, the Children of ELKM, the mightiest military force on Earth. No one could face or overcome Tubal weapons.
The very name Tubal means spices. Tubal Cain means that he put spices and improved the murderous skills of his forefather Cain. If Cain had murdered Abel by his own hands, here came his descendant Tubal and killed thousands by his strong weapons.
It is said in the Midrash that
Tubal’s ferocious gangues roamed the streets killing and robbing people under the watching Sun, with no shame and no fear.
Enosh’s disciples committed their own Bloodshed, and soon the two fractioned engaged in what we may call a religious conflict that filled the Earth with innocent Blood.
The Book of Zohar says that the animosity between the twp fractions was so great that a ban was imposed on any mixed marriages between them.
They spread the idea that the offspring of such mixed marriages would be monsters that would destroy the world.
How fascinating it is that Tubal Cain’s own sister Naama, married Noah who came from the rival fraction of Enosh.
Their love overcame the ban, yet they refrained from bearing children till very close to the Flood. And then they begot only three sons and no more.
You can say that Naama and Noah implemented Y-E Oneness in their marriage. They opposed both Enosh teaching and Cain’s teaching, opting to follow y-E oneness.
That is how they were the only family that were saved by the HC oof y-e from the flood.
Noah fought against Bloodshed. He used Tubal Cain strong metal to build the first metal plough to ease the plight of the farmers.
He also added a new Comm, the 7th, forbidding the consumption of Blood and a limb torn from a living animal.
His seventh Comm came to support his stance against violating Adam’s 3rd, Bloodshed.
We can now paint the entire block of the Torah, from Cain and Abel to Noah’s Covenant, by one color – the color of BLOODSHED, let’s say – red.
Thus, as we have painted Abraham entire section by Green, designating his stance against Theft, Adam’s 3rd comm,
Now we may paint the entire section of the Torah from Cain to Noah by red, recognizing Adam’s 3rd comm. Bloodshed as the common thread underlying the stories.
In the same token,
We can also look farther back in the book into the story of Eden which revolves around ADULTERY, Adam’s 2ND COMM. We may paint it pink.
Then we can turn even farther back into Genesis ch1, where the Comm of IDOLATR Y is introduced – when ELKM spoke in the plural saying let us make an Adam.
By using the plural, tELKM opened the door for idolaters to think there is more than one CREATOR. (As Rashi says).
We may paint chapter 1 in black, designating IDOLATRY.
This way we see that Moses structured the book of Genesis moving from one comm of Adam to the next.
5
Structure of the Book of Genesis
IDOLATRY in Chapter One)
Then ADULTERY in the story of Eden
Then BLOODSHED in the stories of Noah’s generations
Then THEFT in the stories about Abraham traveling
Then JUSTICE in the stories about Jacob
Then DESECRATION in the stories of Joseph
This structure continues into the rest of the Book of genesis,
Moving to 5 and 6 –
from Abraham to Jacob seeking justice,
then to Joseph brothers desecrating Hahsem’s name by selling their brother for slavery.
Noahites are not by standers. They are an essential part in the relationship between Hashem and Mankind
Hence you have an excellent answer to the q we’ve started with.
. The source of the Seven Comm is given by the book of Genesis itself, which presents the Comm one by one.
It is also telling us the proper order of the Comm, which come first, second, third and so on.
Moreover, we have so far discussed the Comm from above, without going into details. The fact is that if you wish to know everything that the Torah think about a comm, its philosophy and its sub laws and ideas, you need to focus on each section in details and learn it time and again all your life.
.
.