Noach 5770

So the parsha for this week (6 Cheshvan, 5770) was Noach. It is an interesting parsha for many reasons. There are lots of discussions about the nature of Noach's righteousness, why the animals were punished for what appears to be the sins of man, and explanations for the rainbow. These are all very important, but something that I noticed in the parsha was not explained by anything I read over the week. In fact, because I could not find an explanations, I was forced to post this a little late while I dwelled on it.

So in Parshas Noach, after the rain has stopped, and the ark had come to rest, the Torah tells us ויהי מקץ ארבעים יום ויפתח נח את חלון התבה אשר עשה; וישלח את הערב ויצא יצוא ושוב עד יבשת המים מעל הארץ -- And it came to be at the end of forty days, that Noach opened the window of the ark he had made; and he sent forth the raven, and it went out and returned until the waters dried up off the earth. It then continues to say וישלח את היונה מאתו לראות הקלו המים מעל פני האדמה -- And he sent forth the dove from with him to see whether the waters had abated from the surface of the earth.

So the question there is really two fold: first, why did Noach have to send out two birds, and second, why did he have to send out those two birds?

In order to answer the first question, we must look at what actually occured here. The Torah says that Noach opened the window of the ark (ויפתח נח את חלון התבה) and sent forth the raven (וישלח את הערב). Rashi tells us in his commentary to the first possuk that the "window" the Torah mentions was made for light and not the opening to the ark. The Ohr HaChaim says that when Noach opened the window, the raven flew out. He points to the possuk which by the raven simply says, "[And] he sent forth the raven," while the possuk regarding the dove says, "And he sent forth the dove from with him to see whether the waters had abated." In fact, the Hebrew word וישלח that is used by both the raven and the dove which is translated here as "and [Noach] sent" can mean both send out and release. So by the raven, it simply means Noach released him by opening the window; while by the dove, it means Noach sent him out.

So if Noach's goal in releasing the dove was to see whether the waters had abated, why did he have to send out another bird if the raven had already gone outside? Wouldn't the raven be able to show him if the water had abated? The possuk says that the raven went out and returned until the waters dried up off the earth (ויצא יצוא ושוב עד יבשת המים מעל הארץ). The Ohr HaChaim says that the raven was mating with his partner when the window was open, and that is why he flew out--because G-d forbade mating by all animals and man during their stay on the ark; however, the Rashi says: יצוא ושוב: הולך ומקיף סביבות התיבה ולא הלך בשליחותו שהיה חושדו על בת זוגו, כמו ששנינו באגדת חלק -- and it went out, back and forth: Going and encircling around the ark, but it did not go to fulfill its errand because it [the raven] suspected him [Noah] concerning its mate, as we find in the Aggadah of [chapter] “Chelek.” This seems to contradict the Ohr HaChaim because having an errand implies that Noach physically sent the raven out on a mission.

Either way, it is apparent that the raven was not able to give Noach the necessary information because it was too caught up in its own concerns--mating. In fact, the gematria of הערב (the raven) is the same as זרע, which means both to sow and sperm depending on the vowelization.

The dove, on the other hand, was clearly sent out with a purpose: to see if the waters had abated from the surface of the earth (לראות הקלו המים מעל פני האדמה). Noach had to send out the dove three times before it finally stopped returning to him; yet, by each time we do not hear about the dove hesitating or attemping to deal with its own concerns--it simply goes out and does what it is supposed to do. Tellingly, the gematria of היונה (the dove) is the same as עבד (servant). Eventually, we see that on the second time the dove finds food, and on the third time it finds land (since it does not return). This is in contrast to the raven, which is essentially flying in circles until the water falls.

So what is the major difference between the raven and the dove? The answer is the answer to our second question above. The raven's immediate and only concern was for himself and physical pleasures; however, the dove unquestioningly was a servant to Noach. G-d gave the animals one way to serve Him, and that is by serving man. By not serving man, the raven was not serving G-d; as such, it found no respite for its foot nor did it find food to eat until the waters had subsided. The dove's first concern was serving Noach, and as such it was rewarded with food by Noach, food from the olive tree, and eventually a place to settle. The major difference is that the dove served G-d through Noach while the raven served only itself.

What can we learn from this? We learn that while even the raven eventually got to rest and eat, only through the service of G-d with the proper mindset does one earn any merit for any reward. Unlike the animals which serve G-d by serving man and only have life in this world, we have 613 mitzvos through which to serve G-d and earn our merit for the World to Come. None of us are perfect, and there are times when personal concerns seem to trump those relating to serving G-d; but, we must actively strive to change that. May we continue to transform our moments of thinking like the raven into moments of thinking like the dove so that we can always properly serve our Creator with the proper mindset and complete understanding.