Dear Friends,
This week’s Torah portion, Noah, opens with this verse: “The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:11)
Tragically, and linguistically tragically, the word for “violence” in Hebrew is… Hamas.”
“Vat’maleh ha’aretz hamas.” “The earth was filled with violence.”
There is little more to say. Hamas – “Violence” – is a Palestinian terrorist group which controls Gaza and whose charter includes the objective to “kill Jews.” Furthermore, the charter of Hamas explicitly rejects any peaceful methods of resistance, claiming the only path to Palestinian liberation is through vengeful violence and the destruction of Israel.
Our Torah portion opens with such a description of the world, and then continues with God rejecting that path, and calling on the righteous person, Noah, to build an ark to survive the coming flood.
God determined that a world of violence could not be sustained. It needed to be eliminated, wiped off the face of the earth with the primordial flood. And so it was.
The only problem is that violence, itself, was not fully eradicated. It has popped its ugly head back into human affairs, demonstrating its persistence in nearly every century: the Romans, the Mongols, the Crusaders, the westward settlers of the Americas, Nazis, and today’s terrorists.
Sadly, in our world we cannot expect God will wash away the marauders, murderers, rapists and kidnappers with a cleansing flood. God has left with us a handbook for righteous living, namely, the Torah and its subsequent texts of Mishnah and Talmud, which describe living in accordance with the post-Flood reality. Torah, again and again, asserts that we are to remove the evil from our midst, especially when it describes people who otherwise do violence to other people.
Ultimately, God has charged us – human beings – with policing justice and injustice in our world. It is up to us to find a way to wipe it clean. We have to flood it with our just and righteous instincts, and help the human community realize that when the earth is filled with violence, we have to redeem it, ourselves.
Otherwise, the world will remain filled with violence.
For a better Shabbat,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
This week’s Torah portion, Noah, opens with this verse: “The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:11)
Tragically, and linguistically tragically, the word for “violence” in Hebrew is… Hamas.”
“Vat’maleh ha’aretz hamas.” “The earth was filled with violence.”
There is little more to say. Hamas – “Violence” – is a Palestinian terrorist group which controls Gaza and whose charter includes the objective to “kill Jews.” Furthermore, the charter of Hamas explicitly rejects any peaceful methods of resistance, claiming the only path to Palestinian liberation is through vengeful violence and the destruction of Israel.
Our Torah portion opens with such a description of the world, and then continues with God rejecting that path, and calling on the righteous person, Noah, to build an ark to survive the coming flood.
God determined that a world of violence could not be sustained. It needed to be eliminated, wiped off the face of the earth with the primordial flood. And so it was.
The only problem is that violence, itself, was not fully eradicated. It has popped its ugly head back into human affairs, demonstrating its persistence in nearly every century: the Romans, the Mongols, the Crusaders, the westward settlers of the Americas, Nazis, and today’s terrorists.
Sadly, in our world we cannot expect God will wash away the marauders, murderers, rapists and kidnappers with a cleansing flood. God has left with us a handbook for righteous living, namely, the Torah and its subsequent texts of Mishnah and Talmud, which describe living in accordance with the post-Flood reality. Torah, again and again, asserts that we are to remove the evil from our midst, especially when it describes people who otherwise do violence to other people.
Ultimately, God has charged us – human beings – with policing justice and injustice in our world. It is up to us to find a way to wipe it clean. We have to flood it with our just and righteous instincts, and help the human community realize that when the earth is filled with violence, we have to redeem it, ourselves.
Otherwise, the world will remain filled with violence.
For a better Shabbat,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn