The Family That Saved the World

According to the Jewish Chronology known as Seder Olam, 1,656 years after the birth of Adam, rampant robbery and perversion filled the earth as revealed in Parashat Noach(Gen. 6:9–11:32) God sends the Mabbul (Flood) to purify the planet but preserves the family of righteous Noach by commanding him to build a tevah (ark).

“But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.” (Genesis 6:18)

Only eight people survived the global devastation: Noach, his wife, their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. After a year, those in the ark depart and God makes a covenant with Noach.

The destruction of the planet was the result of humanity rejecting God’s first six directives given to Adam: To Prohibit Idolatry, Blasphemy, Sexual Immorality, Murder, Theft and to Establish Courts of Justice. Those same precepts were re-instated in the covenant made with Noah, along with a new one. The boiling waters of the Mabul (which actually means to “wither away”)had leached out the rich, life-giving nutrients that saturated the soil, before the Flood.

Thus, the new commandment allowed us to consume the flesh of the animals but restricted eating the limb of an living animal.

When the Biblical narrative describes Noach and his family entering the ark, one could ask, why did Noach choose members of his own household rather than other individuals?

The first and obvious response would be the fact that they were the only souls righteous enough to merit being saved. Chazal, the Jewish sages, cite this as evidence of Noach’s shortcomings and suggest that the 120 years given for humanity to repent should have been used to convince the people to change their ways.

Rabbeinu Bahya tells us that Noach understood there were not even ten righteous people remaining whose merit might avert destruction.

Possibly we are missing another dimension to the story, one that anticipates God’s plan for rebuilding civilization.

It seems to me that the Ark was intended to preserve a fundamental institution through which humanity should rebuild the world: the family.

Noach may not have understood the full implications of this arrangement, but those who emerged from the Ark represented relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and generations yet unborn.

The Torah appears to reinforce this idea almost immediately:

“These are the families of the sons of Noach, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were separated on the earth after the Flood.” (Genesis 10:32)

Three hundred forty years later, the lesson of the Flood was almost forgotten when Nimrod, a charismatic political tyrant, united people in an effort to replace God with a city and a lofty edifice. The builders declare:

“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

(Genesis 11:4)

The Torah does not condemn the building of cities in themselves.

However, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, Chapter 24, describes a society in which the construction of the Tower had become more important than human life. If a worker fell to his death, nobody paid attention. But when a brick fell, the builders mourned its loss.

God’s response was to confuse their language and disperse them throughout the earth. The event accomplished precisely what the builders had hoped to prevent.

The generations of Shem lead us to Terach and ultimately to his son Avraham who had rejected the idolatry of his native city, Bavel.

And here we encounter a revealing contrast in Genesis.

The builders of the Tower of Bavel proclaimed, “Let us make a name for ourselves.”

God declares to Avraham, “I will make your name great” (Genesis 12:2).

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, Chapter 24, describes Avraham as witness to the building of the Tower. His condemnation of the builders and their rebellion demonstrates why God chose Avraham as the progenitor of a future nation:

“For I have known him, because he commands his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice.” (Genesis 18:19)

Avraham would transmit that righteousness to his children and household. He would establish a continuing legacy of righteousness and justice.

“And through that family, God promised that all the families of the earth would ultimately be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3).

This brings us to the nation of Israel, where the relationship between family and nation assumes an even greater significance.

Centuries after Avraham, Balaam was hired by Israel’s enemies to curse the people. But he could only extol their virtues that were bound up in what we call today, family values. Inspired by what he saw, the corrupt old seer could only declare:

“How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel!” (Numbers 24:5)

The Talmud, in Bava Batra 60a, explains that Balaam noticed the entrances of the Israelite tents were arranged so that one household did not intrude upon the privacy of another. This is the same nation whose destiny is to build, “a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7).

Israel, the nation that sprang from Avraham's loins is still with us today, held firmly together by the precepts found in Leviticus 19:18, Deuteronomy 11:19 and similar teachings. These principles are the bedrock of Jewish survival as expressed in the phrase, "Kol Yisrael arevim ze la'zeh"—Israel is bound by love and mutual obligation. Under Torah, each member bears responsibility for the spiritual and moral state of the whole. That idea thrives in modern Israel. In tragedy or joy, everyone in Israel is affected—just like a family.