Parshat Noach 5762
October 19th-20th, 2001
3 Cheshvan, 5762

I can imagine someone reading the Torah's description of the dimensions of the Ark in this week's parsha, and feeling awfully superior.  

300 cubits in length, 50 in width and 30 in height, with a cubit estimated as at least a foot and a half.  Not an insignificant size, mind you: the commentary in the Artscroll Chumash does the math, and calculates each of its three stories as having floor space of 101, 250 square feet.  (How that compares, say, to the Voyager of the Seas--world's largest cruise ship when I last checked--is an interesting line of inquiry I encourage you to pursue.)

But just hold on a minute, says our reader.  Look at the supposed contents of this biblical Ark:

"And from all that lives, of all flesh, tow of each shall you bring into the Ark to keep alive with you; they shall be male and female.  From each bird according to its kind, and from each animal according to its kind, and from each thing that creeps on the ground according to its kind, two of each shall come to you to keep alive."  (6, 19-20)

Now, maybe this ancient vessel could have held the total fauna of the San Diego Zoo (maybe), but two of each species of animal on the face of the entire planet earth?  Or even just two of each species of beetle?  Come now.  The conclusion our reader draws: however much wisdom it may contain, or literary interest it may hold, the Biblical story is a hoary old fable, an allegory.  It never really happened.

Don't worry.  I'm not going to refer you to Nova, or to the yearly trickle of books on the historical veracity of the great Flood.  Let's turn instead to a much weightier authority.  One of our classical Torah commentators, Nachmanidies (the Ramban), who lived in the 1200's, was keenly aware of all the logistical improbabilities of the Ark and who dealt with them head on.  His discussion not only answers the objections of our reader, but moreover, reveals some crucial (and widely applicable) Torah ideas contained in this story.

"It is known that there are a great many beasts," Ramban begins, "and some of them-such as elephants, rams and others-are very large; likewise, the creeping things upon the earth are very many.  Of the fowl of the heaven there are also innumerably many kinds, just as our Rabbis have said…Noach was thus obligated to bring all of them into the ark in order that they may beget their like [after the Flood].  If you would gather a full year's supply of food for all of them, [you would find] that this ark and ten others like it could not hold it!"

There is not really a natural explanation that is plausible, Ramban concludes.  And since the Torah is not a fable, there must be another way to approach this account.

Ramban goes on.  "This was a miracle of a small space containing a great quantity."

Ramban invokes a supra-rational explanation: the Ark contained its immense cargo by means of a miracle.  And it was a type of miracle (great quantity in a small area) that does appear elsewhere in the Torah as well, at certain times, as when the "entire assembly of the Children of Israel" would congregate in front of the Tabernacle.

Miracles are certainly an integral part of the Torah.  As Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto writes, "When He wills, G-d can change the order of creation at any time.  He can bring about various miracles and wonders, as He desires and deems beneficial for creation, according to the time and circumstances." (The Way of G-d, II: 5, 6)

Don't think, however, that whenever we feel like it (as when confronted with some inexplicable event in life or the Torah), we can just shout, "Miracle," and thereby answer every question.  Not only is that too easy, but it is also not true to the way G-d set up the universe.  G-d built the physical world on "laws of nature."  His will is that those laws should govern this world, and that we human beings (who can perceive the wonderful workings of those laws with our intellect) should freely respect those laws.  (We also are meant to study them in order to gain appreciation and love for the Being Who is the Source of those laws--as Maimonides stressed so often in his works.)

It is forbidden to place yourself in danger, and then call on G-d to perform a miracle to save you.  It is nothing less than a sin to seek to violate the laws--or even, probabilities-- of nature, whether that means standing in front of a speeding train or abusing your body with lack of needed sleep, proper food, etc.  Even if you somehow don't suffer the worst consequences of those actions, you are still culpable for having rebelled against the natural order G-d established.

Miracles do occur, though.  They are an occasional departure from the usual order G-d has created, a "breach" in the wall of natural law that is the norm.  He can suspend His laws of nature whenever He so wills it…but He doesn't make it a habit.  (Of course, Ramban himself in another place characterizes all of "nature" as a hidden "miracle," in the sense of being the ongoing creation of a free-willed Supreme Being, not some random or self-generated set of processes.)

Now, then, getting back to Noach, we may wonder: If G-d is making a miracle anyway, why bother with an ark of any dimensions at all--and such precise ones at that?  All the inhabitants of the Ark could have been suspended in mid-air for the duration of the Flood!  (Rabbeinu Bachya, another great commentator who often follows Ramban's lead, asks that.)  

Ramban continues:

"And in case you suppose that he should have made it [the ark] very small and rely on this miracle, the answer is that the Holy One, Blessed be He, saw fit to make it large so that the people of his generation should see it, wonder at it, converse about it, and speak of the subject of the flood and the gathering of the cattle, beast, and fowl into it so that perhaps they would repent.  Furthermore, he made it large in order to reduce the miracle for such is the way with all miracles in the Torah or in the prophets: whatever is humanly possible is done, with the balance left to Heaven."

Here we have two fundamental principles of G-d's governance of the world. First, He does things in a way to maximize our human chance to respond to Him, to "get the messages" He sends.  In short, He gives us ample time and opportunity to turn back to Him (teshuva), just as He waited more than a century for the wicked people of Noach's time to take note of his massive building project, and draw some conclusions.  Second, and more in keeping with the topic at hand, when He overrides the law of nature, G-d prefers to minimize the degree of the miracle in order to maximize the room for human effort and responsibility.  Even when it comes to miracles, then, we must do our share!  Or, put another way: it is only when we have done all that we can within nature that He steps in and lifts us above nature, if He so wills it.

That's how it was with the splitting of the Sea, our Sages tell us.  A brave Jew, Nachshon ben Aminadav led the way until the water was at neck level…and only then did the waters part.  In the Chanukah story, a small band of dedicated Jews led the fight against a much bigger army of oppression…and only then was the Sanctuary repossessed and the miraculous jar of oil discovered.  And so on throughout Jewish history.  We make the effort, and G-d responds with a miracle.     

There are other explanations in our tradition of "the improbable Ark," but I find that of Ramban both evocative and sensible.  

Let's maximize our respect for the laws of nature, study them to gain awe of the wisdom of the great Lawgiver, and work within their bounds as is expected of creatures with the divine gift of reason.  But let's also keep an eye and ear out for the miraculous, both in the Torah and in our lives.  It may not always be glaringly obvious, but it's there.  "We gratefully thank You…for Your miracles that are with us every day." (Amidah)

The generation of the Flood may be gone, but the lessons of the Ark live on!

GOOD SHABBOS!

YOSEF EDELSTEIN

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Rabbi Yosef Edelstein, Savannah Kollel. Phone: 355-0157; fax: 354-9923; e-mail address: Yosef18@aol.com