Noach: child rearing

Gd brought the flood.  Gd's anger at human behavior was inevitable; it  probably devolved from the distortion of  vision that was a consequence of the ingestion of knowledge fruit.  People had opinions and developed schemes.  They oppressed each other. The inevitability of  a reboot is expressed in the words of E to Noah: קֵ֤ץ כָּל־בָּשָׂר֙ בָּ֣א לְפָנַ֔י,   ...the end of all flesh has come before me. 

The Gd chose Noah to lead the greatest industrial effort in history: the rescue of all the animate land creatures and birds. An ark would be built, and the seeds for repopulting the land would be saved. Righteous Noah was chosen to do the project.  His flawless rectitude is the reason given in the proximate verse; but he had been raised as a savior by his father Lemech who declares about the young ( perhaps newborn) Noah: And he named him Noah, saying, “This one will provide us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands.   Noah was reared to be an engineer. Convenient !

For his effort, Noah is rewarded; he beccomes the savior of the species. The animate world is  the posession of Noah and his offspring.  Now humans are permitted meat, the flesh of the animals that they rescued. How will the humans now relate to each other? The law will now ingest the violence: שֹׁפֵךְ֙ דַּ֣ם הָֽאָדָ֔ם בָּֽאָדָ֖ם דָּמ֣וֹ יִשָּׁפֵ֑ךְ Whoever sheds the blood of man, By man shall his blood be shed; 

The  origin story of another social invention, slavery, is also in our parsha.  Noah plants a vinyard and is de-inhibited by wine drunkneness.  He reveals himself. Ham, the father of Canaan sees his father's nakedness.    Canaan, Ham's son, is cursed with enslavement, his descendants are to be the slaves of slaves. 

This story has justified the crime of slavery  for thousands of years. Noah, by virtue of rescuing the seed of Ham, as well as all humanity, has dominion over them and he can  allocate thier portions. He decides to create the position of slave ( to slaves) and relegtates it to  Canaan because he violated his grandfather's privacy (when his grandfather was a bit careless about it.). 

As the story of Israel and the Pormised Land unfolds, it becomes clear thta there is motivation for degrading Canaan.  Canaan's alottment of land will be seized, its peoples replaced, their validity needs to be negated. The name Canaan is a denegration.  It means a peddler ( וַ֝חֲג֗וֹר נָתְנָ֥ה לַֽכְּנַעֲנִֽי׃, she gives a sash to the peddler), but the core of the word is עֲנִֽ, downtrodden.  Canaan was raised to feel inferior and victimized.

When Israel was in Egypt's land, to escape the famine in the land of Canaan, the act of rescue could  have been seen as a justification for the enslavaement of the Hebrews.   Had not Father Noah established this principle of  bondage for diverance? ( Consider employer bestowed health care)

Why does the violation of privacy deserve such harsh punishmment? The secrets that make an indivual unique are powerful and presious. Guarding and respeccting these mysteries is a great, righteous virtue  of  (some) societies.  Where these privacies are not protected, everyone is a slave (to the State). 

The Rosh Hashana liturgy contains a short prayer that follows each blowing of the shofar  in the repitition of the Amidah: 

הַיּוֹם הֲרַת עוֹלָם. הַיּוֹם יַעֲמִיד בַּמִּשְׁפָּט כָּל יְצוּרֵי עוֹלָמִים. אִם כְּבָנִים. אִם כַּעֲבָדִים. אִם כְּבָנִים רַחֲמֵֽנוּ כְּרַחֵם אָב עַל בָּנִים. וְאִם כַּעֲבָדִים עֵינֵֽינוּ לְךָ תְלוּיוֹת. עַד שֶׁתְּחָנֵּֽנוּ וְתוֹצִיא כָאוֹר מִשְׁפָּטֵֽנוּ אָיּוֹם קָדוֹשׁ:

On this day, the world came into being; On this day, Gd stands in judgment— all the creatures of the worlds— whether as children, or as servants; if as children, have compassion on us as a father has compassion on his children! If as servants, our eyes are fixed on You until You favor us, and bring forth our judgment as the light, Revered and Holy One!

The relationship is ambiguous : child - with the expectation of mercy; or slave - with the demand of obedience , even in the face of the odious. 

In the coda to the parsha, Terach begins the journey toward Canaan. The text makes his relationship to his offspring very clear:  וַיִּקַּ֨ח תֶּ֜רַח אֶת־אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֗וֹ וְאֶת־ל֤וֹט בֶּן־הָרָן֙ בֶּן־בְּנ֔וֹ וְאֵת֙ שָׂרַ֣י כַּלָּת֔וֹ אֵ֖שֶׁת אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֑וֹ  Terah took his son Abram, his son's son Lot the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set out together.  The word son is repeated 5 times in this sentence.  The relationships are clear; there is no slavery here.  These are people brought up to beieve they are loved.  Thus does Terah  merit mention in the Passover Hagadah, the retelling of our founding story :  תֶּרַח אֲבִי אַבְרָהָם וַאֲבִי נָחוֹר Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor;

May our descendants be righteous and loved, hence free.