Noach: The Origin of Nations

Noach: The Origin of Nations 

The major theme of  parshath Noach is escape. The parsha  ends with an escape. Terach and his family leave Ur Kasdim,  and go toward Canaan. Before this exodus, Haran,  Terach's third son, the father of Lot dies 

וַיָּ֣מׇת הָרָ֔ן עַל־פְּנֵ֖י תֶּ֣רַח אָבִ֑יו בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מוֹלַדְתּ֖וֹ בְּא֥וּר כַּשְׂדִּֽים׃

Haran died "in the face" of Terach, his father...We  already know that Terach is the father of Haran.  Mentioning it again must have some independent significance. Rashi says that the simple meaning is that Haran died  in the lifetime if his father. Rashi then quotes the midrash which says that Haran died because his father.  

Terah accused his son Abram before Nimrod of having smashed his idols to pieces, and he cast him into a fiery furnace. Haran waited and said to himself, “If Abram proves triumphant I will be on his side; if Nimrod wins I shall be on his”. When Abram was saved they said to Haran, “Whose side are you on?” Haran replied, “I am on Abram’s side”. They therefore cast him into the fiery furnace and he was burnt to death. It is to this that the name of the place Ur-Kasdim (fire of the Chaldees) alludes (Genesis Rabbah 38:13).

Haran died in Ur Kasdim and we are told that this was his birthplace. Ur Kasdim is also the place that Terach leaves with his remaining family.

יִּקַּ֨ח תֶּ֜רַח אֶת־אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֗וֹ וְאֶת־ל֤וֹט בֶּן־הָרָן֙ בֶּן־בְּנ֔וֹ וְאֵת֙ שָׂרַ֣י כַּלָּת֔וֹ אֵ֖שֶׁת אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֑וֹ וַיֵּצְא֨וּ אִתָּ֜ם מֵא֣וּר כַּשְׂדִּ֗ים לָלֶ֙כֶת֙ אַ֣רְצָה כְּנַ֔עַן וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ עַד־חָרָ֖ן וַיֵּ֥שְׁבוּ שָֽׁם׃

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan; but when they had come as far as Haran, they settled there.

Terach felt the need to leave Ur kasdim and he needed to take Abraham with him. The family of Nahor,   Rebecca's grandfather, not mentioned here, also left Ur Kasdim and went to Aram. Ur Kasdim was dangerous, The government  ( or lack of order) there had resulted in the death of Haran. 

Thus, the early ancestor of the Jews are portrayed as stateless. People who had to leave their birthplace because they were not protected there.  The need to leave was so great, they had to go to new places as immigrants, where their rights would certainly be fewer and more laxly enforced. This aspect of the Jewish experience starts before Abraham... and continues. 

 The parsha also begins with an escape. Noach and his family escape the situation that doomed all other people. They become the progenitor of the new humanity, the authors of all future history.  They were the sole human survivors of the flood that destroyed all the beings that breathe  - unless they were on the ark.  

Noach was the author of technology.  Rashi  says that Noach invented the plow. He had the technical expertise to build a a giant waterproof ark with facilities that maintained the living seeds of animal life  for a year. On leaving the ark, Noah plants a vineyard. 

וַיָּ֥חֶל נֹ֖חַ אִ֣ישׁ הָֽאֲדָמָ֑ה וַיִּטַּ֖ע כָּֽרֶם׃

Vayichal Noah, the man of the earth; and he planted a vineyard.

The introductory word: Vayichal  seems superfluous and it is ambiguous. It could mean that Noah "was the first" ( ibn Ezra)  but Rashi says

ויחל. עָשָׂה עַצְמוֹ חֻלִּין,  (ב"ר):

He made himself profane, ordinary. 

A  fundamental meaning of the root chal means  something that just happens by itself. That is the nature of fermentation, the process that adds alcohol, the intoxicant to fruit of the vine.  It is a change,  an improvement, that just happens if you just wait. This is the origin of the technology that gives us bread and wine.  Another triumph for Noah.  Another mixed blessing. 

The tower of Babel depended on a new technology: the brick.  When they came to the valley of Shinar, the idea came to them: 

וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵ֗הוּ הָ֚בָה נִלְבְּנָ֣ה לְבֵנִ֔ים וְנִשְׂרְפָ֖ה לִשְׂרֵפָ֑ה וַתְּהִ֨י לָהֶ֤ם הַלְּבֵנָה֙ לְאָ֔בֶן וְהַ֣חֵמָ֔ר הָיָ֥ה לָהֶ֖ם לַחֹֽמֶר׃ 

They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard.”—Brick served them as stone, and bitumen served them as mortar.—

This tower, the product of a united humanity, was not in keeping with the Divine plan. Its construction was blocked by the evolution of distinct languages.  

I have 2 and 3 year old grandchildren.  I marvel at the feat of language acquisition.  I recognize the early acceptance of only the familiar language and the intense rejection of the foreign.  This is clearly an instinctual process that aids in group identification and distinction. Your birthplace is imprinted on your accent. 

This interplay of language, technology, nationhood plays out over the ensuing millennia.  And the Jew remembers her status....He is an outsider; in the best case... survivor