As we begin the cycle of shiurim for the year 5785, we daven to Hakadosh Baruch Hu that we be able to learn together every week in good health and without disruption, in tranquil and peaceful times. May this be the year we merit seeing the coming of Mashiach Tzidkeinu, Amen.
With Parshat Noach, we jump forward 1,656 years from the conclusion of Parshat Bereshit. In Chassidic literature, the opening Parshiot of the Torah are said to align to the holidays that start our year, with Parshat Bereshit corresponding to Rosh Hashanah and the day of Creation (of man). Every year, the Rosh Hashanah we experience is a derivative of that first Rosh Hashanah, on which Hakadosh Baruch Hu promised Adam HaRishon that his children will have a day of judgement and pardon each year (Vayikra Rabbah 29:1):
On the day of Rosh Hashanah, in the first hour it entered His thoughts, in the second hour He consulted with the ministering angels, in the third He gathered his dust, in the fourth He kneaded it, in the fifth He shaped it, in the sixth He made it into a lifeless body, in the seventh He breathed a soul into him, in the eighth He brought him into the Garden, in the ninth he was commanded, in the tenth he transgressed, in the eleventh he was sentenced, in the twelfth he emerged with a pardon. Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Adam: ‘This is a sign for your descendants. Just as you stood trial before Me this day and emerged with a pardon, so your descendants are destined to stand trial before Me on this day and emerge before Me with a pardon.’ When? It is “in the seventh month, on the first of the month.”
While the section of Zichronot on Rosh Hashanah references the story of Noach and quotes several Pesukim from this week’s Parsha, the Parsha itself corresponds to Yom Kippur. Several connections between the day and Parsha are made, including a Pasuk used by the Zohar to connect them. I’d like to focus on this point and connect it to our Avodah during the month we now enter, לְטוֹבָה וּלִבְ רָ כָה.
וַיְהִי מִקֵץ אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וַיִּפְתַּח נֹחַ אֶת־חַלּוֹן הַתֵּבָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה׃
At the end of forty days, Noach opened the window of the ark that he had made.
The Zohar shares complex commentary on this Pasuk. Forty days after Rosh Chodesh Elul, on Yom Kippur, the middah (trait) of “נֹחַ” – not to be confused with the man named Noach – opened the חַלּוֹן הִזְדַּמְּנוּיוֹת, the window of opportunities. The middah of נֹחַ is the middah of חֵן (favor) of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This particular middah of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the root of the י״ג מִדּוֹת הָרַחֲמִים – Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, as found in the Pasuk:
אֶת־אֲשֶׁר אָחֹן וְרִחַמְתִּי אֶת־אֲשֶׁר אֲרַחֵם וְחַנֹּתִי – I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will be compassionate to whom I will be compassionate.
The middah of חֵן generates רַחֲמִים (mercy) and is the middah that emerges on Yom Kippur, which is why we repeat the י״ג מִדּוֹת numerous times throughout the day. Forty days after the start of our Teshuva process on Rosh Chodesh Elul, the middah of חֵן opens up and Hakadosh Baruch Hu has mercy on Bnei Yisrael.
On Yom Kippur, when the Beit Hamikdash stood, there was a special Avodah of the Ketoret, ground more thoroughly than during the year, and meant to atone for the sin of avak lashon hara – the dust of lashon hara which is found everywhere. Additionally, there was the Avodah of the two goats, one offered up as a Korban and the other pushed off a cliff to עֲזָאזֵל.
In a valley situated in the Judean desert, two angels are found: Uza and Azael, who together form the name Azazel. These are the same two angels we read about last week:
וַיִּרְאוּ בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת־בְּנוֹת הָאָדָם כִּי טֹבֹת הֵנָּה וַיִּקְחוּ לָהֶם נָשִׁים מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר בָּחָרוּ׃
The sons of the rulers saw that the daughters of man were fair and they took for themselves wives from whomever they chose.
These two angels were sent down to the world, where they proceeded to commit the sin of גִּלּוּי עֲרָיוֹת, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu did not allow them to return. They sit in this deserted spot, and once each year we’re instructed to send them a gift, so they do not engage in prosecution against Am Yisrael in matters of giluy arayot. We take two goats and cast a lot which determines which one is sent to Azazel at the bottom of the cliff. This Avodah of the goats is meant to atone for the sin of גִּלּוּי עֲרָיוֹת – lewdness.
On Yom Kippur, we also find invoked the sin of גֶזֶל – robbery. The concluding tefillah, Ne’ilah, contains a special request only made at that time: לְמַעַן נֶחְדַּל מֵעשֶׁק יָדֵינוּ – so that we may refrain from the injustice of our hands. We ask that there be no transgression of gezel found in our hands as Yom Kippur comes to a close.
We also encounter the sin of gezel on Yom Kippur in the Haftarah of Yonah, recited at Mincha. Yonah was sent to warn the citizens of Ninveh, a city where acts of robbery were widespread. Deepening the connection, Ninveh was built by Ashur, who fled from the machloket at the end of our Parsha, when Nimrod gathered the people to build the tower in rebellion against Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
On the morning of Yom Kippur, we read in the Torah about the two goats, and in the afternoon, we read about the prohibition of giluy arayot, followed by the Haftarah, which addresses the issue of gezel. The Avodah of Yom Kippur is designed to atone for the sins of lashon hara, giluy arayot, and gezel. And we then conclude with a special request to cleanse ourselves from gezel, but why? Why the emphasis on gezel in particular? The reason is that if we have gezel in our hands, no matter how many tefillot we recite, they will not be heard or accepted:
וּבְפָרִשְׂכֶם כַּפֵּיכֶם אַעְלִים עֵינַי מִכֶּם גַּם כִּי־תַרְבּוּ תְפִלָּה אֵינֶנִּי שֹׁמֵעַ יְדֵיכֶם דָּמִים מָלֵאוּ׃
And when you lift up your hands, I will turn My eyes away from you; Though you pray at length, I will not listen. Your hands are stained with crime.
After four full tefillot, bowing to the ground multiple times, and twenty-four hours of fasting, all would be for naught if we stood before Hakadosh Baruch Hu still guilty of theft or robbery. This will make more sense shortly. Therefore, as we prepare ourselves for that final tefillah and the recitation of the י״ג מִדּוֹת as the gates of Heaven close, we strive to rid ourselves of this transgression.
Now that we’ve drawn the connection between Yom Kippur and our Parsha, recognizing the emphasis placed on the sin of gezel, we are ready to dive deeper into our Parsha and its tremendous lessons.
