We end the Torah with Moses's final blessing to the Children of Israel before he passes away and is buried in a secret location on Mount Nebo, ending the Torah (and setting the stage for the Book of Joshua and all the great deeds therein).
Then we begin again, starting the Torah from Genesis: "In the beginning...". This is a common starting point for Judeo-Christian belief -- though there are some fascinating Christian interpretations of even the first few words that mark a point of departure.
The portion continues until just before the story of Noah. Along the way, we meet the longest-living person in the Bible -- namely, Methuselah, who lived 969 years. No one quite made it to 1,000 -- a Heavenly day.
Why did Methuselah live that long? Not necessarily through his own merit. His father, Enoch, is described as one of the few righteous men of that era. But he himself only lived to the age of 365, relatively short for that time in the Bible.
It is in the nature of parenthood to exhibit a sense of self-sacrifice. One cannot live only for one's children; one must live for oneself as well, as best one can. But on some level the idea that our children will exceed us is our greatest hope.
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.
The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.
The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.
On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.
On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...
