Questions tagged [mabul]
Questions about the Mabul / flood in Noach's times
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Haman's gallows originating from Noach's ark
There is an interesting Yalkut Shimoni, remez 256 (on parshas Beshalach) where it details that when Haman was searching for a large enough beam of wood with which to make the gallows - he ended up ...
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What was the pillar of stone of Seth's children mentioned by Josephus?
According to Josephus (Book 1, Chapter 2, 68-71), the family of Seth, the third son of Adam, was noted for constructing a particularly long-lasting edifice or monument.
...Now this Seth...did ...
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Why did Hashem want to save the garbage?
The following question was posed to me by my 10-year-old sister. First I laughed, then it made me think. As far as I've researched, no meforshim discuss this topic.
Hashem commanded Noach to build the ...
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Why the mention of Mabul water level in relation to mountains, who could testify it?
The Torah describes that in the mabul (flood), the tops of the mountains were covered and also that the tops of the mountains were visible when the flood receded.
When the waters had swelled much ...
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Why did שדים have to go into Noach's ark? [duplicate]
Do they take up physical space? Aren't they in the spiritual realm?
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Clarification about the world before the flood
This question is about the way the world was before the Flood.
Bereishit Rabbah 34:11. Midrash Tanchuma, Bereishit 12. Seforno to Genesis 8:22 say that the world preceding the Flood was marked by ...
2
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2
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Did God regret bringing the flood?
Is not the fact that God thinks that the imagination of man's heart is bent to evil from youth onwards proof that the flood was an exaggeration and that therefore he would not bring another flood in ...
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How are pre-creation >4000 BCE human civilization and pre-flood >2300 BCE civilizations that continued reconciled with Judaism?
How does human history fit in with the Torah's timeline? (This is not about why the universe and Earth look so old.)
There is extensive evidence of a human population and human civilizations from ...
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Did people run to Noah’s ark when they saw the flood began?
I’m curious if there is any indication in tanakh, whether or not people had tried to get on the ark once they saw the flood?
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Why did animals need to eat/be fed for a year in the Ark?
Why did animals need to eat/be fed for a year in the Ark?
"Oh, because they need to eat", you'd say, but really the Mabul was one big miracle, overriding all laws of nature - physics, geology, ...
6
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answer
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Did the garbage in the teiva (ark) stink?
The verse says that the Ark was to have three floors, and Rashi (based on Sanhedrin 108b) explains this as follows; "the bottom floor" was for waste, the "second" floor for the animals and the "third" ...
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Was fish permitted for consumption before the Mabul?
Were Noachides allowed to consume fish, which is not considered Fleishigs, before the Mabul?
After the Mabul meat was permitted, but what about fish?
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Sefer Matei Efraim on Noach
I was told once by an older Rabbi about 10 years ago, how he read a sefer 30 years ago that taught that the Dor Ha-Mabul (the generation of the flood) had what seemed to be technology that let them ...
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Why did animals deserve to perish in the mabul? [duplicate]
Because animals have such a limited intellectual capacity, how can they be held culpable for anything that warrants a punishment as severe as the mabul?
21
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3
answers
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Why does the Torah give us exact dates for the flood?
This question asks why the flood didn't end on the 18th of Cheshvan (one year after the start). My question is more basic: why does the torah give us precise dates here at all? Bereishit 7:11 tells ...
15
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answer
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When did idolatry begin, post-flood?
Related.
Rambam famously describes how idolatry began in the days of Enosh (Hil. Avodah Zara 1:1-2) and finishes off by writing:
"but the Rock of Ages, not a man was there to recognize Him or ...
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Had Noah a wicked wife, son?
Is there any instance in Jewish literature that mentions that one of Noah's sons was a disbeliever who refused to come aboard the Ark, instead preferring to climb a mountain, where he drowned?
or ...
3
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1
answer
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When did Noah enter the ark?
Did Noah enter the ark 7 days before the flood or on the day of that the flood began?
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ לְנֹ֔חַ בֹּֽא־אַתָּ֥ה וְכׇל־בֵּיתְךָ֖
אֶל־הַתֵּבָ֑ה כִּֽי־אֹתְךָ֥ רָאִ֛יתִי צַדִּ֥יק לְפָנַ֖י ...
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How did the fish live through the flood?
If the waters were boiling as the flood continued, how did the fish survive throughout the Mabul?
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Why did the Dor Hamabul earn a painless death?
There are, apparently, 903 levels of death, and the term vayigva is one of them. According to some, it refers to the simple act of expiration -- the creation of a corpse. Others, like the Rashi ...
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Why is the total count of Noah's life 950 years when the year of the flood took a full year cycle?
The Posuk says that Noah was 600 years when he went into the Teivah (Bereshit 7:6,11). Rashi (Bereshit 8:14) and the rest of the Mefarshim say that the flood took an entire year to complete. The Posuk ...
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Theological importance of the Noah's flood story in the Torah [closed]
I"m trying to contemplate the place of the flood story in the Torah.
The story of the flood spans roughly three chapters of the Torah, seemingly implying its importance, yet:
it has no Halachic ...
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Who was the first to worship an idol?
A while back I asked a question about whether Cain was an idol worshiper (something I long suspected), and the answer seems to indicate that he probably wasn't (notwithstanding the fact that he wasn't ...
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Does G-d punish the innocent?
Almost every law in the Torah commands proper action aside from the first few in the Ten commandments about G-d's and His oneness. In his book, Kosher Jesus, Chapt. 28, pg 163, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach ...
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Why did people under 100 die in the mabul?
On Bereishis 5:32, Rashi brings an explanation that Noach had children when he was 500
so that Japheth, his eldest son, should not be liable for punishment before the Flood, as it is written (Isa. 65:...
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Why were Mabul rains for 40 days?
What is the reason that G-d brought rain during 40 days in the mabul; could G-d not do it a second?! Of course He could. So what's the explanation for this duration of 40 days?
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Was the whole earth covered during The Flood?
Are there commentaries that suggest that the flood during the time of Noach was localised to one geographic area, as opposed to the whole Earth. In Bereishit 8:9 when the dove was sent out it says:
...
21
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3
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How did plants survive the Mabul?
Inspired by this answer:
As far as I can tell, there is no mention of Noach bringing plants into the ark. Moreover, it appears Noach had nothing to do with the survival of the plants, given that the ...
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Noah - Feeding the Animals
Chazal tell us that Noah worked hard to keep all of the animals in the ark well fed. Most (or at least many) animals are carnivores or insectivores. Does that mean Noah in fact brought in animals to ...
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What percentage of the humanity must sin to cause G-d to wipe them all?
In the story of the Mabul, the Torah's description of the overall disorder is very vague - "The Earth was corrupted and filled with Hamas".
THe outcome is clear - the whole of humanity was judged. ...
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1
answer
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What happened to Noah's slaves?
According to such commentators or midrashim as say that Noah had slaves that joined him on the ark[1], what happened to them? That is: We hear a lot in the immediately succeeding chapters of Genesis (...
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Mabul a regional flood? [duplicate]
As suggested in this question, there are some who hold that the mabul did not cover the whole Earth.
I would like to broaden the scope of that question a little. What indications are there from ...
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0
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Why doesn't Dor Hamabul deserve the World to Come?
The Mishna (Sanhedrin 10) states that Dor Hamabul do not have a part in the world to come:
דּוֹר הַמַּבּוּל אֵין לָהֶם חֵלֶק לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא וְאֵין עוֹמְדִין בַּדִּין
The generation of the flood ...
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What made G-d change His opinion about Humans and how is it possible?
וַיָּ֣רַח ה' אֶת־רֵ֣יחַ הַנִּיחֹחַ֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר ה' אֶל־לִבּ֗וֹ
לֹֽא־אֹ֠סִף לְקַלֵּ֨ל ע֤וֹד אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָה֙ בַּעֲב֣וּר הָֽאָדָ֔ם כִּ֠י יֵ֣צֶר לֵ֧ב הָאָדָ֛ם רַ֖ע מִנְּעֻרָ֑יו וְלֹֽא־אֹסִ֥ף ע֛וֹד ...
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Were G-d's expectations for Dor Hamabul realistic?
Undoubtfully the all-loving G-d was a bit harsh on punishing the whole generation of Noah (probably millions?) by drowning them (and all the animals - what did they do?) in boiling water (He could ...
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Fish in Aquarium During Flood
The Gemara (Zevachim 113b) mentions the fish in the sea died:
ואמאי קרי ליה חרבה כדרב חסדא דאמר רב חסדא בדור המבול לא נגזרה גזרה על
דגים שבים שנאמר מכל אשר בחרבה מתו ולא דגים שבים
And why ...
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Nephilim after the Flood
Goliath might have been from the Nephilim whom are mentioned in Bereishis 6,4 pre-flood and fought famously with Dovid. The Nephilim are also mentioned in the incident with the spies (Bamidbar 13,33) ...
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Biblical ‘Noah’ & cinematic ‘Noah’
How accurate -or not- is the film ‘Noah’ according to the Jewish traditional version of the events and subjects? (I haven’t seen the film so I can’t offer any analyses.)
I’d kindly request that any ...
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Why did the animals need to be destroyed in the mabul if they do not have bechira?
We learn that the people were killed because of their aveiros. But animals don't have bechira so why did they deserve to be killed as well?
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Why wasn't Metushelach saved?
In parshat Noach, Hashem (according to Rashi) delays the rain so that Metushelach's shiv'a period could be honored,
These are the seven days of mourning for the righteous man Methuselah for whose ...
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How animals populated different continents after the flood?
What are some understandings as to how animals populated different continents after the flood?
Did some species of animals survive the flood? Or are we to understand that the flood only affected the ...
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0
answers
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System of counting months in Noach
Going through Noach with the help of Rashi, there are 3 different systems of counting months.
From (Tishrei|Nisan) 1 2 3
From (Kisleiv|Sivan) when the rain stopped
From (Cheshvan|Iyar) when the rain ...
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Rashi and the death of Tzadikim
In Parshat Chaye Sarah, Rashi states in Bereshit 25:17 (from Chabad.org)
ויגוע: לא נאמרה גויעה אלא בצדיקים
Translated as : and he expired: Heb. וַיִגְוַע. [The term] גְוִיעָה is mentioned only ...
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Did Noah gather the animals, or did they come themselves
In Genesis (6:19) God commands Noah to gather the animals:
וּמִכָּל־הָ֠חַי מִֽכָּל־בָּשָׂ֞ר שְׁנַ֧יִם מִכֹּ֛ל תָּבִ֥יא אֶל־הַתֵּבָ֖ה לְהַחֲיֹ֣ת אִתָּ֑ךְ
Verse 20, however, concludes that the ...
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3
answers
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How many Kosher animals were in Noach's Ark?
How many animals total of each Kosher species were in the teivah during the flood?
4
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What happened to the Teva after the flood?
Is there any mention of this in any texts?
Side question: if the צהר was in fact a precious stone, what happened to that after the flood?
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answers
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How many giraffes were on the ark
How many giraffes were on the ark?
Basically, some hold that the giraffe is kosher, so there should be 14 (or 7, depending on the explanation of the verses) giraffes.
On the other hand, most of the "...
10
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3
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509
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Rainbows prior to the Mabul
Did the rainbow exist as we know today, prior to the Mabul? Was it the same, different, or it did not exist at all prior to the Mabul? (sources please)
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What's the source that rain is a sign of blessing?
I've heard rain is considered a symbol of blessing, perhaps because of the flood: that Hashem doesn't repeat the flood so He sends rain in much smaller proportions and to give the land its nourishment....
4
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2
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Fishes in the Ark?
How can we know there weren't fishes in the Ark?
When we learn Noah, we take for granted that the sea animals weren't in the Tevah. But when we read literally the Torah, it says "7 pairs of clean ...