Weekly Torah portion from Genesis 6:9 - 11:32
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Why are parshat Noach and parshat Toldot named that way?
I was taught that the parshiyot are named for the first significant word (or, rarely, phrase) in the parsha, and obviously names have to be unique. This week's parsha begins "eileh toldot Noach" and ...
6
votes
1answer
144 views
New date at sunset: question on Sifse Chachamim
Avoda Zara 25 cites a difference of opinion as to how long the sun stood still for Y'hoshua: twelve hours, twenty-four, or thirty-six. According to those who say twelve or thirty-six, the sun finally ...
7
votes
3answers
200 views
Did all animals come into the Teiva?
Were there any type of animals that were destroyed completely by the Mabul? (For example - Is there any source that there were dinosaurs or any other type of wildlife and they were destroyed by the ...
4
votes
4answers
522 views
Are Europeans Edomites?
I had always thought that Europeans descended from Yafet, not Shem, and certainly not Shem, Avraham and Yitzhak. I am aware that it was common in the past to equate Rome with Edom, but I always ...
5
votes
1answer
183 views
Did Noah's ark have a deck?
Noach's boat is called a teva, which as far as I know means "box". (The same word is used in later Hebrew for coffins and closets (as in "hayored lifne hateva").)
It's described, at least according ...
9
votes
3answers
152 views
How did Avrohom learn that nine doesn't work?
The Midrash says (Bereshis Rabbah 49:13 quoted in Rashi Genesis 18:32) that Abraham stopped asking HaShem to save Sodom in the merit of less than 10 people because Noah and his family who were 8 ...
6
votes
1answer
68 views
Noach and the Birds
Why is it that Noach sent out the Birds to see if the Flood had subsided and when he did find out he just waited for Hashem to tell him to leave.Why send the Birds if you are going to wait for Hashem ...
5
votes
2answers
182 views
Why did Noach curse Canaan and not Cham?
After the incident with Cham after the flood, Noach curses Canaan (Genesis 9:25). Why does he not curse Cham, the one who actually wronged him?
The explanations I've seen of this incident have Cham ...
4
votes
2answers
99 views
Why did Noach plant a vineyard?
The first mention the torah makes of wine and vineyards is in Gen 9:20-21, when Noach plants a vineyard and then gets drunk on wine after the flood. What prompted him to plant a vineyard as, ...
3
votes
1answer
146 views
Does G-d approve or merely permit human consumption of meat?
Many vegetarians and vegans argue that G-d gave humans permission to eat meat only because of a human failing in abstaining anyway. My takeaway from that argument is that, in light of a more ...
2
votes
4answers
96 views
What was the sin of the builders of the tower of Bavel?
God seems very angry with, and punishes the builders of the tower of Bavel, but it is not clear exactly what their sin was. Did they violate one of the 7 mitzvos b'nei Noach? What exactly was their ...
