‘Limtzo Manoach: Finding Peace’ A Values Exploration

God instructs Noah to build an ark to protect him from the raging storm. In the instructions of how to build the Ark, God tells Noah to build a tzohar, a window, an opening for daylight.

As the world was crumbling around him, he was safe inside, preserving what was most precious to him while watching the destruction that was happening around him through his tzohar.

The Zohar imagines very beautifully that Noah spent his whole time, morning and night, feeding the animals. That’s an expression of his desire to preserve the world.

Aviva Zornberg imagines that Noah was trying as hard as possible to safeguard what was precious to him. Noah’s commitment to feed the animals was an act of hope. While destruction was happening around him, he was hopeful that a new day would rise.

“Imagine what he must have felt as he walked ashore and discovered the empty, devastated land. He must have looked for familiar ground, vantage points, cities of light and life, dwelling places and their sounds. He knew that they had vanished, still he went on looking for them. Then he was confronted by a choice: anger or gratitude. He chose gratitude. He offered thanks to heaven… As a survivor, the first, he chose gratitude rather than bitterness: the special gratitude of the survivor. He or she knows that every moment means grace, for he or she could have been in another’s place, another who is gone.” - Elie Weisel

Noah was at a crossroads. He emerged to a world of loss. He could have chosen to be angry, to run away. He could have returned to his teiva for safekeeping. But he didn’t. He chose gratitude.

When Noah saw the rainbow and understood that God would build again, he immediately planted a vineyard. The text never tells us that Noah found Manoach, but we know that he immediately gets his hands dirty.

He can’t erase the pain or sorrow that he may have experienced, but he can broaden his perspective by gently settling his attention on something positive and watch it grow.