Parsha Points to Ponder for NO'ACH

Published November 08, 2009

1) Why does G-D command No’ach to go and gather the kosher animals but not the non-kosher animals or the kosher and non-kosher birds which will come to him on their own (7:2-3)?
2) Why does the Torah only mention the kosher birds coming SEVEN BY SEVEN but not the non-kosher birds coming two by two (7:3)?
3) Why does the Torah give us such a detailed explanation of precisely how the waters from the flood came? Would anything have been lacking had it just reported that it rained without relating that the waters rained down from above and from the springs below (7:11)?

Parsha Points to Ponder is prepared by Rabbi Dov Lipman, who teaches at Reishit Yerushalayim and Machon Maayan in Beit Shemesh and is the author of “DISCOVER: Answers for Teenagers (and adults) to Questions about the Jewish Faith” (Feldheim) and “TIMEOUT: Sports Stories as a Game Plan for Spiritual Success” a recent release by Devora Publishing (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Answers - Ponder the questions first and then look here

1) The Ramban explains that G-D wanted Noach to put forth effort for the animals which would be brought as a sacrifice. Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky teaches that this should have applied to the kosher birds as well but since they have no external signs of kashrut, there would have been no way for No’ach to determine which birds were kosher and which were not. Thus, he was not commanded to gather any birds.
2) The Meshech Chochma answers that the Torah does not mentions the kosher ones since there are relatively few non-kosher birds and so many more kosher ones. It does mention the non-kosher animals since they are more numerous than the kosher ones.
3) The Malbim teaches that without that information people could have said that this was simply a natural disaster - either a tsunami from below or torrential rains from above. However, suggesting that these two things happened naturally at the same time would be ridiculous. Thus, these words come to remove the possibility of someone saying it was simply natural and not a punishment from G-D.