Midrash Rabbah on Bereishit 6:9 of Parashat Noach
 
 
THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF NOACH (6:9).
 
"When the storm passes a wicked one is no more, but a righteous one is the foundation  of the world." (Mishle 10:25). ‘When the storm passes a wicked one is no more’-this refers to the generation of the Flood; ‘But the righteous onr is the foundation of the world’-this refers to Noach, as it is written, THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF NOACH: NOACH WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN. "The wicked are overturned and are no more" (ib 12:7): this refers to the generation of the Flood; "But the house of the righteous will endure" (ib.) -this refers to Noach: THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF NOACH. "The house of the wicked will be destroyed"  (ib. 14:11): this refers to the generation of the Flood; "But the tent of the just will blossom" (ib.) -this refers to Noach: THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF NOACH. (I.e. Noach alone was blessed with generations which continued after him and formed the origins of the new world.)
 
He glides swiftly (kal), as on the water's surface (Iyov 24:18): A decree was pronounced against them that they should perish by water ( Kal is connected with kol, a voice: there is a voice, i.e. a decree; cf. Daniel 4:28.); "Their portion in the land is forsaken" (ib.), [as people curse], He who punished the generation of the Flood [punish them]. (Cf. B.M. 44a. I.e. they shall remain in the earth only as a means of cursing.) And why all this? - "He does not turn to the way of the vineyards" (ib.): their intention was not to plant vineyards. (They indulged in sexual enjoyment without the intention to procreate.) But Noach's only intention was to be fruitful and multiply in the world: hence, THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH. (Cf. Sanhedrin 108a.)
 
THESE: R. Abbahu said: Wherever ‘these’ (eleh) is written, it cancels the preceding; ' and these ' (ve-eleh) adds to the preceding. Here that ‘these’ is written, it cancels the preceding. What does it cancel? The generation of the Flood. (Cf. supra 12:3. I.e. the generation of the Flood perished completely, so that its offspring are not to be counted.)
 
THESE ARE THE OFFSPRING OF NOACH: NOACH [WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN].
 
R. Abba b. Kahana said: Whoever has his name thus repeated has a portion in this world and in the World to Come.
 
They raised an objection to him: But it is written, "Now these are the generations of Terach. Terach begot Avram," etc. (Bereishit 11:27): has he a portion in this world and in the future world?
 
Even this does not contradict me, he replied, for R. Judan said in R. Abba's name: "But you [Avraham] shall go to your fathers in peace" (ib. 15:115): He [G-d] informed him that his father had a portion in the World to Come; "You shall be buried in a good old age" (ib.): He informed him that Yishmael would repent. ( Infra, 38:12.)
 
THESE ARE THE OFFSPRING OF NOACH: NOACH, etc.
 
Surely Scripture should have written, ' These are the offspring of Noach: Shem,’ etc.? It teaches, however, that he was a comfort to himself and a comfort to the world, a comfort to his fathers and a comfort to his children, a comfort to celestial beings and to mortals; [a comfort] in this world and in the World to Come. (Connecting noach with nahem, to comfort, as in v, 29.)

 

Back