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Keshet: God's (and Our)

Covenant with the WorldParshat Noah 5772

By Rabbi Mark Greenspan

This morning, I'd like to begin with a warning! Anyone under the age of 18, unless accompanied by an

adult, please leave the synagogue, now. The Bible is not for the faint of heart or those who are too

young. Many of the stories in the Bible are brutal, disturbing, and even X-rated. So why do we keep onpretending that they are for children?

Take the story of Noah and the flood, for example. There are books and games about Noah's ark; art

work and even plush toys which call to mind this biblical hero. It seems strange to me that we choose

to depict the flood as a bedtime story for young children. Even a cursory reading ofParshat Noah

ought to trouble us.So here's the story: God gets angry and decides to destroy the world. He brings a flood which wipes

away all the terrestrial creatures except for Noah, his family and a selection of all life on earth. It's that

simple, and that devastating. Living after Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami, we knowthat the story of Noah is not just a fairy tale - it could happen right here on Long Island. Weren't we

instructed to evacuate our homes just a few months ago for fear that a hurricane would devastate the

South Shore of the Island?

There are lots of other troubling aspects of the story of Noah as well: there is drunkenness, sexuality,and the cursing of one's children. I won't even go there, since we dont usually tell that part to our

children. The very idea that God could get angry enough to wipe out the entire world should make

child pause and worry just a bit. Of course, God promises never to flood the earth again, but how about

fire or earthquakes or meteor showers from outer space? The story of Noah's ark doesnt give us reasonto have much confidence in God's loving concern.

And then there's the theology behind this story. Noah and the flood are not kid's stuff. It challenges us

to ask: what is the Bible really getting at? What does it say about our relationship to God? And what

about our relationship to the earth?

At the heart of this story is the idea of covenant: this is the first of three covenants, or partnerships, into

which God enters in the Bible. The first is with Noah, the second with Abraham, and the final covenant

with Israel.

What does God tell Noah? "Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the devising of

man's mind is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living being as I have done. So longas the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, summer and winter, day and night, shall never cease." This

is God's covenant. God places a keshet, a bow, in the sky as a sign of His promise, or agreement, with

Noah and his family. A keshetis a rainbow but it's also a bow as in 'bow and arrow.' When we look upat a rainbow we, 'ooh and aah;' how often do we also see a weapon of destruction?

In the end, there is something reassuring about the story of Noah, but there is something ominous as

well. There are two things about this story which readers often ignore. The first is that the covenant is

not with Noah but with the world. God doesnt promise Noah anything. He doesnt tell him that he willbe the father of a great nation or that his off spring will inherit a specific parcel of land. Rather, God

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promises not to flood the earth and destroy "every living creature." Noah is the bearer of the covenant

but he isnt its sole recipient. This covenant is about the world. And humanity, which was commanded

to be the world's caretaker in the Garden of Eden, now hears God's promise: the animals, the birds,every living creature are as much part of this relationship as Noah and his family are.

The second problem with the rainbow covenant has to do with the nature of a covenantal relationship.

A covenant is a contract. By definition it involves two parties. Each makes a promise to the other and

vows to live by certain conditions. So who is the second partner in the rainbow covenant? While theBible mentions certain stipulations for Noah and his offspring (no killing, no eating raw meat) and the

sages deduced seven Noahide laws from this statement, there is no clear reciprocity in God's rainbowcovenant. God simply promises: I won't destroy the earth with a flood. There are no conditions placed

on this promise. God seems to say: "It's all up to you, Noah. I know that human beings are evil from

their youth, but I won't destroy the earth again by a flood. What will be, will be. I am taking a handsoff attitude."

So where is the second party in this covenant? Certainly the world cannot be a party to the covenant

since a covenantal partner must have the ability to choose to enter into a relationship. While it's not

explicitly stated in the Torah, I believe that there are two sides to the Rainbow covenant. God promises

not to destroy the earth again. And it is up to Noah to take on his original role as the earth's caretaker.That is his part in the covenant. Without ever saying it in so many words, God tells Noah: "I won't

destroy the world again and I expect you not to do so either!"

I believe that this is the logical conclusion we must arrive at having read the Genesis until this point.First God puts Ahdam (Not Adam but Ahdam - from adamah, earth; literally earth-person) in the

garden and tells him - Your job is to till and tend the garden of Eden. When Ahdam and his partner

mess up, God throws them out but tells them that their job is still to tend the earth, though it's going to

get a lot harder now. With each sin, the earth becomes more and more corrupt: Cain kills his brother,and the blood of Abel cries out from the earth; Cain's punishment is to become a wanderer, divorced

from the land, and finally, in the story of Noah we learn that through human evil and violence, "the

earth becomes corrupt" - Not just humanity, but the whole planet.

The story of Noah, then, is a parable about our relationship to planet Earth. Our behavior has thepotential to corrupt and pollute the entire planet. We can pollute the earth both physically and morally

through our actions. In this sense, Noah is not just a distant character but he is you and me. We carry

on his covenant. God promised not to destroy our planet but we certainly have the power to do so - andGod won't stop us. Before we can understand our identity as Jews we must understand our

responsibilities as B'nai Noah, the offspring of Noah, who have the ability to do what God promised

He would never again do.

And we are doing a good job of itwith every wasted gallon of water, with ever acre of forest we cutdown, with the destruction of animal species nearly every day. Like Noah, we live in an ark called

earth. It is up to us to care for planet/home, and to preserve the life which is part of it. The animals

which Noah brought to the ark were not rescued for his benefit but for the benefit of the world. TheTorah says: "And of all that lives, of all flesh, you shall take two of each into the ark to keep alive with

you." The Torah says WITH YOU - not FOR YOU.Rabbi David Gordis writes: "Noah's obligation

was to save endangered species and to promote live." I would say the same is true for us!

This is not some distant or theoretical obligation. Its part of our everyday life: how we use our naturalresources, our awareness of the obligation of recycling, and the extent to which we are not just

consumers but caretakers of our planet. God and humankind share a covenant with the planet - God

has given us the wonder of creation to enjoy and from which we can benefit and it is our job to be its

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caretaker. And no time in history has that been truer than it is today. We have greater power to

improve the world and greater potential to destroy God's world.

And this obligation must begin right here, right in this building. How responsible are we in the use of

our resources? I can tell you that we do not recycle - because we are not obligated to do so. But havinga legal responsible to recycle has nothing to do with having a moral and religious responsibility. As a

congregation we need to set an example as responsible caretakers of our planet - this obligation needs

to rest on the shoulders of our members - not our custodial staff. It is our moral duty!

Theres a Midrash which claims that after creating the Garden of Eden, God tookAhdam, the earth

creature, by the hand and led him on a tour of the garden. God then told him: "See my works, how

beautiful and praiseworthy they are. Everything I've created, I've created for you. Be careful not tospoil or destroy my world, for if you do, there will be nobody after you to repair it!" (Kohelet Rabbah

7:13)

Although, the Midrash never says so, it seems to me that God must have made the same statement to

Noah and his family. And God keeps making this statement to generation and after generation ofhumankind. We have one planet, one ark, in which we must live. And if we destroy it, there will be no

one to fix it after us.

Shabbat Shalom