In the portion of Noah and the flood we see that when the waters had receded Noah doesn't leave the ark until he is commanded to. This is curious because human nature would dictate that after the harrowing months cooped up with all the animals, that divine encouragement to get out would be unnecessary.
Rabbi Barry Gelman of Houston, Texas suggests that actually Noah couldn't bring himself to leave the ark in anticipation of a very different world, a world totally devoid of its previous existence. He just didn't have the energy to rebuild, so he needed God's insistence on leaving to start anew.
As we get closer to emerging from our present challenge, undoubtedly we will have to deal with a world and a community completely different from the one we knew. We might feel overwhelmed by the task to rebuild our lives into one that will adapt to the new life awaiting us. Let us pray for the same divine strength that accompanied Noah at that auspicious time in human history.
The TriBeCa Synagogue extends a tremendous Mazal Tov to Dr. Elan Goldwyn and Michelle Ross, longtime generous members and trustees, for the Bar Mitzvah of their son Benjamin this weekend!
The Downtown Minyan will be joining us this Shabbat so preliminaries will begin at 10am and the communal service will begin at 10:30am. All services are being held outdoors with all covid protocols in force.
This Sunday Shmooze we present our longtime member Dr. Roslyn Bernstein, former Chairman of the Journalism Department at Baruch College, to discuss her most recent book Engaging Art: Essays and Interviews from around the World.
