Noach made himself an ark. Parashat Noach comes to tell us that we, too, are each of us enjoined to fashion himself into an ark during this time.
Hashem commands Noach to make the ark with three levels: Noach on the top floor, animals occupying the middle story, and waste in the cellar. There is a "tzohar" (either a window or a luminous gem) on top to provide light. A practical arrangement, but perhaps Hashem had a less obvious purpose to His design.
Rashi cites Rabbi Eliezer that Noach's flood came in the current month, Cheshvan. It is no accident that we read the parasha during the rains' season debut (Tuesday was our first shower). Like Noach, our ancestors would tar their roofs in these days, making their house a "watertight vessel" to ride out the months of wind and rain.
Cheshvan is also the month of planting seeds in the Land of Israel. A seed is a vessel insuring the genetic material of the previous year will be transported another generation. But the metaphor goes beyond the physical. Appearing at the end of the agricultural cycle in Israel, Cheshvan also brings the holiday season to a close. Rosh Hashanah has come and gone and we are left with our new year's resolutions. The new year of yeshiva, or school, or work, has begun and we face the time ahead with hope of fulfilling goals and potentials. The distractions of the harvest/holiday season have passed and those of us privileged to learn have the opportunity to make a fresh start in Torah.
It is written, we come out of Yom Kippur a new creation. A new beginning. Now, like the seeds that are planted this month, we have the opportunity to plant ourselves in an environment such that Torah can rain down to make us grow. An environment where we can take action on our resolutions. An environment where we can renew an intimate relationship with Hashem in words of prayer spontaneous as well as arranged.
Rabbi Noson Slifkin reminds us that it takes faith to plants seeds, throwing good food into the ground, just as it takes faith to build an ark over 120 years-faith that the rain will come. Similarly, it takes a lot of faith to commit to serious Torah learning. The anniversary of Hashem's seven-day flood warning to Noach is (this Wednesday,) 10 Cheshvan. This is the time of year we are to expect the coming flood.
This is the flood of worldly involvement that comes at the only time of year, between Sukkot and Chanukah, that has no special days besides Shabbat. Vacations are over and everybody is working. It is easy to get caught up in the mundane world of communications and building. This is exactly the time we each make an ark of our self, to remember that though we are immersed in a sea of demands of mundane life, we have faith that, like Noach, our ark allows us to be supported by our environment, yet protected and sealed from it. But the ark we build must be according to Hashem's specs.
I would like to suggest that the three levels of Noach's ark correspond to the three areas of focus we must inhabit in order to ride out the long spell when clouds cover the sun. Noach's ark consisted of people on the top deck; this is Torah study, as it says, "You shall occupy yourself in it day and night (Shema)," and "Torah illuminates the eyes (Psalms)," for our parasha says "Build yourself a tzohar on the top to provide light."
All life is cared for on the middle deck; this corresponds to mitzvoth, namely deeds of kindness. Torah study leads to performance of mitzvoth, our means of relating to creation. Waste (or, better, "recycling") is on the bottom deck. This relates to avodat Hashem-prayer, talking with Hashem, especially, as Rabbi Nachman of Breslov urges, to "Pour your heart out to Hashem." Waste disposal is the separation of useful material from what is less useful. And prayer is described as service of the heart, discerning and separating between the good and evil inclinations, as is amply described in Hasidic and earlier sources.
What emerges from this is most of the sefirot, or mental and emotional attributes by which thought concepts materialize into worldly activity. The mental attributes are Chochmah, Binah, and Daat. The emotional attributes are Chesed, Gevurah, and Tiferet. The source is Keter, emanating from God Himself.
window/illuminated gem Keter ("crown") Heaven
top level (humanity) Chokhmah ("wisdom") Binah ("understanding") Torah
ground floor (earthly life) Chesed ("kindness") Gevurah ("discipline") Deeds
cellar (waste sorting) Tiferet ("compassion") Prayer
Showing how we really are an ark in body, we take the metaphor a step further, as taught from Sefer Yetzirah (which, according to tradition, was written by our father Avraham.)
Window/illuminated gem Crown of head Heaven
top level (humanity) Right brain Left brain Torah
ground floor (earthly life) Right arm Left arm Deeds
cellar (waste sorting) Heart Prayer
Interesting, perhaps, but what is the message for us today? Just as Noach constructed an ark to pull in and retain the essence of life, the prize specimens of what that generation had to offer, so are we advised to humbly see ourselves as an empty vessel, and then to discern, gather in, and condense our essential being-the pride and joy of our year's spiritual efforts. Through maintaining our strength in the three "pillars upon which the world stands" (Mishna), Torah, Kind Deeds, and Prayer, we are to plant and water the seed, as it were, that is the harvest of the summer's spiritual work. We are to each see ourself as that seed; an ark carrying our essence into the coming season of growth and, by extension, into the next generation.
This winter, may we be blessed to seal out harmful influences, ride out the waves of worry and temptation, and tenderly nurse the fresh harvest of all our spiritual growth, that come spring, we can open the door to the world and a new chapter of reassurance and redemption.