Noach - 3rd Portion

In addition to their sons Kayin and Hevel, Adam and Chavah had a third son, Shes. One of Shes’ fifth-generation descendants was Chanoch (Enoch), who resisted the degeneration into which the rest of humanity was sinking, and lived a righteous life.

The rain lasted 40 days, after which the earth remained submerged for another five months until the water began to subside. It then took almost six more months for the water to recede completely.

Noah, in contrast to the degeneration that characterized his times, remained faithful to the traditions of morality that had been inherited from Adam and Eve. G-d therefore chose Noah to survive the Flood and save the animals in order to repopulate the world in its aftermath.

Despite Chanoch’s positive example, humanity continued in its downward spiral of moral degeneration. The angels also tried to redeem the earth—by having G-d allow them to assume physical form—but could not. Eventually, G-d saw that the only remedy was to give humanity a fresh start, and decided ...