October 9, 2010 | 1 Cheshvan 5771

Our senior staff members meet every Tuesday afternoon, and each of the meetings begins with a D’var Torah.

At this week’s meeting Summer Jacobs, our Education Program Coordinator, shared a thought about this week’s Torah portion, Noach. When Summer finished her D’var Torah, Dan Knapp, our Development Director, who mistakenly thought he was supposed to give the D’var Torah, pulled out this book, Old McNoah Had an Ark.

Old McNoah Had an Ark – you get the idea, I’m sure.

Yes, we found it pretty cute. But then, Dan got us really laughing. He told us that he had asked his daughter, Sophie, if she knew about Noah, and Sophie, Dan said, did a very good job of retelling the story. “There’s just one thing, Daddy,” Sophie said to her father. “I can’t remember who built the Ark!”

When the laughter subsided, one of our staff members exclaimed, “That’s like asking, ‘Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?!’” Yes, I suppose it’s pretty obvious as to who is buried in Grant’s Tomb, isn’t it? But is it just as obvious as to who built Noah’s Ark?

Many people who read the Bible as literal fact are quite certain of the answer to that question. Just go to Noahsarksearch.com. According to that website, Noah built the Ark, and it came to rest on Mt. Ararat in present-day northeastern Turkey, not far away from Iran.

Surely its remains are still there, even if they are unrecognizable. People who have these views about Noah and his Ark understand the Torah to be a history book. Its stories share factual truths.

To them, Sophie’s question is easily answered. Who built Noah’s Ark?  -- Why, Noah, of course! But did Noah really build the Ark? Is the Torah really a history book?

If so, when we read sections that fly in the face of our factual knowledge, like the Creation story we read last week, what are we supposed to think? What are we supposed to believe? How are we supposed to reconcile the biblical account of Creation with what science has taught us?

For many of us, these thoughts cause us great discomfort. So we reach the conclusion that the Torah is just a book of children’s stories not to be taken too seriously…not that different from Old McNoah…

But aren’t there other ways to read Torah…non-literal ways that share other kinds of truths…non–factual ones?

Of course there are and whole schools of thought and classes inside and outside the Jewish community are devoted to such ways of understanding Torah.

When Sophie said, “I can’t remember the guy who built the Ark,” the simplest response was “Noah.” But it’s not the only response. Who did build the Ark? What was the Ark? What are the truths in this story that compel us to read it each year?”

The Ark was a bridge, a means of going from one world to another world. In the Noah story the pre-Flood world was an evil place, a place in which humanity had forgotten what it meant to be human.

The post-Flood world to which the Ark served as a bridge was still a messy place, but it was a place of possibility in which human beings could seek to reflect Tzelem Elohim, the image of God.

Who built that Ark?  Why, God, of course. God provided a means, called “Noah’s Ark” in the Torah, that served to move humanity toward getting back on track.

Was there really an ark? I don’t know! Perhaps what God provided was simply an ability to survive mass destruction and to start anew.

When we read this popular biblical story as metaphor we realize that it’s not about a master builder and temporary zoo keeper. It is a universal story. It is a story about how human beings, infused with an awareness of God’s Presence, can act to change the world.

It’s about how such things don’t happen overnight. They take time and sustained effort.

Sometimes, though, we don’t need to change the entire world. We just need to change something in our own lives. The story of Noah reminds us that even when we feel deluged and the world is coming in upon us, we can use our God-given abilities to bring ourselves to a better place.

That truth is a timeless one.

Who was the guy who built the Ark? Was it Noah? Was it God? Was it each and every one of us?

As we successfully navigate threatening waters in our world and in our own lives to create a more caring world, a place that reflects God’s presence, each of us becomes an enduring builder of Noah’s Ark.

Shabbat Shalom.