Noah: Becoming the Ark

Parshat Noah:  The mystical tradition sees us as olam katan, a microcosm.  We are all Noah.  We are all charged with creating the conditions for the survival of all creatures – in our inner lives, and in our efforts in the world.  Not only do we live out Noah’s preparation for the Flood, we also are the ark itself.  We are the form by which we can save ourselves from the flood of desires, the push and pull of the habits of mind and heart that toss us about.  The challenge is to turn our attention to the oneness – the fullness available only from connection to all things.  Deep restful attention helps us to attain stability in a sea of change.

May we each become such an ark, weathering the storms of desire and aversion, while sheltering and nurturing creative connection to all life.  


From Rabbi Jonathan Slater’s Torah Study for the Soul: Selections from No’am Elimelekh: 2NENoah  

Noah - Ephemeral Phenomena, Eternal Source

Parshat Noah

Genesis 9:12-13: And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant, which I am placing between Me and between you, and between every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations.   My rainbow I have placed in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Myself and the earth. “  

Why does  a rainbow, an ephemeral phenomena, remind us of an everlasting covenant?
Looking closely at the fleeting beauty of creation, we see that the passing away of phenomena is not the same as destruction. All experience and all creation arises and passes. Yet underneath the flux of experience we can sense something eternal, something constant, something that is the source of creation. We bless a rainbow because in blessing the fleeting, we become aware of its eternal source.