כירק עשב, “as if it were green grass.” Such grass had been permitted for man to eat ever since his creation. Just as some grass had never been fit to eat,though not forbidden,so some living creatures as well as fish and fowl would be permitted as food, whereas others would not because they are not suitable as such.

נתתי לכם את כל, “I have allocated it all to you in a similar manner.” The reason why G-d permitted eating living creatures after they had been killed, was that all of them had to thank man for having kept them from perishing during the deluge. As a result, all the animals were now totally at the mercy of man.

אך בשר בנפשו דמו לא תאכלו, “you must not however eat meat with its lifeblood in it.” According to Rashi, this is the prohibition of eating any part of an animal as long as the animal itself is still alive. Seeing that the Torah now permitted man to eat all manner of moving creatures, the Torah now had to forbid eating parts of animals such as ribs, which had been cut off the living animal. Seeing that Adam had never been permitted to even eat a carcass, he had not been forbidden eating live tissue.

ואך את דמכם, “yet your (human) blood”, etc; this is a warning to any animal not to kill any human being, as G-d would hold it responsible for harming humans. Rashi explains the verse as follows: the peculiar wording is to include killing, including suicide that does not involve the actual shedding of blood, such as by strangulation.

לנפשותיכם, according to Rashi, this refers to people who strangulate themselves. The passage is intended as an answer to people who deny that G-d operates vis a vis man through a system of reward and punishment, i.e. reward after the body has died and punishment after the body has died, and who therefore see in suicide a way of avoiding being held responsible for their actions on earth. Clearly a system of reward and punishment, unless it included posthumous reward and punishment, would be meaningless, and would not act as deterrent not to sin. In Bereshit Rabbah, 34,13 the word אך in our verse is understood as including the mortally wounded King Shaul who completed dying by falling intentionally on his own sword to escape being killed by the Philistines whom he did not want to be able to claim that they had killed G-d’s anointed king. Others believe that it applies to Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah, who had consulted with the prophet Ezekiel before submitting to being thrown to the lions by Nevuchadnezar. Some authorities do not agree that they were permitted to do so.

מיד כל חיה אדרשנו, “I will demand an accounting from every living creature for having shed it.” This is meant to prevent man from using animals to kill his foes, claiming that he had not killed anyone. A different interpretation of this phrase: “I, G-d, will demand an accounting directly from the animal concerned. Compare Exodus 21,29 where not only the owner of the ox who gored is to be stoned but also the ox itself.

מיד איש אחיו, “of every man of that of his fellow man;” man must not conclude that seeing that all the beasts have become permitted as food (after death of the animal) so human carcasses have also been permitted to him as food.

אדרוש, “I will demand an accounting even of anyone killing himself, or who kills a fellow human being in the absence of witnesses who could bring him to justice before a human tribunal.” Open murder must, of course, be dealt with by human tribunals.

באדם דמו ישפך, “his blood will be spilled by a fellow human being.” Here the Torah revealed the penalty for murder. Where had it issued the warning not to commit murder? This is found in Exodus 20,13: לא תרצח, “do not commit murder!”

כי בצלם אלוקים, the meaning of the word: elohim here is the same as the meaning of that word in Exodus 22,27, where it means that one must not curse a judge.

עשה את האדם, He appointed man on earth to be judge so that fellow man would be deterred from committing sins and crimes.

ואתם פרו ורבו, “as for you, be fruitful and multiply!” I G-d, do not wish that you diminish in numbers but that you increase in numbers. An alternate interpretation: if you follow My instructions to deal sternly with murderers, I will in turn insure that you will increase in numbers, [although you might have to execute the odd murderer in your midst. Ed.] A third possible interpretation: This blessing appears here twice, once (verse 1) for the human race and once for the animal kingdom.

ואני הנני, “and as far as I am concerned, etc;” according to Rashi, this is G-d’s way of saying that He agreed with Noach who had not wanted to resume normal marital relations until specifically encouraged by G-d to do so. He waited for G-d’s promise not ever again to bring on the kind of destruction of the human race that he had just been a witness to.

והקימותי את בריתי, “I shall maintain My covenant as applicable, etc.” The reason why G-d’s promise not to bring on another deluge is repeated in the same verse, is to underline that even if the human race would again be guilty of similar conduct to that which had brought about the deluge, this covenant would not be considered by G-d as null and void.

את קשתי, My rainbow, etc;” the rainbow is considered as a very significant visible sign directly from the celestial regions. If we needed proof for this, the reader isreferred to Ezekiel 1,28: 'כן מראה דמות כבוד ה.........כמראה הקשת,“just as the appearance of the rainbow.....so is theappearance of the semblance of the glory of Hashem.”If it were My intention to destroy you when the rains intensified in quality and quantity, I would not first show you a semblance of My glory, just as it is not the custom of a mortal king to show himself amongst his subjects when he is angry at them. A different approach to this subject of the rainbow: just as the rainbow does not change its consistency although it reflects both water and fire and provides a greater variety of light than any other phenomenon at the same time, and water and fire do not act as mutually destructive as they do in nature normally, so its very appearance is a reassurance that rain will never again be the precursor to the destruction of the human race. A third interpretation: normally a hunter when aiming the bow (and arrow) aims it inclined upwards, or at least horizontally; the fact that this bow is inclined downwards is proof that it is not the bow used by an antagonist bent on destroying his foe. [For a further study on the significance of the rainbow, and the changes it reflects in cosmic conditions after the deluge, the reader is referred to the commentary byRabbi Elie Munk, in his “The call of the Torah,” Feldheim Publishing. Ed.]

ונראתה הקשת, “when the rainbow becomes visible;” the fact that the bow appears without arrows appearing at the same time, is to serve as reassurance to the beholder.

וחם הוא אבי כנען “and Cham is the one who is Canaan’s father.” He is singled out for mention as he was conceived while his parents were still in the ark. He was born immediately after his parents left the ark.

איש האדמה, a man to whom (and to his children) the earth had been given after the deluge, after the curse that had rested upon it had been removed.

ויטע כרם, “he planted a vineyard.” According to Rashi, Noach had taken branches of the fig tree and the grapevine with him into the ark. (based on Bereshit Rabbah 36,3) These plants are especially sensitive to water and need protecting more than other trees. Alternate interpretation: both of these seeds need especial attention in order to be planted successfully.

, ויתגל בתוך אהלה, “he had disrobed inside his tent.” According to Rashi, basing himself on a Midrash, (Tanchuma, edition Buber) the correct interpretation, seeing that the last letter in the word אהלה is the letter ה instead of ו this is a hint of the exile of the Tent Tribes, who, according to some prophets, were guilty of too much wine drinking. (Amos 6,1)

ויגד לשני אחיו, “he told his two brothers of this.” Since the Torah did not use the word: ויאמר, for Cham telling his brothers, but ויגד, “he elaborated on this,” it is clear that he emphasised that his father had embarrassed himself. According to Rabbi Yaakov bar Zivdi in Bereshit Rabbah 36,5 the reason why a Canaanite slave is released immediately when his owner has ruined a tooth of his or an eye of his (Exodus 21,26), is because the eye is used to see things that should not be seen, and the tooth (mouth) is used to tell what should not be told. [Once the limb of a Canaanite’s slave whose forefather had abused it has been ruined, that curse has been removed from him . Ed]

ויקח שם ויפת, “Shem and Yephet took the bedcloth, etc;“ according to Rashi, Shem’s initiative in this instance resulted in the Jewish people, a nation descended from him, being rewarded with the commandment to wear fringes, ציציות on four cornered garments. (Numbers 15,37) According to the statement in the Talmud Sotah 17, the origin of that commandment had been when Avraham refused to accept as much as a thread or shoelace from the loot of the war against Kedorloomer, (Genesis 15,23) this refers to the specific kind of “threads” used in the tzitzit.

אשר עשה לו בנו הקטן , “what his youngest son had done for him;” a reference to the kind deed done by Shem and his brother Yephet. This is why he gave Shem a greater blessing than the one he gave to Yephet his older brother. [a totally different interpretation from the commonly accepted one, including Rashi. Ed.]

ויאמר ארור כנען, He said: “cursed be Canaan, etc.” Concerning Canaan, the prophet Yoel said (Yoel, 4,8) “and they will sell them to the people of Sh’va, to a far distant nation.” The slaves will in turn sell the Canaanites to an even more degrading status.

ארור כנען, Cham sinned and his son Canaan was punished. Why? Seeing that G-d had already blessed Noach and all of his sons, Noach’s cursing Cham would have been totally ineffective. [Compare what G-d said to Bileam when He told him that seeing that the Jewish people had already been blessed by Him, he, Bileam, could not undo this by cursing them. (Numbers 22,12) Ed.] Some commentators say that actually Cham had not done anything; he had only viewed the exposed body of his father, and had failed to cover him as did his brothers subsequently. However, he had told others about it without intending to cover his father. Had he intended to cover his father, why did he tell his brothers about what he had seen without at least first having covered his father’s shame? This is why Noach cursed him when he found out. These commentators cite the line: “what his younger son had done to him,” as proof for their interpretation. (Since the son’s name had already been mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph, there was no need to repeat it.) The word: הקטן does not refer to the youngest son of Noach seeing that Cham was not Noach’s youngest son, the eldest being Yephet and the youngest being Shem, as already pointed out earlier. Noach blessed the two sons who had treated him as was proper, whereas he remained silent concerning Cham. Canaan who had shamed him, he cursed.

ארור כנען, “cursed be Canaan,” he cursed him by referring to his name, meaning that his very name which indicated something negative, suppressed, downtrodden, should become his curse. He would become subservient to his brothers. Whenever a servant does not carry out the wishes of his master he attracts a curse to himself.

עבד עבדים יהיה, “he will become a slave to slaves.” His fate will not be determined by warfare, but when the Jewish people would conquer the land of Canaan, they would be instructed not to let any Canaanite survive on that land. (Deuteronomy 20,16)

ברוך ה' אלוקי שם, “Blessed be the Lord, G-d of Shem;” Noach blessed his G-d Who had also proven to be the G-d of his son Shem who served no other deity; being a servant of the Lord is being truly free, as opposed to Canaan, who was cursed to be truly subservient even to slaves.

ויהי כנען עבד למו, “whereas Canaan will be a slave to them.” He will be a slave both to Shem and to His G-d. He will be a slave to the Lord by having to carry water and kindling for the altar when the descendants of Shem would offer sacrifices to their Lord. [This is a reference to the Gibeonites, a Canaanite tribe who had duped Joshua into accepting them as converts. (Joshua chapter 9) Ed.]

יפת, “May He expand;” Noach did not use the name of the Lord additionally when blessing Yephet as he had done in connection with Shem’s blessing, as the latter was a righteous person.

ויהי כל ימי נח תשע מאות שנה וחמישים שנה וימת, “When Noach had reached the age of 950 years, he died.” You might ask that seeing we already know that Noach lived to become 950 years old, as the Torah had told us this in 7,11 and in the verse immediately preceding this one, so why did the Torah have to write this verse? The fact is that we might have added 7,11 and 9,28, and have arrived at the erroneous conclusion that Noach had lived 951 years. The Torah wished to inform us that the year in the ark was not considered as one of the years that Noach had “lived;” The author had already referred to that fact in chapter 9, verse 4.