(Gen. 6:9:) THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH: Thus did R. Tanhuma bar Abba open his teaching in the academy: It is written (in Prov. 11:30): THE FRUIT OF THE RIGHTEOUS IS A TREE OF LIFE.⁷ R. Judah bar Shallum the Levite said:⁸., Gen. 2:2. When a righteous one is passing from the world without offspring, he is depressed and weeping. The Holy One says to him: For what reason are you depressed and weeping? For the reason that you have not raised up the fruit of offspring? In this world I have fruit more beautiful than offspring. Then he says to him: Sovereign of the World, what is that fruit? The Holy One says to him: This is the Torah, in which you were busy, for thus it is written: THE FRUIT OF THE RIGHTEOUS IS A TREE OF LIFE. Now there is no tree of life but Torah, as stated (in Prov. 3:18): WISDOM IS A TREE OF LIFE TO THOSE WHO TAKE HOLD OF IT. Who is this righteous one ? This is Noah. Our masters have said: Noah did not die until he had seen all the world in its entirety with its population,⁹., Gen. 2:2, which explains in this context that the Holy One treats a person with due consideration to ancestors and descendants. So also Gen. R. 29:5. not until he had seen the early days¹⁰), from the Latin castra. See ‘Arakh. 9:6. of Sepphoris, not until he had seen the seventy peoples who would go out from his loins; and of all these only he had his righteousness mentioned, as stated (in Gen. 6:9): THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH: [NOAH WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN, PERFECT]. Shem, Ham, and Japheth appear (in the next verse), but only his (Noah's) righteousness is recorded here. Thus it is stated: NOAH WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN. You yourself know that the above verse (Prov. 11:30) speaks about Noah, since there is written at the end of it: AND A WISE ONE WINS SOULS. Now this was Noah, since he had won souls. Thus he nurtured and fed them. And what did he feed them? R. Aqiva says: He fed fig cake to all of them, human, cattle, beast, and fowl, as it is stated (in Gen. 6:21): AND IT SHALL BE FOOD FOR YOU AND FOR THEM.¹¹ Now what is the one thing of which the children of Adam eat as well as the cattle, the beast, and the fowl? Thus he (Aqiva) says: This is fig cake. But our masters say: No! Rather each and every species ate what it had been used to: the camel, straw; the donkey, barley; the elephant, vine wood; the ostrich, glass. Ergo it says (in Prov. 11:30): AND A WISE ONE WINS SOULS.

footnotes: ⁷ Cf. Gen. R. 30:6. ⁸ Tanh ⁹ Cf. Tanh ¹⁰ Buber suggests emending “early days” to “fortress” (qatsrah ¹¹ Cf. Gen. R. 31:14.

Another interpretation: AND A WISE ONE WINS SOULS: Some cattle would eat at the first hour in the day, some at the second hour of the day, some at the third hour of the day, and some at cockcrow.¹². 108b; Gen. R. 29:4. Our masters have said:¹³ For the twelve months that Noah spent in the ark, he did not taste a bit of sleep either by day or by night because he was busy sustaining the souls who were with him. Thus it says (in Prov. 11:30): AND A WISE ONE WINS (the care of) SOULS. This one is Noah.

footnotes: ¹² See Sanh ¹³ See below, 14.