ויראו בני האלוקים,” the ‘sons’ of G’d saw, etc.” The expression בני האלוקים, refers to the elite of the society in those days, the law enforcers and judges. The Torah informs us that the very people charged with maintaining the functioning of an orderly, law abiding society, were the first to take the law into their own hands whenever it suited their purpose. Abuse of power leads to anarchy.

בשגם הוא בשר, “seeing that he is part flesh.” According to Rashi G’d said that if man, made partially of soft issue such as flesh, did not bring himself to humble himself in His Presence, how much worse would he be if made of a hard substance or of fire? Ibn Ezra claims that G’d said: “My spirit will never prevail within man, on account of this sin (the practice of indiscriminate violence) coupled with the fact that the raw material he is made of, i.e. flesh, which will cause him to die so that only his spirit (soul) will return to Me.” [once his spirit leaves him his flesh will decompose. Ed Maimonides explains the meaning of the verse to be that G’d’s spirit will never prevail in man seeing that the fact that he too is made of flesh like all other moving creatures, ensures that he will die just as all creatures die and disintegrate. He therefore does not deserve that G’d’s spirit be at home within him. What Maimonides means is that whereas G’d had given man a divine soul such as He gave to the angels, they had chosen to prefer to emphasise the physical part of themselves, be more like the animals so that they do not deserve the gift G’d had given them.

הנפילים היו בארץ, “the Nephilim were on earth at that time.” According to Rashi these creatures had fallen from heaven (in disgrace) and had in turn caused people on earth to fall from their spiritual level to a spiritually still lower level. The name נפילים corresponds to the Hebrew word ענקים, “giants.” At any rate, ordinary people were frightened of these “giants.” Other commentators simply understand the term נפילים as representing human beings who, due to their imposing stature, made everyone fall down before them in a state of fear. Rabbi Joseph Kimchi explains the word נפילים as meaning גדולים, “great men, giants.” He quotes Job 14,18 ואולם הר נופל יבול as a parallel, i.e. that even the most powerful and great phenomena (such a tall mountains) on earth will ultimately fall, collapse.

בני אלוקים, “the elite of mankind.” The male children of the most outstanding members of human society. These young men would look at the daughters of their morally inferior contemporaries and be consumed with lust for them, so that they would rape them and the result would be more such physically alluring females.

אשר יבאו, “who would be intimate with them.” According to Rashi the subject are the sons of the בני האלוקים Nachmanides explains that Adam and Chavah are here referred to as בני האלוקים, “the children of G’d,” as they had been the direct product of G’d’s creative activity, and they had no physical father. Adam and Chavah in turn, had many sons and daughters as the Torah reports in These children of Adam and Chavah were in a class by themselves, seeing that their father had passed on to them a great deal of the genes of the genetically perfect first man on earth. It is possible that the first pair of humans and their immediate sons were referred to as בני האלוקים, as they more than any subsequent human reflected what was calledצלם אלוקים at the time when G’d created the first pair of human beings. These people never engaged in idol worship, whereas their offspring already began to see in other powers on earth deities of a kind, albeit surrogates of the Creator. In keeping with this tendency of people to deify powers of nature, their own physical dimensions and strength declined, as a form of punishment. When the human population increased on earth and there began to be competition for good looking female partners, the men of earlier generations, due to their superior prowess, overpowered their more poorly endowed competitors, and they grabbed themselves whatever they chose. Originally, they married such girls even against their will, but eventually their morals deteriorated to such a degree that they raped girls without offering marriage, and generally this did not come to light until the features of the children born from such illegal liaisons did not resemble either of their parents, but showed genetic likeness to the members of the giants. The word מעולם, normally understood as meaning “from time immemorial,” is the Torah’s way of hinting that in the future whenever a human being would for some reason be of such outsize dimensions as the giants of former times, people would speak of giants having lived prior to the deluge; the appearance of this phenomenon would trigger memories of the stories which had been handed down from generation about the existence of such a race at one time.

וינחם ה' ויתעצב אל לבו, “G’d reconsidered and was saddened right to His heart.” The Torah employs the syntax used by human beings when they regret something they have done. Basically, the Torah writes that the conduct of the humans, their insurrection against the Creator’s basic rules, resulted in their causing G’d’s Holy Spirit to reconsider if they deserved to continue living.

ונח מצא חן, “but Noach had found favour, etc.” Bereshit Rabbah 28,9 points out that even Noach, strictly speaking, had not deserved that G’d perform miracles for him to save him, but as he was fortunate in finding favour in G’d’s eyes, [either because he had fathered Shem, and eventually an Avraham was born to that family, or that in accordance with the dictum that the attribute of justice is always tempered with the application of the attribute of mercy, he was the one to whom the attribute of mercy could be applied. The entire statement has as its basis the letter ו in the word ונח, which suggests that actually he too was included in the previous statement נחמתי כי עשיתם, “I am sorry that I have made them” Ed.]

אלה תולדות נח, “these are the offspring of Noach.” Some commentators understand the word תולדות as referring to important events in the life of Noach, similar to Genesis 10,1 ואלה תולדת בני נח, or אלה תולדות השמים in Genesis The fact that the Torah repeated the words ויולד נח וגו', that Noach begat 3 sons, information we had been told already in Genesis 5,32 is due to the interruption of the Torah’s narrative by telling us that Noach was a righteous man and that this accounted for his and his family being spared during the deluge. Seeing that Noach begat only three sons, as opposed to most of his contemporaries, the Torah wishes to emphasise this point. Even during the 350 years which he lived on after the deluge he sired no more children. These three sons alone were his biological offspring and they were saved because of that (not their own merit).

איש צדיק תמים היה, “he was a perfectly righteous man.” The meaning of the expression צדיק תמים is that he was a righteous man among other righteous men, i.e. had been found righteous when coming up for judgment. When a person such as Noach is found righteous, his erstwhile sins, potential causes for punishment, are converted into righteousness. This is the meaning of the verse (Deut. 25,1) והצדיקו את הצדיק והרשיעו את הרשע, “they (the judges) will exonerate the righteous (totally) and condemn the wicked.” In the case of Avraham, of whom G’d said that He knows him to be practicing and teaching צדקה ומשפט, (Genesis 18,18) He bestowed two kinds of praise upon him, צדקה, a practicing צדיק, and משפט, the meting out of משפט by tempering it with mercy, רחמים. Ibn Ezra understands the word צדיק as referring to Noach’s deeds, and תמים as referring to his motivation. [his righteousness was not prompted by self-serving considerations. Ed.] When the Torah continues that Noach walked with G’d, ויתהלך נח את האלוקים, this means that he did not even allow himself to be guided by astrology and similar considerations, but followed directly in the paths of G’d to the extent that they had been revealed. He certainly did not practice any form of idolatry. Alternatively, the Torah describes Noach here as a prophet, seeing that the formulation אחרי ה' תלכו ואותו תיראו”follow the Lord and remain in awe of Him,” is used by the Torah to describe the prophet who distances himself from idolatry.

בדורותיו, “in his generations.” According to Rashi some commentators consider this word a compliment to Noach, whereas others see in it a veiled criticism. [relative righteousness compared to his contemporaries. Ed.] Nachmanides explains the word as meaning what any reader would assume, i.e. that during the generations Noach lived he was the only one who was righteous and wholehearted in his relations with his Creator. He explains the line (Genesis 7,1) “כי אותך ראיתי צדיק בדור הזה, “for you I have seen righteous in this generation” in he same vein, i.e. no one else is worth saving from the oncoming deluge. The reason the Torah uses the plural mode for the word בדורותיו is the fact that Noach’s life time spanned several generations during all of which mankind had become successively more corrupt. Do not raise the question that Methuselah who died only few days before the onset of the deluge (according to our sages) was also a righteous man. The Torah did not deny that he was righteous, but only states that there was no other righteous man whom G’d deemed worth saving at the time in question. According to yet other commentators the word בדורותיו refers to the generation preceding the deluge as well as to those following it.

את שם, את חם,ואת יפת, “Sem, Cham and Yaphet.” Yaphet was the oldest. We know this because the Torah writes יפת הגדול, (Genesis 10,21) The reason why here the Torah mentions Sem first is because he was the spiritually outstanding one of Noach’s sons, whereas Cham was the spiritually most inferior, and he is mentioned immediately after Sem, as he followed him in the order of their birth. Had the Torah listed them in the order: Sem, Yaphet, Cham, not even one of them would have been mentioned in the order of their births. Yaphet did not possess a special distinction which would have justified changing the order of their names on that account.

כי השחית כל בשר, “for all flesh has become corrupt.” According to Rashi the use of the transitive mode השחית, tells us that the animal kingdom copied man and became corrupt also, seeing that man had defied the G’d given laws of nature and substituted a mode of conduct of his own making. This was most manifest in their mating habits including indiscriminate mating with other species. Nachmanides writes that according to Rashi the line כי מלאה הארץ חמס מפניהם, “for the earth has become filled with violence on their account,” cannot apply to the animals but only to man. Violence is not a form of corruption when practiced by the beasts. (Genesis 6,13) Alternatively, the verse does apply to both man and beast, and the beasts and birds had learned to become predators after observing the conduct of man. According to the plain meaning of the text, the wordsכל בשר apply only to human beings, just as they do in verse 17 לשחת כל בשר אשר בו רוח חיים, “to destroy all flesh which possesses the spirit of life (a soul).” When the Torah uses the words כל בשר again in verse 19 where the creatures to be brought into the ark are listed, the expression refers exclusively to members of the animal kingdom.

כי מלאה הארץ חמס , “for the earth has become saturated with violence.” The Torah states here that the decree to destroy mankind was not finalized until the anarchy, i.e. indiscriminate violence, had made the establishment of a civilized society a utopian dream. Robbery is a basic commandment of the seven universally applicable prohibitions given to mankind, a commandment which any group of people would have invented for themselves had such laws not been formulated by the Creator Himself and been conveyed by one of His prophets. Non-observance of such basic laws leads to the destruction of mankind.

והנני משחיתם את הארץ, “and I am about to destroy them together with the earth.” According to Rashi the word את is to be understood as מן from, i.e. “I will destroy them from the face of the earth.” According to Ibn Ezra the word משחיתם drags the next word with it, i.e. G’d will destroy the earth together with man [as an earth without man has no purpose. Ed.]

עצי גופר, “gopher wood.” A word reminiscent of גפרית, sulphur, a means of destroying by fire, the fate which mankind was guilty of experiencing. Compare the fate of Sodom and Gomorrha which were destroyed by sulphur and fire.

מבית ומחוץ בכופר, “overlay it with tar both from the inside and the outside.” According to Rashi כופר is identical with זפת, pitch. The purpose of the pitch was to protect the wooden structure against the waters which would have penetrated and made it disintegrate in a few days. Some commentators understand the word זפת as a generic term for any insulating material which adheres firmly to the surface to which it is applied.

צוהר, “a light,” according to some commentators this source of light was a gem stone which refracted whatever light was available in all directions. Others believe that the reference is to some kind of window (transparent material) Our sages question that seeing that the sun and moon did not operate during the duration of the flood, what good would a window have done? The answer provided is that it would enable the people inside the ark to calculate when 12 months would have passed. This is not a satisfactory answer either; however we know that a window had functions other than the admitting of light from the outside, namely it served as a means to dispatch the raven and the dove, as we will learn later on. [disposal of garbage could also be achieved by that means. Ed.]

ואני הנני מביא את המבול, as for Me, I am ready to bring on the deluge, etc.” According to Rashi the word הנני signals that at this time G’d found Himself in agreement with the angels who had opposed the creation of man to begin with, saying מה אנוש כי תזכרנו, “what is man (the species) that You should concern Yourself with him?” (Psalms 8,5). Nachmanides queries such an interpretation, seeing that G’d went to some lengths to ensure that the species was not wiped out, but that Noach and family would survive the deluge. Perhaps Rashi meant to say that G’d agreed with the angels who argued that man was not entitled to forgiveness anymore.

והקימותי את בריתי אתך, “but I will maintain My covenant with you.” According to Rashi the covenant was needed to prevent the produce in the ark that was to serve its inhabitants as food from rotting, during the year it would remain inside. Ibn Ezra suggests that this was an oath by G’d to Noach that neither he nor members of his family would die while in the ark during the deluge, even though the Torah does not spell it out as a specific promise. We explained this (Tur)) in connection with Deut. 1,22 on the line נשלחה אנשים לפנינו, “let us send some men ahead.” [in that verse too the Torah refrains from spelling out that the request was for spies and not simply scouts. Ed.] The word והקימותי refers to “keeping a promise, an oath.” It is most likely that this is a veiled hint of the rainbow, which will become the symbol of G’d’s oath later on in our portion. The word ברית, meaning “a solemn and mutual undertaking,” is derived from the expression ברו לכם, (Samuel I 17,8) where it means “choose for yourselves.” Nachmanides writes, more in line with the plain meaning of the text, that G’d promised Noach that when the moment came for the deluge to commence, he and his family would enter the ark safely, unharmed and the requisite pairs of animals would all show up ready to enter the ark to spend the time within safely. The special significance of the word (concept) ברית is that it is a binding promise not subject to additional clauses which could invalidate it.

ומכל החי מכל בשר, “and from all living creatures, all flesh, etc.” Nachmanides writes that it is a well known fact that the beasts are many and that there are innumerable sub-species to be found among them, not only huge creatures such as elephants, but millions of varieties of creepers, insects, etc. The need to bring specimens of each into the ark and to feed them all once they were inside, was a seemingly superhuman task. Clearly, the ark was not large enough to contain them all, except if G’d invoked some miracle. Although G’d could have reduced the size of these creatures for the duration of their stay in the ark, He wanted them to continue to live normally, so as to impress this and subsequent generations with the miracles G’d performed as part of Noach’s survival, so as to inspire later generations to choose the path of repentance once they had become guilty of sins. Furthermore, it is a principle of G’d’s intervention in laws of nature, that miracles are restricted to what could not be accomplished without them. Man is thus encouraged to do whatever he can to survive without relying on G’d’s intervention. by means of miracles.

שנים מכל יבואו אליך,”two of each species will come to you, etc.” According to Nachmanides G’d tells Noach that these creatures will present themselves before Noach of their own volition, so that he did not have to go chasing after them in order to save their lives. When the Torah later on reports about the arrival of these beasts, it adds that they all came as a pair, male and female. (7,9) We need to resolve why, in the previous verse, G’d instructed Noach “to bring the beasts to him,” seeing they were going to come of their own volition. The instruction in verse 19 became operative only after the animals had presented themselves before Noach. Now he was to bring them into the ark and to assign to them their respective quarters. Moreover, the animals that were to have their lives saved came of their own volition. But the seven pairs of the pure animals that were to serve as sacrifices after the deluge did not come by themselves, but Noach was instructed to take them and bring them into the ark. (compare 7,2)

ויעש נח ככל אשר צוה אותו אלוקים, “Noach carried out all the instructions G’d had given him.” He constructed the ark, collected the food supplies, etc. The reason why the Torah appears to repeat itself in 7,5 where it again mentions that Noach had carried out his instructions, is to make us aware that he did not skip performing any part of G’d’s instructions to him.