Parsha Noach -- Questions, not answers.

This Week's Parsha -- Noach, the Flood, Rebuilding

1. Possible topics to write about Parsha Noah = too numerable to list
2. Wanting to write about women but finding almost no named women in the parsha = disappointing
3. Searching google images for "Noah's Flood" = priceless.

Think of the images we usually see of the worldwide flood in Genesis. There are cute, kid-friendly versions.

Slightly more realistic portrayals that graduate from the nursery:

But what if they looked like this instead?

Or this?

Or these poor animals:

(Something interesting about God's names. Yud-hey-vav-hey (Adonai) is used when God is issuing the decree for destruction, but Elokim "remembered Noach" floating on the ark.)

8:1 What happened to the raven? Did it really just keep flying and flying while the earth dried out? Poor birdie... And why was the raven the one who wanders and the dove the one who brings back proof of a happy ending? What did biblical authors know about ravens and doves that I don't know?

8:21 God promises not to destroy everything again..."for the impulse of man's heart is evil from his youth." So the reason for never sending another flood is the reason He sent the flood in the first place? 

9:9 God has a covenant "with every living creature". Why do we not emphasize this verse more? It seems critically important to how we view ourselves and the rest of the trillions of creatures on the planet.

9:13 Are we sure a "bow" is a rainbow? I immediately thought of a bow/arrow...not a promise but a warning. Is it both -- the weapon turned into a sign of peace? 

9:16 Repetition of the covenant with "every living thing" Repetition in Torah is important, yes?

9:18 The incident with Noach's nakedness and Ham seeing it.
1st -- these people all lived on an ark together for over a year. You cannot convince me that the men didn't see each other naked.
2nd -- Maybe Ham was drunk, too?
3rd -- Isn't part of the sin Noach's? He got so drunk that he passed out half naked...and Ham gets the curse?

The incident does prove, though, what God was saying in 8:21. The first words out of Noah's mouth in the entire parsha are a curse, a curse that changes the course of history for so many...