Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Daily Aliya for Noach, Revii (4th Aliya)

Aliya Summary: G‑d commanded Noach to leave the teivah, along with all his fellow teivah-mates. Noach built an altar and offered sacrifices. This pleased G‑d, who then promised to never again curse the earth as He had just done. Instead, the regular seasons (which had not functioned during the year of the mabul) would continue perpetually. G‑d then blessed Noach and his sons: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." G‑d allowed mankind to eat meat, but prohibited murder, suicide, and the consumption of a limb ripped from a living animal.

What changed? Now that G-d enacted a "do-over", the changes are that there will now be seasons, basic laws must be followed, and man must procreate. The theme? Structure. Without rules and structure everything falls apart, and seasons and basic laws help facilitate a natural order of things. And having kids? Not only is having children a structured event, but raising them requires even more structure and discipline. Only after we work out our own issues by dealing with seasons and laws, we can then continue to bring new life to the world.

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