Lech Lecha

We read that Avraham and Lot, from Shem and Yaphet no doubt, came into the land of their "brother" Canaan. Cham was in the South, up till the land of the Philistim and in the North and East, Nineve and Bavel. And Avraham received his prophetic dream, "your offspring will be aliens in a land not their own", but "afterwards they shall leave with great wealth."

The perush is clear. The sons of Avraham, the Jewish nation, will go into the Galut, to all the nations of the world, against their will. There, in the Galut, the nation will absorb "holy sparks", unvoluntarily, more or less. Afterwards, the nation will leave the Galut, with all the sparks, a great wealth. Unvoluntarily, to a large degree.

In the land of Canaan, in the Land that was promised to Abraham, a holy nation will thus arise, a reverse Bavel, many languages becoming one, in Zion. This is the awesome method of HaShem, His Will of old, and it is against the will of the "spark-less" nations of the world.

This perush is long indeed. It does not consider Galut Mitzraim as the fulfillment of Avraham's dream. Galut Mitzraim is only the first of all the Galuyot that had to be. L'chatchilah. The reason is that Mitzraim may have been the superpower of the day, but mankind is much older and way bigger. Only when all have contributed their holy sparks, the end, of the dream, is there.

For the details about the timing, see this, and references therein, and this, or this.

Academic Research and The Parasha

A narrative. One main story in our Parshat Noach is about the dispersion of people around the world, against their will. The other main story is about interbreeding events with "people" they met, which produced Gibborim. It is exactly these events that lately receive quite some attention in academic circles: the encounters, some 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, with archaic man (the Neanderthals and the Denisovans), and the critical evolutionary influence which these encounters have had.

The Sin of Adam and Chavah was therefore in the relations of original man with archaic women. Or, it was Adam who was an archaic man and Chavah a normal human. The archaic man had ultimately no male descendants. His fate was like the fate of Kain: כִּי אִישׁ הָרַגְתִּי לְפִצְעִי. Anyway, the mix of the two "human" species was only just viable, and it caused many genetic problems in their offspring, as it says: בְּעֶצֶב, תֵּלְדִי בָנִים.

It was a forbidden act, the relations with a different species, but it became allowed, because it bore fruit, the forbidden fruit, and advantages ensued, as it says: וִהְיִיתֶם, כֵּאלֹהִים, יֹדְעֵי, טוֹב וָרָע. Were would the relations have happened? In the land of Israel, at the border with Africa, as testified by the priest of Shalem, as it says: וְהוּא כֹהֵן, לְאֵל עֶלְיוֹן. And how long ago did the relations happen? It is written: דָּבָר צִוָּה, לְאֶלֶף דּוֹר. He commanded "a thing," causing it to happen, and it happened, a thousand generations ago.

You see, the story of the Gibborim is the immediate consequence of the story of Adam and Chavah. They gave birth tם the "sons of God," who gave birth to the "Gibborim." And the main story of Parshat Noach, the birth of Shemites, Canaanites, et al., took place about 20,000 years ago. And Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, were Shemites, perhaps early Shemites, Gibborim, that lived long lives. And it is a narrative.

Some Edits

I made some edits around the story of Noach. The story of the city of Bavel is moved up, to right after the city-building is first mentioned. The reasoning is that it was moved out of that position because of the story of the Mabul. After the story of Bavel, is the story of the Gibborim. Noach is not mentioned until after this, suggesting that he was a Gibbor, a man of name. Noach is hence not a son of Lamech - the two lived many generations apart - and he has, not three, but four sons, which is clearly the original story. Why P insisted on three sons? Likely, P wanted to make a theme. Because Adam, in P's view, had three sons, and Terach, in P's view, had three sons.

Two Angels, One Charedi, One Secular

It is a long time ago, our honeymoon. One week "in Yerushalayim," during which the following two salient, uncharacteristic, encounters happened.

We came out of Ben Gurion Airport, and there came a secular Israeli, in his twenties. He asked us where we were going. We planned to go to a hotel in Tel Aviv. He knew the way, he said, and accompanied us, for no apparent reason, all the way to the hotel, by bus. I asked him why he gave us this welcome. He answered that he would want the same if he came to a foreign land. He said goodbye at the hotel and he left.

Later in the week we were sitting on a bench on Har Herzl in Yerushalayim. There came a Charedi Israeli, also in his twenties. He came to sit next to us, next to my wife to be precise. Yes, a Charedi, next to my wife, on Har Herzl. Then this man blessed us, that we would have many children. And he left us, wondering. At his leaving, I asked for his name. He said his name was Eli.

Prepare

After the Chag, the year starts in earnest.
It is time to remind you that you need to prepare.
This year, in 5775, it will start.
The best place to be is Israel.
There is not much time.

Time For Rachamim

In the P commentary we have included the whole story of the Mabul, including its J-source original. We do not want it in the Torah Kedumah. This J-source story stands out as judgement, and as such is elaborated greatly by P. We see it as a part of J that really belongs to P. In general, however, we regard J, and the great emphasis on Chesed, as authorative. In particular, this applies to Akedat Yitzchak. This is not Din upon Avraham, or upon Yitzchak, as the E source seems to have it. The Chesed of J rightly paints it as a test of faith for Avraham, and for Yitzchak.

The story of the Akedah is parallel to the two Meshichim, that go up to Har Moriah. We trust the tikkun of the GR"A, the count of 35.750 years, which fixes the count of Moshiach ben Yosef, the count of 18 years. There has been ample judgement and suffering in the 35750 generations that have passed, more than one million years. There has been ample suffering for Yisrael in the Galut. Now it is time for Rachamim, for Yisrael.

Chag Sameach

In a Formula

Bri'at HaOlam

Bri'at HaOlam is a relative concept. We count once every seven years from the time of Mechirat Yosef. We count every ten years, nowadays, in the "Galut count" starting at Galut Mitzrayim. We count every twelve years since year five. We count every fifteen years since Chaim Vital. We count every eighteen years since the Ramchal. We count every nineteen years since Arizal. We count every twenty-eight years since the beginning of Bayit Sheni, from Ezra HaSofer let us say. We count every sixty-four years from Yetziat Mitzrayim, from Moshe Rabbeinu. We count the Yovel year since Yehoshua. We count every 35.75 years since year 5500, commanded by the GR"A. We count every 29 years since the rise of homo sapiens, 2^14 times 29 years ago. Especially we count every 29 years since 2^7 times 29 years ago, since Avraham. And especially especially, we count every 29 years since the death of Rashbi, 2^6 times 29 years ago. And especially especially especially, we count every 29 years since the death of Arizal. And, finally, "we count" 2^14 times 29^2 kiloyears (i.e. every 841,000 years) since the beginning of the expansion of the Universe, 13.779 billion years ago. And especially we count every 29^2 kiloyears since the earliest life, 2^12 times 29^2 kiloyears ago. And especially especially, we count, and we count, and so forth, and so forth.

All these counts have a similar status. Every count may be called "MiBri'at HaOlam." It is a matter of which Olam is referred to. However, none of the above counts starts at year 1, or 0, in the common counting of the years. The cycle of 75 since year 1 is the only one! Did we stumble upon the reason for saying that the common year count is MiBri'at HaOlam? The Olam that was created could be called the world of Chesed. The world of the right. HaMevin Yavin.