Noach
Can we allow all parts of ourselves to be present?
Reflection by by Rabbi Lauren Tuchman, the Or HaLev Team:
God remembered Noach and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and God caused a wind to blow across the earth, and the waters subsided. (Bereishit 8:1)
"Our parsha opens with the Divine in a state of simultaneous rage and despair. Human beings created in the divine image have shown an incredible propensity for violence and destruction. Mere generations after God blew the breath of life into Adam HaRishon, endowing him—and all of us—with a Neshama that is pure, humanity chose to conceal our inherent goodness. Despairing that humanity would ever find its way back home and turn away from the path of violence, the divine causes a flood to come upon the earth, destroying all human and animal life save for Noach, his family, and the pairs of every species on earth that entered the ark alongside them.
The Torah describes the ensuing suffering directly. We are not left to wonder about what happened. Though many of us were introduced to Noach’s ark as children in a sanitized fashion, as adult readers and learners, we are left to sit with the shock, sorrow, and ache in our hearts when we contemplate the immeasurable loss of life, knowing that it cannot be brought back. And as we allow that to be, not turning away from the emotions that may arise in us, we open ourselves to knowing that this is not the end of the story.
The divine, having begun in a place of separation and disconnection, remembers after one hundred and fifty days Noach and all others in the ark. God allows the flood waters to slowly subside. Eventually, Noach exits the ark. The divine makes a covenant with all humanity, the sign of which is the rainbow. God promises never again to flood the earth in this way.
As we explore the contours of our minds and experience in practice, we are increasingly able to be open to the truth of our experiences honestly and holistically, allowing all parts of ourselves, including the parts that feel despair and disconnection to be present. Allowing is a key piece of moving through these stuck places with skillful means. We work with our hearts and minds with great care to simultaneously allow feelings to arise and pass as they do, while not being entirely overcome by them, forgetting the joy and aliveness that is also here. So, too, we don’t bypass the painful places with a single-minded focus on the pleasant only. Letting go of clinging and grasping, we meet life in its infinite complexity moment by moment.
The flood was an extraordinary act of despair and rage. At times, these feelings may feel intimately familiar. We can recognize them as they arise and attend to them in contained and safe ways. We can choose not to be hijacked by them, not to allow our basest impulses to override our inherent goodness. May we learn from divine transformation . May we, too, remember. May we, too, begin to allow those stuck places to subside as we carefully and lovingly tend to them."