Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Noach/0/en

Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Noach

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Uniformity or Pluralism? Use Deconstructing Migdal Bavel as an entree into a discussion of the relative values of uniformity and pluralism.  Some questions to raise at your table:

• What should be the balance between conformity and plurality of ideas in society?  When should individualism be sacrificed for the collective, and when is personal expression worth fighting for?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of centralized government? 
• Finally, is world unity something we should strive for, or is it actually fraught with danger?

Does the Torah View Vegetarianism as an Ideal? After creating humans, Hashem speaks of the diets of both man and animals, mentioning fruits and vegetables but not meat.   Only after the flood does Hashem explicitly include other living creatures as well.  What does this suggest about the Torah's view of eating meat?  Set up a debate at your Shabbat table regarding the Torah's attitude towards a carnivorous diet.  What evidence might suggest that killing animals for food is problematic and that a vegetarian diet is preferred?  What verses might be brought as counter proofs?  See Permission to Eat Meat. Other points to discuss:

• If Hashem did not originally intend that humans include meat in their diet, what made Him change His mind?  Do you think it is possible that Hashem's will can change?  See Ralbag.
• R. Kook and other suggest that eating meat was only permitted as a concession to man's degraded morality.  Do you think that the Torah represents an eternal ideal or might its laws make concessions to human failings?

Rebuilding after Failure If someone you care about has failed you in some way, how does that affect your relationship thereafter?  Do you push them harder, or do you lower your expectations and demand less?  When do you give them a second chance and when do you give up?  Think about the above on a personal level and then in relation to the failure of mankind and their destruction in the flood:

• What led Hashem to the final decision to destroy all?
• How does Hashem's relationship to humankind change afterwards?  Is He more demanding of them or less?  Is His providence felt to the same degree?  
• What else changed in the world post-flood?  Was the world a totally different place than it had been beforehand? See Undoing and Redoing Creation for elaboration.

Cross Cultural Comparisons The Torah and Judaism did not come into existence in a vacuum.  Knowledge of the surrounding cultures of the time helps us appreciate the uniqueness of our values and belief system.  Compare the story of the Mabbul as recounted in Parashat Noach with other Flood stories from Mesopotamia. See The Mabbul and Mesopotamian Myths for examples and discussion.

• What differences do you note?  What prompts the bringing of the flood in each story? How do the heroes of each story compare?  What role is played by the deity both during and after the flood?
• What do these differences reveal about each society's understanding of God and the way the world is led? 

Judging Others

• How often do you judge a person in a certain way only to find out, after coming to know them better, that your original impression was wrong?  What are the factors that go into our initial evaluations of the other?  To what degree are we influenced by externals rather than the individual's essence?
• There are several characters in Tanakh whom we know very little about, and yet, we nonetheless find ourselves labeling them righteous or wicked.  Nimrod is a case in point.  Tanakh shares but five verses about him, but most readers view him negatively.  What leads to this evaluation?  Is there any other way to read his character?  See Nimrod and Ibn Ezra there who uniquely claims that Nimrod was in fact a righteous worshiper of Hashem.  Which reading of Nimrod do you prefer?