Parshas Noach begins by recounting the good deeds of Noach, who was righteous and pure in his generation, and who walked with G-d. Noach and his family - his three sons: Shem, Cham and Yafes, his wife Na’ama, and his daughters-in-law - remained upstanding and moral, in a world gone awry. 

Ten generations after creation, the world - and all of mankind - had become utterly corrupt, and Hashem brought the great flood waters to destroy all life forms from upon the face of the earth. The majority of Parshas Noach deals with the Torah narrative of the flood: the years leading up to it, when Noach built the Ark; the timeline of the flood itself; and its aftermath.

Other topics include the listing of the ten generations from Noach to Avraham (still called Avram at this point in the Torah), the generation of the Tower of Bavel and their plans to reach the heavens and rebel against G-d, keviyachol; and the family of Terach - including Avram and Sarai (called Yiskah) who began their journey from Ur Kasdim to Canaan, but get stuck in Charan.

At the end of the Flood narrative, once Noach and his family exited the ark, we learn of the covenant that Hashem made with Noach and his sons, and all of mankind. 

וַֽהֲקִֽמֹתִ֤י אֶת־בְּרִיתִי֙ אִתְּכֶ֔ם וְלֹֽא־יִכָּרֵ֧ת כָּל־בָּשָׂ֛ר ע֖וֹד מִמֵּ֣י הַמַּבּ֑וּל וְלֹא־יִֽהְיֶ֥ה ע֛וֹד מַבּ֖וּל לְשַׁחֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ - And I will establish My covenant with you, and never again will all flesh be cut off by the flood waters, and there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth;

And Elokim said: זֹ֤את אֽוֹת־הַבְּרִית֙ אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִ֣י נֹתֵ֗ן בֵּינִי֙ וּבֵ֣ינֵיכֶ֔ם וּבֵ֛ין כָּל־נֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אִתְּכֶ֑ם לְדֹרֹ֖ת עוֹלָֽם - This is the sign of the covenant, which I am placing between Me and between you, and between every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations;

אֶת־קַשְׁתִּ֕י נָתַ֖תִּי בֶּֽעָנָ֑ן וְהָֽיְתָה֙ לְא֣וֹת בְּרִ֔ית בֵּינִ֖י וּבֵ֥ין הָאָֽרֶץ - My bow I have placed in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth (Bereishis 9:11-13).

Famously, the rainbow is the sign that Hashem showed Noach as a promise to never again wash away the world with flood waters of destruction.

Regarding the sign of the rainbow, Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch writes, “G-d is not content merely to pronounce His word, but establishes from His pronouncement a sign and a remembrance. So we find throughout the course of the Divine rule: G-d sets osos (signs) - e.g., milah, Shabbos, tefillin - to remind man ever anew of the momentous truths on which the welfare of humanity depends” (RSRH, Commentary to Bereishis 9:12).

Rav Hirsch points out that in proclaiming Hashem’s covenant with the generations, the pasuk (v.12, quoted above) says: לְדֹרֹ֖ת עוֹלָֽם, with the vav’s missing from the word le’doros (we would have expected the word to be written: לדורות, with two vav’s, which is the maleh [full] spelling of the word. However, the word is written in its chaser form). 

As every letter in Torah is of great significance, we must wonder: What does the chaser spelling come to teach us? 

Rav Hirsch notes that, “The word לְדֹרֹ֖ת is written doubly chaser. The implication is that G-d’s covenant will remain in effect at all times; it will shield even a deficient, wanting generation whose deficiency is apparent, whether inwardly or outwardly. In such times a person is likely to lose heart or to despair of Divine justice, but the sight of the rainbow in the clouds will remind him that G-d’s covenant is established with mankind and with the earth. This covenant will remain in effect at all times and in every generation, and His providence will achieve its aims - even in a wanting [i.e.: ‘chaser,’ or ‘lacking’] generation” (Ibid.).

This teaching contains an important message of chizuk and hope for us, in our times. 

We live in a world that is sorely lacking, completely ‘chaser’, in morality and ethics, in holiness and purity, in honest and integrity, in faithfulness and compassion. As we witness events on the world stage that can only shock us with their depravity and instill trembling in every upright heart, we must remember Hashem’s promise to Noach and his sons, and in fact, to the whole world.

Not only did Hashem promise not to destroy the entire world ever again with floodwaters, but this Divine promise remains always, even for a generation - and world - that is deficient. Rav Hirsch reminds us that the rainbow, representing Hashem’s covenant, should strengthen us so that we never “lose heart or to despair of Divine justice.”

While we look to G-d to do His part and uphold the covenant He enacted, He looks to us - Am Yisrael - to see if we are doing our part, through the covenant which we accepted upon ourselves.

As Torah Jews, watching our world - and societies around us - torn asunder, we must continue to cling to, live by, emulate and walk in the ways of our patriarch and founder of Am Yisrael: Avraham Avinu.

Born ten generations after Noach, through his son Shem, Avraham is introduced to us at the end of Parshas Noach. He too lived in a time of corruption and idolatry, in a world that had forgotten the Creator and His Providence (Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Ovdei Kochavim, 1:1-3). Yet Avraham remained steadfast in his faith, never wavering from his commitment to Hashem and never veering from the moral path of truth. As his children, it is our duty, responsibility, and privilege, to continue the path that he forged. We must always remain faithful to HKB”H, to bettering the world around us, to being kind and compassionate to others, and to improving our own selves, as we sojourn through this world.

And as Hashem’s covenant will be upheld forever, and Am Yisrael will fulfill its duty in this world - to our nation, our land and our Torah - we will merit to see the ultimate redemption, may it be immediate and in our days.

בברכת בשורות טובות ושבת שלום