Noach vs Pagan Flood Myths - Tehila Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship

hey guys so the portion we just read this week was noah of course now all these stories in the opening lineup of the torah are so significant like when we think about it as of next week we're already gonna be meeting avraham and we're gonna start getting into the story of the birth of israel and the giving of the torah so it's really only these two opening torah portions that are dedicated to teaching us about the world right because after that things start to become kind of focused and oriented towards sinai and revelation so there's just these two portions of stories that are before that like this is what you need to know about the world how many stories do we even have we can count them on one hand there's creation there's the garden there's cain and abel maybe a few short stories in between then we have the flood and the tower of babel that's about it so packed into this small space are these really powerful and foundational stories that if we properly unpack them they can teach us a lot about the fundamentals of existing on this planet in this life so it won't come as a surprise for us as bible believers that the flood stories are just about the most universally common story among almost every culture it's not surprising to us because it surely would have been a traumatic enough event to have been passed down in different cultures and traditions in different ways that would have left you know an imprint so now i learned something really interesting on rabbi yishai fleischer's podcast this week right here on the land of israel network so rabbi iesha hosted rabbi dr joshua berman on his show and they were discussing parallel stories to the to the biblical flood story and particularly the story that was uh the most well known in mesopotamia the epic of gilgamesh now rabbi berman said that what's most striking about studying the different flood stories is not so much what they have in common because they have things in common a person you know there's a flood and a boat and animals but what's the most interesting is actually to notice what they don't have in common because that's where we're able to tease out the unique biblical message as it was being presented against the backdrop of an existing pagan world view we can better understand what new light that torah was trying to bring into the world because the torah isn't just telling us stories it's equipping us with a way of seeing things that's not ju that stands on its own but it doesn't just stand on its own it's in a dialogue with the world around us and it's in a conversation with opposing ways of looking at the world so there's the epic of gilgamesh but there's actually a story that predates gilgamesh it's the acadian story i hope i'm not mangling this name but the acadian story of atra hases which is probably extraordinarily well known to the israelites as well because you see fragments of it repeated in a lot of places all over the near east there are a lot of similar elements to the torah story in this story the gods wanted to destroy the world one of the gods lets in this one person on the secret that guy builds a boat he gets saved brings in the animals he uses birds to see if the waters have receded now imagine the israelites get the torah now this is a story you know there's a story of the flood that they all know it's like common knowledge it's just kind of like if i said uh you know cinderella or snow white it's a story that everybody knows but the torah tells the story in a different version in the correct version to set it straight in the pagan story the gods why did they destroy the world it says that they were annoyed at humans for making too much noise it was bothering their sleep there were just too many humans as opposed to the torah story of noah where it was their level of moral behavior what bothered the gods and the pagan story was there's just too many people they were overpopulating the earth and it was making the earth too noisy so the gods made a flood but they leaked the plan to this guy he made an ark and then when he gets out of the ark he makes his sacrifice and the gods start chowing down on the sacrifice and they're like well maybe it's not so bad for there to be some humans because they do all this worshiping and sacrificing and we get food that way so then the gods decide that from now on humans can exist but we want to make sure there will be too many of them so the gods created infertility the gods created miscarriages uh the gods decided that some women will serve as priestesses and not be allowed to get married and have families and so they said that way there'll be just enough humans to make sacrifices for us to eat but not too many of them to bother us when we're trying to rest how different is that from our torah portion when noah comes out of the ark hashem says be fruitful multiply fill up the earth so on the one hand there's this popular existing accepted world view at the time that the torah is given that says that the problem that led to the destruction wasn't an ethical problem it wasn't a behavior problem it was a quantitative problem there was too many people the solution make sure there aren't too many people make sure people don't have so many children the torah comes and says no guys you have it all upside down destruction doesn't come from there being a lot of people it's a result of moral inequity it's not too many of you but that too many of you aren't behaving properly and the solution is not to stop raising families but to raise families to be good honest people with the right values when you think about it it's so prophetic for our very times that this is not just an argument between pagans and israelites three and a half thousand years ago think about how directly this speaks to the cultural wars we're facing today it's as if the torah is pointing out to us prophetically that there's always going to be these opposing worldviews they might take on different shapes and different names but they're fundamental and we need to know where to align ourselves when we look around today how often do you hear people in progressive you know popular culture saying that the biggest problem is overpopulation don't have children they cause pollution they leave a carbon footprint if only there were less people in the world the world would be so much better it's really deep it's as if nature is the new god in a godless world it's even personified as mother nature like an ancient maternal god matriarchal god instead of being something created by god nature becomes god and if nature is god well then aren't we indeed making too much noise humans are a nuisance if you think of nature as god itself because in a world view where there are no demands among you morally ethically religiously in a world that tells young people do whatever you want there are no rules there are no boundaries right so then there's no differentiation between being good or bad humans as such are noisy in the sense that we disturb the peace of mother nature no matter how we behave so the solution is going to be the same solution for everyone and it's the same solution that the acadian myth tells of you don't need to change your behavior just don't have so many kids and don't bother the gods the torah gives us a different worldview what drives hashem to send the flood is the moral shortcomings of people people are given free choice you can be valuable to the world or you can damage the world you're expected to differentiate right from wrong and the people didn't do that and brought the flood it's not our very existence that's the problem but what we do with our existence so now we surely would want to care for nature we want we you know we want to make sure that we don't destroy god's creation but it's out of an understanding that god put us at the as the guardians of his garden with responsibility towards other creatures it's not our existence that makes the problem but the way we manifest that god demands goodness from us responsibility from us not just to be quiet so that he can nap in peace and so when the flood subsides god's plan isn't to tell people not to have children but to say on the contrary noah you're a righteous person go forth be fruitful raise a family there should be more people like you in the world go for it populate fill the world and it's like a prophetic map for the times that we are in offering us a counter culture response oh that's what you think that's what is accepted in you know western progressive popular culture we see things differently i once heard a great story from rabbi lawrence kellerman someone once asked him why he has a big family they said why would you bring children into such an awful world look at all the wars and all the horror the illness and the terrible problems how could you have a big family in a world like this so he said he gave this great parable he said imagine that there's an emergency room in a hospital and it's packed with people they're all so sick their people are sick and people that are wounded and they're bleeding and they're having all these problems and there aren't enough doctors and everyone's crowded waiting for someone to help them and there's no time to take care of all of them some guys running towards the emergency room and a person sitting next to the emergency room system oh don't go in there are you crazy do you know how messed up it is in there don't go in there people are sick people are injured don't get yourself into that mess and the guy says oh oh oh i'm a doctor i'm trained for this that's why i'm going in and the person at the door says oh well right this way go ahead doctor of course you should go in thank goodness you finally got here she said that is the way that people who believe in the torah look at their families at their children we recognize that the world is filled with difficulties and challenges we don't deny it but if your outlook is we have the instruction book we have the training to know how to help what will bring healing what will bring light into a dark world and of course right this way carry on in run into the emergency room because if you're here to serve then obviously you're needed in the emergency room if your outlook is that you're not here to serve you're just a patient as it were like waiting to receive care then the world really is a crowded place and it might seem strange to add more people into the emergency room people who aren't going to be there to try to fix things so we're in this cultural war between two different outlooks it's not a culture war that started today it goes back the tour is telling us this goes back it's up it's imprinted in the fabric of the world that they're going to be these two different ways these two competing ways to see the world it started then it continues on today and through the torah we're given for ourselves and our families and our communities a way to view ourselves as the doctors running into the emergency room ready to live a life of service of trying to become better and live up to hashem's expectations of us so i bless us that we all you know are able to are able to raise our families with that orientation of service and giving and that we're all able to bring a little bit more light into this into this world so with that i wish everyone a beautiful wonderful week bye guys hi my name is jeremy gimpel a lot of people want to know exactly what the land of israel fellowship is and what members receive when they join so let me explain the land of israel fellowship is a global online community with hundreds of members from over 40 countries around the world they're live sessions and gatherings that create a direct personal connection to the land of israel and the lovers of israel from around the world there's no online gathering that i'm familiar with that is connected to the land of israel that unites and brings together such a diverse group of people backgrounds and nationalities it feels like prophecy it feels like something we need in these times like a window in to a better future on the horizon there's a divine unity we experience every week in our fellowship broadcast we heard these amazing teachings from an authentic hebrew and israel perspective and our jaws drop not only because they ring so true and are such a blessing because they are so consistent with what we believe these sunday morning gatherings are nothing less than a house of prayer for all nations cindy lowe the united states of america the land of israel fellowship is an amazing resource for learning torah the bible and the prophets unfiltered and uncensored directly from the land of israel we've been studying torah for almost 20 years but we feel we are stepping into it more than ever and seeing new depth and dimensions to scripture we're encouraged more and more every week calen ardell usa members receive access to all the archives in the library of teachings on every portion of the torah the biblical feast hebrew prayer prophecy sessions on the ancient wisdom of the prophets of israel to help us navigate through these turbulent times these sessions are so rich i re-listen to each and truly each session is the best one yet tehila is a tremendous asset and the teachings ari shares are so rich i've read the bible so many times and i've known the things you are teaching the hebrew understanding is what christians have missed for centuries sister georgian from germany the land of israel fellowship is truly unique because it's built upon personal relationships with the teachers of the fellowship myself rabbi arya bramwitz in tehillah gimpel every member has direct access to the staff 24 6 via email or direct whatsapp to ask questions to comment to connect directly to all the teachers and over the last years we've connected to some of the most beautiful people on the planet so if you want to find out more and join the land of israel fellowship you can click on the link below and if you want to try it out for just a month you can email fellowship at the land of israel.com and we'll hook you up i hope to see you shalom from the mountains of judea you