After a performance, a cantor - trying to impress- tells the crowd that his voice is insured with Lloyds of London for 1 million dollars. A voice from the back of the room says "so what did you do with the money?"
In the entire drama, it is easy to ignore what might seem like a lackluster moment in this week’s Torah portion Noach.
As the floodwaters recede, Noah opens the window of the ark and sends out the raven, which "kept going and returning.” So Noach sends out the dove to see if the water has receded sufficiently so that he can leave the ark. The dove returns to the ark, as it could not find a place to rest because the earth is still engulfed in water. Noach waits seven days and resends the dove.
And the dove came to him at eventide; and behold in her mouth an olive-leaf freshly plucked; so Noach knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
Noach then waited another seven days, resent the dove, and she never returned. At last, he knew the earth was dry.
The simple meaning of the story is that Noah waited until the dove brought back some sign of vegetation and thus knew that the waters did not still cover the whole earth and have significantly abated. Tress can already begin to grow leaves. We must ask though, why was the leaf that was brought back from an olive branch? Why did the dove choose this tree? And even if she did, for whatever random reason, why does the Torah emphasize this detail? Who cares what type of leaf she brought back to the ark?
What is more, how did the leaf prove anything to Noach? Perhaps the dove has found a leaf floating somewhere on the water and brought it to the ark? How did Noach know it was plucked off a tree?
The Rebbe explains we need to study the science of the olive tree.
The olive tree is one of the strongest and iconic trees in the world. It possesses some extraordinary qualities. Here are eight:
1) LONGEVITY: Olive trees have the longest life span of any entity on earth. in the Beth Lechem district, is the oldest olive of all, at between 4,000 and 5,000 years. Greeks on the island of Crete may assure you that the ancient, gnarly-trunked olive tree in Vouves is at least 3,000 years.
2. INDESTRUCTIBLE: The root system of the olive tree is so robust that it’s capable of regenerating itself even when the above-ground structure of the tree is destroyed by frost, fire, or disease.
3. UNPARCHABLE: Olive trees are drought-friendly and (just like eucalyptus trees) do not need to be watered.
4. STRENGTH: The wood of the olive tree is exceptionally robust and inflexible and is a bastion of unwavering strength to the tree as a whole.
The wood of the olive tree is so strong that any attempt to graft other species of the tree onto it will be unsuccessful.
5. GENEROUS: Large olive trees produce on average about 400 pounds of olives annually. Older and larger trees can produce more. It’s estimated that there are about 865 million olive trees in the world today.
6. ANCIENT: The edible olive has been cultivated for almost 5700 years; it is one of the oldest trees we know of.
7. HEALTHY: Olives are incredibly healthy fruit (yes, fruit—they are a distant cousin of the peach) containing antioxidants, healthy fats, and fiber. In addition, of course, to the incredible benefits we receive from it: oil with all of its blessings, heat, light, and warmth.
Even its nutrients are full of life.
8. ENDURANCE: The olive does not lose its foliage AND it can grow its fruit, the olive, all year round.
We can now understand, the Rebbe explained, the mysterious story of the dove. It shows us how even a small detail in the Torah is so profoundly significant.
What happened during that great flood? This is what the Torah tells us:
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life… All the fountains of the great deep burst apart And the floodgates of the sky broke open… The Flood continued forty days on the earth, and the waters increased… The waters swelled and increased greatly upon the earth… When the waters had swelled much more upon the earth, all the highest mountains everywhere under the sky were covered 30 feet higher did the waters swell, as the mountains were covered.
And all flesh that stirred on earth perished, all mankind… All existence on earth was blotted out…
The waters had raged on the earth one hundred and fifty days.
Picture in your mind an incessant and raging rain pour for forty days and nights, which does not only flood the earth but floods it 30 feet above the peak of the highest mountain! The flooding continues for 150 days, only accelerating, increasing, swelling, and growing from moment to moment. Does any tree have hope?
We know from far smaller tsunamis and floods how many trees are uprooted. In the aftermath of such a devastating flood that obliterated every living organism on earth, the trees were no exception.
Almost no exception. There was one: the olive tree. Its roots are so deep and so powerful that it managed to survive the furious rain pour! And as we recall, the root system of the olive tree can regenerate itself even when the above-ground structure of the tree has been destroyed.
So, even though there leaves and branches and stems and seeds floating all over the place, there was one tree—the olive tree—that remained connected to the earth even amid the flood.
That’s true about the tree itself, the roots, and perhaps the trunk. But certainly not the leaves. They could not survive the flood; they certainly were all detached from their source.
When the dove came to Noach with the newly plucked leaf of the olive Noach saw not only an old shriveled emaciated leaf floating in the flood for a year; Noach saw a beautiful fresh green leaf, just recently plucked off the tree. And then he realized the good news: the waters have receded so much that the olive tree managed to reproduce a new generation of leaves. This meant not only that the tree was completely exposed and not covered by any water, but that enough time passed for it to begin reproducing after the flood, to the point that it grew new leaves. Things, at last, were returning back to normal.
As is always the case in every single story of the Torah, this contains a profound lesson to Noach—and to all of his offspring. The Torah is giving that subtle but vital message: If you want to survive and thrive amidst floods, make sure you emulate the olive tree.
What is the secret to the Jewish nations’ survival? How have we endured for so long under such stressful conditions? Mark Twain famously phrased the question as follows:
“The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed; and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”
Other nations have long looked at this as an anomalous exception, something temporary that must end, a freak accident that will come to a close. Yet others have been sensitive to the subtle power of Jewish survival and sought to emulate us. Just prior to being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, the Dalai Lama of Tibet briefly met with Jewish leaders at a Buddhist monastery near New York City. As the spiritual and temporal leader of a people who had been defeated by Communist China 60 years ago, the world's preeminent Buddhist monk wanted to learn the "Jewish secret" for surviving exile. After all, he reasoned, the Jews had the expertise: 1,900 years of living in the diaspora, all the while preserving their distinct faith and heritage. Surely the Tibetan people could benefit from the Jewish experience.
The key to understanding the immutable unwavering strength of the Jew is encapsulated in the olive tree. In the words of the Talmud:
Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said, “Why is Israel compared to the olive tree? It is because just as the olive tree does not lose its foliage not in summer and not in winter, so too Israel endures eternally.
If you want to understand the story of our people, suggests the Talmud, consider the olive. This is the story of the Jewish nation. Full of life, endurance, and versatility, it is the perfect agricultural representation of the anomalous Jew.
Not long ago I came across this story. My heart swelled from emotion.
Jewish Children Celebrate Ulyanovsk School’s Grand Opening
Excitement filled the air as approximately 60 enthusiastic children, parents, grandparents, and teachers celebrated the grand opening of the first Jewish childhood education center in Ulyanovsk, Russia.
You may say, what’s the big deal?
Well, Ulyanovsk is Vladimir Lenin’s birthplace. Lenin, the father of the Bolshevik Revolution, which uprooted every last vestige of Judaism in the USSR and sent some 30 million people to their deaths, became synonymous with this city.
But now a Jewish school opens up, by whom? By Chabad Chassidim, persecuted and cut down by Lenin and his peers.
Aptly named the “School of Dreams,” the Chabad run institution is open three days a week for children between the ages of six and 15. Offerings include Jewish traditions, Jewish dance, choir, Hebrew, English, karate, computer science, arts and crafts, and theater. In addition, students will participate in a field trip each month.
What is this quality we have that turns us into the olive tree?
The verse in Psalms states: Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons, like olive saplings around your table. Why does the Psalmist compare our children to an olive grove planted around a table? What is the meaning of this biblical imagery?
The Talmud explains this in a remarkable way. Olives cannot be grafted with other trees, they stand strong in the face of agricultural attempts at assimilation. The wood of the olive tree is so strong that any attempt to graft other species of the tree onto it will be unsuccessful. Sure, we must learn from everybody, but never allow another tree that foreign to your source of life be grafted into yours, causing you to lose your identity and assimilate into a new entity.
This is the secret to Jewish survival. It is the unwavering commitment to stand strong and not bend and sway to each current era’s temptations and relativistic morals.
Imagine you finally find your long-awaited beloved and they say “I love you so very much and want to live with you forever. There is just one thing that I’d like you to compromise on. You always wear orange colored shirts. I never told you but I absolutely can’t stand the color orange?”
Fine. It’s doable. Not the end of the world.
But imagine they say “I love you so very much and want to live with you forever. There is just one thing that I’d like you to compromise on. You are so passionate about music and your latest album was a platinum-selling record. You live for composing and the nuanced creative structuring of music and emotion. But I never told you, I really hate music. I can’t stand it. Can you please compromise and never have anything to do with music again?”
Why is this ridiculous? Even if this person was willing to give up everything for their beloved it would still be ludicrous. Music is who this person is! It’s what drives them, it’s what they eat sleep, and breathe! If they give that up and compromise, they are compromising part of their very being.
This then is our calling and the exhortation. Be staunch and unyielding like the olive tree. Never apologize or sacrifice who you really are. Compromise on your ego, on your comforts, moods, shtick, and habits. But do not give up your core soul, values, your inner music. Remain true to your inner Jewish identity. Say no to grafting and assimilation. Then you survive any flood, and your leaves become the symbol of a new peaceful and harmonious world.
In Prague, there are famous synagogues remarkable for their long history, beautiful architecture, and vast size. Most notable is the Alt-Neu Shul, over 700 years old, which holds the world’s record for the synagogue in the longest continuous use.
But nothing can compare to the shul which was only recently discovered in Terezin (or Theresienstadt), the town an hour north of Prague, infamous for its use as a death camp. It housed more than 150,000 Jews during the Holocaust, most of whom were sent to Auschwitz, never to return, while tens of thousands died in Terezin.
The recently discovered shul is a low-ceilinged, small room, dark and damp, a chamber measuring 12 by 15 feet. It was originally used to store potatoes. The imprisoned Jews clandestinely gathered amongst the potatoes for prayer, risking their lives and certain torture if discovered.
Additionally, those who worked as painters stole paint and brushes in order to beautify their secret and forbidden house of worship.
Today you can still see those faded drawings and Hebrew letters on the walls of the shul. As in many synagogues, one wall has written in beautiful Hebrew script, the words from the Talmud: “Know before whom you stand.” On another wall is a verse from the Amidah: May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in compassion.”
But the largest and most poignant inscription is a passage taken from the Tachanun prayer:
“Despite all, O G-d, we have not forgotten You. Please — do not forget us.”
Despite all the death and destruction, despite the incredible cruelty visited upon us, despite all this, we have not forgotten You. Now, we beg You, do not forget us!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky
Tom Peacock wrote...