2020/5781

Parashat Noach begins with a detailed description of the crafting of the Teivah. Its length is to be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. The only other structure which the Torah describes in such detail is the Mishkan and its utensils. The Aron Kodesh was to be two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. An additional comparison exists by the phrase MiBayit U’MiChutz, from inside and out., which describes how these instruments were covered; the Teivah with pitch and the Aron Kodesh with gold. Even the word VeChafarta, and you shall cover, is found in both locations. Moreover, both the Teivah and the Aron Kodesh are covered with unique structures. The Teivah had a window or a diamond as a cover (see Rashi BeReishit 6:16 s.v. Tzohar for both possibilities), and the Aron Kodesh has the two cherubs placed on its cover. Likewise, both structures are made of Atzei, wood, which is a word that is only used to describe the Teivah and the Aron Kodesh. Furthermore, the rain during the Mabul fell for forty days and nights just as Moshe Rabbeinu remained on the mountain for forty days and nights prior to beginning the construction of the Mishkan. Thus there is a clear comparison between the Teivah and the Aron Kodesh; however, one is left to wonder how this parallel can be explained.

I would like to share with you an idea developed by Rav Amnon Bazak, one of Yeshivat Gush Etzion’s Tanach “gurus.” He argues that the Teivah and Aron Kodesh share the characteristic of being a meeting place between Hashem and man.

The Torah writes on the building of the Mishkan, “VeAsu Li Mikdash VeShachanti BeTocham,” “And make for me a Mikdash and I will dwell in them” (Shemot 25:8). Shlomo HaMelech is puzzled as to how HaKadosh Baruch Hu can be contained in this world, let alone in a building. However, Chazal state that Hashem engaged in the Middah of Tzimtzum, contraction. He contracts to meet mankind. Similarly, Noah’s ark is designed as a meeting place between man and the divine.

Nevertheless, it is man here who contracts to meet the divine. Ideally, it is man who spreads out over the four corners of the world and does not limit himself to an Ark. Therefore, Noah’s ark has a door to let people in and out so that this small sample of humanity will soon populate the entire world. Contrastingly, the Aron Kodesh was to house the Luchot, the word of Hashem, which is to never be removed.

During these difficult times, we see ourselves locked up in our own ark. Through our commitment to Torah and Chesed, we hope that our ark represents not the ark of Noah but rather the holy ark of the Mishkan.