The 21st-century's great flood

(JNS) — Believe it or not, the hero of this week’s Torah portion, Noah, needed a not-so-gentle push to get him into the Ark that he himself had built!

“And Noah, his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives went into the ark because of the flood waters,” (Genesis 7:7).

Interpreting this verse, the great commentator Rashi says that Noah only went into the ark because the floodwaters pushed him inside. He himself wasn’t quite sure this flood thing was really going to happen, but eventually, when he was getting rather wet, he decided to seek refuge in the ark.

There’s a very serious and sobering messag...