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November 4, 2016

The Story of Noah: A Tale of Two Skeptics

Noah, Haran, and the Torah’s message for those who neither believe nor disbelieve.

This week’s Torah reading begins with the story of Noah and the flood, and ends with a sort of footnote introducing Abraham. We are told here that Terah had three sons—Abraham, Nahor, and Haran—and that Haran “died in the lifetime of his father in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans,” while Terah and the rest of the family left Ur for the land of Canaan. Shlomo Riskin notes a commonality between Noah and Haran as they are portrayed by the medieval commentator Rashi, who draws on midrashic literature to fill in the blanks of their stories:

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November 4, 2016

  1. UNESCO’s Jerusalem Resolution Shows Why Neither Russia Nor China Can Replace the U.S.-Israel Alliance

    A pipe dream.

  2. John Kerry Goes abroad to Solicit Loans for Iran, Encouraging Banks to Ignore the Warnings of the Treasury Department

    Rewarding bad faith with an excess of good faith.

  3. The BDS Movement Maintains Close Contact with Terrorists

    Working closely with the PFLP to boycott Israel.

  4. The Jerusalem Papyrus and Its Significance

    The scholar who deciphered it speaks.

  5. The Story of Noah: A Tale of Two Skeptics

    Noah, Haran, and the Torah’s message for those who neither believe nor disbelieve.