Noach: Seeing by the Tzohar

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶך הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה

בְּרוּךֶ אַתֶה חֲוָיָה שְׁכִינּוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדַשְׁתַנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶיהֶ וְצִוְתָנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה

בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ יָהּ אֱלֹהָתֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קֵרְבָתְנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתָהּ וְצִוְתָנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה

Blessings for learning and studying Torah

Berakhot 11b:

Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu la’asok b’divrei Torah

Nonbinary Hebrew Project:

B’rucheh ateh Khavayah Shekhinu ruach ha’olam asher kidash’tanu b’mitzvotei’he v’tziv’tanu la’asok b’divrei Torah

Feminine God Language:

Brukhah at Ya Elohateinu ruach ha’olam asher keir’vat’nu la’avodatah v’tziv’tavnu la’asok b’divrei Torah

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, "Integration," https://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2008/10/this-weeks-portion-integration.html

When the floodgates open
build a boat
with many compartments

here in these cubbyholes
stash your secret fur
your scales, your feathers

put your red in the bow
your yellow in the stern
and your blues at the bottom of the hold

pack a crate of empty journals
pack provisions for the forty days
required for transformation

and set sail
not knowing where on earth
the current will carry you

don't be surprised if you wobble
when you take your first steps
back across the gangplank

when you raise the partitions
every color you'd sequestered
will run together like water

offer all of yourself
on your altar of stone
beneath the varicolored sky

(טז) צֹ֣הַר ׀ תַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה לַתֵּבָ֗ה וְאֶל־אַמָּה֙ תְּכַלֶּ֣נָּה מִלְמַ֔עְלָה וּפֶ֥תַח הַתֵּבָ֖ה בְּצִדָּ֣הּ תָּשִׂ֑ים תַּחְתִּיִּ֛ם שְׁנִיִּ֥ם וּשְׁלִשִׁ֖ים תַּֽעֲשֶֽׂהָ׃
(16) Make an opening for daylight in the ark, and terminate it within a cubit of the top.*terminate it within a cubit of the top Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Put the entrance to the ark in its side; make it with bottom, second, and third decks.
צהר. מקום שיכנס ממנו האור והוא מגזרת צהרים. והוא נעשה למעלה כמשפט ואחר שהיה למעלה אמה אחת בארך היה ברחב ששית אמה והנה התיבה כדמות משלש וראשו חד וכן מקצעותיו על כן לא תתהפך והפתח בצד האחד והיה עולה אליו בסלם וידענו כי התיבה גדולה מאד גם יתכן להיות קומת נח גדולה מקומתינו כי האמה היא כמדתו ויתכן היותה כאשר היא נחלקת על שלש גובה התחתיים עשר אמות. ויש אומרים כי רבים היו והכתוב אחז בדרך קצרה:
A LIGHT. Tzohar (a light) means an opening through which light would enter. It comes from the same root as tzohorayim (noon). The opening was made in the usual place, on top of the ark. Scripture tells us that the top of the ark was a cubit in length. We gather from this that it was a sixth of a cubit wide. The ark was triangular in shape. Its top came to a point, and so did its corners. Therefore it did not overturn. The door was on one side and was reached by climbing a ladder. Now, we know that the ark was very large. Furthermore, it is possible that Noah was much taller than we, for the cubits mentioned with regard to the ark are Noah’s cubits. It is also possible, since the ark was divided into three stories, that the bottom story was ten cubits high. Some say that the ark had many stories and that Scripture abridged the number.
צהר. יֵ"אֹ חַלּוֹן וְיֵ"אֹ אֶבֶן טוֹבָה הַמְּאִירָה לָהֶם (ב"ר שם):

צהר A LIGHT — Some say this was a window; others say that it was a precious stone that gave light to them (Genesis Rabbah 31:11).

צוהר תעשה לתיבה א"ר יוחנן אמר לו הקב"ה לנח קבע בה אבנים טובות ומרגליות כדי שיהיו מאירות לכם כצהרים
With regard to the verse: “A tzohar you shall make for the ark” (Genesis 6:16), Rabbi Yoḥanan says that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Noah: Set precious stones and jewels in the ark so that they will shine for you as the afternoon [tzohorayim] sun.
צהר תעשה לתבה. הוא החלון שפתח נח כששלח את העורב והיונה ובעוד שהיה סתום נתן שם אבן טובה להאיר להם בפנים ונמצאו דברי רבותינו מכוונים, כי יש אומרים חלון היה, וי״‎א אבן טובה, כי לפי הנראה ספק, ועדות הכתוב שם היה החלון. ולפי פשוטו צהר תעשה לתבה לשון יצהר פי׳‎ שמן תעשה לצורך התיבה להאיר בה. ואין לפרש חלון להאיר בה ולהכניס בה אורה שהרי לא שמשו המזלות להדיא כל ימי המבול.
צהר תעשה לתיבה “you are to provide means of illumination for the ark.” According to most opinions this is a reference to the window that Noach used later on to dispatch the raven and the turtle dove. During the period that this “window” was kept closed he suspended in that area a jewel which sparkled and provided interior lighting. When we understand this in this manner, our sages, some of whom spoke only of the jewel and others only of the “window,” are both correct, except that neither of them gave us the full explanation. When the Torah told Noach to provide interior lighting it was because during most of days of the deluge illumination from the sky was totally absent, neither sun, nor moon or stars being visible. Noach had to use his ingenuity to provide for interior lighting.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, "The Light in the Ark,"

https://www.rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/noach/the-light-in-the-ark/

Recall that Chizkuni said that Noah had a precious stone for the dark days and a window for when the sun shone again. Something like that happened when it came to Torah also. During the dark days of persecution, Jewish mysticism flourished, and Torah was illuminated from within. During the benign days when the world was more open to Jews, they had a window to the outside, and so emerged figures like Maimonides in the Middle Ages, and Samson Raphael Hirsch in the 19th century.

I believe that the challenge for our time is to open a series of windows so that the world can illuminate our understanding of Torah, and so that the Torah may guide us as we seek to make our way through the world.

(א) טו. צהר תעשה לתבה וגו', ריב"ש ע"ה אמר, צהר תעשה לתבה, שתהיה התבה [שאדם מדבר בתורה ובתפלה] מצהיר, כי יש בכל אות עולמות ונשמות ואלהות, ועולים ומתקשרים ומתייחדים זה עם זה, עם אלהות, ואז מתייחדים כל העולמות כאחד ועולים ונעשה שמחה ותענוג גדול עד אין שיעור,(צוואת הריב"ש ד"ח ע"ב, ובס' אור התורה).
(1) "Make an opening [tzohar] for the ark [teivah], " (Genesis 6:16) -- The Baal Shem Tov, peace be upon him, explained these words in the following way: let the word (teivah) said in Torah or in prayer radiate light (matzhir)! For in every letter there are worlds, souls and divinity, that rise up and interconnect and cleave to one another and to the divine...In this way, all the worlds rise and become as one, and then there is immense joy and immeasurable delight.

Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, "Praying a Few Words at a Time," https://www.hadar.org/torah-tefillah/resources/praying-few-words-time

The Ba’al Shem Tov, as reported by his grandson, R. Moshe Hayyim Ephraim (Degel Mahanei Ephraim), points us in a new direction. The tzohar is no longer limited to Noah’s construction of the ark; it is guidance for all of us struggling with speech. The phrase now means: “make the word shine with light.” The Besht teaches: words that come out of our mouth, especially words of prayer, should have light. Words are significant, and they carry meaning and spirit; they can’t be empty or dark.