Parshas Noach 5784

(17) Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds, animals, and everything that creeps on earth; and let them swarm on the earth and be fertile and increase on earth.”

(2) ושרצו בארץ THAT THEY MAY BRING FORTH ABUNDANTLY IN THE EARTH. But not in the Ark. This teaches that cattle and fowls also were separated, male and female, in the Ark (Genesis Rabbah 34:8).

By Hashem telling Noach that the animals should proliferate in the land only tells us that the animals didn't proliferate in the ark, but there's no proof that the animals didn't have relations, if so what is the proof of the Medrash? Maybe the animals did indeed engage in relations, but they just didn't proliferate?

The answer is, that this entire clause would otherwise have no relevance to Noach. If all Hashem was saying to Noach in this statement was that there were no animals that were born on the ark, it would be both irrelevant and also unnecessary because Noach would be able to make the headcount for himself to see how many animals leave the ark. If so, why was Noach being told this?

It must be that Hashem was telling him that the fact that there were no animals born on the ark wasn't just a fluke the none of them had successful pregnancies, rather it is because none of them engaged in relations.

Noach didn't know whether or not they had relations since it is forbidden to look at two animals cohabiting. Therefore Hashem told Noach to lead them out of the ark to allow them to procreate on the land.

Alternatively, Hashem told Noach that he would be allowed to actively breed animals together once they left the teivah.

“For all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth” (Genesis 6:12), Rabbi Yoḥanan says: This teaches that the people of the generation of the flood mated male domesticated animals with female undomesticated animals, and male undomesticated animals with female domesticated animals, and all male animals with human females, and human males with all female animals.

(17) Every living thing that is with you, of all flesh, [including] birds, animals, every creeping creature that creeps on the earth, let them depart with you. Let them reproduce on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.

Onkelos, however, interpreted the verse, ‘Shirtzu’ in the earth,171Genesis 9:7. as having reference to propagation. He thus translated, “Propagate in the land,” since he understood the word shirtzu — a verb — as being borrowed from the noun shratzim (reptiles). Also the passuk "and proliferate and shirtzu" (Shemos 1,7) their offspring were like creeping creatures in that they were both very large in number.

Onkelos’ opinion is that the term shritzah (swarming) has an implication of movement. Thus he says of both sheretz and remes: richasha d’rachish (moving things that move).

He has explained it correctly. Shratzim are so called because of their constant movement. It is possible that it is a composite word: sheretz, shehu ratz (that which runs). Remes is so called because it creeps upon the earth and is never quiet or at rest.

...And this is the meaning of the verse, ‘Veshartzu’ in the earth and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth (Genesis 8:17) is thus: that they may teem upon the entire earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon it.

‘Shirtzu’ in the earth and multiply therein171Genesis 9:7. means “move about the entire earth and multiply thereon.” This is the reason for the repetition of the word ur’vu (and ye multiply) in the verse.

(3) ושרצו בארץ, This is a duplication of the blessing/command after the living creatures had initially been created (Genesis 1,22).

The reason why this time G-d uses the word שרץ, which connotes a multitude of births, which He previously applied to the fish, (1,20) is because there are many more fish in the world than there are animals.

In the desolate setting after the Flood, Hashem used this term for the animals too, as a way of encouraging Noach that they should be fruitful and he should rest assured that even though now it seems like a hopeless situation and the entire animal kingdom is teetering, he should be confident that they would once more be very numerous.

(1) The aftermath of the Great Flood left Noach and his children in a state of profound astonishment. As they disembarked from the ark, their eyes beheld a desolation that defied description. The once-thriving world had been submerged in sorrow, drowned by the torrents of destruction. It was a landscape shrouded in the echoes of memories, whispering tales of lives lost and a vibrant past washed away.

Yet, alongside the sorrow, they grappled with a gnawing fear – the fear of vulnerability. The realization that they were but a few souls in this vast, barren world filled them with trepidation.

It was in this bleak moment, right then and there, that Hashem, bestowed His blessing upon them.

He quelled their fears and reminded them that they were the bearers of a divine purpose, entrusted with the sacred task of rebuilding the world.

Their unique position as the survivors of the flood carried with it a weighty responsibility – to replenish the earth, not merely with life but with hope.

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(22) So long as the earth endures,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
Day and night
Shall not cease.”

(4) and GOD instructed him, “Name him Jezreel; for, I will soon punish the House of Jehu for the bloody deeds at Jezreel, and put an end to the monarchy of the House of Israel.

(1) Name him Jezreel Jonathan renders: Call their name the scattered ones. I.e. prophesy over them that they will be exiled, and they will be sown among the peoples.