Inside the Ark: Faith in the Storm

Inside the Ark: Faith in the Storm

A reflection on Parshat Noach

בֹּא אַתָּה וְכָל בֵּיתְךָ אֶל הַתֵּבָה

“Come into the ark, you and all your household.” (Genesis 7:1)

I once lived through a tornado. I still remember the roar, the terror, and the prayer. I sheltered in a safe space, davening with everything in me and asking Hashem for mercy, and in those moments I knew I was not alone. That shelter was my ark.

When Hashem told Noah bo el hateivah, “come into the ark,” the Baal Shem Tov heard something deeper. The Hebrew word teivah came to mean both “ark” and “word.” He taught that we must enter the words of prayer and Torah, putting our whole mind and heart into them.

Why did the waters come at all?

וַתִּשָּׁחֵת הָאָרֶץ לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים וַתִּמָּלֵא הָאָרֶץ חָמָס

“The earth became corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:11)

The Torah tells us: the earth had become corrupt, filled with chamas, violence, and Hashem brought the waters as a response to that corruption. Yet the Alter Rebbe taught, and the Rebbe passed on, that the Flood was not only a punishment but a purification, forty days like the forty measures of a mikveh. And within those waters is our comfort: faith in Hashem and the love He has for us. We are never alone. We pull ourselves out of harm through love, with complete trust that Hashem is within us.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe often returned to the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching, calling the floodwaters mayim hazedonim, the “raging waters.” For the Rebbe, these are the worries of earning a living and the busyness that pulls us away from prayer. Today I feel them as something darker: fear, cruelty, confusion, and the evil that tries to drown the light within us and sweep us away. We cannot fight them with our own strength alone. The power we need is found inside the teivah, in holy words spoken with our whole heart. When the raging waters rise, we enter those words, and there we are held, lifted above the flood rather than pulled under it. This is bitachon, trust in God.

Our world today is in its own flood: division, anger, the roar of good against evil. Many of us are trembling. Yet even in the middle of the darkness, we have the power to turn it all toward good. This is faith beyond reason: knowing that Hashem will have mercy on us. In the realm of darkness we are not meant to know the how. We are only asked to keep shining, day by day, in each moment of our lives.

צֹהַר תַּעֲשֶׂה לַתֵּבָ

“Make a tzohar for the ark.” (Genesis 6:16)

Rashi teaches that some say the tzohar was a window, and others say it was a precious stone that gave them light. The Midrash adds something beautiful: by day the stone grew dim, and by night it shone brighter. Picture it. Rain pounding the roof of the ark, the world outside black and roaring, and there inside, a jewel glowing, its light growing stronger the darker it became, close to Hashem. No matter how dark it is, God is there, waiting for our words.

Building on the Baal Shem Tov, the Noam Elimelech taught that this shining stone is the word we speak: “The word that a person emits from their mouth, one must see that this word shines a great light, like a precious stone.” And with that great light issues forth chesed, the loving-kindness that spreads over the darkness and reveals the goodness Hashem hid within it all along. Every kind word becomes a jewel in the night, and through it we find our way out of the storm.

צֵא מִן הַתֵּבָה

“Go out from the ark.” (Genesis 8:16)

When the waters went down, Hashem said, tzei min hateivah, “go out from the ark.” We are not meant to stay hidden in our shelter forever. We come out into the world.

When I stepped back outside after the storm, I felt extreme gratitude in the middle of the chaos it left behind. I felt awe. I had walked out unharmed, and I knew my faith was strong. I did not need to do anything in that moment. I went back into the house, thankful that I made it, that I was alive, that there is more for me to do. That gratitude made my faith stronger. I know that I am loved. I may not know exactly what I am here to accomplish, but I know this: I will always help. I will always be kind and understanding to those who need me.

So enter your ark. Pray. Ask for mercy. Let your words shelter you. Then step outside, grateful you are still here, and let your words and your kindness become light for someone still caught in the storm.

About the Teachers

· The Baal Shem Tov (Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, c. 1698 to 1760) founded the Chassidic movement in Podolia, in today’s Ukraine. He taught that God is present everywhere, and that sincere prayer, joy, and love for every Jew bring us close to Him.

· The Alter Rebbe (Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, 1745 to 1812) founded the Chabad branch of Chassidut and wrote the Tanya and Torah Or, where he teaches that the Flood was a purification.

· The Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, 1902 to 1994) was the seventh leader of Chabad-Lubavitch. From Brooklyn he inspired a worldwide movement of outreach and kindness, teaching that every good deed brings light and redemption closer.

· The Noam Elimelech (Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, 1717 to 1787) was a leading early Chassidic master and a founder of Chassidut in Poland and Galicia. His book Noam Elimelech (“the Pleasantness of Elimelech”), published in 1788, is a classic on the role of the righteous and the power of holy speech and prayer.

· Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, 1040 to 1105) of Troyes, France, wrote the most widely studied commentary on the Torah and Talmud.

Sources

· Genesis 6:11, 6:16, 7:1, 8:16; Psalms 124:5

· Rashi on Genesis 6:16, Sefaria

· Bereshit Rabbah 31:11, on the stone that dimmed by day and shone by night (see “Tzohar: Window or Gem?,” Sefaria)

· The Baal Shem Tov on bo el hateivah, and the Alter Rebbe on the Flood as purification, as presented by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 1, Noach (see Kesser Shem Tov, Hosafos §9; Torah Or8c): “Noach: Riding the Crest of the Flood,” Chabad.org

· Malka Touger, Please Tell Me What the Rebbe Said, Vol. 2, “Noach,” Sichos in English (based on the Rebbe’s talks)

· Noam Elimelech, Parshat Noach, on “Tzohar ta’aseh lateivah” (Hebrew on Sefaria); English translation by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, “Praying a Few Words at a Time,” Hadar Institute

Glossary of Hebrew Words

· Alter Rebbe: “the Old Rebbe”; title of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of Chabad

· Baal Shem Tov: “Master of the Good Name”; title of Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, founder of the Chassidic movement

· Bitachon: trust in God

· Bo el hateivah: “come into the ark,” or “come into the word”

· Chabad / Chabad-Lubavitch: the Chassidic community led by the Lubavitcher Rebbe

· Chamas: violence; the Torah’s word for the corruption that filled the earth before the Flood (Genesis 6:11)

· Chassidic / Chassidut: of the spiritual movement founded by the Baal Shem Tov

· Chesed: loving-kindness

· Davening: praying (Yiddish)

· Hashem: “the Name,” a reverent way of saying God

· Mayim hazedonim: “raging waters” (Psalms 124:5), the waters of the Flood as forces that threaten to overwhelm us

· Midrash: classic rabbinic teachings that draw out the deeper meaning of the Torah’s verses

· Mikveh: a pool of natural water used for spiritual purification; it must hold forty measures (se’ah) of water

· Noach: Noah; also the name of this week’s Torah portion (Parshat Noach)

· Noam Elimelech: “the Pleasantness of Elimelech”; the book by Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, and the name by which he is often called

· Parshat: “the portion of”; used for the weekly Torah reading

· Rebbe: a Chassidic spiritual leader and teacher

· Teivah: ark; in later Hebrew also “word”

· Torah: the Five Books of Moses, and more broadly Jewish teaching

· Tzei min hateivah: “go out from the ark,” or “go out from the word”

· Tzohar: the window or shining stone that gave light inside the ark

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