Noach – Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

November 6, 2025

Before the Flood: A D’var Torah About Noach

This was my D’var Torah a couple weeks ago, about Parashat Noach and the lead-up to the Flood, on October 25, 2025. I’m late in sharing it. One way to look at the big arcs of the Torah is as a series of thought experiments. Each big story is a version of the world or… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Ethics, Midrash, Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua, Speech Ethics, Torah, Yonah

October 23, 2025

The Baal Shem Tov: The Ark as a Metaphor for a Word of Prayer

I taught this for Parashat Noach in 5781 (2020), sometime after accidentally stumbling into this teaching in a book of the Baal Shem Tov’s comments about the Torah. In the section on Noach, he inserts a long treatise on prayer. I want to share a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov about tefillah, about prayer,… Continue reading

Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua, Prayer, Spirituality, Theology, Torah

October 23, 2025

During the Flood, Inside the Ark — Learning From Bonhoeffer and the Freiburg School

This was my D’var Torah about Parashat Noach in 5783 (2022). This Torah reading centers on the Flood. This teaching here is about “during the Flood”, and at the end I discourage us from seeing our era as sliding toward the Flood. If we do see it that way, we still might ask the question… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Economics, Ethics, Holocaust, Hope, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Justice, Leadership, Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek

October 31, 2024

Diversity as a Tikkun and a Curse: The Tower of Babel

Here is my current draft of a D’var Torah for this coming Shabbat, when we read Parashat Noach and in particular the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. The story of the Tower of Babel teaches that diversity is both a tikkun and a curse. A tikkun, a fix for some problem of humanity,… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Election, Immigration, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Noach, Parashat Hashavua, Torah, USA

October 30, 2024

A Year of Jewish Ethics #2: Moral Psychology (and Good Enough?)

Image of superhero is designed by Freepik This series of short teachings about Jewish ethics is mostly about the “what”, the principles of action. But that can’t be disentangled from moral psychology, which is the inner experience of trying to do the right thing. Torah discusses moral psychology as well as moral principles. As the… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Current Affairs, Ethics, Middot, Midrash, Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua, Psychology, Torah, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

October 20, 2023

Righteous Enough for the Time

This is my D'var Torah for October 21, 2023, Parashat Noach. When Noach was born, the human world had only just stopped being young. If you do all the math, you see that Adam had lived to see nine generations including his own. I can imagine that people had begun doubting whether Gan Eden had… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Ethics, Freedom, Gaza, Hakarat Hatov, History, Interfaith Dialogue, Israel, Justice, Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Terrorism, Torah, Tzedek, USA

October 20, 2023

Righteous Enough for the Time

This is what I think will be my words in the synagogue tomorrow, October 21, 2023, for Parashat Noach. The opening observation I believe I got from Leon Kass’ excellent book about Genesis and ethics. When Noach was born, the human world had only just stopped being young. If you do all the math, you… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Ethics, Freedom, Gaza, Hakarat Hatov, History, Interfaith Dialogue, Israel, Justice, Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Terrorism, Torah, Tzedek, USA

October 13, 2023

Two Kinds of Darkness, Two Kinds of Light, Two Kinds of Torah

This is (I think) the D'var Torah I have for services this Shabbat tomorrow. The Torah reading begins with the very beginning of the Torah. It's one week since the Hamas atrocities began. Thank you to Rabbi Rebecca Rosenthal and Rabbi Aryeh Klapper for helping me unlock this, though if anything is off it's on… Continue reading

October 3, 2013

Parashat Noach: God Doesn’t Destroy the World

I think that the story of the Mabul, the flood story of Noah, is a profound and challenging story about the extent of good and evil in the world. I say all the time that there is no part of the human experience, no matter how difficult or dark, that the Torah shies away from.… Continue reading

Noach, Parashat Hashavua, Theology, Torah

October 7, 2010

Parashat Noach: Too Many Towers Today

Two contradictory teachings from the Torah: Last week, we learned that human beings are created in the image of God, and charged with overseeing all the rest of Creation. This week, in Parashat Noach, we have the story of the Tower of Babel — a tower to reach and perhaps storm the heavens, thwarted by… Continue reading

Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua

October 21, 2009

Parashat Noach: Really Good or Good Enough?

Noach was a righteous man (ish tzaddik) in his generation; with God did Noach walk (Genesis 6:9). The classic Jewish commentators pay close attention to the wording of this characterization. Noach's generation was of course so evil, so full of violence, that God decided to destroy the world and start over. So the commentators debate… Continue reading

Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua