B"H

Monday, Tishrei 29, 5780 / October 28, 2019

This Shabbat we will read the second Parsha in the Torah, Parshat Noach (Noah) – which tells the story of Noach and the Great Flood. Here are questions and answers about this Parsha:

Q.  In the first Parsha, Breishis, the Torah tells us the history from Adam until Noach. How many years and how many generations were there from Adam to Noach?

A.   Noach was born 1056 years after G-d created Adam and Eve. He was born 126 years after Adam’s passing. Noach was the tenth generation from Adam. 

Q.  What is the lesson to us that the Torah recorded the story of these ten generations, which took place over two thousand years before the Giving of the Torah?

A.  Our sages in Chapters of our Fathers explain that this is to teach us a lesson of G-d’s patience with sinners.  Although all ten generations from Adam until Noach were sinners and angered G-d, yet, G-d waited over fifteen hundred years, before punishing them in the Great Flood.  G-d gave them a chance for all these years to repent.  Only when G-d saw that they were not about to repent and in fact, increased in their immoral and sinful behavior, did G-d bring the Great Flood upon them. 

Q.  How many years did Adam live?  How many years did Noach live?

A.  Adam lived 930 years.  Noach lived 950 years.

Q.  How old was Noach at the time of the Great Flood?

A.  Noach was 600 years when the flood began.

Q.  How long did it take Noach to build the Ark?

A.  One hundred and twenty years. The reason G-d wanted him to take his time in building the ark was to give the people a chance to repent. All the while he was building the ark he would warn the people to repent; otherwise G-d would bring a great flood. But in the end they didn’t listen to him and G-d brought the Flood.

Q.  Noach had three sons, Yefet, Cham & Shem. How old was Noach when his oldest son was born?

A.  He was 500 years old.

Q.  At the end of the Parsha we read about Abraham. How many years from Noach to Abraham?

A.  From Noach’s birth to Abraham’s birth were about 890 years - A total of ten generations.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY