Shabbos Parashas Noach - 5780

Shabbos Parashas Noach - 5780

Rabbi Hal Miller

A tzohar shall you make for the Ark. [Bereishis 6:16]

What is a tzohar? In context it seems like a window, but in 8:6, the Torah says that

Noach opened a window, using the standard word, chalon. Obviously, the Torah

has the ability to choose the word specific to each occasion, so why is it different

here? Noach must have understood, because in 6:22 and again 7:5, it says that

he did everything that God commanded.

Rashi addresses this from Bereishis Rabbah. "A light. Some say a window, and

some say a precious stone which provided light for them." Most commentators

choose one of Rashi's options for their explanations. But did Rashi actually answer

our question? He seems to favor 'light' but there are other words for light, so why

this one? He also explains this word as a skylight rather than the kind of window

one might open and close, for instance to let birds in and out. Onkelos says that it

could not be a window, as a window would break in the storm, but he doesn't then

explain the window mentioned in verse 8:6.

Rav Hirsch suggests that tzohar may be some kind of artificial light, since the root

of the word compares with yitzhar, which is an oil used for lamps, as opposed to

shemen, which is an oil used with food. Radak says the word is derived from

tzaharayim, which means noon, and that it was intended to supply light in the Ark

for the time after the storm when the sun had reappeared, until the waters receded.

Bereishis Rabbah lists the options as well, including skylight and trapdoor, but

explains the precious stone more thoroughly. Some say it generated light on its

own during the dark times. Others refer to it almost as a timepiece, a clock that

glows dimly to indicate when it is actually day despite the storm, and shines

brightly to indicate night outside, so Noach would know when to feed the animals.

But it is often pointed out that our verse reads tzohar ta'aseh, which means a

tzohar you shall make. Man does not make precious stones, and the verse

would require us to read ta'aseh as 'prepare' instead of 'make', unless it actually

refers to a window instead of a stone.

So why tzohar? To teach us that Noach ran a schedule while on the Ark, rather

than just hunker down for a year to wait out the storm. God provided everything

that Noach needed by making sure the plans for the Ark were complete.