Echoes of Elul, Day 19: After the Flood

Norm Rosen

The Lord said to Noah, “There’s going to be a floody, floody”
The Lord said to Noah, “There’s going to be a floody, floody”
“Get those children out of the muddy, muddy”
Children of the Lord.
Well Noah, he built him, he built his an arky arky
Well Noah, he built him, he built his an arky arky
Built it out of hickory barky barky
Children of the Lord.
The sun came out and it dried up the landy landy
The sun came out and it dried up the landy landy
Everything was fine and dandy dandy
Children of the Lord.

Everyone knows about The Flood: Noah was a good guy, and when God got fed up with the rest of humanity He instructed Noah to build an ark. God saved Noah, his immediate family, and some animals but drowned everyone and everything else. After forty days The Flood was over. The land dried up. Noah, his family and animals left the ark and God promised not to destroy humanity with a flood again. Life returned to normal and everything was fine and dandy dandy.

Or was it? And if it was, should it have been?

Children of the Lord are singing this song about the Children of the Lord who were on the ark and were saved. What about everyone else who was drowned?—they were Children of the Lord, too.

We give much more attention to the beginning than to the middle or the end of the story of The Flood. What about the rest of the story? What happened in the during and after the flood?

How many paintings have we seen depicting everyday life on the ark? of those leaving the ark? of the devastated landscape and worldwide graveyard to which they returned?

Where are the poems about what Noah was thinking, hearing, seeing, smelling and feeling during the forty days of flooding? I can only imagine. Where are the ballads about the relatives, friends and community which were lost forever? Fill in the blanks. Where are the novels about the survivors experiencing the loss of the world they knew? The student is left to work out he details.

Is The Flood the story of conflict that cannot be resolved peacefully? —or is it the story of conflict that could have been avoided and could have been resolved peacefully—but was not? Let’s not be naive. There are times when force is necessary, complete with human fallout, suffering, pain and death. Violence always brings loss. Let’s still not be naive—there are times when force could have been avoided/should have been avoided/would have been avoided—but no one took action. How can we have the wisdom to recognize the difference between the two and ability to take effective action?

This is important to me because the world of decisions about action is the world in which I live. Perhaps this was also Noah’s world. I see Noah walking off the ark, looking around and thinking, “I didn’t cause the flood. I don’t know if I could have prevented it, but I didn’t even try.”

Seems as if we are always living After the Flood; something always happened yesterday, and things could always have been better.

As I write, the sun has come out and dried up the landy landy, resulting in wildfires all over California. Nationally, regionally and locally everything is not fine and dandy dandy. Looking backward, the past year could have been…better. I look forward to a better year—one of creative solutions, working together, sharing our common interests, enjoying our differences, growing together, and avoiding Floods.

L’Shanah Tovah Tikatevu V’Techatemu
Norm