“And Noah was six hundred years old, and the flood was water upon the earth” (Genesis 7:6). “And Noah was six hundred years old, and the flood was water…” – Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Neḥemya, Rabbi Yehuda says: The year of the Flood is not included in the tally [of Noah’s years].19The Flood began when Noah was six hundred years old, he lived for three hundred and fifty years after the Flood (Genesis 9:28), and the Flood lasted an entire year.
Yet the total tally of Noah’s years is given as nine hundred and fifty (Genesis 9:29). Rabbi Neḥemya said to him: Even though it is not included in the tally [of Noah’s years] it is included in the calendrical solar and lunar calculations.20Calendrical calculations are based on the number of years after Creation. For these calculations, the year of the Flood is not omitted. “Noah, and his sons, and his wife and his sons’ wives with him, came into the ark, because of the water of the flood” (Genesis 7:7).
“Noah, and his sons, and his wife [… came into the ark, because of the water of the flood]” – Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Noah was lacking in faith; if the water had not reached up to his ankles, he would not have entered the ark.