The Phoenix

If so, we will not clear a way through the vineyards. Rava expounded: What is the meaning of that which is written, "A contemptible torch in the thought of him who is at ease, a thing ready for those whose foot slips" (Job 12:5)? This teaches that Noah the righteous would rebuke them and say to them words that were as harsh as torches, and they would treat him with contempt. They said to him: Old man, what is this ark for? He said to them: The Holy One, blessed be He, is bringing a flood upon you. They said: A flood of what? If it is a flood of fire, we have a thing called alitah. And if He brings one of water, if He brings it from the earth, we have plates of iron with which we will cover the earth. And if He brings it from the heavens, we have a thing called akev, and some say its name is ikkesh. He said to them: He will bring it from between the heels of your feet, as it is said, "ready for those whose foot slips" (Job 12:5). It was taught: The waters of the flood were as hot as semen, as it is said, "ready for those whose foot slips." Rav Chisda said: With boiling heat they corrupted themselves through transgression, and with boiling heat they were judged. It is written here: "And the waters subsided" (Genesis 8:1), and it is written elsewhere: "and the king's wrath subsided" (Esther 7:10). "And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth" (Genesis 7:10). What was the nature of these seven days? Rav said: These were the days of mourning for Methuselah, to teach you that the eulogizing of the righteous holds back calamity from coming. Another interpretation: in those seven days the Holy One, blessed be He, changed for them the order of creation, so that the sun rose in the west and set in the east. Another interpretation: that the Holy One, blessed be He, fixed for them a long span of time, and afterward a short span. Another interpretation: in those seven days He gave them a taste of a foretaste of the World to Come, so that they would know what goodness they had withheld from themselves. "Of every clean animal you shall take to yourself seven by seven, a man and his wife" (Genesis 7:2). Has an animal marriage? Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said that Rabbi Yonatan said: From those with which no transgression had been committed. How did he know? Rav Chisda said: He passed them before the ark; any that the ark accepted, it was known that no transgression had been committed with it, and any that the ark did not accept, it was known that transgression had been committed with it. Rabbi Abbahu said: From those that came of their own accord. "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood" (Genesis 6:14). What is gopher? Rav Adda said: The school of Rabbi Sheila said, this is mavligah. And some say: gulmish. "You shall make an opening for light (tzohar) for the ark" (Genesis 6:16). Rabbi Yochanan said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Noah, set in it precious stones and pearls, so that they would give light for you like noon (tzohorayim). "And you shall finish it to a cubit from above" (Genesis 6:16), for in this way it would stand firm. "With lower, second, and third decks you shall make it" (Genesis 6:16). It was taught: The lower decks were for refuse, the middle ones for the animals, the upper ones for man. "And he sent out the raven" (Genesis 8:7). Resh Lakish said: The raven gave Noah a decisive answer. It said to him: Your Master hates me, and you hate me. Your Master hates me, for of the clean creatures He commanded seven, and of the unclean only two; and you hate me, for you leave a creature from a species of seven and send out one from a species of two. If the prince of heat or the prince of cold should strike me, would not the world be lacking one creature? Or perhaps it is my mate that you need? He said to it: Wicked one! With what is permitted to me it has been forbidden to me; with what is forbidden to me, all the more so? And from where do we know that they were forbidden? As it is written: "And you shall come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you" (Genesis 6:18), and it is written: "Go out from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you" (Genesis 8:16). And Rabbi Yochanan said: From here they said that they were forbidden marital relations. Our Rabbis taught: Three had relations in the ark, and all of them were punished: the dog, the raven, and Ham. The dog was bound, the raven spits, and Ham was smitten in his skin. "And he sent out the dove from him, to see whether the waters had abated" (Genesis 8:8). Rabbi Yirmeyah said: From here we learn that the dwelling place of clean birds is with the righteous. "And behold, in her mouth was a plucked olive leaf" (Genesis 8:11). Rabbi Elazar said: The dove said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, let my food be bitter as an olive but given by Your hand, rather than sweet as honey but given by the hand of flesh and blood. From where is it implied that this word "taraf" is a term for food? As it is written: "feed me (hatrifeni) with my allotted bread" (Proverbs 30:8). "By their families they went out of the ark" (Genesis 8:19). Rabbi Yochanan said: "by their families," but not they themselves. Rav Chana bar Bizna said: Eliezer said to Shem the Great, it is written: "By their families they went out of the ark" (Genesis 8:19). Where were you? They said to him: We had great hardship in the ark. A creature whose way it is to be fed by day, we fed by day; whose way it is to be fed by night, we fed by night. As for this chameleon, my father did not know what it ate. One day he was sitting and splitting a pomegranate, and a worm fell out of it, and it ate it. From then on he would knead bran for it, and when it became wormy it would eat it. As for the lion, fever fed it, for Rav said: A fever sustains nourishment for no fewer than six and no more than twelve days. As for the avarshina bird, my father found it lying in the hold of the ark. He said to it: Do you not want food? It said to him: I saw that you were busy, and I said, I will not trouble you. He said to it: May it be His will that you do not die, as it is said: "And I said: I shall die with my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand" (Job 29:18). Rav Chana bar Levai said: Shem the Great said to Eliezer, when the kings of east and west came upon you, how did you act? He said to him: The Holy One, blessed be He, brought Abraham and set him at His right hand, and we would throw dust and it became swords, chaff and it became arrows, as it is said: "A psalm of David. The LORD says to my lord: Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool" (Psalms 110:1), and it is written: "Who stirred up one from the east whom righteousness calls to its foot? He gives nations before him and makes him rule over kings; he turns them to dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow" (Isaiah 41:2). Nachum of Gam Zo was accustomed, that whatever befell him, he would say: "This too is for the good." One day Israel wished to send a gift to the emperor. They said: With whom