Measure for Measure and the Calendar of the Flood

"And the waters of the flood were upon the earth." They sinned with the eyeball, which resembles water; therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, punished them only with water. They corrupted their channels; therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, changed for their sake the order of the world. The way of the world is that rain comes down and the deep rises, but here, "On this day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth" (Genesis 7:11). "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life." Rabbi Eliezer says: That day, the seventeenth of Marcheshvan, was a day on which the constellation Pleiades rises by day and the fountains grow strong; and because they changed their deeds, the Holy One, blessed be He, changed things for them and took two stars from the Pleiades and brought a flood upon the world. And Rabbi Yehoshua says: That day, the seventeenth of Iyyar, was a day on which the constellation Pleiades sets by day and the fountains diminish; and because they changed their deeds, the Holy One, blessed be He, changed for them the orders of creation, and raised the Pleiades by day, and took two stars from the Pleiades, and brought a flood upon the world. It works well for Rabbi Yehoshua, for thus it is written "second [month]"; but according to Rabbi Eliezer, what is "second"? Second to judgment. It works well for Rabbi Yehoshua, since He changed; but according to Rabbi Eliezer, what is "changed"? It is as Rav said: The generation of the flood corrupted with boiling heat and with boiling heat they were judged, for it is written here "And the waters subsided [vayashoku]," and it is written elsewhere, "And the king's wrath was assuaged [shakhakha]" (Esther 7:10). "And the rain was upon the earth." Until the twenty-seventh of Kislev. "And the waters prevailed a hundred and fifty days" (Genesis 7:24), until the first of Sivan, and the waters stood still and motionless, and the wicked were judged in them, each one according to his deeds, from the twenty-seventh of Kislev until the first of Sivan. "And the waters abated at the end of a hundred and fifty days" (Genesis 8:3); from the first of Sivan they began to diminish, as it is said, "And the waters went on diminishing until the tenth month, in the tenth, on the first of the month"; the tenth from the falling of the rains is Av, since part of a day counts as the whole. And the waters were fifteen cubits high; they were spent over sixty days, a cubit every four days, a handbreadth and a half each day. "And the ark rested in the seventh month" (Genesis 8:4); this is Sivan, when you begin to count from when the rains ceased falling; the ark is found to rest on the sixteenth day, so how high was it above the earth? Four cubits; and submerged within the water, eleven cubits. "And it came to pass at the end of forty days" from the end when the waters began to diminish, on the tenth of Tammuz. "And Noah opened the window of the ark," "And he sent forth the dove" (Genesis 8:8). He waited seven days, "And he sent forth the dove again." He waited another seven days, and he sent forth the dove, and it did not return to him again, but went and settled upon one of the mountains. "In the tenth month, on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen" (Genesis 8:5); so when you begin to count from the first of Av until the first of Tishrei, the waters were absorbed. "And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month"; we learn that one day entering a month counts as the whole month, and one month of the year counts as the whole year. One day enters the month, they count it a full month; one month enters the year, they count it a full year. "The waters were dried up from off the earth"; they were absorbed in their place, and the earth was still moist and like a thick paste; they waited and did not sow until rains came down for them, because the waters of the flood were for a curse and not included in blessing. "And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month" (Genesis 8:14), this is Marcheshvan, "the earth was dry," and it became bare ground. So there are twelve months and eleven days. And those eleven days, what is their nature? They teach that the days of the solar year exceed the days of the lunar year by eleven days. "And the windows of heaven were opened." He took two stars from the Pleiades and brought a flood upon the world, and He took two stars from the Bear and restored them to the Pleiades. "And He filled it from its own"; the cistern is not filled from its own rim. The measure of good is greater than the measure of punishment: regarding the measure of punishment He says, "And the windows of heaven were opened"; but regarding the measure of good, what does He say? "And He commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven" (Psalms 78:23). "On this very day Noah came" (Genesis 7:13). Had Noah entered the ark by night, his whole generation would have said, "In such and such a way we did not know; had we known of it, we would not have let him enter." Rather, "on this very day," and let him who has the strength speak. "They and every beast" (Genesis 7:14). They are the essence, and all the rest are secondary to them. "Every bird, every wing"; this excludes those plucked, maimed, castrated, and lacking limbs, which are unfit for the sons of Noah as offerings. "And they that came in, male and female" (Genesis 7:15-18). He said to Him, "I am a hunter." He said to him, "It is no concern of yours"; it is not written here "those that were brought in" but "those that came in," of their own accord they came. "And the flood was forty days upon the earth." So was Noah's ark submerged in the water like a ship that stands in the harbor. "And the waters prevailed." So was Noah's ark floating upon the face of the waters as upon two beams, as from Tiberias to Susita.