Parshat Noach5 min read

The Man With No Children and the Fruit He Left Behind

A childless man weeps before God. God changes the measure: the Torah you kept is fruit more desirable than sons. Noah's twelve months feeding animals proves it.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Empty Hands Before God
  2. Noah's Children Were His Deeds
  3. What the Torah Cannot Be Used For
  4. The Blueprint That Preceded the World

Empty Hands Before God

The man came before God with nothing behind him. No son. No daughter. No face that would carry his forward into another generation. He looked back at the years of his life and saw a field with nothing growing in it, and he wept.

God did not silence the grief. The grief was real. Bloodline is real. The empty chair at a table is real. What God did was change the scale of measurement.

Why are you weeping as if you left no fruit in the world? You left fruit more desirable than children: the Torah you observed.

The verse God cited was Proverbs 11:30: the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. Rabbi Yehudah the Levite, in the opening of Midrash Tanchuma Noach 2, hears the word fruit and refuses to let it mean only descendants. A man can leave children and still leave nothing that heals the world. Another can leave no children and still leave behind Torah kept, mitzvot performed, hours of study, quiet charity, and words that went into other souls and grew there. Heaven counts fruit by what a person grew in the world, not only by the bodies born from him.

Noah's Children Were His Deeds

The verse that occasions the discussion is Genesis 6:9: "These are the generations of Noah." Midrash Tanchuma begins its treatment of Parashat Noach by asking what the word generations means when applied to Noah. Normally generations means offspring. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. But Bereshit Rabbah, drawing on the same passage from Proverbs, extends the answer. Noah's generations were also his deeds. The righteous man produces children, yes - but his mitzvot are also his offspring. What he did, how he acted, what he fed and sustained and cared for through the twelve months in the ark: these were generations too.

Bereshit Rabbah adds a detail that lands hard. Noah fed the animals in the ark through an entire year, matching each creature's feeding time precisely - some at dawn, some in the dark hours, some at noon. He did not sleep properly for twelve months. The continuous labor of keeping alive every living thing that God had placed in his care left him emaciated. This was Noah's fruit: not children born in comfort but creatures kept alive through relentless work. The man who was called righteous in his generation earned that name in the middle of the night, pulling himself out of sleep to bring the right food to the right animal at the right hour.

What the Torah Cannot Be Used For

Vayikra Rabbah, the fifth-century Palestinian midrash on Leviticus, adds a warning embedded inside the praise. Rav Huna, citing Rabbi Aha, says: do not treat the Torah like a man who is desperate to arrange a daughter's marriage, willing to take any suitor who comes. Torah is not something that needs you. If you merit it, you can take hold of it. If you do not, the Torah does not suffer from your absence.

The image he offers is a king telling his son to go into business but promising to accompany him and protect him from bandits and storms. The king is present in the venture. The Torah is like that. Study undertaken for its own sake, for the sake of heaven, carries a presence with it that study undertaken for profit or status cannot replicate. This is also what the childless man had produced, and why God counted it as fruit: he had not used the Torah as a spade to dig with. He had kept it as it asked to be kept.

The Blueprint That Preceded the World

Midrash Tanchuma Bereshit 1 opens with the statement that before God created the world, He consulted the Torah. The Torah was written two thousand years before creation, inscribed in letters of black fire on white fire. It was not a document produced after the fact to govern a people already made. It was the architectural plan. Creation was built according to Torah's specifications.

If the Torah is the plan on which creation runs, then a person who keeps Torah is not simply following rules. He is participating in the structure of the world. His mitzvot are woven into the fabric that holds everything together. This is why, when the childless man comes before God with empty hands, God can say honestly: you left fruit more desirable than children. The Torah he kept did not disappear when he died. It remained in the world, part of what the world is made of.

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 2Midrash Tanchuma

"These are the generations of Noah" (Genesis 6:9). Thus did Rabbi Tanchuma bar Abba open and say: "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls" (Proverbs 11:30). Rabbi Yehudah the Levite said: When a person departs from the world without children, he is distressed and weeps. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: Why do you weep? Because you did not raise up fruit in this world? You have fruit finer than children. He says before Him: Master of the universe, what fruit have I raised up? The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: The Torah, of which it is written, "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life." It does not say "children," but "the fruit of the righteous." And so the generations of a person are his good deeds. And thus it says, "These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a righteous, blameless man."

Rabbi Abbahu said: We find that the Holy One, blessed be He, acts for the later ones by the merit of the earlier ones. And from where do we know that even for the earlier ones by the merit of the later ones? As it is said, "And Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD." And by what merit? By the merit of his generations, as it is said, "These are the generations of Noah, Noah."

"And he who is wise wins souls" (Proverbs 11:30): this is the one who feeds and sustains the poor. Thus did Rabbi Tanchuma expound. Our Rabbis said: Noah did not die until he saw the world settled, and until he saw seventy nations come forth from his loins; and from there only his righteousness is remembered.

"And he who is wise wins souls": this is Noah, who fed and sustained the beasts. And what did he feed them? Rabbi Akiva said: They all ate pressed figs, as it is said, "And it shall be food for you and for them" (Genesis 6:21). But our Rabbis said: No, rather each and every one of every kind he fed what suited it. The camel, straw; the donkey, barley; and so all of them, each ate what suited it; hence "and he who is wise wins souls."

There is a beast that eats at one hour of the day, and one at two, and one at three; and one at the third of the night, and one at its middle, and one at cockcrow. Our Rabbis said: For the twelve months that Noah was in the ark he saw no sleep, neither by day nor by night, for he was occupied with and feeding the creatures that were with him; hence "and he who is wise wins souls."

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Bereshit Rabbah 30:6Bereshit Rabbah

Bereshit Rabbah turns to Fruits of the Righteous Are a Tree of Life.

What are the fruits of the righteous? According to the Bereshit Rabbah, they are mitzvot (commandments) and good deeds. Noah was righteous, and that righteousness bore fruit in his actions – specifically, in the incredible feat of saving not just his family, but all those animals.

The verse in Proverbs continues, "and he who gathers souls is wise." And that's exactly what Noah did. He gathered souls, the animals. And sustained them. Think about the sheer logistics! The Bereshit Rabbah emphasizes that he fed and sustained these creatures for twelve whole months in the ark. That's a long time to be cooped up with a bunch of animals!

Here's where it gets interesting, even a little unsettling. After all that praise, after being called righteous and wise, the Bereshit Rabbah points to another part of (Proverbs 11:31): "Behold, retribution is made to the righteous on the earth." Wait, what? Retribution? What did Noah do wrong?

The Rabbis aren't saying Noah was a bad person, but rather, that even the righteous face consequences. Even they are held accountable. And in Noah's case, that accountability came swiftly.

Rav Huna, quoting Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili, shares a startling tradition: as Noah was emerging from the ark, a lion bit him, maiming him. Ouch! This wasn't just a random accident. The injury rendered Noah unfit to offer a sacrifice. In his place, his son Shem had to step in.

Why this harsh turn of events? The Bereshit Rabbah doesn't explicitly say, but the implication is powerful. Even after such a monumental act of righteousness, Noah wasn't exempt from the trials and tribulations of earthly existence. Perhaps it was a reminder that even the most righteous among us are still human, still fallible.

And the verse concludes with an a fortiori argument – a "how much more so" conclusion: "all the more so, the wicked and the sinner." If even Noah, the righteous Noah, faced retribution, then imagine what awaits the truly wicked, like the generation of the Flood.

It's a sobering thought, isn't it? The Bereshit Rabbah uses Noah's story not to diminish his righteousness, but to highlight the complexities of justice and accountability. It reminds us that even when we strive to do good, we are still subject to the imperfections and challenges of this world. And that, perhaps, is a lesson we can all take to heart.

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Vayikra Rabbah 25:1Vayikra Rabbah

Vayikra Rabbah turns to Torah as a Tree of Life You Must Not Treat Like a Spade.

Rav Huna, citing Rabbi Aḥa, offers a powerful analogy. He warns us not to treat Torah like a desperate father trying to marry off his daughter to just anyone. Torah isn't something we’re doing God a favor by accepting. Instead, it's a precious gift, a privilege. As (Proverbs 2:1) puts it, "My son, if you would take my sayings and treasure my commandments with you…” The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) emphasizes that "if" – if you merit it, then you can truly take hold of My sayings.

Think of it like this: Rav Huna, this time in the name of Rabbi Binyamin ben Levi, compares it to a king who tells his son to go into business. The son is afraid of robbers and pirates. So, what does the king do? He gives him a special staff, hollowed out and containing an amulet. “Let this staff be in your hand,” the king says, “and you will not fear anyone.” Similarly, God tells Moses to tell the Israelites: "Engage in Torah, and you will not fear any nation." Torah, then, is our protection, our amulet against the dangers of the world.

Here's where it gets really interesting. The text contrasts "toiling" in Torah with "grasping" it. It says that if the verse had stated "It is a tree of life for those who toil in it", there would be no survival for the enemies of Israel. "Toil" implies hard work, intensive study – something that not everyone can do. But it doesn't say that. Instead, it says "grasp." The emphasis is on understanding, internalizing, and making it your own. It's also about upholding the Torah, not just studying it. As (Deuteronomy 27:26) states, the curse isn't on those who don't study, but on those who "will not uphold" the matters of the Torah.

Rav Huna offers another crucial insight. If someone stumbles and sins, what should they do to live? The answer isn't just rote memorization. If you normally read one page of the Bible, read two. If you study one chapter of Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law), study two. But what if you don't do either of those things? Then, the text suggests, become a leader of the community or a charity collector! Why? Because these acts of service, of upholding the community, are also pathways to life.

The text then circles back to Proverbs: "It is a tree of life for those who grasp it – for in the shelter of wisdom, in the shelter of money" (Ecclesiastes 7:12). Wisdom, in this context, refers to Torah study. Money, of course, refers to charitable giving. Both offer protection and sustenance.

Rabbi Aḥa, citing Rabbi Tanḥum ben Rabbi Ḥiyya, drives the point home. If you study, teach, observe, and perform mitzvot (commandments), and you have the ability to rebuke wrongdoing or support others in their Torah study but fail to do so, you are included among the cursed. Conversely, Rabbi Yirmeya, citing Rabbi Ḥiyya, says that even if you haven't studied, performed mitzvot, or taught others, but you do uphold the community and rebuke wrongdoing when you can, you are included among the blessed.

So, what's the takeaway? It's not enough to simply go through the motions of studying Torah. We must strive to grasp its meaning, to internalize its teachings, and, most importantly, to uphold its values in our daily lives. It's about taking action, about contributing to the well-being of our community, and about standing up for what is right. That is the true path to making the Torah a "tree of life" for ourselves and for the world.

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Midrash Tanchuma, Bereshit 1Midrash Tanchuma

With the beginning (Gen. 1:1). This is what Scripture means when it says: The Lord with wisdom founded the earth (Prov. 3:19). That is, when the Holy One, blessed be He, was about to create this world, He consulted the Torah before embarking upon the work of creation, as it is said: Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine (ibid. 8:14). How was the Torah written? It was written with letters of black fire on a surface of white fire, as is said: His locks are curled and black as a raven (Song 5:11). What is meant by His locks are curled? It means that each crowned stroke on the letters of the Torah contains heaps and heaps of law. For example, it is written in the Torah: Profane not My Holy Name (Lev. 22:2); but if you should change the het in the word yehallelu (“profane”) into a heh, the word would read “praise,” and you would thereby destroy the world. Conversely, where it is written Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord (Ps. 150:6), if you should alter the heh in the word tehallel (“praise”) into a het, the word would read “profane,” and you would thereby destroy the world.

Similarly, in the verse Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One (Deut. 6:4), if you should change the dalet in the word ehad (“one”) into a resh, the word would then read aher (“another”), and you would thereby destroy the world, since it is said: For thou shalt not bow to another god (Exod. 34:14). Likewise, in the verse They have lied against the Lord (Jer. 5:12), if you should change the preposition bet (“against”) into the preposition kaf (“like”), you would thereby destroy the world.

Again, in the verse There is none holy as the Lord (I Sam. 2:2), if you alter the preposition kaf (“as”) to read bet (“in”), you would thereby destroy the world.

If a slight change in a single letter can produce such drastic consequences, how much more so the alteration of a complete word. Such, then, is the meaning of His locks are curled. Accordingly David praised God by saying: Thy commandment is exceedingly broad (Ps. 119:96); and elsewhere in Scripture it says: The measure thereof is longer than the earth (Job 11:9).

The Torah served as an artisan in all the work of creation, as it is said: Then I was with Him, as a nursling (amon) (Prov. 8:30). However, you do not read the word as amon (“nursling”), but as uman (“artisan”), since it was with the assistance of the Torah that God stretched out the heavens and established the earth, as it is said: If My covenant be not with day and night, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth (Jer. 33:25). With it, He bound up the sea lest it should go forth and overflow the world, as it is said: Fear ye not Me? saith the Lord; nor will ye not tremble at My presence who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea (ibid. 5:22). With it, also, He locked up the deep so that it might not inundate the world, as is written: When He set a circle on the face of the deep (Prov. 8:27). Similarly, He fashioned with it the sun and the moon, as is said: The Lord giveth the sun to light the day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars to light the night. Who stirreth up the sea, that the waves thereof roar, the Lord of hosts is His name (Jer. 31:35). Hence, you learn that the world was founded upon the Torah.

The Holy One, blessed be He, gave the Torah to the Israelites so that they might devote themselves to it and to its commandments day and night, as it is said: But thou shalt meditate therein day and night (Josh. 1:8). And it says elsewhere: But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water (Ps. 1:2–3).

(Furthermore,) the world endures because of those who guard the law, as Hannah stated: For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s (I Sam. 2:8). Who are the pillars of the earth? They are the guardians of the law, for whose sake alone the world was fashioned, as is said: He hath fashioned the world because of them (ibid.).

It has been taught on the authority of R. Simeon the son of Lakish: Why does Scripture say of the creation process (simply) first day, second day, third day, fourth day, fifth day, the sixth day, adding the definite article (heh) only in this instance, so that it reads the sixth day? This is to teach us, the rabbi explained, that God made an agreement with the works of creation in which he declared: If Israel accepts the Torah, in which there are five books, well and good, but if not I will return you to a state unformed and void (Gen. 1:2). Hence the sons of Korah exclaimed: When the earth and the inhabitants thereof trembled, I Myself established the pillars of it (Ps. 75:4). The word pillars in this verse refers to the Torah, which the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed at Sinai.

Moses, our teacher, merited receiving the Torah, for the sole of the Torah is humility and its crown is fear. The sole of the Torah is humility, as it is said: The base of humility is the fear of the Lord (Prov. 22:4), and its crown is fear, as it is said: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Ps. 110:10).

Both these attributes were possessed by our teacher, Moses. As to humility, it is stated: And the man Moses was very humble (Num. 12:3), and as to fear, it is written: For he feared to look upon God (Exod. 3:6).

Our teachers maintained that in reward for three things Moses was granted three things. As a reward for And Moses hid his face (Exod. 3:6), he was granted The skin of his face sent forth beams (ibid. 34:30); as a reward for For He feared (ibid. 3:6), he was granted They were afraid to come nigh unto him (ibid. 34:30); and as a reward for He was afraid to look (ibid. 3:6), he was granted The similitude of the Lord doth he behold (Num. 12:18).

The reward for the observance of the Torah, however, is bestowed not in this world but in the world-to-come, as Scripture states in the verse: Which I command thee this day to do them (Deut. 7:11); that is, to do them today and not in the world-to-come. “(I command thee) this day to do them, but I do not decree that you should receive the reward for their observance today.” Hence Solomon said (of the woman of valor): Strength and dignity are her clothing; and she laugheth at the time to come (Prov. 31:25); (inasmuch as her reward will be given to her in the time to come).

Observe the reward given for the observance of the Torah from the example of Pharaoh. Because Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh (Gen. 41:44), Joseph was exalted by him exceedingly, as it is said: And Pharaoh took off his signet ring and put it upon Joseph’s hand (ibid. v. 42). How much greater, then, is the reward bestowed by the Holy One, blessed be He, who with every commandment declares, I am the Lord (Exod. 31:13). (What else do we learn from this?) We learn from this that there is no limit to the reward given for the observance of the Torah. David foresaw this and declared: Oh how abundant is Thy goodness which Thou has laid up for them that fear Thee (Ps. 31:20).

Nowhere in the entire creation narrative does the word “He wrought” occur other than with reference to the reward bestowed in the hereafter upon those who have observed the Torah. Concerning them it is said, Thou has wrought for them that take refuge in Thee (ibid.).

You find that the Holy One, blessed be He, discloses prior to their death the reward to be given to those who devote themselves to the Torah. It happened that when R. Abahu was about to depart from this world, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed to him thirteen streams of balsam oil. Thereupon, he said to his disciples: “Happy are you who devote yourselves to the study of the Torah.” “Master,” they asked, “what is it that you have seen?” He replied, “The Holy One, blessed be He, gave me thirteen streams of balsam oil in reward for studying the Torah.” And then he went on to say, Yet I have said, “In vain have I labored, I have spent my strength for nought and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God” (Isa. 49:4).

It is because of the reward given to those who devote themselves to the Torah that Isaiah declared: Happy are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth freely the feet of the ox and the ass (ibid. 32:20). The words that sow beside all waters refer to those who devote themselves to the study of the Torah, which is compared to water, as it is said: Ho! Everyone that thirsteth, come ye for water (ibid. 55:1); the word ox alludes to the Messiah of the House of Joseph, who is compared to an ox; and the ass refers to the Messiah of the House of David, for it is said of him: Lowly and riding upon an ass (Zech. 9:9).

Scripture states, concerning the reward that students of the Torah will receive after their deaths: And from old, men have not heard or perceived by ear, neither hath the eye seen a God beside Thee who worketh for him who waiteth for Him (Isa. 64:3). It states: Happy are they who are upright in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord (Ps. 119:1); that is to say, Happy are they who honor masters of the Torah. And it says also: It is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is everyone that holdeth her fast (Prov. 3:18).

Similarly, Moses declared: For if ye shall diligently guard (Deut. 11:22); that is, if you guard diligently the students of Torah, then you shall be guarded in turn. Hence Scripture states: For them that honor Me I will honor, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed (I Sam. 2:30). This verse alludes to those who honor the students of the Torah.

What is more, there is a tradition to the effect that the object particle (et) in the verse Thou shalt fear (et) the Lord thy God (Deut. 6:13) alludes to reverence for the scholars of the Torah as well as to fear of the Lord. This is so because there is no virtue comparable to the study of the Torah, as it is said: It is more precious than peninim (“innermost”) (Prov. 3:15); that is to say, it is more precious than the high priest who serves in the innermost part of the sanctuary.

Scripture itself declares: Happy is the man that hearkeneth unto Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My door (ibid. 8:34). This verse indicates that no harm will befall the person who hearkens unto the Torah, for it is written: Whosoever hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell securely and shall be quiet without fear of evil (ibid. 1:33). It states: When thou walkest, it shall lead thee (ibid. 6:22).

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