Parashat Hashavua: Noach

Is an olive leaf really something to get so excited about? In Parashat Noach this week, we read that the second time Noach sent a dove to see whether the flood waters had receded, “The dove came back to him toward evening, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf, and Noah knew that the waters had abated from the land / וַתָּבֹ֨א אֵלָ֤יו הַיּוֹנָה֙ לְעֵ֣ת עֶ֔רֶב וְהִנֵּ֥ה עֲלֵה־זַ֖יִת טָרָ֣ף בְּפִ֑יהָ וַיֵּ֣דַע נֹ֔חַ כִּי־קַ֥לּוּ הַמַּ֖יִם מֵעַ֥ל הָאָֽרֶץ׃.” (Gen. 8:11)

But olives take years to grow, olive leaves aren’t food, and they taste bitter even if they were. The Midrash acknowledges as much when it teaches that when the dove carried the olive leaf, it said to God: “May my food be bitter like an olive but from your hand, not sweet as honey and from a person’s hand.’ / יִהְיוּ מְזוֹנוֹתַי מְרוֹרִין כְּזַיִת וּמְסוּרִין בְּיָדְךָ, וְאַל יִהְיוּ מְתוּקִין כִּדְבַשׁ וּתְלוּיִן בְּיַד בָּשָׂר וָדָם.” (Gen. Rabbah 33, Eruvin 18b) Why, then, is it seen as such a positive sign when the dove brings back this leaf?

One answer is that it was not only about olive trees. According to Bartenura al HaTorah and others, this was a sign that the water had receded enough to allow other trees to come back to life as well: “the olive tree is low, and when he saw how the leaf was cut and plucked off, he knew that it took it from the tree, because if it had taken it from on the water it would have been completely whole / שאילן הזית נמוך ובראותו העלה קרוע וחטוף ידע כי לקחתו מן האילנות שאילו לקחה על פני המים היה העלה שלם כברייתו.” (Gen. 8:11) 

I think, however, that even more significant than the existence of one tree or another was the fact that the dove came back. The Midrash above quotes the dove as preferring bitter divine food to sweet human food…yet the dove still returns! Rashi explains that the verb used for Noach sending off the dove – “vayeshalach / וַיְשַׁלַּ֥ח” – “is not the language of a mission but of sending away; he sent it on its way, and thus he could see whether the waters had abated, because if it would find a resting place it would not return to him / אֵין זֶה לְשׁוֹן שְׁלִיחוּת אֶלָּא לְשׁוֹן שִׁלּוּח, שִׁלְּחָהּ לָלֶכֶת לְדַרְכָּה, וּבְזוֹ יִרְאֶה אִם קַלּוּ הַמַּיִם, שֶׁאִם תִּמְצָא מָנוֹחַ לֹא תָשׁוּב אֵלָיו.” (Gen. 8:8) However, if in fact the olive is a low lying tree, then the dove would have had places to rest and food to eat – yet it returned to Noach. This to me is why, as Moshe Cassuto (Italy 1883-1951) observed, “it was just a small thing that the dove brought in his mouth, but this small thing communicated peace and proclaimed salvation / דבר קטן הביאה היונה בפיה, אבל דבר קטן זה מבשר שלום ומשמיע ישועה.” (Gen. 8:11)

The Kli Yakar (Poland, Prague 1550-1619) brings together these two ideas, the meaning of the olive leaf itself and the specialness of the dove, when he explains, “Why does it matter whether the dove returned at night or went in the morning or vice versa? It seems that it brought the olive leaf to him so light could be taken from it [as oil] specifically at night when it is needed / מה איכפת לנו בזה אם בערב היא באה ובבקר היא שבה או להפך? וכפי הנראה שהביאה אליו עלה זית להוציא מהם אורה אשר לעת ערב דווקא צריכין אליו.” And based on this, he says, Midrash Tanchuma teaches that “the dove brings light into the world / היונה הביאה אורה לעולם.” (Gen. 8:11)

May we follow the example of the dove to do what we can to bring more light into the world, and may even our smallest actions communicate peace and bring us closer to salvation.

Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Rabbi and Judaics Studies Head (Ivrit/LQ/Tefillah)