לקוטי שיחות חלק כ׳ - נח ב

Parshas Noach

1. On the verse^[1] "And Noach was six hundred years old, and the flood was water upon the earth," the Midrash^[2] states that "the year of the flood is not counted in the reckoning" — meaning (as the commentators say^[3]) that the year of the flood is not counted "in Noach's years," as we see: "When the Holy One, blessed be He,^[4] counts the years of Noach, He does not count the year of the flood. For you find that Noach lived nine hundred and fifty-one years including the year of the flood, for it says, 'And Noach was six hundred years old and the flood was,' implying that the flood was after six hundred years; as it is written^[5], 'And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year … the waters dried up,' and it is written^[6], 'And Noach lived after the flood three hundred … and fifty years,' and it is written^[7], 'And all the days of Noach (that he lived^[8]) were nine hundred and fifty years.' It should have said nine hundred and fifty-one years — hence the year of the flood is not counted in the reckoning of his years^[9]." (And the reason for this is explained: "Since it was a year of distress, the year of the flood was not counted for him in the reckoning of his years.")

It has been said many times^[10] that from the fact that Rashi, in a number of places in his commentary on the Torah, uses the expression "I do not know" and the like, it is evident that wherever there is a difficulty in the plain meaning of Scripture, it is addressed in Rashi's commentary; and where he writes no explanation (and does not say "I do not know" and the like), the matter is self-understood — either from the verse itself, or from the verses or Rashi's comments that precede this verse.

Accordingly, it must be understood: the fact that the total of Noach's years stated in Scripture does not tally with the number of his years before and after the flood (which compels us to say that "the year of the flood is not counted in the reckoning") is an open contradiction in the plain meaning of the verses^[11] — and Rashi does not address it in his commentary on the Torah?

One cannot say that Rashi holds that, in the plain sense, "the year of the flood is not counted in the reckoning"^[12] — on the contrary, this is a great novelty, and Rashi would have had to write it explicitly. All the more so since in the detailed reckoning the Torah does count the year of the flood, as mentioned: earlier it states that the flood began "in the six hundredth year of Noach's life," and afterwards it states, "in the six hundred and first year … the waters dried up."

2. This can be explained as follows:

The verse states^[13], "In the six hundredth year of Noach's life … were broken up …" The plain meaning of "in the year" is — in (the course of) that year. Consequently, one can understand that "in the six hundredth year … were broken up …" was at the beginning of the year; that is, upon entering Noach's six hundredth year, when he was 599 years old and a bit, the flood began^[14].

And since the verse is precise in saying "in the six hundredth year," this compels us to say that the statement "And Noach was six hundred years old, and the flood was water upon the earth" also means — when he entered his six hundredth year^[15] [or it means (in keeping with the precise wording of the verse — "and the flood was," in the past tense) that when Noach was "six hundred years old," the flood had already been (earlier)].

Similarly, in the verse "And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year … the waters dried up," it means (not a full 601 years, but) at the beginning of six hundred and one, that is, 600 and a bit^[16].

When it comes, however, to the total of Noach's years, the Torah speaks of complete years and does not count a part of a year as a complete year. Consequently, it emerges that the years of Noach's life are 950 (600 (and a bit) until after the flood, and 350 after the flood).

3. This explanation, however, is seemingly not sufficient:

On the verse^[17] "For in yet seven days …" Rashi says: "Go and calculate the years of Mesushelach, and you will find that they end in the six hundredth year of Noach's life." The calculation is: Mesushelach lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years^[18]; and since Mesushelach was 187 years old when he begot Lemech^[19], and Lemech was 182 years old when he begot Noach^[20] (together: 369 years), it follows that "the years of Mesushelach (969 years) … end in the six hundredth year of Noach's life" (600 plus 369 is 969).

And since Mesushelach died before the flood, it follows that "in the six hundredth year of Noach's life … were broken up …" means after Noach was already 600 years old.

In simple terms this could be answered: the numbers of years at which each one begot his son (187, 182, and the like) do not mean that he begot on the very day he reached that number of years

[which would mean that Shes and Enosh and the "generations" after them — of whom it says "And he lived … years, and begot" — were each born on exactly the same day as his father was born; that is, that all of them were born (on the birthday of Adam —) on Rosh HaShanah!]

Rather, it means that after they had reached that number of years, they begot in the course of that year.

Consequently, since the 187 years of Mesushelach when he begot Lemech and the 182 years of Lemech when he begot Noach include remainders, these remainders combined with the part of Noach's six hundredth year add up to a whole year, which completes the years of Mesushelach.

This, however, is still not smooth:

Regarding the sin of the generation of the dispersion, Rashi says^[21], "They said: once every 1,656 years the firmament collapses, as it did in the days of the flood." The calculation of "1,656 years" is the total of the ages at which the generations enumerated from Adam to Noach begot their sons —

But if we must understand, as above, that the numbers of years contain remainders that are not counted, it would follow that with each of the ten generations there is an excess of a certain amount of time (days, weeks, months) which is not counted in the overall number of years. And logic would seemingly dictate that over ten generations who lived long lives, all these excesses accumulated to more than the days of one year (at least), so that the total amounts not to 1,656 years but to more (1,657 years).

4. Seemingly one could explain that the total of "1,656 years" is because "the years of people are counted according to the reckoning of the years of the world" (in Rashi's words in Parshas Ki Sisa^[22]) — that is, when one counts a total of people's years, it is not according to their own years but according to the years of the world.

It is very forced, however, to say that Rashi adopts this interpretation in our parshah without writing it explicitly, because according to the plain meaning of Scripture it is a great novelty^[23] that when the Torah counts the years of a person's life it means not his own years but the years of the world^[24]!

5. The explanation of this:

In the plain meaning, when the Torah says that so-and-so is so many years old (not in the manner of "I am one hundred and twenty years old today"^[25]), it means the number of his years approximately — he may be older, but by less than half a year, or younger by such a span — because in the plain sense we follow the majority (also of a year).

And with this the calculation of "1,656 years"^[26] is smoother still. For in the ordinary course one can assume that just as there were "generations" with whom there is an excess of days not included in the number of years written in the Torah, so there were others with whom a shortfall of days (or months) is not reflected in the sum of years written in the Torah — so that in total the number will roughly even out (with the years of the world)^[27].

6. This can be explained further (though it is not so much along the lines of the plain meaning), with a preface:

The simple reason why the Torah enumerates, for each (of the "generations"), his age at the birth of his son — for seemingly, what difference does it make? — is so that we should know when the various events recorded in the Torah took place.

Accordingly (that the number of years stated in connection with the births of the generations is (principally) to let us know the precise reckoning of the years of the world), one can say that the number written in the Torah (with regard to the birth of the particular individual) may vary by nearly two years: almost the entire year before he turns that many years, and also almost the entire year after he has already turned that number of years [for example: 187 years (in the above verse — "And Mesushelach lived one hundred and eighty-seven years") can mean when he stands at the very beginning of the year leading into 187 (186 and a bit), and also when he stands at the very end of 187 (188 less a bit)].

And although according to this one cannot know the precise time of birth of a particular individual, it nevertheless serves the main purpose: to know the number of the years of the world, because the total of all these numbers of years matches the reckoning of the years of the world, give or take part of a year.

7. The inner reason why the Torah is precise about the reckoning of the years of the world will be understood by first considering what is stated in the Midrash^[28]: one of the virtues of the Jewish people which "Akilas" (a non-Jew) listed (as a reason for his wish to convert) is that "the youngest among them knows … how many years it has been since the world was created."

Since the virtues of the Jewish people that he listed brought him to want to convert, it is understood that they are not virtues of the great wisdom of the Jews, but virtues connected with the religion of Israel.

The explanation of this:

Belief in the creation of the world is one of the foundations of the Torah, and in the words of the Ramban^[29]: "For it is the root of faith, and one who does not believe in this and thinks that the world is eternal denies the fundamental principle and has no Torah at all." Within faith itself, however, there are a number of levels: a person may be a believer with complete faith and yet lack clarity about it; he does not have faith as clear knowledge. This is like the saying of our Sages^[30], "Hearing is not comparable to seeing": although he is certain that what he hears is true, it is not comparable to the certainty that comes through seeing.

And this is what is accomplished by the fact that "the youngest among them knows … how many years it has been since the world was created": faith (including its root (as above) — belief in the creation of the world) is for him clear knowledge; he knows the (most precise^[31]) time when G‑d created the world.

And for this reason the Torah elaborates (in the numbers of the years of the generations) to inform us precisely of the number of the years of the world.

(From letters of Sivan, 5741)

Key Lesson

Rashi sees no contradiction in Noach's 950 years, because in the plain sense the Torah gives a person's age approximately, rounding to the nearest year, while the ages of the generations taken together still yield the exact count of the years since creation. The Torah takes such care over that count because belief in the creation of the world is the root of all faith, and G‑d wants a Jew to hold it not as a vague belief but as clear knowledge. That is why even the youngest Jewish child knows exactly how many years have passed since creation. It shows that faith is meant to become something we know as surely as what we have seen with our own eyes.