Noyakh / נח

This is a weekly series of frum, trans, anarchist parsha dvarim [commentaries]. It's crucial in these times that we resist the narrative that Zionism owns (or worse: is) Judaism. Our texts are rich—sometimes opaque, but absolutely teeming with wisdom and fierce debate. It's the work of each generation to extricate meaning from our cultural and religious inheritance. I aim to offer comment which is both true to the source material (i.e. doesn't invert or invent meaning to make it say what I want it to say) and uses Torah like a light to reflect on our modern times.

There's a lot happening this week: the ark; the animals and their genders; the world's first seed bank;בראשית ו:כא
Bereshis 6:21 the raven and the doves; the Tower of Bovelaka Tower of Babel (more on that in a minute); and near the end, we meet our first matriarch and patriach, Soroy and Avrom.aka Sarah and Avrom, soon to be Abraham
בראשית יא:כו
Bereshis 11:26

The first part of the parsha is dedicated to Noyakhaka Noah and the flood. I'm mad at Noyakh. He is “just" and "perfect" compared to the violence and corruption that surrounds him. When Hashem tells him that he will flood the Earth and kill everyone except for Noyakh's immediate familyבראשית ו:יח
Bereshis 6:18, Noyakh doesn't protest. He "walked with God". I'm mad at God too.

The Zohar is also mad at Noyakh. In Bereshis, he's not held accountable, but it's our tradition to remedy that: Yishayohuaka Isaiah literally names the harm of Noyakh's negligence. It's right to be angry where our ancestors—those in Torah, and those commenting on Torah—fail to do right by us.