Parshas Noach: First Rain Then Rainbows

This week’s Torah portion, Noach: Bereshit (Genesis) 6:9 - 11:32, opens with an introduction to Noach, the only righteous man of his generation. HaShem gives him an ark building project that lasts 120 years, during which time he is to call the people to repent from their savage, barbaric ways, that God might show mercy and cancel the flood.

Noach gets the ark built, but fails to save one soul from wickedness. He and his family enter the ark along with the animals. The rain begins. The flood ensues. Exactly one year later Noach and his passengers disembark to build a new world. They should “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

The Seven Noahide Laws

God establishes the rainbow covenant with Noach, promising never again to curse the earth with destruction because of man’s evil thoughts and actions. He provides seven moral guidelines to follow this second time around - the Seven Noahide Laws. Then and now, these guidelines provide simple rules for successful living.

1) Know God and acknowledge Him. 2) Respect the Creator. 3) Respect human life. 4) Respect the institution of marriage. 5) Respect the rights and property of others. 6) Respect God's creatures. 7) Maintain justice. 

Respect Life

HaShem deems willful murder a capital crime punishable by death. If a human court fails to punish the murderer, God Himself will seek redress. In Genesis 9:5, He tells us, “From the hand of each man, his brother, I will demand the soul of man." 

We are instructed to respect human life from conception because it is sacred, made in God’s image. in Genesis 9:6 the word of HaShem is clear: "Whoever sheds the blood of man within man so shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man.” The context in which the word 'made' is used is the conception, growth and development of the human being in the womb.

Judaism, as given to us by God through Moses, regards human life so precious that Jews are obligated to break every Sabbath restriction in order to save a human life, including a baby in the mother’s womb. This special exception, known as pikuach nefesh, logically supports the fact that Jewish law recognizes the unborn baby is a living human being that must be safeguarded.

The Big Lie - Abortion Saves Lives

Jewish abortion activists distort and misuse pikuach nefesh when they insist that legal, taxpayer funded, unlimited abortion access is necessary to save women's lives. This distortion finds appeal in the broader pro-abortion movement in propaganda that claims baby killing saves lives. Baby killing saves abortion industry profiteers by killing babies and exploiting vulnerable women. 

Women who do face threats because of pregnancy have solutions other than killing their unborn children. For life threatening medical events, interventions that save both mother and baby address most situations.

In rare cases, such as ectopic pregnancy, when treatment requires ending a pregnancy, the baby can be treated with dignity and mourned rather than poisoned and discarded. Dire social problems respond well to pregnancy care services which include safe housing, medical care, legal services, and adoption.

Saving Lives in the News

Saving lives has been in the news recently, but not saving the lives of innocent babies in their mothers’ wombs. Our leaders focus on saving Americans from drug cartel violent crime, and savings foreign soldiers from ongoing wars.

The immense number of unborn babies slaughtered violently and legally everyday dwarfs these regrettable losses. Yet, babies who die from abortion homicide are omitted from the political discourse about saving lives. America’s destiny as a free and prosperous nation depends upon including them in constitutional protections accorded to all.

A Righteous Israel is Born

In our Haftorah this week, Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 66:1-24, Isaiah likens a redeemed Israel to a pregnant woman who ultimately gives birth to a righteous nation. The Lord reminds us that He alone is the arbiter of life and death, of conception and barrenness. "Am I not He who causes to give birth, now should I shut the womb?" says your God.

When a new Israel emerges that provides sanctuary for all Jews, both born and unborn, those who mourn the passing of the old will rejoice in the new, a holy land whose Heavenly Father blesses and redeems.

Please share this post on your social media to amplify our message in this troubled world. Thank you.

Cecily Routman 

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.

Cecily Routman is the founder and president of the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation. She opposes abortion homicide in general and among Jews in particular and laments secular policy making in Israel that results in loss of Jewish life and delays the messianic redemption. She envisions a Torah based holy Land of Israel and a world that respects the life of every human being from conception.

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