Noah was a scholar who understood the languages of all creatures (Zohar Chadash 22b).

"Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations” (Genesis 6:9). In his generations he was considered righteous, but he would not have been considered righteous in other generations. Resh Lakish said: "In his generations he was righteous, and surely he would have been righteous in other generations” (Sanhedrin 108a).

Who was Noah? The question is not easily answered without an understanding of the Biblical thought world and the rabbis who later interpreted the Divine text. At first glance, Noah appears to be a hero, even an early Dr. Doolittle, who saves his generation, produces a new civilization and, through his offspring, new peoples. Scratching the surface however, one derives, as early as the sixth chapter of Genesis, another Biblical principle: not every leader of our people "led” on the same level. That is, although Noah is considered "righteous and perfect in his generations,” he is never considered the equal of Abraham or Jacob or Moses. A Midrash underscores this. When God wanted to destroy His people during the generation of Moses while promising to bestow upon his greatest leader a new nation, Moses immediately replied: "Shall I abandon Israel’s cause for my personal benefit?” But when God told Noah He would save him in the Ark, Noah did not pray for the people of the world, and they perished (Zohar 1:67b).

Yet another principle may be derived from this narrative. Although the talents and personal gifts of Israel’s leaders most certainly varied throughout the Biblical period, there is unquestionably set forth the idea that man’s technological and intellectual advancements notwithstanding, in God’s eyes the history of humanity was already on a downward slope. This depressing thought is confirmed in the sentence wherein the Lord expanded the menu of humanity to include flesh - "Every moving thing that liveth shall be for food for you” (Gen. 9:3). At the same time that man was allowed to eat meat, he was also to inspire terror among God’s feral creatures - "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, and upon all the fishes of the sea” (Gen. 9:2).

A new covenant is made with Noah by means of a rainbow seen in the clouds. God promises never to destroy humanity again. Yet the message is hardly promising. Noah plants a vineyard and becomes besotted. His child, Ham, the father of Canaan, sees Noah’s nakedness and receives an angry curse - "A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren” (Gen. 9:25). His brothers, Shem and Japheth are concomitantly blessed. Family tzurris will bring forth generational conflict. Noah has his rightful place in Israel’s history, but it is hardly at the top of Jacob's ladder.