Product Recall

This Shabbat could well be called Shabbat Zachor! In the portion of Noach read this week, we encounter God “Remembering” for the first time. With the unremitting floods of tears being shed we continue to be in tragically auspicious times to beseech and remind God to remember. – A form of product recall. 

Little was left of the products of the creation, and all who survived were in the ark. At the opening of chapter 8;

וַיִּזְכֹּ֤ר אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־נֹ֔חַ וְאֵ֤ת כָּל־הַֽחַיָּה֙ וְאֶת־כָּל־הַבְּהֵמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר אִתּ֖וֹ בַּתֵּבָ֑ה וַיַּעֲבֵ֨ר אֱלֹהִ֥ים ר֙וּחַ֙ עַל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וַיָּשֹׁ֖כּוּ הַמָּֽיִם׃

God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and God caused a wind to blow across the earth, and the waters subsided.

This is a striking if not bewildering verse. How are we to understand the notion of God remembering? We remember, our recent entreaty in the prayer U’netaneh Tokeff on Rosh Hashana where God is described as one who …תִזְכֹּר כָּל הַנִּשְׁכָּחוֹת remembers all that is forgotten. Later in the Musaph prayers we again stress  כִּי אֵין שִׁכְחָה לִפְנֵי כִסֵּא כְבוֹדֶֽךָ  for there is no forgetfulness before the throne of Your Glory. 

Rashi brings a remarkable insight which is further expounded by Siftei Chachamim, a classic commentary on Rashi’s commentary. The enigmatic phrase in the verse, וַיַּעֲבֵ֨ר אֱלֹהִ֥ים ר֙וּחַ֙ עַל־הָאָ֔רֶץ  and God caused a wind to blow across the earth, evokes God at the very beginning of the creation, Bereishit 1:2

וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃

The earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water.

A Lonely God of Faith? It appears that this process begins again on what may be an even more traumatic level, God ostensibly now, not only lonely, but now recalls His products, perhaps He misses His creations, that is possibly what is being remembered. Hamelech Basadeh – The King in the Field, can only be if there are subjects, – people who will recognize and acknowledge Him as such.

This is what Rashi intimates in his astonishing interpretation;

ויעבר אלהים רוח And God made a wind or perhaps more poignantly a spirit to pass – A spirit of consolation/comfort and relief passed before Him. Siftei Chachamim expands this thinking;

A spirit of comfort. Rashi is addressing the following conundrum; if it was an actual wind, why is written afterwards, “And the water subsided”? We learn from Psalms 147:8, “He blows His wind; water runs.” Implying wind does not calm the waters, on the contrary it is a forceful power. Rashi is also taking this approach because it says, “Over the earth.” How could a wind blow over the earth’s surface when the water covered the earth? But if it was “a spirit of comforting,” the focus on the land is understandable.. “Over the earth” suggests “On account of the matters of the earth.” In other words, for the sake of man who dwells on the earth.

Perhaps God is recalling the Radical Amazement of Creation, the parent that begets a child, the joy of being, in and through, relationship. May this “October Rain” spur God to Remember once again and bring us comfort, healing and the return of the hostages #Now.