Comentario sobre Génesis 8:7

יצא ושוב WENT FORTH TO AND FRO — It (the raven) flew in circles round and round the Ark and did not go on its errand for it suspected that he (Noah) intended to injure its mate, just as we learn in the Agada of Chelek (Sanhedrin 108b).

וישלח את העורב, to find out if the atmosphere had dried out after the tops of the mountains had become visible. Noach wanted to know if the atmosphere in the meanwhile was such that the raven could tolerate it.

וישלח את העורב. He sent away the raven. Why did Noach sent away the raven? If it was to examine if the waters had receded sufficiently, why does the Torah not mention this? If the Torah assumed that we could figure this out for ourseleves, why did the Torah mention the reason for Noach sending out the dove? What exactly is the meaning of: "it went to and fro until the water on the earth dried out?" If the meaning is that the raven could not find a place to rest outside the ark and that therefore it kept re-entering the ark and leaving anew, why was there a need to send out a dove altogether? Did not the raven's behaviour indicate that the waters had not yet eased sufficiently? What exactly does the Torah mean by the words עד יבשת המים? Furthermore, did Noach not have sufficient information once he sent out the dove? Why does the Torah not mention that Noach extended his hand to bring the raven back, just as it does in connection with the dove in verse 9?

וישלח, why did Noach send out the raven? He had said to himself that the raven is a flesh eating bird and will most likely find remains of dead animals to feed on. [our author understands the word עורב as referring to what is better known as the “black raven,” a type of vulture (corvus cornix) which feeds on carcasses. Ed.] If the bird would return with such remains in its beak, Noach would know that the waters had receded somewhat. The raven returned without anything in its beak, so that Noach did not learn anything new about the state of the waters. The raven returned to its nest, leaving from time to time to see if the situation outside the ark enabled it to survive on the outside. It carried on in this fashion until the surface of the earth had dried out. In Bereshit Rabbah 33,5 the sages view the fact that the raven was chosen as the experiment by Noach in a different light. The blackness of that bird is paraphrased in Psalms 105,28 where the psalmist writes שלח חשך ויחשיך, “he sent darkness and it became dark.” [a figure of speech, meaning that if one pins one’s hopes on something black, one is likely to receive darkness in return, i.e. not achieve one’s objective. Ed.] Seeing that this mission of the raven had proved totally unproductive, after waiting seven days, Noach sent out a pigeon. A pigeon is known to have a well developed sense of imagination and direction, finding its way back after having flown over a route only once or twice. It knows that it was dispatched for a purpose, i.e. to receive some information in return for having been dispatched [we know of carrier pigeons in our time, but if there had been such already in the days of Noach is highly speculative. Ed.] Moreover, it is in the character of pigeons to be attached to their home base, so that they can be depended on to return to their nest. When we have been told in Shabbat 49 that the wings of the pigeon protect it, the meaning is that seeing that the pigeons are being raised as carrier pigeons, transporting messages attached to its wings, the fact that their owners need them alive is their insurance against being slaughtered prematurely. Noach, in sending out the pigeon, was therefore convinced that the bird would return to the ark even if there were places on earth in the meantime where it could make its nest. ולא..ותשב אליו אל התבה, the Torah describes the return of the pigeon both as a return to Noach, i.e. אליו, and as a return to the ark, i.e. אל התבה. Why was the return of the pigeon described in such detail? It is first described as a return to Noach, seeing that the fact that it did not bring back any bit of vegetation indicated that it had been unable to find any, i.e. had not performed its mission and brought Noach information. Secondly, it did not re-enter the ark as the raven had done. It remained perched on the roof of the ark. It was unhappy at not having brought back some kind of message to Noach. This is why Noach stretched out his hand and brought it back into the ark. The amount of time that elapsed between the dispatch of the raven, and the dispatch of the pigeon, was seven days. How did we arrive at this information? ויחל עוד שבעת ימים אחרים, the addition of the word אחרים, “others,” proves that there had already been a waiting period of seven days

ויצא יצא ושוב, “it kept coming back;” Noach concluded at that point not to endanger the species of which only one pair was in the ark, and to dispatch birds of the “pure” species of which he had seven pairs each at his disposal.

Because it suspected him concerning his mate. Meaning: [Its suspicion was] concerning Noach’s mate — that [Noach and] his wife were having marital relations in the ark. This is because the raven cohabited in the ark, and one accuses another of his own flaw (Kiddushin 70b). Thus the raven, too, did not want to be separated from its mate. And this is the explanation in Sanhedrin 108b as well. (R. Yaakov Taryosh)

יבשת המים. Die letzte Stufe ist יבשה הארץ , der Anfang: יבשת המים, dass schon hie und da etwas Trockenes im Wasser sichtbar wurde. Der Stufengang des Trockenwerdens ist durch die Ausdrücke: חרבו פני ,קלו מעל פני האדמה ,ויהסרו המים bezeichnet. Die Wasser nahmen ab, so dass zuerst die Bergspitzen יבשה הארץ ,האדמה sichtbar wurden; sie wurden dann nur noch zu einer leichten Schicht auf der Erdfläche; die Erdfläche ward trocken, es war kein Wasser mehr sichtbar; die Erde ward trocken, fest, ward יַבָשָה, erhielt ihre ursprüngliche Festigkeit wieder.

וישלח את העורב, “he dispatched the raven;” the reason Noach chose one of the impure birds for this mission, [although he could have chosen a pigeon of which he had seven pairs, Ed.] was that since that bird feeds on carcasses, the chances that it would find something to eat were far greater than if he had sent a pigeon which is more circumspect in what it chooses as its food. Do not question how Noach could have dispatched any creature from the ark seeing that at that time it was totally dark outside? While it is true that there was no sunshine or moonlight, and the light of the stars is insufficient to know thereby whether it is day or night, there was some light, as we know from when the Torah wrote in verse 5 that the mountain tops had become visible at the beginning of the tenth month. Furthermore, there is an opinion cited in B’reshit Rabbah 33,5, according to which light of sun and moon was usable, but was not usable by Noach for astronomical calculations. Unless this was so, how would Noach have been able to tell day from night?

עד יבשת המים UNTIL THE WATERS WERE DRIED UP—The real sense of the verse is what it plainly implies (until the waters of the Flood were dried up); but the Midrashic explanation (Genesis Rabbah 33:5) is: The raven went to and fro in the world being kept in readiness for another errand during the time when the rain was withheld and the waters dried up in the days of Elijah, as it is said, (1 Kings 17:6) “And the ravens brought him bread and flesh”.

ויצא יצוא ושוב, this proved that the atmosphere was not yet dry enough for the raven to tolerate it for any extended period of time.

During the time of Eliyahu. A hint to this [Midrashic explanation] is that the word יבֹשת is written without the ו, yielding the letters תשבי — a hint to אליהו התשבי. Furthermore, it is written “the water dried up” rather than “the earth dried up,” alluding to [the drought in] Eliyahu’s days. (Maharshal)

The entire verse must be understood in light of the aggadah (Sanhedrin 108) that the raven mated while in the ark and that Noach knew about it. This is why he expelled the raven from the ark as soon as he opened its window. This is why the Torah does not mention that the raven was despatched in order to examine the extent to which the waters had receded. The raven was forced to remain outside the ark though it tried to return to it. This situation continued until the waters on the earth had dried out. When Noach wanted to know how far the waters had receded he sent out the dove. He had not been able to find this out from the raven which he had expelled. The dove was willing to undertake the mission of relaying information to Noach. Initially, the dove reported that it had not been able to find a place to rest. As soon as Noach heard this he took the dove back into the ark with him. The detailed wording of verse 9 suggests that Noach made a special place in the ark for the dove. Later on Noach sent out the same dove a second time.

Noa entsendet zuerst den עורב, einen Vogel, der nicht die Gesellschaft des Menschen aufsucht; ערבה, die Wüste, ist seine Heimat. Kehrt der zurück, so muß es draußen noch ganz stättelos sein. Bei dem Raben heißt es wohl daher auch nicht: מאתו, "von sich", wie bei der Taube, die an seine Gesellschaft gewöhnt war, bei der es auch Raw Hirsch on Genesis 8: 9 bei der Wiederkehr heißt: ויקחה ויבא אותה אליו. Wenn die Taube nicht wiederkehrt, muss es bereits draußen ganz behaglich geworden sein.

ויצא יצוא ושוב, “it kept going back and forth;” Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish in Sanhedrin 108 claims that the raven accused Noach with an ironclad argument of hating it, else he would have used a bird of which there were seven species rather than endanger the species of the raven of which he had only a single pair. As a result, the raven did not fly far away from the ark to ensure it would find its way back, and could protect its mate if need be.

Our sages derived another lesson from the wording of this verse when they stated (Sanhedrin 108) that the raven used an ironclad argument when it accused both G'd and Noach of hating it. It said: "G'd hates me because only a single pair of my species has been allowed into the ark whereas the "pure" birds are represented by seven pairs. You hate me because you endangered me instead of one of the birds of which there are seven pairs." The raven went on to suspect Noach of personal motives in sending it on a mission so that Noach could have relations with its mate. Noach was very angry, telling the raven that since he refrained from having inter-course with is own wife in the ark he most certainly would not dream of mating with a species that was forbidden to him. According to this aggadah the raven refused to undertake the mission Noach wanted to assign to it for fear of its species becoming extinct should anything happen to it outside the ark. As a result, Noach had to send the dove on the mission originally planned for the raven. The raven's very fear and constant circling of the ark told Noach that the waters were still covering most of the earth. What Noach did not know was whether the water level on earth was already substantially lower. He sent out the dove to find out this information.

Until the water … dried up. See Rashi in the name of the Midrash. Since the raven is a callous creature it would not have been sent to bring glad tidings to the world. Rather, its real mission was to sustain Eliyahu in the desert so that he could bring famine to the world.

The deeper meaning of the aggadah depicting the raven's confrontation with Noach can be understood in terms of Psalms 69,27: "For they persecute those whom You have struck." Normally, those who have been persecuted can expect to encounter mercy and pity. The people who persecute Jews in exile heap more suffering on those already in unfortunate circumstances. This was basically the raven's argument against Noach when it said: "is it not enough that Your Master hates me, must you hate me also?" The raven continued: "if you are not motivated by hatred of me, do you have designs on my mate and wish me out of the way?" The raven implied that precisely because Noach was not allowed to have sexual relations with his wife in the ark, he might have reasoned that he could have relations with other species. There is no reason to question why the raven's mate should be different from any other female animal. The raven's argument applied to all female animals, but seeing the others remained under their mates' supervision Noach would not be able to carry out such a design unseen. Only the female raven would be unprotected during its mate's absence from the ark.

The raven may also have extrapolated from the very fact that it had been guilty of mating in the ark. It reasoned that the fact that Noach had seen this take place had aroused his instincts. Our sages have always claimed that watching something arouses one's greed and lust to possess the object one has watched. This is why the sages have been so careful to forbid looking at parts of the body. Noach was angry at the raven for having referred to G'd only as Noach's "Master," not it's own. This is why he called the raven "wicked." Concerning the suspicion that Noach had designs on the raven's mate, Noach retorted that seeing he had been able to restrain himself from sleeping with his own wife, something which was only a simple prohibition, he could certainly restrain himself from sleeping with the raven's mate, something that involved violating two prohibitions.

Another reason that prompted Noach to call the raven "wicked" in that aggadah is that Noach applied the principle כל הפוסל במומו פוסל, that "when someone accuses others of moral shortcomings, he usually accuses the outsider of a moral defect that he himself is guilty of" (Kidushin 70). Noach told the raven it could never have suspected him of what it did unless it was guilty of such misdemeanours itself. The reason the Talmud describes the raven's argument as ניצחת, ironclad, is that Noach could not answer why he had picked for this mission a bird of which there was only a single pair.

Another reason why Noach called the raven wicked could be that seeing it had impregnated its mate already, the species would not die out even if some accident were to befall the male raven on its mission. Its very wickedness therefore had made the raven the only expendable bird.