מדרש על בראשית 8:19

(Gen. 6:9:) THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH; [NOAH WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN]. Why the twofold NOAH NOAH? Because his children were righteous like him. R. Aha bar Ze'era said: Would you say the children of Noah were righteous, seeing that the generation of the flood was born in wickedness! Even as one would go unto a wife who was not his own, so would the cattle go to another species which was not their own. And where is it shown that the cattle were commanded not to go unto a species which was not their own? Where it is stated (in Gen. 1:25): AND GOD MADE THE BEAST OF THE EARTH AFTER ITS SPECIES, < THE CATTLE AFTER THEIR SPECIES >…. The Holy One SAID: You are permitted to be joined with your own species, but with another species it is forbidden.¹⁹Tanh., Gen. 2:5. The cattle, beasts, and fowl who entered the ark, however, were righteous in that they had been joined, not with another species, but only with their own. R. Pinhas bar Hiyya the Priest said: For thus it is written (in Gen. 8:19): THEY WENT FORTH FROM THE ARK ACCORDING TO THEIR FAMILIES. Did the cattle actually have families as it states: ACCORDING TO THEIR FAMILIES! < These words mean > simply that only those which were joined with their own species were worthy of entering the ark.

Another interpretation (of Gen. 8:1): THEN GOD REMEMBERED NOAH, < ALL THE BEASTS, AND ALL THE CATTLE >. If he remembered Noah, why < also > the beasts and the cattle? May the name of the Holy One be blessed, who never deprives any creature of its reward. If even a mouse has preserved its family³⁷As in English, the Hebrew word for “family” can also mean “species.” and not intermingled with another species, it deserves to receive a reward. But all the people from the generation of the flood did mingle their families, as stated (in Gen. 6:12): THEN GOD SAW THE WORLD; AND BEHOLD, IT WAS CORRUPT. Thus, just as he had exacted retribution from the humans who had sinned, so he exacted retribution from the cattle, the beasts, and the fowl. And where is it shown that retribution was exacted from them? Where it is stated (in Gen. 6:7): AND THE LORD SAID: I WILL BLOT OUT < THE HUMANITY WHICH I CREATED FROM UPON THE FACE OF THE GROUND, HUMANITY TOGETHER WITH CATTLE, CREEPING THINGS, AND THE FOWL OF THE HEAVENS >…. And why all those? In order to teach you that they also had mingled their families and were having intercourse with species that were not their own, each and every species with a species that was not its own. Then the Holy One called Noah and said to him: Choose for yourself cattle, beasts, and fowl [from those] who have not mingled their families, as stated (in Gen. 7:2): FROM EVERY CLEAN BEAST, < those > just as clean as when they were created. Then, when they went out from the ark, the Holy One testified concerning them that they had not mingled their families. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 8:19): THEY WENT OUT BY THEIR FAMILIES. The Holy One, therefore, remembered them along with Noah, as stated (in Gen. 8:1): THEN GOD REMEMBERED NOAH, < ALL THE BEASTS, AND ALL THE CATTLE >.

(Gen. 8, 19) After their families. R. Jochanan said: "Infer from this that each family was placed separately." R. Chana b. Bizna said: "Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, questioned Shem the senior (son of Noah). 'As all the animals were placed separately, where was your family placed?' And he answered: 'We had great trouble in the ark to feed all the animals. The creature whose habit it is to eat in the daytime we had to feed by day, and those whose habit it is to eat in the night, we had to feed by night. A chamoleon, my father did not know what its food was. It happened one day that he cut a pomegranate and a worm fell out of it, and the chamoleon consumed it, and from that time he prepared its food from bran that had become wormy. The lion's fever fed its vital energies, as Rab said: Not less than six and not more than twelve days one can live in fever without taking any food. The phoenix my father found that it slept in a corner of the ark, and to his question, 'Dost thou need any food,' it answered, 'I saw thou wert very busy, and I thought I would not trouble thee.' And he blessed her that it should never die, and concerning it says the passage (Job 29, 18) As the chaul (phoenix) shall I have many days'."