민수기 8:5의 인용 해설

.בחודש השביעי, “in the seventh month.” The “seventh” month mentioned here is the month of Sivan starting with Kislev, the month during which the rains had ceased. On the tenth of the first month (verse 5) the first mountain tops became visible to Noach. This was the month of Av in our calendar, which is the tenth month of the year starting with Cheshvan the month during which the rain started falling. This is how Rashi understands the text of the Torah. If you were to argue that the year of the deluge could have been a year which had 13 months, something easily computed, the whole calculation is erroneous. From the data in the Torah, 1656 years had elapsed since the creation of Adam. We observe a cycle of 19 years during which 7 years are leap years, i.e. years of 13 months. A calculation would reveal that the year of the deluge would have been the third leap year during such a cycle. The result would be that the month of Sivan would not be the seventh but the eighth month of that particular year. According to this calculation the deluge would have commenced instead of in the 1656th year, in the year following. A different interpretation of the data provided by the Torah: The calculation of the year of the deluge is based on the year of tohu, the period preceding the creation of Adam. If so the year of the deluge was not a leap year. A third possible approach to the data provided by the Torah on the timing of the deluge: the year of the deluge was not included in calendar calculations of world history, according to Rabbi Yochanan in Bereshit Rabbah 33,3, as the planets in heaven did not describe their regular orbits during that period. Rabbi Yonathan responded to that statement by Rabbi Yochanan, that while the planets did not perform their function during that year, this does not mean that the year is to be considered as not having occurred.

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 Bereshit 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?