Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
In this week’s Parasha, Noah is chosen by God to perpetuate the human race after his wicked contemporaries perish in the flood.
Rabbi Professor David Golinkin, President of The Schechter Institutes, points out that despite the general similarities between the story of Noah and the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh there is a major theological difference between the stories.
See the comparison chart below:
A Comparison of Noah and Gilgamesh edited by Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin
| Aspect of Story | Gilgamesh & Parallels | The Torah | |
| 1. | Characteristics of God | X1:20 gods; one tells hero.X1:113 they fear the flood | One omnipotent God |
| 2. | Reason for flood | X1:14 no reason or population control or gods cannot sleep | 6:11-12 earth corrupt, lawlessness |
| 3. | Warning to hero | X1:20 & 173 Gods don’t plan to tell; Ea tells the hero. | 6:13ff. God warns Noah |
| 4. | Why hero chosen to be Saved? | X1:23 no reason or righteous (Sumerian) or power plays, | 6:9 צדיק תמים Righteous,walked with God. |
| 5. | Hero’s origin | royal family | commoner |
| 6. | Structure of ark | X1:58 120 amot, 7 levels,9 sections per level. | 6:15-16 300 amot,3 levels |
| 7. | Who closed door? | X1:93 the hero | 7:16 God. |
| 8. | Who steers ark? | X1:94 sailors and captain | God, no steering wheel, it’s an ark. |
| 9. | Who is saved? | X1:86 family of hero, builders and sailors | 6:18 Noah and family |
| 10. | Length of flood | X1:127 6 or 7 days | 7:24 150 days. |
| 11. | The birds | X1:146 dove, swallow, raven | 8:7 raven, dove, dove |
| 12. | The mountain | X1:140 Nisir: 35th parallel | 8:4 Ararat: 40th parallel |
| 13. | Thanksgiving sacrifice & God’s reaction | X1:159 “the gods crowded like flies”. | 8:20-21 “God smelled the pleasing odor |
| 14. | After the flood | X1:173 Enlil angry that people were saved.X1:194 Enlil grants hero and wife eternal life = they became gods. | 8:21-22 God promises not to curse earth again9:1-17 “seven mitzvot of sons of Noah”;
Covenant of rainbow. |
David Golinkin is President of The Schechter Institutes, Inc. and President Emeritus of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies. For twenty years he served as Chair of the Va’ad Halakhah (Law Committee) of the Rabbinical Assembly which gives halakhic guidance to the Masorti Movement in Israel. He is the founder and director of the Institute of Applied Halakhah at Schechter and also directs the Center for Women in Jewish Law. Rabbi Professor Golinkin made aliyah in 1972, earning a BA in Jewish History and two teaching certificates from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He received an MA in Rabbinics and a PhD in Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he was also ordained as Rabbi. For a complete bio click here.
