What Is the Meaning of the Birth after the Flood in the Bible Story?
“And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. And he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. And he sent forth a dove… But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him to the ark.”
Probing the Freshly Corrected Desires
What did you do at the moment you were disconnected from the material world, having returned to it afterward with a specific program of correction? You took the light egoistic desires, known as “raven” and “dove,” which were corrected in the ark, and used them to “feel the earth” (the desire). In so doing, you seemingly asked yourself, “Will the ego suck me in again?”
Why does this happen at the end of forty days, and what is the “window” that is made?
Forty is the quality of the Creator, the quality of absolute bestowal, the quality of a mother. What you are doing here is making a “tiny window” in it. You are introducing a certain dissonance into this idyll by adding a dash of egoism to it. This enables you to check whether you can establish contact between your altruistic and egoistic qualities (by sending forth a raven and then a dove—qualities that have undergone correction in the ark).
Can there be contact between the two?
As it turns out, the answer is “no,” since both birds return to the ark.
Giving Birth to a New, Complete Desire
“And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove.”
In Kabbalah, the number seven (7) symbolizes a small but complete desire.
A complete desire has both an altruistic component (the right line), and an egoistic one (the left line). By combining them we “beget” a certain “golden mean,” in which two opposite halves come together, forming one middle line: a single desire directed upward, to the spiritual world.
This method ensures the integrity of the entire creature.
In other words, not a single force is wasted, not a single word is redundant. Rather, it’s all about the correct application of all the forces and processes that take place in man.
Our tiny desire can be likened to a newborn baby; it is already outside its mother’s womb, “outside the ark.”
This “newborn” is that tiny spiritual desire of ours that begins to explore the next degree of correction, called “nursing.”
The newborn still can’t walk, but it is already breathing the air of the earth, demanding sustenance and “kicking its feet.” This means that our desire to bestow can be given a tiny dash of egoism, which it can deal with and correct.
We are embarking on a path of correction. Though this desire is only an “infant” now, it will grow into “the leader of the new generation,” meaning he will lead your other, yet uncorrected desires to correction, to the Creator.
“Be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.”
“And the dove came in to him [to Noah] at eventide; and lo in her mouth an olive-leaf freshly plucked; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.”
An olive leaf symbolizes the Light of life, which can only be received in an altruistic desire.
The Noah inside you receives a report: “You can deal with the little egoistic desires, for you have been sufficiently washed over with water (Light of Mercy). As evidence of this, you are shown this olive leaf (luminescence).”
It’s not yet olive oil, which symbolizes the complete Light of Life, nor is it olives, but merely an olive leaf. However, it’s enough to begin correcting the small egoistic desires.
You have endured and matured through the flood; you have essentially been born anew, so now you can be certain that there will not be any more floods. This is the blessing that the Creator gave to “Noah and his sons,” the corrected altruistic desires: “Be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.”
You have passed through this state, and now altruism (the quality of the Creator) joins with egoism (the quality of the creature). Finally you are “setting foot on the earth” and embarking on the blessed path of the correction of the ego.
Correcting the Ego through Ascents and Descents
There is a saying in Kabbalah: “In the spiritual you always rise and never fall.” Indeed, you must know that all the ascents and descents you will feel on your spiritual path lead only up the spiritual ladder.
Even if it appears that you’ve stumbled in the darkness or that the night has dragged on too long (“night” refers to states of spiritual descent when the light is absent), know that it is actually helping you on your spiritual path. The only thing required of you is to grab onto everything that you used to “build the ark,” and you will feel the arrival of the morning (the ascent).
Why are there such descents? It’s because the Creator’s quality of bestowal within us has grown strong enough to handle another portion of the ego, which is immediately supplied for correction. The work must not stop. We must undergo complete purification.
The ego’s questions don’t change; they are very logical and earthly, but you are not the same person anymore. You have already gotten a taste of the spiritual state, and you know that the night will invariably change into morning.
From this point on, your entire path, as described in the book, is one of phases of correction of the ego, with the help of the quality of the Creator.
“What Is the Meaning of the Birth after the Flood in the Bible Story?” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.
