Noah's Friends: A Midrash for Children
Gellman, Marc
NOAH'S FRIENDS A children's midrash MARC GELLMAN For my part, I am about to bring the Flood—waters upon the earth—to destroy all flesh under the sky in which there is breath of...
...But he just could not bear to tell them that their end was near...
...Noah explained that the animals were just the motor for the boat, not the cargo...
...Others say that it was God's tears...
...This midrash, "Noah's Friends," was written for children, mostly...
...This is a lousy world we live in...
...Noah knew it was Jehaz because although it looked like a zebra it sounded like a Jehaz when it said, "Noah, open up, you forgot me when you gathered the animals, I am a Jehaz—I mean a zebra—so let me in...
...We are your friends—you can't go off and leave your friends here to drown...
...Then God told Noah to take the animals and Noah immediately understood that there would not be Marc Gellman is a moment contributing editor, rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in Dix Hills, New York, and author of midrashim that appear from time to time in these pages...
...Finally Noah's friend Jehaz came forward dressed like a zebra...
...Noah, dear friend, let me on the ark and this gold is yours...
...Now as the building of the ark progressed, more and more of Noah's friends would come around to ask about the strange thing Noah was building...
...God is probi ably saving me because God does not want to go through this destroying of the earth ever again, and because God wants some life to survive and grow up again in a good clean place...
...Noah looked down but could not say another word to his friends for a long time...
...I am sorry...
...But I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark, with your sons, your wife and your sons' wives...
...Noah said, "My friend Jered, I didn't pick me, God picked me, and besides I already have two chickens on the ark...
...God needs someone alive to tell the story of how the earth, that God made to be good, got lousy because nobody cared enough to make it good again...
...Then Noah spoke through his tears to all his friends...
...Noah looked down with tears in his eyes and said, "I didn't pick me to go on the ark, God picked me, because God thought you were sinners and I wasn't...
...When God told Noah that only his own family would be saved, Noah figured, "God was wrong about the world and decided to flood it to bits, so maybe God was also wrong about the passenger list for the ark...
...First he lied, telling them it was a statue, then when it was clear that the thing was a boat he said it was a statue of a boat...
...Then the animals started to arrive, and Noah's friends really began to become suspicious...
...There's no more room in here anyway...
...NOAH'S FRIENDS A children's midrash MARC GELLMAN For my part, I am about to bring the Flood—waters upon the earth—to destroy all flesh under the sky in which there is breath of life...
...Anyway, there are going to be many rooms in this thing, so I'm sure there will be room for some more folks...
...He would tell them, "You know, you really ought to take up those swimming lessons you have been talking about for so long...
...enough room for his friends to come with him on the ark...
...They called up to Noah, who was peeping over the side of the ark, "Hey, Noah, let us in...
...Noah's friends thought he was nuts, but then they thought that even before he started building the ark...
...I love you and I am sorry for you—and for me—and for the animals left behind—and for God...
...If I could trade places with you now I would, but the story of how to live in the right way and how to treat people as each of us would like to be treated—this story must be told so that nobody ever has to say goodbye to his friends forever...
...Like most people who hear bad news, Noah ignored it...
...Goodbye, my friends...
...Save us...
...Or he would suggest they move their homes to the top of the mountain because "it's cooler there in the summertime and the view is just great...
...You aren't good enough for God, but you are good enough for me...
...it is too full of violence and selfishness and cruelty, and we all made it lousy, God didn't make it lousy, and now we are all suffering for what we have done and what we have allowed to be done I without stopping it...
...My dear, dear friends, I don't know how I can continue to live without you...
...Some say it was just rain...
...I am sorry, but there's nothing I can do...
...Save us, Noah...
...Then Noah's friend Jabal came forward waving a sack of money...
...What can I do...
...Noah looked down on Jabal and said, "Dear Jabal, I cannot take your money, because I did not pick me...
...Still he could not bear to tell them that their end was near...
...But when all the animals went into the ark and when it started to rain and when the rain covered up most of the ground, Noah's friends came running to the ark and started banging on the doors demanding to be let in...
...everything on earth shall perish...
...Genesis 6:17 How could Noah explain to his friends why they weren't going on the ark...
...Then the great rains came and flooded all the earth...
...I am probably being saved for the same reason our ancestor Cain was saved even when he killed his brother Abel...
...God picked me and that is that...
...I'm sorry...
...What I understand now is that you were all too late in deciding to do good...
...Then Jered, Noah's other friend, came forward holding two chickens, "Dear, dear friend Noah, please let me on the ark and these two chickens are yours...
Vol. 8 • May 1983 • No. 5
