Noah and the Fish
Gellman, Marc
¦12 Moment A CHILDREN'S MIDRASH MARC GELLMAN "God once got angry and drowned everything with a big flood. Why didn't God kill the fish too?" When God first made the world, nothing turned out...
...And they all started running and jumping, crawling and creeping, flying and flopping, to the different places they thought God lived...
...He flew until he saw a fluffy white cloud that was even higher than he...
...When God heard what the fish had said, God smiled the biggest smile which made the whole world shine...
...This is the biggest thing—it must be God.," and the elephant asked the mountain not to kill the animals...
...The animals returned to the snake and screamed, "We have to find God or we're done for...
...I will surely find God in the highest thing...
...The lion said, "My roar is the loudest noise of all the animals, but God must be louder than me...
...The lion realized that the thunder wasn't God because it stopped...
...This is the highest thing—it must be God.," and the eagle asked the cloud not to kill the animals...
...The eagle flew higher and higher—far higher than any bird had ever flown before...
...Suddenly, it started to thunder...
...The eagle realized that the cloud wasn't God because it blew away...
...So the lion roared and roared and roared...
...I will surely find God in the biggest thing...
...The elephant said, "I am the biggest of all the animals, but God must be bigger than me...
...When the animals heard about this, they were frightened and angry...
...Everyone agreed with the snake and decided to ask God not to kill the animals...
...In the ocean where I live, water is everywhere...
...44/Moment...
...If the water is everywhere, God must be everywhere too...
...The eagle said, "I can fly higher than any other bird, but God must fly higher than me...
...But as for the fish, I will save all of them, because only they knew where to find God...
...Why should we have to die?," said the snake who was the smartest of all the animals...
...God then said to the animals, "When I erase the world, I will save two of each kind of animal, so that when the world begins again, you can begin again...
...It was a bunch of people who messed up the world, not us...
...Soon the elephant came to a mountain...
...This is the loudest thing—it must be God.," and the lion asked the thunder not to kill the animals...
...After a few days, the elephant realized that the mountain wasn't God because it didn't answer him...
...When God first made the world, nothing turned out right, so God decided to start again...
...I will surely find God in the loudest thing...
...Then the fish, who had been watching all this, spoke up...
...Marc Gellman is director of the Hillel Foundation at Northwestern University...
...There is water above, below, and all around...
Vol. 2 • September 1981 • No. 4
