Rabbi Roodyn

אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת נֹחַ נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדֹרֹתָיו אֶת הָאֱלֹהִים הִתְהַלֶּךְ נֹחַ: וַיּוֹלֶד נֹחַ שְׁלשָׁה בָנִים אֶת שֵׁם אֶת חָם וְאֶת יָפֶת:

These are the generations of Noach, Noach was a righteous man he was perfect in his generations; Noah walked with God. And Noach begot three sons: Shem, Cham, and Yafes.

Every school child knows that Noach had three sons, Shem Cham and Yefes, but these people are far more than three individuals. Rav Hirsch in this beautiful idea explains how they represent diverse ideas and personality types, all of which survive the flood and are the building blocks of a new world order.

Shem – This is the word for ‘name’. This is the name and conception of any given object. Human wisdom consists of man’s ability to give names to things and to assign it a definition and a place. Once ideas or items have been defined they can be used to their maximum capacity.

Shem therefore implies an intellectual or spiritual ability to discern, express or name concepts and ideas.

Cham – The word חם stems from the root חמם which itself is related to the אמם, המם and עמם. The אֵם (mother) carries within her the conditions necessary for the existence of the young, this is connected to the word אִם (if) which is the word that signals a condition. אמם therefore means: the conditions necessary for one thing are latent within another thing. המם is the agitation that develops something that until now has been undeveloped and actualises something that until now has only been latent.

The result of this is חמם where a material ignites and burns in its heat and nothing new is formed or עמם where the material attains a new formation and with it עמו something new is formed.

חם therefore refers to an inflamed excitement of the senses.

Yefes – This comes from the root יפת which is related to פתה. The underlying meaning here is to be open פתוח. A פתי is someone whose mind is open and gullible and will believe anything as every external impression overwhelms him. This is connected to the word מופת a wonder, a manifestation that overwhelms the mind.

Yefes is of course related to the root יפה which means beauty, as beauty awakens the mind.

Therefore, Shem denotes spiritual or intellectual abilities, Cham refers to inflamed sensual excitement and Yefes to emotions and imagination which are attracted to beauty. These three aspects together comprise the whole inner life of man.

In a healthy personality (i.e. Noach) all of these are subordinated to a higher principle as mentioned at the start of our parsha.

• The intellect is elevated through walking with Hashem, את האלקים הלהלך נח.
• Sensuality is elevated by being a תמים, perfect.
• Man’s will and aspirations are elevated through being a צדיק.

All three attributes are brought from the antedilvuian world into the ark, they are the source of man’s power and prowess if they can be brought under control and elevated through being controlled by the soul and the intellect rather than the other way round.  These attributes will express themselves in varying proportions in the nations that will come from Shem, Cham and Yafes and ultimately will be totally harnessed for the good when all of humanity bands together to serve Hashem and the world is filled with knowledge of Hashem ‘as water covers the sea’ (Yeshaya 11:9).

Wishing you a good shabbos