Noach builds an ark to survive a coming flood that God plans to send, as a punishment for mankind's wickedness. Noach takes his family and pairs of every kind of animal onto the ark. It rains for 40 days and nights, flooding the entire world. After 150 days, the ark lands on Mount Ararat. God establishes a covenant with Noach and promises never to flood the entire world again, symbolized by the rainbow. Noach and his family then disembark and repopulate the earth.

1. Noach ַ‫ֹח‬ ‫נ‬
Rhyme of an Ancient
Mariner

2. It happened in history that mankind had gotten
From being quite good to being most rotten
All kinds of behaviour appalling abounded
With violence and hatred and evil compounded
The world was besmirched with theft and with
snobbery
Corruption, fibbery, extortion and robbery
Men became killers and takers and grabbers
And pushers and fighters and beaters and nabbers
And so it seemed a very great pity
That the world was despoiled by too much enmity

3. Most dreadful to find so many a crook
So close to the start of the very first book
For Hashem who had made it and said it was good
Had made man free and said that they could
Choose for themselves just how they’d behave
But did not want them their selves to deprave
For not only were humans debased and quite yucky
The plants and the beasts had in turn become mucky
And the world fell victim to mankind’s base vice
And was now a planet extremely not nice

4. Hashem, in His wisdom, said ‘They’re giving me
trouble
As a last of resorts I may send a mabul!’
Now what is a mabul? You may well inquire
It’s a rather moist way to make do without fire
To say that today will not be like tomorrow
Hashem would indeed drown out all the sorrow.
It’s a way of achieving universal slaughter
The recipe was, well: JUST ADD WATER

5. Now there was a man, Noach was his name,
Whose exceptional behaviour propelled him to fame
For he was righteous either because he was real good
Or just the only decent guy in a rotten neighbourhood
Thus he was commanded to build a big boat
So that he and his family might get to float
For unless all the world repented, you bet,
The place would get somewhat wetter than wet
Now in those days people lived a much longer time
And these folks spent it all steeped in their crime
For 120 years Noach had to build
So that others with curiosity would be filled
And they’d ask of old Noach, ’Hey! What are you doing?
What’s that big wooden thing you’re cutting and gluing?’

6. Noach would tell them ‘Why this? It’s an ark, a very big
ship
For it seems that quite soon I must leave on a trip
For soon the sky will open and the tide will be coming
And you’ll start to sense something’s wrong with the
plumbing
And this is the way that I’ll stay alive
So repent, dear friends if you wish to survive.
For Hashem wants to save us He’s really most kind
This is not what He wanted to have in His mind’
But alas, all these fools their hearts weren’t aroused
And Hashem decided their sins should be dowsed.

7. To bring on the ark for future survival
Were things they would need in time of revival
Hashem told Noach, to which he attended,
To bring on some creatures which he thought most
splendid
Of each kosher kind he would bring seven pairs
And march them all on up the great wooden stairs
Of all other kinds just one girl and one boy
Could rounding them up have been such a joy?

8. Now the ark itself was split up into three
So travel would be good when done nautically
The very top layer was the living quarters
Of Noach and those he would save from the waters
Then beneath them would be home to the creatures
Each safely housed amidst the ark’s many features
Then a third level below all the folk and the beasts
Imagine the leftovers of all of their feasts?
For living in such a huge sea bound institution
You needed somewhere to put the pollution
They’d dump all their rubbish deep down in that tank
(And there was no Greenpeace to kick up a stank).
And it had one single window to give light in the wake
The rabbis don’t agree was it clear or opaque?

9. When Noach completed his carpenter’s
effort
Then he and sons, Shem, Cham and Yeffet
And their wives were told, ‘Please get on
board
A large bulk of water is about to get
poured.’

10. Eventually it started to rain with a clout
And the tides all came in but they never went out
And everything, beaches and countries and mountains
All were subsumed in this largest of fountains
Water gushed from the earth and leaked down from the skies
And the wicked ones knew it would mean their demise
And the day which none but Noach were dreading
Saw lots of them trying out hard water treading
But no matter how much this saw all of them try
Only those in the ark had a chance to stay dry.
People tried to get on but their tickets weren’t valid
They tried to capsize it but their efforts were pallid
And so every villain and rascal and thug
Sank straight down going ‘glug glug glug glug!’

11. It rained and it poured 40 nights 40 days
With Noach leading super human displays
For there was no time to relax on this cruise
They had to feed and clean with no chance to snooze
That boat had up to 900 rooms
I imagine they wore out a number of brooms
Envisage the snorting and growling and chirping
And munching and crunching and snarling and slurping
While floating all cramped up way out at sea
Tending non stop to a huge menagerie
They duly ensured each one had a full belly
And you may as well bet that that ark got quite smelly
And the waters without weren’t silent and bashful
But loud, turbulent, exceedingly crash-full

12. After raining and gushing it reached a stage when
The ark floated around days a hundred and ten
And as eventually the waters subsided
With the top of Mount Ararat the ark it collided
It sat there on high while none felt haughty
While the waters went down for days numbered 40
For by then Noach and co were all cravin’
To find dried out land so they sent out the raven
But it flew around without end in the air
So they knew it wasn’t yet dry way out there

13. Then after a week he sent out a dove
They’re much nicer than ravens, far better to love
But no matter where it happened to go
There was still an abundance of wet H2O
Then he sent it again after waiting a week
Till it flew back to him, olive leaf in its beak
Then finally after seven more days
It flew right away to go off on its ways
So finally over a year through the light and the dark
Noach and his folks all trooped off of the ark
And as they marched off it happened just then
Hashem made a rainbow to say ‘never again!’

14. Hashem gave to Noach and for all from that
day
Seven laws for the world to observe and obey
Stay good in marriage, don’t steal or get
homicidal
Believe in one G-d , never pray to an idol
Have courts with just laws, don’t eat limbs
from live creatures
Are the laws that forever for mankind are
features.

15. So what happened to Noach is no more a
mystery
And what’s happened since then, well, we
call it history.
‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ָאר‬ָּׁ‫ה‬ ‫ת‬ֵ‫ח‬ ָּׁ‫ש‬ ִּ‫ַת‬‫ו‬,‫ים‬ִּ‫ֹלה‬ֱ‫א‬ָּׁ‫ה‬ ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ְ‫פ‬ִּ‫ל‬;‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ָאר‬ָּׁ‫ה‬ ‫ֵא‬‫ל‬ ָּׁ‫מ‬ ִּ‫ַת‬‫ו‬,‫ס‬ ָּׁ‫מ‬ָּׁ‫ח‬.
ַ‫ֹח‬ ‫נ‬ ‫ֶד‬‫ל‬‫ּיֹו‬ַ‫ו‬,‫ִּים‬‫נ‬ָּׁ‫ב‬ ‫ה‬ ָּׁ‫ֹלש‬ ְ‫ש‬--‫ת‬ֶ‫א‬-‫ם‬ ֵ‫ש‬,‫ת‬ֶ‫א‬-ְ‫ו‬ ‫ם‬ָּׁ‫ח‬‫ֶה‬‫ל‬ֵ‫אא‬,
ַ‫ֹח‬ ‫נ‬ ‫ֹת‬ ‫ְד‬‫ל‬‫תֹו‬--‫ָּׁה‬‫י‬ָּׁ‫ה‬ ‫ים‬ ִּ‫מ‬ ָּׁ‫ת‬ ‫יק‬ ִּ‫ַד‬‫צ‬ ‫יש‬ִּ‫א‬ ַ‫ֹח‬ ‫נ‬,ֹ ‫ְד‬‫ב‬‫יו‬ ָּׁ‫ֹת‬ ‫ר‬:‫ת‬ֶ‫א‬-
‫ים‬ִּ‫ֹלה‬ֱ‫א‬ָּׁ‫ה‬,‫ְֶך‬‫ל‬ַ‫ה‬ ְ‫ת‬ִּ‫ה‬-‫ֶת‬ ַ‫ֹח‬ ‫נ‬-‫ת‬ֶ‫ָּׁפ‬‫י‬.
‫ת‬ֶ‫א‬ ‫ים‬ִּ‫ֹלה‬ֱ‫א‬ ‫א‬ ְ‫ַר‬‫ּי‬ַ‫ו‬-‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ָאר‬ָּׁ‫ה‬,ָּׁ‫ת‬ָּׁ‫ח‬ ְ‫ִּש‬‫נ‬ ‫ֵה‬‫נ‬ִּ‫ְה‬‫ו‬‫ה‬:‫ִּי‬‫כ‬-‫ית‬ִּ‫ח‬ ְ‫ש‬ִּ‫ה‬
‫ָּׁל‬‫כ‬-‫ת‬ֶ‫א‬ ‫ר‬ ָּׁ‫ָּׁש‬‫ב‬-‫כֹו‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫ד‬,‫ל‬ַ‫ע‬-‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ָאר‬ָּׁ‫ה‬
ַ‫ֹח‬ ‫ְנ‬‫ל‬ ‫ים‬ִּ‫ֹלה‬ֱ‫א‬ ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ֹאמ‬‫ּי‬ַ‫ו‬,‫ָּׁל‬‫כ‬ ‫ץ‬ ֵ‫ק‬-ָּׁ‫ְפ‬‫ל‬ ‫ָּׁא‬‫ב‬ ‫ר‬ ָּׁ‫ָּׁש‬‫ב‬‫ַי‬‫נ‬--‫ִּי‬‫כ‬-‫ְָאה‬‫ל‬ ָּׁ‫מ‬
‫ס‬ ָּׁ‫מ‬ָּׁ‫ח‬ ‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ָאר‬ָּׁ‫ה‬,‫ם‬ֶ‫יה‬ֵ‫נ‬ְ‫פ‬ ִּ‫מ‬;ָּׁ‫ית‬ִּ‫ח‬ ְ‫ש‬ ַ‫מ‬ ‫ִּי‬‫נ‬ְ‫נ‬ִּ‫ְה‬‫ו‬‫ם‬,‫ת‬ֶ‫א‬-‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ָאר‬ָּׁ‫ה‬.