A Flood of Myths

Guest post

It's a story we're all familiar with. A man is divinely warned of a coming flood and is commanded to build a boat. He takes his family and all the animals on board and rides out the storm, which wipes out the rest of humanity. When the storm stops, his boat grounds itself on a mountain, and he sends out birds to see if the land is dry. He exits the boat and brings sacrifices to the deity.

Who is that man? Noach, of course! Or is it? Maybe it's Ziusudra, or Atrahasis, or Utnapishtim, or Xisuthrus. All of them are the protagonists of Ancient Near Eastern myths that suspiciously similar to Noach's story.

Isn't that amazing? Here we have proof that the mabul really happened! Independent corroboration from sources outside the Torah that Noach really built the teivah!

Except… what if their stories aren't a corroboration of Noach's? What if Noach's story and the others are corroborating Utnapishtim's story? Is there a reason to privilege Noach's story as the "real" one? It's the one we're all most familiar with, the one that appears in the Torah, and that gives it primacy in our minds. But all of these stories were part of the religious literature of their cultures, as familiar to the people who told them as Noach is to us. If we point to the other stories as proof that Hashem told Noach to build the teivah and brought the mabul to wipe out the sinful generation, doesn't that mean that the Assyrians could point to Noach and the other stories as proof that the god Ea told Utnapishtim to build a boat and the gods brought a flood to cleanse an overpopulated world?

That doesn't seem right.

While the flood myths of the ANE, including the story of Noach, differ in the names of their protagonists and in some details, they also share many similarities and even whole passages with each other, indicating that these are all retellings of the same story. They share a global flood; a god warning the protagonist, instructing him to build a boat, and to take animals aboard; the destruction of the rest of humanity; landing on a mountain; sending out birds; and the protagonist sacrificing to the god(s) after the flood.

There are other flood myths from all over the world, probably because settlements are often built next to water, and rivers, lakes, and oceans tend to flood. It is only the stories from the Ancient Near East, though, that are so similar. The differences between the ANE myths and flood myths from other parts of the world indicate that the flood myths from around the world are not a shared memory of a world-wide flood. That there are flood myths in so many different cultures indicates that this was a typical type of story for cultures to develop, and the ANE myth is no more likely to be grounded in literal history than any other. And the similarities between the ANE myths indicate that the story of Noach in the Torah is one among many versions of a popular ANE myth, no more likely to be the original than any of the other versions.

Let's look at a few of the ANE myths and at a sampling of other flood myths from around the world. I chose the world myths more or less at random from a list of dozens of myths at talkorigins.org. I picked one from each continent / region, and chose samples that were long enough to have enough details to compare to other myths, but short enough to be quickly summarized. First I'll summarize each myth, then compare them to each other in a chart.

ANE Myths

The Bible:

God warned Noach that He would bring a flood to wipe out the sinful people of the Earth and commanded him to bring aboard all of the animals, which he did. Noach, his three sons, their wives, and the animals were the only survivors of the forty day flood. After the rain stopped, Noach sent out a raven, which returned, then sent out a dove, which returned, then sent it our again, and it retuned with an olive branch, showing the water had receded. Noach left the ark and sacrificed to God. God showed Noach a rainbow as a promise that he wouldn't flood the world again.[1]

Sumerian

The god Enlil warns Ziusudra about the comng flood and tells him to build a boat and take animals and birds on board. The flood covered the Earth for a week, after which Ziusudra opened a window, allowing the sunlight in.[2] He leaves the boat and sacrifices a sheep and an ox to the gods, who grant him eternal life for preserving all of the animals.[3]

Babylonian

 The gods are concerned about human overpopulation. The god Enki warns Atrahasis that a flood was coming that would wipe everything out, and he should build a boat.  Atrahasis built the boat and brought his family, animals, and birds on board.[4] After the flood, Atrahasis makes an offering to the gods. Enki created barrenness in women and stillbirth to avoid the problem in the future.[5]

Assyrian,  The Epic of Gilgamesh (from the Royal Library at Nineveh) (Originally Sumerian)

The god Ea warns Utnapishtim of the coming flood. Utnapishtim builds a boat and brings on board his family, the craftsmen who helped him build the boat, and "all seed of life." The flood killed all the people. After the rain stopped, the boat landed on the top of Mt. Nisur, the only spot not covered by water. Utnapishtim released a dove, which returned, then a sparrow, and then finally a raven, which did not return. Everyone left the boat, and Utnapishtim sacrificed to the gods. The gods gave Utnapishtim  and his wife immortality.[6][7]

Chaldean

The god Cronos appeared to the king Xisuthrus and warned him that a flood was coming whish would destroy humanity. Cronos commanded Xisuthrus to write a history of the world, and to build a boat anf take aboard his family, friends, and all the animals and birds. When the flood stopped, Xisuthrus sent out birds, which returned. The second time, the birds returned with mud on their feet. The third time, they didn't come back. After exiting the boat, Xisuthrus found he was on the side of a mountain. He brought sacrifices to the gods.[8]

World Myths

Greek (Europe)

The god Prometheus warns his son, Deucalion, that Zeus is going to send a flood to wipe out all people, and instructs him to build a chest. Zeus floods most of Greece, and everyone is killed, except for Deucalion and his wife and a few people who fled to the mountains.[9]  After the flood Deucalion brings sacrifices to Zeus.[10]

Cameroon (Africa)

A girl was grinding flour, and allowed a goat to eat from it. In return, the goat warned her a flood was coming. She and her brother ran away. After the flood they saw their village underwater. They lived alone, until the goat returned an told them they may marry each other.[11]

(A brother and sister / mother and son / father daughter being the only survivors of their village and marrying each other is a recurring theme in these myths, and brings to mind the story of Lot and his daughters after the destruction of Sodom.)

Vogul (Asia)

The Great Woman warned the Great Man that rains were coming. The Great Man told the rest of the giants to make boats and anchor them to trees. When the rains came, all who had not made boats were killed, along with all plants, animals, and even fish. Starving, the survivors prayed to the god Numi-târom, who recreated living things.[12]

Bhil (India)

A fish warned Dhobi that a flood was coming. Dhobi prepared a box in which he rode out the flood with his sister and a rooster. After the flood the god Rama discovered Dhobi when the rooster crowed. Rama told Dhobi to marry his sister to repopulate the earth.[13]

Fiji (Oceana)

The grandsons of the god Ndengei killed his favorite bird and fled to the mountains. There with the help of some carpenters they built a fortress and withstood Ndengei's armies for three months. Ndengei flooded the earth, and the rebels prayed for help. Rokoro, the god of carpenters, brought them canoes, and they picked up survivors of the flood.[14]

Cree (North America)

While Wissaketchak was in his canoe a sea monster tried to kill him, and used its tail to create huge waves which flooded the land. Wissaketchak built a raft and gathered pairs of all animals and birds. He sent a duck to find the bottom, but it couldn't. Next he sent a muskrat, which returned with its throat full of slime.( An alterative version has Wissaketchak sending out a raven and a woodpigeon.) Wissaketchak made the slime into a disc, and this floated on the water and grew, and this is the land that everyone lives on today.[15]

Ipurina  (South America)

The birds collecting things and threw them into a kettle of boiling water. Mayuruberu, the cretor of birds, threw a stone into the kettle, which caused the hot water to splash over the side and flood the world, burning everything. All plants except the cassia tree were destroyed. The sloth crawled up into the tree and threw down kernels, which brought back the sun. The sloth asked Mayuruberu for crops, Mayuruberu brought new plants, and the Ipurina went to work in their fields.[16]

Comparison

Myth	Divine warning of flood	Builds a boat	Takes animals on board	flood wipes out all life not on boat	boat stops on mountain	sends out birds three times	sacrifices to the deity	given eternal life
ANE myths
Bible	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Sumerian	X	X	X	X			X	X
Babylonian	X	X	X	X			X
Assyrian (Gilgamesh)	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Chaldean	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
World myths
Greek	X						X
Cameroon
Vogul		X		X
Bhil				X
Fiji
Cree		X	X			\
Ipurina

Looking at the chart, it is easy to see that the ANE flood myths are very similar to one another and are different from flood myths from other parts of the world. The ANE myths all share at least five points in common with one another, while the world myths share at most two.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the only myth with all eight points, and is one of the oldest extant pieces of writing and the oldest extant story of any kind. It seems likely that the other ANE myths, including Noach's story, are retellings of the flood myth that was recorded in Gilgamesh.

I think a reasonable conclusion to draw from the above discussion is that the story of the mabul is not a record of an historical event, but is instead an instance of common mythic motif, the flood story, and of the ANE flood myth in particular.

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[1] Genesis 7:1-8:22

[2] The Sumerian Flood Story. Retrieved from http://history-world.org/sumerian_floor_story.htm

[3] Heidel, A. (1949). The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels. University of Chicago Press; via: Isaak, M. (2002, September 2). Flood Stories from Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

[4] The Epic of Atrahasis Retrieved from http://www.livius.org/as-at/atrahasis/atrahasis.html#Atrahasis_Dream_Explained

[5] Dalley, S. (1989). Myths From Mesopotamia. Oxford University Press, Oxford; via: Isaak, M. (2002, September 2). Flood Stories from Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

[6] Epic of Gilgamish. Retrieved from http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/gilgdelu.htm

[7] Sandars, N. K. (1972). The Epic of Gilgamesh. Penguin Books, Ltd., Harmondsworth, England; via: Isaak, M. (2002, September 2). Flood Stories from Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

[8] Cory, I.P. (1832). Ancient Fragments. London, England: William Pickering.

[9] Apollod. 1.7.2 Retrieved from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.7.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022

[10] Apollodorus (1921).The Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge; via: Isaak, M. (2002, September 2). Flood Stories from Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

[11] Kahler-Meyer, E. (1971). Myth Motifs in Flood Stories from the Grasslands of Cameroon. p. 251-252; via: Isaak, M. (2002, September 2). Flood Stories from Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

[12] Gaster, T.H. (1969). Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament. Harper & Row, New York. p. 93-94; via: Isaak, M. (2002, September 2). Flood Stories from Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

[13] Gaster, T.H. (1969). Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament. Harper & Row, New York. pp. 95-96; via: Isaak, M. (2002, September 2). Flood Stories from Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

[14] Kelsen, H. (1943). The Principle of Retribution in the Flood and Catastrophe Myths. p. 131; Gaster, T.H. (1969). Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament. Harper & Row, New York. p. 106; via: Isaak, M. (2002, September 2). Flood Stories from Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

[15] Frazer, J.G. (1919). Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, vol. 1. Macmillan & Co., London. pp. 309-310; via: Isaak, M. (2002, September 2). Flood Stories from Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

[16] Frazer, J.G. (1919). Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, vol. 1. Macmillan & Co., London. pp. 259-260; Kelsen, H. (1943). The Principle of Retribution in the Flood and Catastrophe Myths. p. 139; via: Isaak, M. (2002, September 2). Flood Stories from Around the World. Retrieved from http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html

Harav Ben Franklin?

In Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is an account of a system for self-improvement he had devised as a young man. The system drew on Enlightenment ideas and consisted of thirteen character traits that were to be worked on, one at a time, for a week each. Upon completing the list, one started again at the beginning, in this way working on each character trait for four weeks a year. He had intended to write a book about the system, but had never gotten around to it. Despite this, he had mentioned it in other works he had written, and the system gained some popularity. About twenty years after Franklin's death, Menachem Mendel Levin, an Eastern-European rabbi and early maskil, wrote a book based on Franklin's method called Cheshbon HaNefesh. He had gone to university in Germany and had lived in Berlin, and while there had read Franklin's writings.

R' Levin wrote in his sefer that while previous generations of rabbanim had extorted us to improve our characters, they had not provided a specific method of doing so. Thankfully, though, a new technique had been discovered. R' Levin modified Franklin's program, making it more flexible by allowing the person seeking self-improvement to choose any thirteen traits to work on rather than Franklin's prescribed list, and by allowing for the traits which one had mastered to be replaced by new traits that one felt he needed to work on. Still, Levin's and Franklin's lists of character traits largely overlap, and the method is the same.

Despite his open admission of its novelty, Levin's system became popular and was enthusiastically adopted by the mussar movement. R' Yisroel Salanter, the father of the mussar movement,  praised Cheshbon HaNefesh "as a truly practical book for ethical guidance" and had it reprinted.[1]

Cheshbon HaNefesh is still available for sale from frum publishers such as Feldheim. On their website, Feldheim describes the book as, "Far from pop-culture self-help books, this is a work developed over two hundred years ago by R' Menachem Mendel Levin, a prolific writer and Torah scholar whose breadth of knowledge is astonishing. Drawing from classic sources to form a step-by-step program for self-improvement and character refinement… this book is so important that R' Yisrael Salanter, recognizing its true worth, encouraged a group of students to republish it in 1845."[2]

High praise for a book that was the self-help equivalent of its day, whose author drew from the ideas of the enlightenment more heavily than he did from "classic sources" and whose method was invented by Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia, not a Jewish sage from Babylonia. And high praise for a man who has been described as the "father of the Galician Haskalah."[3]

Today Franklin's chart can be found in frum classrooms and homes, regarded as an authentic Jewish method of self-improvement thanks to an eighteenth-century maskil and the frum world's delusion that everything it does in torah miSinai, uninfluenced by the wider world.

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[1] Afsai, S. (2011). "The Prince, the Sage and the Rabbi." Philalethes: The Journal of Masonic Research & Letters 64: 101-109, 128.; Afsai, S. Benjamin Franklin's influence on Judaism. Retrieved from http://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/early-america-review/volume-16/benjamin-franklins-influence-on-judaism

[2] Feldheim, Description, Cheshbon ha-Nefesh. Retrieved from http://www.feldheim.com/cheshbon-ha-nefesh.html

[3] Rubinstein, A. (2007). "Levin (Lefin), Menahem Mendel." Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nd ed. Vol. 12. p. 710-711.

Happiest day ever!

I AM NOW FACEBOOK FRIENDS WITH AVI SHAFRAN!

Thus ends the great Haredi war against social media. Agudah loses again! Happiest day ever!

Other wars the Rabbis have lost -

• Keeping the Oral Torah Oral
• Hanuka 
• Mysticism
• Hasidut
• Upshurin
• Messianism
• TV
• Internet

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Yeshiva guy says over a vort

Here's a classic bit of nonsense that relates to Parshat Toldos.

When it was new, this vid provoked a great disturbance in the Jewish blogosphere, with attacks and defenses coming from all corners.

Naturally, I hold that I wrote the best defense which can be found here:http://dovbear.blogspot.com/…/avos-and-mitzvos-fisking-hirh…

Its a long read, but it also explains the proper way to understand this video, and makes the case that it is perfectly in keeping with rabbinic tradition.

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Shafrin supports BAnnon

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Shorter Avi Shafrin: When the lame-stream media is less than nice to Jews you can count on me to personally lead the attack; Bannon, on the other hand, is a good man, you liberal crybabies. Why oh why won't you read his fine conservative website charitably?

http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2016/11/26/the-boys-who-cried-anti-semite/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=socialnetwork

The Boys Who Cried "Anti-Semite!"

The sobbing of some political liberals, including, of course, many Jews, that ensued after the presidential election results were tallied has turned into wild wailing with the appointment of Stephen Bannon as senior counselor to the president-elect. Those observers were shocked enough back in August, when Mr. Bannon, the executive chairman of the politically conservative Breitbart News, was put in charge of Donald Trump’s campaign. Now, though, mouths are foaming.

CROSS-CURRENTS.COM

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Bad Hasbarah

That footnote provides a valuable lesson in hakores hatov /snark

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Explain this Thanksgiving thinking

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The local school for blackhat boys was open on Thursday, Thanksgiving, until 1 pm, and closed on Friday. This confuses us. 

To our mind, there are four intellectually conherent positions a Jewish school could take on Thanksgiving. 

Intellectually Coherent Position #1: Thanksgiving is not our holiday, and should be ignored. If this is the local school's view why close on Thursday afternoon and Friday? 

Intellectually Coherent Position #2: Thanksgiving is not our holiday, but concerns us because its observance interrupts the study of Torah. If this is the local school's view why not close for half of Friday, too? Is Thursday's Torah study more valuable than Friday's Torah study? 

Intellectually Coherent Position #3: Thanksgiving it not our holiday, but we recognize the value of families enjoying time together. If this is the local school's view why not close for Thursday morning, too? 

Intellectually Coherent Position #4: Thanksgiving is our holiday (we're American after all) and its observation is a civic celebration is which we should take part. If this is the local school's view, why not close for the whole day, and open on Friday

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Pence Wasn't Offended

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I'm heartened by the fact that Pence, at least, behaved like a normal politician after he was booed at the theater and addressed from the stage. Instead of exaggerating the offense and turning the moment into yet another stupid battle in the culture war, Pence denied he was offended.

Unfortunately, Trump was neither mature nor civil in his reaction, insisting on Twitter the vice president elect had been humiliated and that the cast and crew of Hamilton owed him an apology. Why did he do this? Speculations include:

1.  He's a thin-skinned crybaby
2.  He'd prefer that we talk about Hamilton instead of:

•  The Trump University fraud case he settled

•  The popular vote he lost

• The transition he is mismanaging

Your guesses?

Pence: I 'wasn't offended' by Hamilton message

Trump is "preparing to be the president of all of the people of the United States of America."

THEHILL.COM

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Donald Trump totally cool with gay marriage

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It gives me special glee to share with you that your next president supports gay marriage. Not because I support gay marriage, too, (though I do) but because so many super Orthodox Jews told me that I was required to vote for Trump because he was certain to block the gay agenda. Well, ha ha. Jokes on you.

http://m.townhall.com/…/donald-trump-fine-with-samesex-marr…

Donald Trump “Fine” with Same-Sex Marriage

Trump will perhaps become the most LGBT-friendly Republican president in history.

TOWNHALL.COM|BY JASON HOPKINS

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Rabbi Abraham Gordimer is a sucker

Here is Rabbi Abraham Gordimer confessing he was conned by the new grifter-in-chief. Because DONALD TRUMP will protect religious right and traditional values. DONALD TRUMP.

PS: Trump: I’ll be ‘neutral’ on Israel and Palestine.

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I married a Jew.

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What does a rational and reasonable anti-Semite sound like? Now there is a question worth asking in the age of Trump! In this article from 1939 (!), a Hitler-sympathizing German American calmly and politely explains why her Jewish American husband is wrong about almost everything.

Wonder how this happy couple ended up, once Hitler's intentions became impossible to wink at?

Here's a taste:

Of course we eventually come to Hitler, Ben and I. In the eyes of Ben, as in the eyes of all his people, Hitler stands for the Jewish equivalent of the Antichrist—a little, strutting monster whose sole purpose and pleasure in life is to flog, imprison, impoverish, humiliate, and plague Israel. Few history books trace the path of persecutions against the Jews as they have occurred throughout the ages. They have occurred in ancient Rome, Poland, Russia, Spain, England, and France, usually whenever Jewry becomes too numerous and too powerful, whenever it becomes, in the eyes of Gentiles, a threat, potential or actual, to Gentile supremacy. I try to tell Ben that Hitler is merely writing another page in a history that will continue so long as the status quo between Jews and Gentiles remains—a status that only the willing shoulders of both protagonists can remove. 

But it is hard for Ben to take the long view. He looks upon Hitler as something malignantly unique, and it is no use trying to tell him that a hundred years hence the world will no more call Hitler a swine for expelling the Jews than it does Edward I of England, who did the same thing in the thirteenth century—an expulsion that remained in strict effect until the time of Cromwell, because a hundred years hence another country will be having its Jewish problem

http://www.theatlantic.com/…/1939/01/i-married-a-jew/306262/

I Married a Jew

"'Mother,' I said quietly, 'remember the greatest Man who ever lived was a Jew – Jesus.' That held her for a minute. 'Yes,' she murmured, 'it is the great paradox.'"

THEATLANTIC.COM|BY ANONYMOUS

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Don't blame the Democrats

A guest post by Johanna Granoff Cohen that you should read now.

This is my second sleepless night due to the election. I'm sure that I'm working at far less than full capacity, and will be until I can sleep again.

I'm well aware that in these situations, one has to recognize the risk of poor judgment and be careful not to do anything foolish. 

Really, the ideal thing is to quietly wait it out until it passes.

So of course I thought it was a good time to post.

I have a number of Trump supporters among friends and family.

I get that they voted for Trump despite his racism and misogyny, not because of them.

They had other reasons to hope he would be the best president for us, and while I disagree vehemently with them on that, I'm okay with it.

I get that many Trump supporters are like my friends and family members.

Others are genuinely interested in the ugliness that Trump has advertised during his campaign.

I'm not okay with that.

But I also get that racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia are big, complex, long-standing evils and it will take work and time to lessen their power to make people fear and hate.

Want to know what's making me sick with sadness and helpless anger tonight?

Of course you do, that's why you're still reading this over-long, overshare-y post.

I have quite a few Facebook friends who are dedicated conservatives, people whom I genuinely like and respect even though they are coming from a very different place politically. And I thought they felt the same way about me.

But today many of them took the opportunity, in this moment when we liberals are feeling like our heart has been ripped from us and replaced with anxiety, to post about how liberals are to blame for the anger in this country, how we have been arrogant and elite and out of touch with blue collar America.

Many of these people don't like Trump either, mind you. Yet they post with a certain spiteful glee -- ha, those liberals, they thought they were so smart, well now they're getting their comeuppance.
They are unable to resist relishing our confusion and misery, *even though they have liberal friends who are reading those posts.*

And that just kills me.

It's the unkindness of it.

The utter lack of compassion.

Decent and intelligent people acting with a mean-spiritedness that I find more shocking than Trump's victory itself.

I have friends who voted for Trump.

I have friends with very different beliefs than I have.

That's fine with me.

But the friends who chose to be cruel today?

This changes how I see them.

Because we can have different political views, different agendas, different values and priorities -- but kindness has to come before any of that. I thought we all understood that.

I am sick over this.
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Trump optimism thread.

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OK let's conclude day one of the Trump era with some optimism. Reasons for hope include:

• Zero chance any wall is going to be built, leading to widespread disillusionment for the xenophobes
• Military still, for the moment, in hands of competent professionals.
• Obama did none of the evil things everyone on the right said he would do. Precedent?
• Some Republican Congressmen might have character, backbones and a sense of decency. Maybe. I mean its not 100% impossible.
• He's old, overweight and already showing signs of befuddlement.
• He's never promised to do anything bad to those Jewish white people who haven't already pissed him off in some way.
• That lunatic he put in charge of the EPA this afternoon may, at any moment, decide to respect actual science.

OK.... yeah... agreed. This is weak beer. What are your silver linings?

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