Did Noah do enough to save the planet?

The catastrophic effects of climate change were brought home to us over the summer with droughts, heat waves and forest fires on the one hand and high winds, torrential storms and flash floods on the other.

Even the alarming acceleration in global warming finds parallels in some midrashic portrayals of the heat involved in the flood.

Most importantly, as was the case in Genesis, this is the result of our own doing. Then the problem was violent and immoral behaviour, today it is our selfish exploitation of the earth’s resources that endangers our planet. Some experts worry it might even be too late and, as with the biblical flood, our fate is sealed.

Was Noah part of the problem or part of the solution? Not once during the decades it took to build the ark did he call out society’s sins or warn them of the coming catastrophe. Unlike Abraham, he never challenged God’s instructions and did nothing to change the minds of the misguided. Might his protest have impacted the future?

Abraham’s complaints certainly saved some people and, centuries later, Jonah’s prophecy reversed the fate of an entire culture. Maybe Noah’s silence can be characterised today by national leaders who ignore their global responsibility and focus only on ensuring the survival of their own.

And might Noah’s post-diluvian demise —“he became drunk and exposed himself” (Genesis 9:22) — typify, all too clearly, the ethical shortcomings of some of our politicians?

Or is Noah better represented by the those who care deeply about the animal kingdom and take their responsibilities to the earth seriously?

One midrash has it that Abraham learnt his characteristic kindness (chesed) from Noah’s daily consideration for all the lives on his floating zoo. In which case, the deeply ingrained Jewish values of hospitality, charity and concern for the stranger owe their origin to the lessons our first patriarch learnt from the ark’s captain.

Should Noah be charged with crimes against humanity or lauded as its saviour? Was he a biblical hero or a traitor to civilisation?

This is the legal debate LSJS has organised for this Sunday night. Anthony Metzer QC and Rachel Marcus will be the prosecuting barristers while Joanne Greenaway and Dr Harris Bor will be Noah’s defence. These serious and eloquent lawyers relish the opportunity to apply their adversarial skills to probe the profundity of the Torah they know and love.

The format of a courtroom trial enlivens this ancient biblical narrative and reveals its relevance for the current climate crisis and the burning questions of human responsibility: are we doing enough? Are we unable to think beyond our family and faith to worry for humanity as a whole? Do we really understand what is at stake?

A flurry of traditional and legal sources will be laid before our appointed judge, Rabbi Dr Harvey Belovski, who will utilise his rabbinic expertise to interrogate their arguments and ensure a fair fight. And all those watching will act as jurors to vote at the end on Noah’s guilt or innocence.

Let me ask a final question. When you sit in shul on a Shabbat and listen to the Torah portion being recited (or stay at home and read to yourself), do you think of it as an absorbing text from a bygone era or as a religious truth teeming with contemporary significance?

Our rituals and traditions certainly comfort us and provide a feeling of continuity with our forebears, but I do not believe they should be an escape from the problems of our world. The Torah is not a fireside fable, it is a manifesto of meaning, a demand to live a worthy life. That is the purpose of this weekend’s courtroom drama. It is we who are on trial.

Rabbi Dr Zarum is dean of LSJS. ‘Noah on Trial’ will take place simultaneously on the LSJS campus and on Zoom at 7.45pm on Sunday 10 October. Booking via www.lsjs.ac.uk