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Created: 31 October 2024

As you know, this coming Sunday morning at 2 a.m., we will be switching from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time. What you might not realize is that the time change impacts our Shabbat morning schedule for the month of November. Until this week, we were able to begin services at 9:30 a.m. However, for the next month we must begin at 9:15 a.m.

Allow me to explain. When the daily morning service was instituted (just a few thousand years ago), it came with a sunup-based timeline. This means that the morning Shema and Amidah need to be completed within several “halachic hours” from sunup. A halachic hour is determined by dividing the total amount of daylight by twelve. Therefore, in the winter a halachic hour could be as short as 48 minutes and, in the summer, it could be as long as 74 minutes.

For example, sunup this coming Shabbat is at 7:37a.m. and sundown is at 6:09 p.m., which means there will be 10 hours, and 32 minutes of daylight. By converting that into minutes (10x60+32) and then dividing by 12 you get a 0:52.66 - halachic hour. According to this calculation, the Shema (which needs to be recited before the end of the third halachic hour of the day) should be finished by 10:14 a.m. The Amidah (which needs to be said by the end of the fourth halachic hour) should be finished by 11:07 a.m. Next week everything will be an hour earlier. 

Optimally, a synagogues’ service times should be in sync with the halachic hour system and allow for the Amidah to be recited right after the Shema. Here in San Francisco, that would require starting Shacharit on Shabbat at 8:30 a.m. However, there is a long-standing custom in many shuls for people to recite the Shema (in its proper time framework) independently before the beginning of the service. Though this custom is not optimal - it works. Adath Israel has historically followed this custom. In order to at least recite the Amidah within its proper time framework, the Shabbat morning service during November will begin at 9:15 a.m.

Now to the Parasha.

G-d told Noach “And from every clean animal take unto you [tikach ll’cha]…” (Bereshis 7:2). 

Just a few lines later we read: “Two by two they came to Noach [ba-u el Noach] into the Teyva [ark]…” (Bereshis 7:9). 

There seems to be a discrepancy here. One pasuk indicates that Noach is supposed to bring the animals into the Teyva, the other verse indicates they came on their own. 

Nachmanides in his commentary on Chumash, raises this question. 

He asks, “How did it really happen? Did the animals come or did Noach have to go round them up?” 

The Ramban explains that the non-Kosher animals came on their own, but Noach had to round up the Kosher animals.

The reason being that the non-Kosher animal’s purpose in coming to the Teyva was entirely a matter of self-preservation. They came (two of each kind) in order that they would be able to perpetuate their species in the post-Flood world. 

However, the Kosher animals (of which seven pairs were to be taken aboard the Teyva) were brought aboard so that they (at least some of them) could be offered as sacrifices upon an altar following the exit from the Teyva. 

Here, G-d did not give them the instinctual drive to gravitate toward the Teyva and hence, toward their ultimate slaughter. In the case of the Kosher animals, Noach had to round them up and coax them to come aboard.

The Ramban explains that G-d places certain instincts for self-preservation within various species. Indeed, why do salmon, who have been in the Pacific Ocean for three years, suddenly decide to make it all the way back to some little river in Alaska to spawn and die there? 

Why do beavers build dams? 

The Almighty put — through nature — instincts into animals that are necessary for their survival. 

They do not go to school.  They know these things instinctively, because that is the way G-d created the world.

Says the Ramban, that for the same reason, all the non-Kosher animals, one day, instinctively, showed up at the door of the Teyva. G-d placed the instinct within them to make them gravitate to that location. 

But, says the Ramban, G-d only places within an animal an instinct that is good for that animal. 

G-d does not put within animals an instinct to show up at the entrance of the Teyva so that in 13-15 months they should be slaughtered. That would not be fair. That would not be “yashar” (straight forward/upright).

G-d is teaching us a lesson. We must be careful to do things that are right, that are “yashar.” This is the way G-d made His Creation and this is the way He wants man to act. 

This is one of the recurring themes of the Book of Bereshit. The Talmud calls the book of Bereshit, Sefer HaYashar (The Book of the Just), based on the fact that its main heroes are Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov who are called “yesharim” (righteous individuals). 

In his introduction to his commentary on the book of Bereshit, Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (The Netzi”v) writes that G-d is Just and He does not tolerate “righteous people who are not themselves just.”

This is one of the great praiseworthy traits of the patriarchs. Besides the fact that they were righteous and pious and lovers of G-d, they were also “yashar” (straight; just) individuals. 

The Yiddish word which describes what they were is “mentchen”.

The Netziv elaborates that as a result of their characteristic trait of being “yashar,” they were respected and even beloved by the Gentiles amongst whom they lived and with whom they interacted. The Gentiles recognized honesty and integrity when they saw it. This is what the Avot practiced. This is what brought them respect and admiration from the Nations. This is why they were called Yesharim (straight individuals). This is how they influenced the world of their day.

At every opportunity throughout the Book of Bereshit, the Almighty teaches us the importance of being “Yashar”. Included in this modeling of “straightness” is G-d’s refusal to put an instinct into an animal which would cause them to march towards their own future slaughter. Bilaam, the gentile prophet, was jealous of this attribute which the Patriarchs and their descendants had and he did not. Therefore, he said: “Let my soul die the death of the Yesharim,” (Bamidbar 23:10). 

Eventually, the Torah legislates “You shall do that which is straight and good [yashar v’tov],” (Devarim 6:18), which is something we should all aspire to do.