Community Torah Corner, November 1, 2024

Imagine Noah and family sitting in the dark, envisioning their friends and neighbors sinking beneath the waves. Even if everyone else in the world at that time was filled with hamas—violence, or lawlessness—they must have been filled with horror, overcome with survivors’ guilt. And remember: Noah and his family haven’t read the book of Genesis. They don’t know how, or when, their story will end. So they wait, day after day, for the rain to stop, the waters to recede, their nightmare to end. 

As part of the ark’s design, God had instructed Noah to build a tzohar in the ark. Tzohar is a word that appears nowhere else in Tanakh, and to this day scholars debate its meaning. The Jewish Publication Society, connecting tzohar with the word tzohorayim, “noon-day,” and zohar, meaning “radiance,” translates tzohar as “an opening for daylight.” 

Our Sages, too, disagreed about how to understand the meaning of tzohar. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana, who lived in the late 3rd century, believed that a tzohar was a window; its purpose was to admit light from the outside. Rabbi Levi disagreed; he thought it referred to a shining stone that would illuminate the ark from inside (B’reishit Rabbah 31:11). So for our Sages, the ark was not such a dark and dismal place; it was lit up by the tzohar, which provided light and comfort to those who were within.

I’m struck by the idea of the tzohar, for we are experiencing our own darkness as a people. When the world is dark, literally or metaphorically, Jewish tradition teaches us to find a little light, or make a little light, to expel the darkness. That’s why we light Shabbat and holiday candles—to create light, a symbol of hope and joy— in the dark night. 

What can the debate over the word tzohar teach us today? If it refers to a window in the ark, a window that lets light come inside, it reminds us not to turn away from what is going on outside. We should not shut out the external world and ignore what is happening. The tzohar lets in light, and so we should not forget that as dark and difficult as the world feels, there are always sources of light that we can look for. Even a small tzohar, a small window of light, can change our perspective. On the other hand, if tzohar refers to the precious stone inside the ark, we are reminded of the light we each carry within, our own potential to spread hope and offer our care to those around us. When the world is at its darkest, the light we create and share makes the greatest difference. So let us remember to open up a tzohar, a window of light, and seek out the sparks of goodness all around us; and let us also share our own tzohar, our own radiant capacity for love and compassion, pushing back the darkness in our world.