Between the lines

 

                There is nothing intellectually tastier than realizing that a series of small and inconsequential details that have stared you in the face for nine years, largely unnoticed, are actually a framework for a deep idea. Let me explain. 

To learn Torah we use two major rules: things should make sense and conservation of information- the less that can be said the better. Therefore, any detail that seems superfluous or unnecessary should raise a wisdom flag- there may be a life changing idea here.  Here we have what appears to be unnecessary and uninteresting information; the Torah starts to give precise numbers for the dimensions of the ark, 300 by 50 by 30 amos.  The ark was divided to three levels, so each level was 150,000 cubic amos.[1] Later, it says that the water-level reached 15 amos over the mountains [2], but who cares how high over the peaks it was? And it also says that the water strengthened over the land for 150 days.  These three disparate aspects all seem to be connected to the number 15. Further, this number appears in several places throughout Jewish literature- fifteen morning blessings as well as fifteen steps to the Courtyard of the temple, and also fifteen Songs of Ascent. What does the number 15 teach us about life and about the flood? 

                Numerically, it represents the first two letters of G-d’s name, the yud and hey. Why is this important? This is the divine aspect that dwells with a couple in marriage as a man is an איש and a woman is an אשה- the man brings the י and the woman brings the ה creating a union not only among themselves but also elevating their relationship with G-d in the process.[3] The flood happened because there was rampant sexual immorality- there was a loss of this holy union between man and woman- we lost the י and the ה, the fifteen. Consequences for behavior in the Torah are not to inflict pain but to inflict learning about what needs to be changed and so peppered in the flood is a hint to what needs fixing.

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[1] Genesis 6:15 insight from the כלי יקר

[2] Genesis 7:20

[3] Marriage makes us into givers, and consequently, more similar to G-d- the more similar to G-d the closer we are to him.