The Great Flood: the transformation and purification of the world.

The generation of the Flood were the closest descendants of the first man, who possessed unimaginable spiritual power, because he communicated directly with the Creator. Therefore the generation of the Flood also possessed immense spiritual power and potential. (The fact that they could subsist solely on vegetation serves as evidence for this.)

Considering their intense power and ability to influence, the evil these people perpetrated was also extremely toxic. The world, all that’s in it, and its spiritual substance was contaminated with evil. “And G‑d said to Noah the end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” From this it emerges that the purpose of the Flood was not just to destroy the people of the time (for they could have been annihilated in a much easier manner) but to totally transform and cleanse the whole world.

Evidence of this can be found in the writings of the Midrash which state that the laws of nature did not operate during the process of the flood; the Sun and other heavenly bodies did not light up the world. However, during the process of the cleansing, the Almighty had to protect the inhabitants of the Ark. In order to do that he created a special sacred space within the ark, akin to the Holy of Holies in the Temple, inside the Ark of the Covenant.

This idea is also alluded to in the phrase in the Torah: “And the Lord shut [Noah] in.” Noah could have shut himself in, however the above quote is evidence to the fact that a special sacred space was created within the Ark.

Geometry of the Ark: the first pyramid-like structure to be built according to the “golden ratio.”

The geometry of the ark is described in the following way in the Torah: “And this is how thou shalt make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A light shalt thou make to the ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward.”

The geometrical illustration of those instructions is given below.

Fig. 1: Geometry of the Ark

Fig. 2: Geometry of the Pyramid of Cheops

From Fig. 1 we can see the Ark took the shape of a cut off pyramid. The slope of the side walls of the ark is 50,76°. The slope of the Pyramid of Cheops is 51, 52°. The slope of the Pyramid of Chephren is 52,2°. The slope of the Pyramid of Mycerinus is 50,47°.

Thus it can be seen that the angle of the walls of the ark match those of the three pyramids of Giza, allowing for measurement error. If we calculate the ratio of the sum of its height and width to its width 50+30,612/50 we get 1,612. The golden ratio is φ=1,618. The same ratio for the Pyramid of Cheops is 1,631, which is also, allowing for measurement error, very close to the golden ratio. The golden ratio is a universal number found everywhere in nature including: cosmology, quantum physics, the structure of a flower stem, crystals, music, architecture and painting.

Science today is also aware of the special properties a space within a pyramid possesses, e.g.: food stays fresh for longer, plants grow faster, water is cleansed etc.

From the above it can be concluded that the sacred holy space of the Ark was a pyramid built according to the principle of the golden ratio, the builders of the pyramids must have been aware of the geometry of Noah’s Ark and built them following the same design.

Why did Noah release a raven?

“And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. And he sent forth a raven, and it went forth.”

Here arises the question of why Noah sent out a raven and not another bird? And why not a dove straight away?

I asked the following question to my son Vladimir Shyfrin: do ravens possess any traits that distinguish them from other birds? He came back to me with the following answer. Modern science is aware that the Corvid family of birds is the most intelligent out of all the birds. Biologists sometimes refer to ravens as “primates with feathers.”

Today it is proven that birds from the Corvid family are able to solve complex problems, construct and use simple tools and remember and distinguish different images on a computer. This means the first bird Noah released is the most intelligent of birds first, a raven.

A reason as to why he did so can be this: when Noah was building his Ark the people of the time promised to kill him, so the first thing Noah wanted to know when the waters came down was if there were any of the pre-flood generation left, as he was concerned about his life. Only a raven that can remember and distinguish different images and faces could have supplied Noah with that information.

The author would like to express his feelings of deep gratitude to Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar for his invaluable guidance, comments and help.