Shovevim #2: Noach's Fine Smelling Offering

לרפואת יהודה בן מרגלית שרה
ולזכות רבי משה גבריאל בן יהודית

After the Mabul, Noach brought a korban which was a ריח ניחוח - a good smelling [korban]. Why was it important that it smell nice? Noach was obviously trying to fix the sin of his generation which was sexual immorality. The Torah says לא תנאף [don't be an adulterer] which is expounded as לא תהנה אף [the nose shouldn't benefit] which means that this sin relates to the sense of smell.

[How it relates to smell is not clear to me but that is what the mekubalim teach. Note that seed in a negative context is called a טיפה סרוחה - a bad smelling drop. The Torah calls the male organ בשר in the context of זיבה which is a gushing from the body that comes about due to lust. בשר is an acronym for בושה סרוחה רמה embarassing and malodorous.  Others understand that this drasha teaches that enjoying the smell of a married woman's perfume is almost like having relations with her. When the perfume companies create their product, the goal is an aroma that will attract men. Being attracted to someone else's wife is tantamount to being intimate with her. Oy vey-oy-vey!].

In order to fix the blemish of "bad smell" Noach brought this korban which produced a good smell.

Noach excelled in the middah of shmiras habris and modesty as the pasuk testifies that was a "tzadik tomim" - tzadik alludes to tzadik yesod olam, the middah of yesod [sexual purity] which maintains the world and tomim is an allusion to what it says about Avraham התהלך לפני והיה תמים which is the charge to have a bris milah.

This is the "good smell" that Noach, the vanguard of kedushas habris in the world, created when he brought a korban and created a renewed closeness [קרבן means to come close] with Hashem. This closeness lasts for all of the generations for Hashem promised לא אוסיף לקלל etc. that he will never bring a mabul again.

It is very fitting that this korban was offered by Noach for his name implies נייחא - resting, which is the sanctity of Shabbos. The pnimiyus, the deeper root of kdushas habris, is kdushas Shabbos [as all the mekubalim know:-)]. Noach represents both Shabbos and bris. He was both a צדיק תמים and a נייחא person. That is why he was the one to bring a korban which was a ריח ניחוח - a good smell, meaning purity in sexual matters, as we learned before from לא תהנה אף and also alludes to his Shabbos component - ניחוח is related to נח נייחא meaning [Shabbos] rest. וינח ביום השביעי.

Now we understand the pasuk it says after this ריח ניחוח was brought. הנני מקים את בריתי - I am going to establish my BRIS! Numerous times in the parsha the "bris" is mentioned because it emerges from Noach and Shabbos. In fact it says ברית seven times in the parsha which may allude to the hidden primordial Light of the Seven Days of Creation [אור שבעת הימים] which will reappear at the end of days when we finally make our tikkun of the bris.

OF COURSE [now I feel like Rav Ariel Edelstein Shlita who ends many a dvar Torah with an amazing gematria] the gematria of את ריח הניחח plus three for the three words is the exact same gemtria as שבת [with the kollel]. 703. [In Aramaic שבת is שבתא so the gematria is exact without adding one for the kollel].

Something else!

Let us guard our Shabbos and our bris and merit the אור שבעת הימים!!!

Based on Toras Emes of Rebbe Leibel'e Eiger Parshas Noach and a bit of Rebbe Tzadok in לקוטי מאמרים.

Note - Based on this short essay we can better understand the minhag mentioned in the gemara to smell herbs on Shabbos and also the halacha to be intimate with one's spouse on Shabbos. We fix the smell and the bris on Shabbos.....