Parshas Noach 5777

Why Do We Need to Know About Noah's Wife?

The Torah writes (Genesis 4:22):

And Zillah, she also bore Tubal-cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah

The Midrash (cited by Rashi, see Genesis Rabbah [23:3]) explains:

"And the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah" - Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: Naamah was the wife of Noah .... and the Rabbis said: this was a different Naamah (not Noah's wife)

There are also multiple other sources that state her name as being something else - see our earlier posts here and here

 

The Ikar Sifsei Chachamim (ibid 4:22) provides two explanations why we need to know that she was Noah's wife:

"For she was called Naamah because of the beauty of her deeds - if so why did she died in the Flood, therefore it must be that she was Noah's wife and was saved from the Flood"

(it's a bit problematic because she could have easily died before the Flood, especially if according to Rashi Lamech had children less than 120 years after Creation and the Flood happened in 1656) 

and:

"why was this woman mentioned more than other women? Only it must be that we find that Naamah had three brothers: Tubal Cain who was an evildoer, ... Yoval who was righteous ... , and Yuval was righteous... Therefore we find that two of them were righteous and one was an evildoer, and Noah also had three children of which two were righteous ... and one was an evildoer, and therefore it is not a question why that happened if you explain that Naamah was Noah's wife for most sons take after the maternal uncles (Baba Kamma 110). "

The Ramban (ibid) adds:

And therefore the Scripture mentioned her so a seed remained for Cain and a small memory in this world and if you say that she wasn't the wife Noah had three children from, why mention her?

(it is interesting to note that according to these two explanations, it does not say that she survived the Flood - only that she had children with Noah.)

He also explains the other side of the argument:

There is another Midrash of our rabbis that she was a beautiful wman through whom the angels sinned and she is alluded to in the verse "and angels saw the daughters of man"... And others says that she was the wife of Asmadon, the mother of Asmadai and from her demons were spawned ...

The Radak (ibid) explains:

The reason the Torah mentions this is to inform us that Tuval Kayin did not have a brother, as opposed to his half-brother יבל, but that the sibling he did have, i.e. a sister, was called נעמה

Why do we need to know who Noah's wife was? The reasons therefore are either why she is needs to be mentioned at all since women are not normally mentioned, or that she is connected to some other story within the Torah (either Cain, Noah's family, the angels or her brothers).

Additionally, the Torah writes (Genesis 7:7):

And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, before the waters of the flood

We do not have proof that she was not necessarily Noah's wife at the time of the Flood which would also fit with a lot of the other sources that state her name as being different. While we know that Noah had only one wife at the time he entered the Ark, there is no proof from the Torah that this was his only wife ever, and that this particular woman was the mother of his existing children.

This brings us to another interesting set of stories surrounding the lineage of Og and Sihon, and whether their father or step-father was Noah. See our post here and we hope to continue next week.