page_title: Noach (parsha)
section_title: Sixth reading — Genesis 9:18–10:32
hierarchical_section_title: Noach (parsha) / Readings / Sixth reading — Genesis 9:18–10:32
caption_attribution_description: English: The World as known to the Hebrews. A map from Historical Textbook and Atlas of Biblical Geography (1854) by Lyman Coleman
context_page_description: Noach, Noiach, Nauach, Nauah, or Noah is the second weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 6:9–11:32. The parashah tells the stories of the Flood and Noah's Ark, of Noah's subsequent drunkenness and cursing of Canaan, and of the Tower of Babel.
  The parashah has the most verses of any weekly Torah portion in the Book of Genesis. It is made up of 6,907 Hebrew letters, 1,861 Hebrew words, 153 verses, and 230 lines in a Torah Scroll. In the Book of Genesis, Parashah Miketz has the most letters, Parashah Vayeira has the most words, and Parashah Vayishlach has an equal number of verses as Parashah Noach.
  Jews read it on the second Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in October or early November.
context_section_description: In the sixth reading (עליה‎, aliyah), Noah became the first to plant a vineyard, and he drank himself drunk, and was uncovered within his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers. Shem and Japheth placed a cloth against both their backs and, walking backward, covered their father, without seeing their father's nakedness. When Noah woke up and learned what Ham had done to him, he cursed Ham's son Canaan to become the lowest of slaves to Japheth and Shem, prayed that God enlarge Japheth, and blessed the God of Shem. Noah lived to the age of 950 and then died. The second open portion (פתוחה‎, petuchah) ends here.
  As the reading continues, chapter 10 sets forth the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, from whom the nations branched out over the earth after the Flood. Among Japheth's descendants were the maritime nations. Ham's son Cush had a son named Nimrod, who became the first man of might on earth, a mighty hunter, king in Babylon and the land of Shinar. From there Asshur went and built Nineveh. Ham's son Mizraim had sons from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim. A closed portion (סתומה‎, setumah) ends here.
  In the continuation of the reading, Canaan's descendants — Sidon, Heth, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites — spread out from Sidon as far as Gerar, near Gaza, and as far as Sodom and Gomorrah. Another closed portion (סתומה‎, setumah) ends here.
  The continuation of the reading set forth Shem's descendants, among whom was Eber. The sixth reading (עליה‎, aliyah) and the third open portion (פתוחה‎, petuchah) end here with the end of chapter 10.
caption: The dispersion of the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth (map from the 1854 Historical Textbook and Atlas of Biblical Geography)
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