[Avodah] Limited Mabul?

[Lisa Liel]

On Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:01:52 -0500, ygbechhofer at gmail.com wrote:
> Translation of the Yerushalmi:
> 
> HaMotzim" /(Yechezkel/ 47:8) /-/ this is the great [Mediterraenean] 
> sea.  And why is it called "Motzim?" Corresponding to the two times 
> that it came out, once in the generation of Enosh and once in the 
> generation of the Tower of Babel. R' Lezar in the name of R' 
> Chaninah: The first time it came out up till Calabria and the 
> second time up till the rocks of Barbary. R' Acha in the name of R' 
> Chanina: The first time it came out up till the rocks of Barbary 
> and the second time it came out up till Akko (Acre) and Yaffo 
> (Jaffa) - "Up till here you shall come and not further" (/Iyov/ 
> 38). Up till Akko you shall come and no further. "And here He shall 
> extend the might of your waves." Up till Yaffo I will extend the 
> might of your waves.
> 
> While it is true that the second time is linked to the generation 
> of the Tower of Babel, I submit that this is not necessarily exact, 
> as we know of no massive flood at that time. I therefore think that 
> just as the generation of Enosh refers to the known flood of that 
> time, the generation of the "Dispersion" (/Haflagah/) refers to the 
> known flood of the /Mabul/. See also the /Yalkut Shimoni, echezkel/ 
> 383. Nevertheless, see //Teshuvos B'Tzel HaChochmah/ /2:12////// 
> that considers this Yerushalmi from a Halachic perspective and 
> takes it as written (I added it to the blog post).

With all due respect, we do know of a massive flood at that time. 
Genesis 11:8 says "Vayifetz otam", and Breishit Rabbah 38 says "Ein
'vayifetz', ela 'vayetzaf'.  Hetzif aleihem ha-yam, v'hetzif shloshim
mishpachot meihem."  This is saying that 30 of the 70 nations were
obliterated in a flood at the time of the destruction of the Tower. 
And I've seen elsewhere (forgive me if I can't produce a source right
now) where it's shown that the reason there are still 70 nations is
that Abraham engendered 30 new ones (av hamon goyim in truth).  It
seems clear that this Yerushalmi is speaking of that flood, and not
the Mabul.

Lisa
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