Sexual assault.
It’s hard, sometimes, to prove it happened.
Emotions run high. Memory highlights some details, and, thus, leaves out others. Often, alcohol is involved.
So, that’s the setting Torah uses for a little teaching story.
It takes place right after the flood. When the waters have washed away human evil. Leaving eight good people alive. “Good” people — so we hope.
Noah, a man of the soil, began to plant a vineyard. He drank of the wine and got drunk; he became exposed inside his tent. Ham, father of Canaan saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. Shem and Japheth took the cloak, placed it on both their shoulders, walked backwards and covered their fathers nakedness. Their faces [looked] backwards and they did not see their father’s nakedness. Noah awakened from his wine and knew what his youngest son did to him. He said, “Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves he’ll be to his brothers” (Gen. 9:20-25; translation mine).
What a story! Deliberately ambiguous. Definitely provocative. So, my students asked a lot of questions.
What happens inside Noah’s tent? Why is the text so vague about the details? Why does the story call Ham the “father of Canaan”? What exactly does Ham tell his brothers? If Shem and Japheth are walking backwards and looking away, then how do they know the cloak falls anywhere near Noah? Isn’t Ham, not Canaan, Noah’s youngest son? If so, what action by Ham does Noah become aware of? If Ham does something wrong, then why does Noah curse Canaan?
Obviously, my students said, Canaan is a major player in this story. He is involved in something terrible. But he is only a young boy. Assume he is conceived when his parents leave the ark. Just as Noah starts his vineyard. He plants in that first spring season. Waits three years as his grapes mature, then another month as they ferment. Finally, Noah enjoys (?) a night of blackout drinking.
At age three, Canaan is more likely to be a victim than a perpetrator.
Something happens inside Noah’s tent. Between two people, it seems. Whatever it is, Ham sees it. And he tells his older brothers.
Suppose Ham took advantage of his father. Its seems unlikely he would brag about it. (Unless, of course, Ham is drinking, too.) Thus, Ham probably reports something else to his brothers. Something involving Canaan. Maybe, a sexual assault.
But brothers Shem and Japheth do not want to hear. Or see. Instead, they look away. They cover it up.
(The image of the brothers randomly dropping the cloak without looking, my students said, is ridiculous. Thus, the text screams, “Read me as a metaphor!”)
Maybe Shem and Japheth say, “Don’t worry about it, Ham. Dad’s been under a lot of stress. He isn’t himself. He didn’t know what he was doing. His binge drinking won’t become a habit. So, we’ll watch him. It’s okay, Ham, really it is.”
But no, Ham might think. It is not okay. My son is not safe around his grandfather. I was a fool to think my older brothers would understand. They haven’t become parents themselves yet.
Noah wakes from his stupor. Confused, hung over, unable to recall hours or even days of events. Somehow he finds out what happened. Maybe Ham confronts him. (Of course!) “You committed a sexual assault, Dad. Everyone knows. I told them.”
But Noah does not own up. Nor does he apologize. Or say, “Help me get sober, son.” Instead, he becomes angry, defensive. It’s Canaan’s fault. “What was he doing wandering unsupervised around the family tents? He must have climbed right into my bed. Or maybe he made the whole thing up. Told you a story from his imagination. And you, so naive, believed him and re-told it. What a nasty child he is! Sexualized, lying, and still so young! Curse him!”
And thus evil returns. Right after the flood. Not just with the drunken mistake. But with Noah’s refusal to take responsibility. Instead, Noah blames the victim.
Victim-blaming. It’s topsy-turvy. Crime-enabling. Destructive. Dangerous. And it’s alive and well in today’s discussions of sexual assault.
At least, that’s how my students see it.
Thank you to students in the Midrash class at Vancouver School of Theology.
Yes. My nephew committed suicide. A promising 27 year old computer master at Princton graduate school. He wrote a 40 page suicide note saying he was repeatedly raped at 3 years old and couldn’t take the Darkness anymore. I am the only family member willing to discuss this, suspicious of both my dear father and brother. Complete denial. And now , I am hated. It is something you dont dare talk about. My job is to love myself and love the Truth and pray for salvation, because the Darkness is Dark, and I dont like it. I am the Light, and I will be very Bright.
I’m sorry to read about your nephew, his, your, and your family’s pain and loss.
I hope Torah helps. It’s not always comforting; it takes a pretty unflinching view of people.
Somehow, the book of Bereisheet-Genesis ends with family healing. Blessings to you.
Are you saying Noah assaulted his grandson? Can you provide a better understanding on what happened in the tent of Noah!was Noah assaulted by ham or was cannan assaulted by Noah?or did ham assaulted his mother?
No, Noah cursed Ham’s offspring because Noah knew something had been done to him (Noah). It is akin to a woman who has been rooted and doesn’t remember getting raped, but she knows (I am not saying Ham raped him).
Genesis 9:21 says Noah “was uncovered” — the passive voice, which means Noah received the action. Noah was a righteous man, and he was the victim who had been uncovered by Ham. In Genesis 9:22, it is Ham that saw the nakedness of his father. Ham is the one who was directly involved. Ham probably learned something from Nephilim custom before the Deluge, and saw the opportunity to become the most powerful by raping his father. Then he may have raped his son Canaan, thinking transmitting the power. It must have been done with a ritualistic intention rather than spontaneous sexual lust. Noah was totally disgusted and furious when he realized what Ham had done to him in order to be the strongest tribe over his brithers’ descendants. Ham is the one who stole Adam and Eve’s leather clothes, which is rightfully Shem’s. He seemed to have fascinated by Nephilim and their magical power.
The scripture was always intriguing to me and it does raise questions Noah had three sons and I wondered why she blamed his son Ham it is my belief but Noah recognized some tendencies about his son uncovering ones nakedness in the Bible often refers to the engagement of sex I feel this picture is telling us that ham invaded his father and his father said cursed be Canaan realizing that ham what past these types of Tendencies down through to his generation
The complete audiobook for the Jewish bible states that Hame sexually assaulted Noah.
I bought the book but is not in writing.
Thanks for reading this, Erica! Is that the Chaim Miller translation? It explicitly says that it weaves commentary into the translation. The interpretation Miller offers here is a well-known one. I’m just suggesting a different one here, one that has resonated with other survivors ofsexual assault.
That scripture was always intriguing to me and it does raise questions. Noah had three sons, I wandered why he blamed his son Ham. It is my belief that Noah recognized some tendencies in Ham. Uncovering ones nakedness in the Bible often refers to the engagement of sex. The scripture is telling us that Ham invaded his father. How would Noah know who uncovered or covered him from waking from a drunken stupor. Obviously Noah felt something had happened to him and announced cursed be Canaan realizing that these tendencies would pass down through Hams generations. Take a look at what happens in the land of Canaan in further chapters after that chapter and the Bible clearly explains itself.
Rabbi your student are too inexperienced. I completely get backing up with a blanket. I have taken more than one item to my mom when she broke her knee or fell in the bathroom. What you do is you cover your eyes and you turn your head so you can make out the shape in your peripheral vision.
Is it that her students are inexperienced or that you haven’t gone through that kind of situation?
I was listening to the scriptures this morning and had to stop because it dawned on me that there was an assault.
I had to study deeper and came across Rabbi Laura’s article. It’s quite thought provoking.
So my question I would ask you with love Emily is why only was Canaan cursed and no one else if in fact Noah was just naked by cause of being drunk?