This Shabbat, Jews around the world will read the iconic story of Noah and his family. Noah will be tasked to build an ark to save himself and his loved ones from a flood that God intends to deliver. In frustration, God plans to wipe out humanity itself. We are told that Noah was ‘righteous in his generation’ and thus a figure of moral clarity amid a time of widespread corruption, hate and – in the words of the Torah – great ‘lawlessness.’ He feels what perhaps we feel these days, lost and isolated from a world he no longer understands. He cannot relate to many of his neighbors or their choices, nor can he relate to their point of view.

Noah sets out to build the ark, slowly and diligently, following God’s careful instructions. Indeed, Noah heeds the voice of God in his life. We are told it takes him years to build the mammoth structure and, all the while, passersby would refuse to stop to help. Some would mock and denigrate him. Noah thus feels belittled and diminished. He feels hurt. We’ve felt this too in our heart. Who among us hasn’t been bullied or insulted because we have the gall to live as Jews and raise up Jewish values? Who among us hasn’t had our efforts demeaned, our way of life questioned or cursed? Noah does what we must do: Keep building. Keep going. 

When the rains begin to fall, Noah gathers two of every animal in order to save God’s sacred creatures. He will board the ark with his wife, his three sons and their wives and begin an uncertain voyage. For forty days and nights, the world is dark and besieged by the relentless storm. Noah squints to see the shoreline, some semblance of daylight, even the prospect of a new beginning. He wonders when calmer days will come. 

We can understand this too, living in these highly agonizing and profoundly stressful days. This election season has felt very much like a storm, unnerving, dizzying and deeply unsettling. The incessant rhetoric, ads, commercials, postcards and phone calls have come down on us like a downpour. Especially here in Pennsylvania, the veritable epicenter of this particular election, we have been subject to the deluge daily. 

When the rains cease at last, Noah will send out first a raven, then a dove to discern whether the waters have receded. When the dove returns with an olive branch in its beak, Noah realizes – as do we – that a new time has arrived at last. That dove will become the perennial symbol of possibility and hope, a reminder that storms end, the sun shines and absolutely a fresh start is possible. The rainbow high in the sky above Noah and his family are a reminder that those dark days have passed; Noah and his ark have weathered the storm and are ready to embrace a new time. We hold onto this notion these days, praying that post-election day a new day comes for us and this great nation, a day of greater unity and peace, greater understanding and compassion. May we remember together the gift that is democracy and the democratic process and hold on tight – now and always – to the high ideals of America.