Bereshit (parsha) lived 500 years, he had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. God set the days allowed to man at 120 years. Divine beings admired and took wives from among the daughters of men, who bore the Nephilim, heroes of old, men of renown. The ninth open portion (, "petuchah") ends here. As the reading continues with the maftir () reading that concludes the parashah, God saw how great man's wickedness was and how man's every plan was evil, and God regretted making man and became saddened. God expressed an intention to blot men and animals from the earth, but Noah
Criticism of Christianity Canaan be the slave of Shem." which was interpreted to mean that Africans were the descendants of Ham, cursed with "the mark of Ham" to be servants to the descendants of Japheth (Europeans) and Shem (Asians). In 1452, Pope Nicholas V instituted the hereditary slavery of captured Muslims and pagans, regarding all non-Christians as "enemies of Christ." The ""Curse of Ham"" along with Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, VI, 5-7 helped American slaveowners to balance their beliefs with slavery. There are plenty other pro-slavery verses in the Old Testament that were often quoted. New Testament was ignored except that reminding