Noach (parsha) and seventh readings (, "aliyot"). In the first reading (, "aliyah"), the Torah writes that Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his age, who walked with God (in one many of His original translated names). Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. God saw that all flesh on earth had become corrupt and lawless. The first closed portion (, "setumah") ends here. In the continuation of the reading, God told Noah that God had decided to bring a flood to destroy all flesh. God directed Noah to make an ark of gopher wood and cover it with pitch
Yoel Baal Shem Yoel Baal Shem Yoel Baal Shem () was an Orthodox Jewish scholar of Halacha and Kabbalah who lived in Zamość (; Yiddish: Zamoshtsh) during the 17th century. He became renowned as a Baal Shem (lit; Master of [Divine] Names) for performing miracles, commanding demons and authoring Kabalistic amulets. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880–1950) writes in his memoirs Yoel married before the age of 20 and started learning Kabbalah. Upon a dream, Yisrael Yosef sent his son Yoel to Prague to learn kabbalah from Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem. Yoel became one of the closest students of Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem who