Oct 15, 2026 · 38 min · 7 segments
A fascinating analysis on why it took Noach a whopping 120years to build the ark. In our post-class chat, we reflected further on what ittakes to ensure effective inspiration, that enables the…
[clicks tongue] Okay, so how long did it take for Noah to build the ark? Take a wild guess.
I have no idea.
Take a wild guess.
Come on- A month ... just take a guess.
A month.
A month? Yeah.
To build an ark? Yeah.
300 amaht long.
It's like 500 feet, maybe more, 600 feet.
It was a massive, massive piece of infrastructure, huge architectural project.
Even the planning commission would have taken 20 years, [sniffs] and then refused.
How long do you think it took him? [sniffs] The answer is 120 years, okay? In fact, Rashi says this very clearly.
He says that it took 120 years, and it's based on a Midrash which also expresses that same point, okay? So we're reading verse, chapter six, verse 14, and it says that, that God instructs him, [coughs] "Aseh-lcha," Make for yourself an ark out of gopher wood.
Yeah? Is God capable of saving him in other ways other than building an ark? Yeah, God could have said, "You know what? I'll let you go up to a mountain, surround the mountain with who-knows-what so nobody else can get up there, and the rest of the world will be destroyed." I don't know, God could have done all sorts of things.
He could have given him wings.
Could make- given him wings, could have let him float.
I don't know, you can come up with everything you want.
Yeah.
Says Rashi, Why did God say specifically an ark rather than other things could, that could have saved him? So that the people will see him being preoccupied with it for 120 years and will ask him, "Why are you doing this?" And he says, "Because God is going to bring a flood with the hope that perhaps they will repent." Okay.
So I've just read to you, I've paraphrased to you the actual words of Rashi.
Okay? That's why it takes him 120 years, with the hope that they'll watch him build it and they will repent.
So here's a very interesting question.
[clicks tongue] Okay, so how long did it take for Noah to build the ark? Take a wild guess.
I have no idea.
Take a wild guess.
Come on- A month ... just take a guess.
A month.
A month? Yeah.
To build an ark? Yeah.
300 amaht long.
It's like 500 feet, maybe more, 600 feet.
It was a massive, massive piece of infrastructure, huge architectural project.
Even the planning commission would have taken 20 years, [sniffs] and then refused.
How long do you think it took him? [sniffs] The answer is 120 years, okay? In fact, Rashi says this very clearly.
He says that it took 120 years, and it's based on a Midrash which also expresses that same point, okay? So we're reading verse, chapter six, verse 14, and it says that, that God instructs him, [coughs] "Aseh-lcha," Make for yourself an ark out of gopher wood.
Yeah? Is God capable of saving him in other ways other than building an ark? Yeah, God could have said, "You know what? I'll let you go up to a mountain, surround the mountain with who-knows-what so nobody else can get up there, and the rest of the world will be destroyed." I don't know, God could have done all sorts of things.
He could have given him wings.
Could make- given him wings, could have let him float.
I don't know, you can come up with everything you want.
Yeah.
Says Rashi, Why did God say specifically an ark rather than other things could, that could have saved him? So that the people will see him being preoccupied with it for 120 years and will ask him, "Why are you doing this?" And he says, "Because God is going to bring a flood with the hope that perhaps they will repent." Okay.
So I've just read to you, I've paraphrased to you the actual words of Rashi.
Okay? That's why it takes him 120 years, with the hope that they'll watch him build it and they will repent.
So here's a very interesting question.
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