The Bagel: Unity and separation. The reading begins with a failure and ends with a failure, that is, the flood and the Tower of Babel. They share an interesting characteristic:

There was unity in the Ark and separation from a wicked world.
There was unity in the Tower and separation from God.
God was in the Ark, but not in the Tower. If the length of the Ark was the same as the height of the Tower (we don't know the length of Tower), then one represented horizontal reliance and the other vertical defiance.

The combined readings relate the promises of God:
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No more univeral flood - Parashah
No more flood of anger against Israel - Haftarah
No more condemnation - Brit Chadashah (1 Peter 3:20-21)

Perhaps the greatest warning comes from the prophecy of the end of the age by Jesus:

"When the Son of Man returns, the world will be like the people were in Noah's day. In those days before the flood, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came to destroy them all" (Luke 17:26-27).

Cream Cheese: I am safe inside the Ark = Christ Jesus!

The weekly reading for the week of 6 Cheshvan, 5763 - Oct 12, 2002 Torah: Noach Genesis 6:9 to 11:32; Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1 to 55:5