(1) A song of ascents.aA term of uncertain meaning.

In my distress I called to the LORD
and the Lord answered me. (2) O LORD, save me from treacherous lips,
from a deceitful tongue! (3) What can you profit, what can you gain, O deceitful tongue? (4) A warrior’s sharp arrows,
with hot coals of broom-wood. (5) Woe is me, that I live with Meshech, that I dwell among the clans of Kedar. (6) Too long have I dwelt with those who hate peace. (7) I am all peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

§ It is taught in a baraita: Rabban Gamliel said: Once I was traveling on a boat, and from a distance I saw a boat that shattered and sank. And I was grieved over the apparent death of the Torah scholar who was on board. And who was it? Rabbi Akiva. But when I disembarked onto dry land, he came, and sat, and deliberated before me about halakha. I said to him: My son, who brought you up from the water? He said to me: A plank from the boat came to me, and I bent my head before each and every wave that came toward me. The waves did not wash me off of the board, and I reached the shore. From here the Sages stated: If wicked people come upon a person, he should bend his head before them. That is, he should temporarily restrain himself and not fight them, and he will therefore be saved. After this parenthetical statement, the Gemara returns to Rabban Gamliel’s story. I said at that moment: How great are the words of the Sages, who said: If a man fell into a body of water with a visible end, his wife is permitted to remarry. But in a case of an endless body of water, his wife is prohibited from remarrying. It is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Akiva said: Once I was traveling on a boat, and I saw a certain boat sinking at sea, and I was grieved over the apparent death of the Torah scholar who was on board. And who was it? Rabbi Meir. But when I disembarked at the province of Cappadocia, he came, and sat, and deliberated before me about halakha. I said to him: My son, who brought you up from the water? He said to me: One wave carried me to another, and that other wave to another, until I reached the shore, and a wave cast me up onto dry land. I said at that moment: How great are the words of the Sages, who said: If a man fell into a body of water with a visible end, his wife is permitted to remarry. But in a case of an endless body of water, his wife is prohibited from remarrying.

(1) “These are the generations of Noach … Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood ….” (Bereshit, 4:9–14)
Concerning the ark, God gave Noach advice and protection until the days of wrath would pass, and similarly all whose hearts are not yet refined can receive advice from the ark as to how to find refuge and protection from all evil that upsets the world. Thus we find in the words of our sages (Tanna Dvei Eliyahu Rabba, Ch. 6), “If a man sees that suffering is coming upon him, he is to run to the inner chambers of the Torah, and it will give him advice as to how to survive.” Advice from the ark based on that is written in the Gemara (Pesachim, 113b), “There are three whom the Holy One, blessed be He, loves—one who does not get angry, one who does not get drunk, and one who forgives.”
One who does not get angry is one who does not show any anger through actions. One who does not get drunk is one who possesses a settled mind, recognizing and believing in the Creator of the world. One who forgives means one who removes the anger from his heart, not leaving in his heart any grudges against his fellow man. The ark hints at these three aspects. “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood” means not to get angry, for gopher (gaphrit) or brimstone teaches of anger (cf. Rashi, ad. loc.) We are rather to take the anger and make an ark out of it, to make it a closed structure. Close the anger inside and don’t reveal it in external actions. “Make rooms in the ark” teaches of the next stage, order. In other words, don’t act like a drunk in a state of disorder, but rather attain peace of mind, for one who has many rooms must have a sense of order to know the location and function of each one. The order of the Mishna called Kanim teaches of this.14Kan means nest, hence room; thus, organization of space. The mishnayot in Kanim deals with sacrifices brought from birds.Therefore one who doesn’t have peace of mind and a pure heart cannot understand the true depths of the Torah in the order of Kanim. “Seal it from within and without with pitch.” This is the third stage. Do away with all anger and forgive. “Sealing with pitch” or “ve’chaparta” in Hebrew is comprised of the same letters as “atonement,” capara, meaning to atone from the depth of your heart, so as not to leave even a residue of the anger against your fellow man.
With the very measurements of the ark we may derive the word for tongue, lashon (Lamed Shin Nun) in Hebrew. “Three hundred cubits in length [Shin], fifty in width [Nun], and thirty in height [Lamed],” meaning not to have a lying tongue. Also, these measurements teach of the way of service commanded in the Shema, with all your heart, all of your soul and all of your possessions.”
“With all your heart,” or Levaveicha, is Lamed (30). “With all your soul,” or nafsheicha, is Nun (50). “With all your possessions” or me’odeicha is Shin (300), for me’odeicha, “possessions,” also translates as “much,” hence expansion. Thus me’odeicha signifies all one can fathom and expand upon in his mind, and the most one can fathom is hinted at in the letter Shin, the penultimate letter in the alphabet, the most we could ever fathom in our lifetimes. God hid the secret of the final letter of the alphabet, Tav, in the world to come. Furthermore, whenever the sages wanted to express a very large amount they said three hundred (Shin), as in (Chullin 90b), “three hundred kor,” or the three hundred Cohanim in the Mishnaic order Middot (Ch. 3, Mishna 8).
“Make a light for the ark” means to know that everything is in God’s hands, as light stands for clarity and knowledge. “Complete it to a cubit from above” means to constrict one’s self in all receptions of Divine effusion, so as not to be greedy.
“Place an entrance on the side of the ark,” in other words, similar to the explanation of the Midrash on the verse (Bamidbar Rabba, Ch. 19:16; Tehilim, 34:15), “seek peace and run after it Seek peace where you are, and run after it elsewhere.” This means that as far as you are concerned, do not create any obstacles to peace, rather run after your fellow man in the pursuit of peace to bring him close to you. However, this too is not always necessary, for in everything there is a certain amount of uncertainty. Sometimes we encounter people who are not fit to bring home, yet still we are not supposed to altogether reject them. And this is the meaning of, “place the entrance on the side,” as if to deal with them in a way that is not readily apparent.
“Make lower second and third sublevels,” meaning that Noach was commanded to know how to conduct himself with his three sons, each according to his level.
With Ham he was to conduct himself on the lower level, speaking to him only on the surface. With Yaphet, on the second, and Shem on the third, with whom Noach could speak from the depth of his heart and reveal all his secrets. All these were advice for Noach as to how to conceal himself before he had achieved completion. Then immediately after he had left the ark and had in fact achieved completion, he proceeded to do the opposite of what he was advised to do. This is as it says, “and he drank and became drunk.” Then he became angry with Ham, not exercising patience. When one achieves true completion it is then permitted for him to extend himself, for in such a state everything is according to God’s will.