Parsha Inspired Menus - Noach

I've heard the last aliyah of Parashat Bereshit MANY more times than I've heard most of the torah. It was our son's bar mitzvah parsha and he read the 7th aliyah (which I taught him), so I during the many practice sessions. So, when I read the beginning of parshat Noach, I caught an interesting repetition that is often less noticed because it's separated by a week. In the last line of chapter 5, we read

וַֽיְהִי־נֹ֕חַ בֶּן־חֲמֵ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֣וֹלֶד נֹ֔חַ אֶת־שֵׁ֖ם אֶת־חָ֥ם וְאֶת־יָֽפֶת׃

When Noah had lived 500 years, Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Then we finish off Bereshit with the terrible behavior of man for 8 pasukim and then we roll into Parshat Noach with these lines:

אֵ֚לֶּה תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת נֹ֔חַ נֹ֗חַ אִ֥ישׁ צַדִּ֛יק תָּמִ֥ים הָיָ֖ה בְּדֹֽרֹתָ֑יו אֶת־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֖ים הִֽתְהַלֶּךְ־נֹֽחַ׃

This is the line of Noah.—Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God.—

וַיּ֥וֹלֶד נֹ֖חַ שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה בָנִ֑ים אֶת־שֵׁ֖ם אֶת־חָ֥ם וְאֶת־יָֽפֶת׃

Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

It's just 10 lines later and we need to rename Noah's sons! Why would we need the repetition?

The Radak says "The Torah wanted us to know that these sons were born after Noach had already been certified by the Torah as “walking with G’d.” Mention of these sons here indicates that he raised his sons to believe in G’d and to walk in His ways, also. Had his sons not been good people they would not have been saved at the time of the deluge, even though their father was a righteous person. We have already cited Ezekiel 14,20 in which we were told that Noach’s merits did not suffice to save others beyond himself and his wife."

The commentary in the Eitz Chayim chumash says they are named here because with the destruction of all of humankind, these will be the ancestors of all people. We get more details of this later in the parsha when the 70 biblical nations are catalogued, each descending from one of these sons. Interestingly, I learned from the cantor at our synagogue, that this common origin of the 3 sons of Noah was also used by linguists to categorize languages. Languages fell into the categories of Semitic, Hamitic, or Japhetic. These are not really the terms used nowadays, but it was the standard method of classification in parts of the 18th and 19th century. Semitic covered the areas of the Middle East) and North Africa, Hamitic covered the areas of North Africa, the

Horn of Africa, the Sahara, the Sahel, and parts of West Asia and Japhetic covered the areas of Europe, parts of Asia, and the Caucasus region.

So, in honor of this re-creation of the world through the descendents of Shem, Ham, and Japeth, I recommend making something from the cuisine of each of these regions. I'm going to try these:

Shem - Moroccan Roasted Vegetable Soup

Ham - Ethiopian Fossolia (green beans, carrots and tomato side dish)

Japeth - Kladdkaka (Swedish Sticky Chocolate Cake)

Shabbat Shalom and B'Tayavon!