The ark that Noach built was enormous. But it was also far too small.

The Torah gives its dimensions precisely: 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high, making it approximately 530 feet long according to Rav Moshe Feinstein's measurement of a cubit.

Inside, Noach was to shelter his family, representatives of the animal kingdom and enough food to sustain them throughout the Flood.

But how could they possibly all fit?

The Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194-1270), commenting on Genesis 6:19, asks this very question. Given the number and size of the animals, not to mention the food they required, even ten arks of those dimensions would not have been enough.

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This week's Haftorah (Isaiah 54:1-55:5 according to the Ashkenazi custom) contains an extraordinary Divine promise to the Jewish people.

But what makes it so striking is not merely what Hashem promises. It is how He chooses to express it: "For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you in" (Isaiah 54:7).

When Hashem speaks of abandoning the Jewish people, He measures it in time: "for a brief moment." But when He speaks of gathering them in, He uses an entirely different measure: "great compassion."

Why the difference?

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Over the past four years, something remarkable has been happening in Judea and Samaria.

Since the current government took office at the end of 2022, it has approved the establishment or retroactive legalization of 104 Jewish communities there.

At the center of this transformation has been Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry. In 2023, he was given broad authority over civilian affairs in Judea and Samaria, including settlement planning, through the newly created Settlement Administration.

And he has used that authority to reshape settlement policy.

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Three years ago, Simchat Torah changed forever.

On the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, as Jews across Israel were preparing to celebrate the completion of the annual Torah-reading cycle, Hamas terrorists poured in from the Gaza Strip, murdering 1,200 Israelis and taking 251 others hostage.

Suddenly, a holiday associated with dancing became one of slaughter.

For many Jews, that has made Simchat Torah one of the most emotionally complicated days on the calendar. How do you dance on the anniversary of a massacre? How do you sing when the date itself summons memories of young people hunted down at the Nova music festival, families murdered in their homes and communities along the Gaza border overrun?

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The Haftorah for Shemini Atzeret (1 Kings 8:54-66) takes us back nearly three thousand years to the dedication of the First Temple in Jerusalem.

The account opens as King Solomon rises "from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven" (I Kings 8:54). He turns to the assembled nation and blesses them, thanking Hashem for fulfilling His promises to Israel.

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