Rashi on TanakhGenesis 8

Elohim remembered. This name represents Divine Judgment which was transformed to Divine Mercy due to the prayers of the righteous. [However,] the evil of the wicked transforms Divine Mercy to Divine Judgment as it is said: “God saw that the wickedness of man was great, etc.,” “God said I will obliterate” though the Name [ה'] represents Divine Mercy.

Elohim remembered Noach. What did He remember regarding the animals? The merit that they did not corrupt their ways before this [the Flood] and that they did not cohabit in the ark.

Elohim caused a wind to blow. [רוּחַ means] a spirit of comforting and calming passed before Him.

Over the earth. [Meaning:] due to the matters of the earth.

Subsided. As in: “When the wrath of the king calmed” referring to the abandonment of anger.

The wellsprings of the deep were closed. When they were opened it was written: “All the fountains” whereas, here “all” is not written. This is because some of them remained [open] those for which the world had need, such as the hot springs of Tiberias and the like.

Was withheld. [Means:] was withheld. as in: “You will not withhold Your mercy,” “[None of us] will withhold from you.”

At the end of one hundred and fifty days. They began to diminish: This was on Sivan 1. How so? On Kislev 27 the rains ceased which accounts for three days in Kislev [followed by] 29 days of Teves, making it 32. [Add to that:] Shevat, Adar, Nissan and Iyar—118 making it a total of 150 [days].

In the seventh month. [This refers to] Sivan which is the seventh month from Kislev [being the month] in which the rain stopped.

On the seventeenth day. From this you learn that the ark was immersed 11 amohs in the water, for it is written: “In the tenth [month] on the first day the mountain peaks became visible.” This refers to Av, the tenth month from Cheshvan when the rains began. They [the waters] were 15 amohs above the mountains. From Sivan 1 until Av 1 they receeded fifteen amohs in [those] sixty days, which is one amoh every four days. Consequently, by the sixteenth day of Sivan they had receded only four cubits, and [since] the ark rested the next day you learn that it was immersed 11 amohs in the waters which were [still] above the mountain peaks.

In the tenth, etc., the mountaintops became visible. This [בָּעֲשִׂירִי] refers to Av which is the tenth month from Cheshvan, when the rain began. If you might say that it refers to Elul which is the tenth month from Kislev when the rain ceased, just as you say that “the seventh month” is Sivan which is the seventh month after [the rain] stopped; [I would respond that] you cannot say so, [for] you must admit that “seventh” can only be counted from when the rain stopped because the forty days of the downpour did not end — and the 150 days of the powerful waters — until the first of Sivan, And if you will claim [that it means] the seventh month after the rain began this would not be Sivan. “The tenth” can only be counted from when the rain began to fall. Because if you claim that it is from when the rain ceased, which would be Elul, you would have no means of understanding [the statement] “In the first month, on the first day the waters dried up from upon the earth.” For after 40 days after the mountain peaks appeared, he sent out the raven, and he waited 21 days while he sent for the dove which make it a total of 60 days from when the mountain peaks appeared until the face of the earth dried up. And if you claim that they appeared in Elul then it would mean that they dried up in Cheshvan. But he calls it the first month, which can only refer to Tishri which is the first month from Creation, or, according to R. Yehoshua, it is Nissan.

At the end of forty days. From when the mountain peaks appeared.

The window of the ark. [This refers] to the window [i.e., their light source] and not the door of the ark intended for entry and exit.

To and fro. It flew around, circling the ark, and did not go on its errand because it suspected him [Noach] concerning his mate, as we have learned in the Aggadah of Chelek.

Until the water dried up. The simple explanation is what it implies. But the Midrash Aggadah [explains that] the raven was destined for another errand, when the rains were withheld during the time of Eliyahu as it is said: “The ravens brought him bread and meat.”

He [then] sent the dove. Seven days after [sending out the raven], for it is written: “And he waited another seven days.” From this inference you learn that the first time he also waited seven days.

He sent. This does not refer to sending it on an errand, but refers to “sending it away,” [meaning:] he sent it on its way. In this way he would see if the water had abated for if it would find a resting place it would then not return to him.

He waited. Meaning “waiting.” Similarly: “They listened to me and waited” [This word] appears often in Scripture.

Torn off in her mouth. It is my opinion that it [the dove] was male. Therefore, it is sometimes referred to as male and sometimes as female. This is because wherever יוֹנָה appears in Scripture it is referred to as female; for instance: [“His eyes are like] those of doves bathing near the water brooks,” “Like the doves of the valleys all of them moaning.” And as: “Like a foolish dove.”

Torn off. Means: “he seized.” The Midrash Aggadah explains it [טָרָף] as “food” and interprets בְּפִיהָ as “speaking.” She said, “Better that my food be as bitter as an olive from the hand of God than sweet as honey from the hands of human beings.”

He waited. Means the same as וַיָּחֶל only that the latter is the וַיַּפְעֶל form and this [word] is in the וַיִּתְפַּעֵל form. וַיָּחֶל [means] he waited. וַיִּיָּחֶל [means] he had forbearance.

In the first [month]. According to R. Eliezer this was Tishri and according to R. Yehoshua this was Nissan.

[Began] to dry. It [the earth] became like clay, [i.e.] the surface became hardened.

Twenty-seventh. [Whereas the rain] began on the seventeenth day of the second month. These are the eleven days that the solar [year] exceeds the lunar [year]— for the sentence of the generation of the flood was for one full year.

[Completely] dry. [Means] it became completely dry.

Yourself and your wife, etc. [Here] man and wife [are mentioned together] Now they were permitted to resume marital relations.

Let depart. It is written as הוֹצֵא, but it is read הַיְצֵא. [The interpretation of] הַיְצֵא is: “Tell them to leave [the ark].” The interpretation of הוֹצֵא is: If they refuse to leave then you make them leave.

Let them spread over the earth. But not in the ark. This tells us that animals and fowl, too, had been prohibited from cohabiting.

According to their families. They accepted the condition that they keep to their own species.

Of every [ritually] clean animal. He thought: God would not have commanded me to take in seven of each of these unless it was to sacrifice some of them.

From [the time of] his youth. It is written מִנְּעֻרָיו [without a ו' after the ע'] [which implies that] from the time he begins stirring to leave the womb of his mother the evil inclination is given to him.

Never again, never again. The expression is repeated [so that it serves] as an oath. That is the reference in the verse: “That I have sworn that the water of Noach shall not pass,” and we find no [other] oath except that this was repeated which is [considered] an oath. Thus the Sages expounded in Maseches Shavuos.

So long as the earth exists… will never be suspended. Each of these six seasons has two months as we have learned: “Half of Tishri, Cheshvan, and half of Kislev [is the season for] seeding. Half of Kislev, Teves, and half of Shevat is the cold season—in Bava Metzia (Other versions: “So long as the [earth] exists” means “continuously” as in “The defilement continues with him.”)

Cold. Is more severe than winter.

Winter. Is the time for sowing barley and pulse which are quick to ripen. It is half of Shevat, Adar, and half of Nissan.

Harvest. It is half of Nissan, Iyar, and half of Sivan.

Summer. It is half of Sivan, Tamuz, and half of Av which is the time of the fig harvest and the time when they are dried in the fields which is called קַיִץ, as in: “The bread and the dried fruit for the young men to eat.”

Heat. Is the end of the summer — half of Av, Elul, and half of Tishri when the world is hottest as we learned in Maseches Yoma: “The end of the summer is more severe than the summer.”

Day and night will never be suspended. It can be inferred from this that they ceased during all the days of the Flood. For the constellations did not function and night and day were indistinguishable.

Will never be suspended. [Meaning:] none of them shall cease from taking their natural course.