Thank youYear 1656. The Great Flood is coming to an end. The rain stopped, the waters began to recede. Noah’s Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. On Elul 10 Noah dispatched a raven from the ark, but the raven flew in circles round and round the Ark and refused the mission. A week later, on Elul 17, Noah sends a dove from the window of the ark to see if the waters that covered the earth have reduced…
“But the dove found no resting place for the sole of its foot” and returned to the ark. Seven more days will pass, and Noah will make another attempt. The dove will return carrying a plucked olive leaf:
The dove came in to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. (Breishit, 8:11)
After that Noach will send a dove once again, for the third time. The dove will not return. It will be clear that the earth is drying out and the Ark’s inhabitants will soon be ready to go out into the world.
Bereishit – Genesis – Chapter 8.
The chronology of events: as calculated by Rashi. See also “Seder ha-Dorot” (according to the opinion that the Great Flood began in the month of Cheshvan – the second month of the Jewish calendar counting from Rosh Hashanah).
