What would the Daf Yomi be without making us think of Venezuela and the recent dramatic capture of its discredited leader, Nicolas Maduro, from his well-protected residence? Actually, those of us who study the Daf Yomi and who are not oblivious to current events are more inclined, in this context, to think of a recent incident involving Venezuelans that is still being investigated, analyzed, and judged: the famous “double tap,” when American military forces made a second strike on the two apparent survivors of a drug boat shortly after the drug-laden boat they were on had been struck by the American military.
This article will not opine on whether the first strike was legal, or whether the second strike was lethal – or should have been – but it will lead us to focus on a situation discussed in the Daf Yomi of Zevachim 113, since that page in the Talmud also discusses two living souls clinging onto a boat for dear life, according to the Talmud and midrashic sources, none other than the boat of Noach in the book of Bereishit!
The reima is described in the Talmud as an animal so large that it was of mythic dimensions, and even its cub was described as too large to fit onto Noach’s ark, but it survived the flood by clinging onto the boat, according to Rabbi Yochanan, with only its head within the boat. The Talmud discusses that even its head was too large to fit onto the boat, so according to this interpretation an arrangement was made to keep its nostrils above water while it remained outside the boat, though the Talmud doesn’t go into detail as to how it was able to eat, while mostly underwater, although in describing how the animal would not break loose, the Talmud discusses, per Raish Lakish, tying its horns to the ark, which would explain how a miracle would not necessarily be needed to keep it from falling asleep, because if it would be tied to the boat, it would be able to sleep without becoming detached. The Talmud does not explain, however, how the animal could have fully developed horns if it was only a cub, or how it could be tied so strongly that it would not slip out at some point until the flood would end and the waters would recede, nor does the Talmud deal with the fact that all the other animals were rescued in pairs, and a female would be unlikely to have horns. But see below.
The Talmud also discussed the giant, Og, who is believed to have also clung to the boat and made a deal with Noach, promising Noach to be a slave to Noach and his descendants forever in exchange for food to allow him to survive, though there is no discussion as to what allowed him to continue to cling to the boat without sleeping or being tied to it since there is no evidence that he had horns, fully developed or otherwise. Nor is there a discussion as to how Noach could enforce such a deal over a giant who wasn’t necessarily a tzaddik, or where the extra food came from for these two likely ravenous creatures.
But how could the reima and Og have survived being in the water that was described as boiling hot? For that matter, how could Noach’s boat survive the flood and not disintegrate as a consequence of boiling temperatures that would normally have melted the pitch that kept the boat together? The Talmud has an answer for that – the water immediately around the ark was kept miraculously cool, enabling the reima, Og, and the boat to survive. Presumably, despite the rational explanations described in the Talmud and referred to above, some further miracles were needed to keep the two giant clinging creatures alive.
Fast forward to the recent events involving the Venezuelans. The Talmud and Midrashic sources do not have a prediction or an answer – or a miracle – for the last two Venezuelans who were fated, one way or another, to die on the high seas since they could not have counted on miracles. In fact, it there was anything close to a miracle involved, it was that even though they were prevented from completing their mission, they did not have to face a long and painful death. Ironically, had they been allowed to stay clinging to their burning boat, they would have suffered a more painful death, but the second explosion instantly relieved them of their misery. We pray that fewer people will provoke comparable preventive measures in the future, and that fewer people will suffer from comparable misery.