The Midrash Tanchuma writes that women are punished with death in childbirth for not being careful with the mitzvot of family purity, challah, and lighting the Shabbat candles. When Chava sinned with the eitz hadaat she brought death to the world. Being careful with the laws of family purity rectifies this aspect. Chava caused Adam, the chalato shel olam - the finest bread of creation to fall. A woman corrects this with the mitzvah of challah. Chava extinguished the soul of Adam. Women rectify this by kindling the Shabbat lights as the verse says, "Ner elokim nishmat adam." Man's soul is the candle of G-d. Why is this particular Midrash mentioned in Parshat Noach and not in Bereishit?

The Shem Mishmuel explains that man's soul is divided into three levels: nefesh - the physical soul, ruach - the emotional soul, and neshama - the intellectual soul. The snake advanced three arguments to Chava. He said "Your eyes will be opened, and you will become like Hashem, and you will understand good and evil." "Knowing good and evil" corresponds to nefesh - the physical urge to do evil. "Your eyes will open" relates to ruach, as the eyes are the source of emotion. Becoming like Hashem refers to the neshama - the intellectual level. The snake didn't convince Adam and Chava to sin intentionally. He argued that man must be challenged on all levels. He said that their idyllic existence, free of temptation, was just the first stage. The highest level would be to be tempted by evil and to reject it.  

The Ari explains that the snake's argument was in fact true. Hashem's original plan was for them to eat from the tree. However, they were supposed to wait for His command. There is an opinion that states that the eitz hadaat was a grape vine. They were meant to make wine from its fruit and use it for Kiddush. On Shabbat when the evil inclination is muted, it would have been a more moderated sweeter urge.

Chava caused her soul and that of Adam's to be defiled on three levels. Therefore, she was given three special mitzvot to rectify this. Knowing good from evil relates to the physical level and is corrected through taking challah. Taharat hamishpacha rectifies the nefesh - the emotional aspect of sin. Light relates to the mind. When a woman kindles the Shabbat candles she corrects the level of neshama connected to the intellect.

The first verse in Tehilim begins, "Praised is the man who does not follow the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the company of scorners." The Midrash says this would have referred to Adam if he had not sinned. Instead, it speaks of Noach who lived through three sinful generations yet remained righteous. "The counsel of the wicked," refers to the generation of Enosh. "The way of sinners," corresponds to Dor Hamabul. "The company of sinners," relates to Dor Haflaga. Rishut is an emotional lust for evil. Chataim are unintentional sins in which only the body is engaged but not the mind. Leitzanut involves sinning with the intellect.

Noach is praised for rectifying the three levels of sin of Adam. The Torah says, "Noach was perfectly righteous...He walked with Hashem." Tamim refers to perfection of the body related to nefesh. Tzaddik refers to the emotions - ruach. Walking with Hashem corresponds to the intellect - the neshama. Dor Enosh sinned using sechel (intellect)with idolatry. Dor Hamabul was destroyed because of immorality which relates to ruach - emotions. And Dor Haflaga defiled the world with the sin of murder corresponding to nefesh.

The Shem Mishmuel explains the parallel between these two Midrashim. When a woman performs her three mitzvot she rectifies the sin of eitz hadat on three levels in the same way Noach corrected the three levels of the soul in the three generations.

The Zohar compares Noach to Shabbat. Chassidut teaches that every energy in the world expresses itself in people, place, and time. Noach is to people what Shabbat is to time. Shabbat creates harmony in time. Noach created tranquility by rectifying the discordance of the world that resulted from Adam's sin. The Shabbat candles, representing the light of the intellect, rectify the neshama. Kiddush corresponds to speech, which is ruach - emotion. The meals of Shabbat are the body - nefesh. Shabbat is a tikun for eitz hadaat. Its letters can be rearranged to spell teshuva. It's a time to return to Hashem.

Let us strengthen ourselves in the three mitzvot, and especially in the mitzvah of Shabbat so that we can merit complete rectification of the sin of eitz hadaat and the eternal redemption.

The month of Cheshvan is called Mar (bitter) Cheshvan. The letters Mar can be rearranged to read ram, to uplift, which tells us that we can turn the bitterness of this month into an uplifting experience

The mazal of Cheshvan is the scorpion. The body part of the month is the intestines. The sense that corresponds to this month is the sense of smell.

In Tehilim it says, "The sons of Korach said before Efraim and Menashe and Binyamin we awaken your strength and it should go forth as a salvation for us." Why did the bnei Korach choose to mention these tribes? Why did they want to awaken the gevurah instead of the chesed of Hashem? Why is our salvation dependent on these tribes? What is the meaning of the order in which their names are mentioned?

Tishrei is the month of Efraim, Cheshvan is the month of Menashe, Kislev is the month of Binyamin. The order of the verse in Tehillim corresponds to the order of these months

Cheshvan is a bitter month when the kingdoms of Yehuda and Yisrael split. Yeravam, a leader from the tribe of Efraim took ten tribes in the north and formed his own kingdom. He forbade the people to ascend to Jerusalem lest they rejoin malchut Yehudah. He made his own holiday in Cheshvan instead.

Korach too tried to create separation within klal Yisrael. Korach was a Levi whose job was to serve the kohanim. Levi represents gevurah while the kohen symbolizes chesed. Korach felt that gevurah should override chesed. Rules and limits should overpower the flowing waters of loving kindness. Beit Shamai was gevurah and Beit Hillel was chesed. We rule according to Hillel until the time of Mashiach when we will go according to Shammai. The Arizal points out the verse, "Tzaddik katamar yifrach," The righteous will blossom like the palm tree. The last letters of these words spell Korach. In the times of Mashiach we will rule like Korach. But now chesed must override gevurah.

Bnei Korach prayed, "Awaken your gevurah, let us merit the third beit hamikdash, let us return to being whole, to the final rectification when all the fragmented parts of klal yisrael will come together." We are in exile because of baseless hatred. The tikun must be completed in Cheshvan, when the separation began.

The Ari teaches that the first letters of Adam spell Adam, David, and Mashiach. Mashiach will rectify the sin of eitz hadaat. All the senses were involved in this sin except smell, which remained unblemished. Why is smell the only intangible enjoyment for which we make a blessing? Food is to the body as smell is to the soul. We make a blessing on a good scent because the soul enjoys it. There are many verses that describe Mashiach connected to the sense of smell. The Navi says we will be able to smell people's fear of heaven.

Akrav (scorpion) can be read as ikar bayit. The third eternal beit hamikdash will be built in the month of Cheshvan, the month when Rachel, the akeret habayit, passed away. It will be in Cheshvan that the tribes who once rejected the house of David will seek out Hashem and the kingdom of Mashiach.

The intestines filter waste out of a person's body. Cheshvan is the month to work on our souls by purging the bad and drawing on the good. Even an evil person can be shown the pure spark hidden deep within him.

Rachel prayed before Hashem, "I was not jealous of my sister, why should you be jealous of the wood and stone idols that Klal Yisrael worshipped?"  Hashem listened to her pleading and said, "You will be rewarded. There is hope for the ends of the days. Your children will be returned to their borders." The sefer Mevaser Tov asks, if Rachel knew that there would be so much suffering in exile, why did she accept Hashem's answer? Rachel was really asking, "When the Jews are separated from you in exile, promise me that within the darkness they will still be able to seek out the light and return." And Hashem promised. Her prayers were accepted because she didn't ask only for her children but for all of klal Yisrael. Rachel didn't forfeit a soul. She believed in the inner strength of every Jew to do teshuva and reunite with Hashem. "Yesh tikva lacharitech." There is hope even for those who are acher, who have turned away. In the month of Cheshvan when we were separated from Hashem, we renew our hope that even within the depths of exile we can return.

The Mishna in Pirkei Avot says, "Let your friend's honor be as dear to you as your own, do not be easily angered and repent one day before you die." If your friend's honor is dear to you, you will control your anger and not say hurtful things. If you are aware you might die tomorrow, you won't explode over petty things. Rav Yisrael Salanter gives the analogy of a baby who is playing with wooden blocks. When someone moves the blocks, the child throws a tantrum. To an adult it seems silly and petty. That's the way it is with people. We get irritated and angry over things that are really inconsequential.

Kohelet says, "Anger dwells in the bosom of the fools." Restrict your anger to the incident that provoked it. Keep your arguments focused on the point at hand. Using the words 'always' and 'never' can destroy friendships and create rifts in marriage. When you begin sensing angry thoughts coming in to your head keep them to yourself. Bad thoughts can be fade away but words cannot. Although harsh insults can be forgiven, they will never be forgotten.

Pirkei Avot says, "Don't be easily angered," which acknowledges the fact that most people occasionally do get angry. If you have to express your anger, do so in a constructive way. But be careful not to destroy the other person. Never use damaging personal information to invalidate your adversary's contentions. Don't say, "That's why no one loves you or wants to marry you." The time to point this out is not when you are angry. In such a situation, you can't speak fairly and you'll hurt the other person.

The best way to keep your anger in check is to restrict your comments to the incident that provoked it. If you say something inappropriate in anger, apologize right away. Otherwise the wound can grow deeper and deeper.

Always be conscientious of what bad middot can do. If you hurt someone's feeling even unintentionally you'll have to pay the consequences. Middot are so critical that Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz called them fire. They can burn indiscriminately.