The Bible tells of Noah gathering together his family and other folk who believed that God would cause an extraordinary flood. They built an ark and brought onto the ark all the kinds of animals, male and female, to save them. The story is about faith and about new beginnings. But in the telling, all the positive steps mentioned were taken by men. There is little mention of mothers or daughters or wives or sisters. And there was no mention of saving the plant kingdom.

Hebrew myths include a story about Naamah, Noah’s wife, who gathered samples of all the plants, and cared for them on the Ark, so there would be food and shelter and beauty after the flood. Learning about Naamah was an “Aha!” moment for me. I wanted to tell others about Naamah, as well as celebrate the possibility of beginning anew.