17 Cheshvan: The Great Flood Begins

 

Great Flood Begins [2105 BCE] - Source: Chabad

The rains began to fall on the 17th of Cheshvan of the year 1656 from creation [2105], flooding the earth and rising above the highest mountains. Only Noah and his family survived, in the ark built to that end by Divine command, and a pair of each animal species, who entered with him into the ark. 

The following is a chronology of the Flood, as indicated by the dates and time periods given in the Torah's account and calculated by Rashi: 

Cheshvan 17: Noah enters ark; rains begin. 

Kislev 27: Forty days of rain end; begin 150 days of water's swelling and churning, during which the water reaches a height of 15 cubits above the mountain peaks. 

Sivan 1: Water calms and begins to subside at the rate of one cubit every four days. 

Sivan 17: The bottom of the ark, submerged 11 cubits beneath the surface, touches down on the top of Mount Ararat. 

Av 1: The mountain peaks break the water's surface. 

Elul 10:Forty days after the mountain peaks become visible, Noah opens the ark's window and dispatches a raven. 

Elul 17: Noah sends the dove for the first time. 

Elul 23: The dove is sent a second time, and returns with an olive leaf in its beak. 

Tishrei 1: Dove's third mission. Water completely drained. 

Cheshvan 27: Ground fully dried. Noah exits ark. 

[This chronology follows the opinion of the Talmudic sage Rabbi Eliezer; according to Rabbi Joshua's interpretation, the Flood began on Iyar 17, and all above dates should be moved ahead six months.]

Total time that Noah spent in the ark: 365 days [one solar year; one year and 11 days on the lunar calendar]. 

Link: See the Torah's account of the Great Flood, Rashi's commentary, and insights and interpretations from sages, scholars and mystics through the ages on the Noach Parshah Page