Parashat Noach תשפ”ד
When introducing us to Noach, the Torah carefully tells us (Genesis 6:9) that Noach was a צדיק – a completely righteous person.
ט) אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת נֹחַ נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדֹרֹתָיו
9) These are the offspring of Noach; Noach was a righteous person, a completeצדיק in his generations.
The seemingly unnecessary words “in his generations” spark a controversy among the Sages.
Some say that these are words of great praise for Noach, for he lived in a generation of very evil people who were immoral, worshipped idols, and stole from one another. Indeed, theft is what ultimately did them in. Hashem would have tolerated the transgressions against Him, but He could not tolerate the discord between them. Despite all of this, Noach remained righteous. Therefore, if Noach was able to be a צדיק even in a generation of degenerates, could you imagine how much greater he would have been had he been born into the generation of Avraham Avinu, our forefather?
Others take the opposite approach. They explain that these words are derogatory to Noach. It was only compared to the degenerates of his generation that he was considered a צדיק. But had he been in the generation of Avraham Avinu, he would not have rated as a צדיק at all.
Harav Eliyahu Dessler in his work Michtav MiEliyahu explains that these two opinions are both true and, moreover, complement each other. While, compared to Avraham Avinu, Noach would not have been considered a צדיק, this is precisely because he lived in a generation with such evil people. It took all of his effort just to defy the tide of evil that prevailed in his society. Had he not needed to expend all that effort just to remain righteous, he would have used it to go forward and thus would have become a much greater צדיק.
Living before the Torah and its 613 Mitzvot, Noach had only seven commandments to keep, viz, the seven Noachide laws that all gentiles must observe which are necessary to live an upright moral life and which form the framework for society to function properly.
The first of these seven commandments is to believe in Hashem, the world’s Creator, to the exclusion of any idols and other gods. Number two is not to curse Hashem. (3), (4), and (5) are not to murder, steal, or commit adultery, and (6) is to have a court system to enforce all the above. (7), which came after the flood, when Noach was first permitted to eat meat, is not to pull the limb off an animal and eat it while the animal is still alive.
The trend in Noach’s time was to transgress numbers 1, 4, and 5, which made it difficult to live a righteous life. It is very hard to be the odd man out and not conform to the masses. We face the same challenge in our society today with its very strong trend against organized religion. Abstaining from societal mores requires one to buck the trend in order to live a religious life. It is reasonable to say that if it did not take so much effort just to do the things that we are doing, we would be so much greater. Even though if we measured ourselves against the righteous of the last generation we would come up short, had we grown up in their generation we would arguably have been as great as they were.
We seldom consider the difficulty of keeping the Torah and its commandments in our current society. Even making a commitment to study Torah on a weekly basis and to add more Judaism to our lives is a strong departure from the general mindset of most Jews today. Judaism and mitzvah observance tend to appear so old fashioned and archaic. Indeed, many people compare observant Jews to the Amish who refuse to leave their ancient ways and enter the 21st century. The reality, of course, could not be further from the truth. The Torah and its commandments are as fresh and relevant today as they were the day that they were given at Sinai, 3,336 years ago, and that is what keeps us going! But it still requires a tremendous amount of conviction and perseverance to fight the tide of the times and to maintain a religious lifestyle or to add a religious component in a society that thinks we are completely out of touch. If we were living in the times of our ancestors who received the Torah, we would be from the most righteous members of the nation.
Getting back to Noach, the man who saved the human race from destruction, we find a startling critique.
The prophet Isaiah (54:9) called the flood waters that destroyed the entire world except for what was in the ark with Noach, “Noach’s waters.”
ט) כִּי מֵי נֹחַ זֹאת לי
The implication is that Noach caused the flood. How could Noach be blamed for the flood, when he was the only one worthy of being saved?
Our Sages teach us that Noach is held accountable for the flood because he could have prevented it. How? By praying to Hashem to have mercy on the people and spare them from destruction.
The Zohar on this week’s portion teaches us.
תנו רבנן, מה השיב הקדוש ברוך הוא לנח, כשיצא מן התיבה וראה כל העולם חרב, והתחיל לבכות עליו, ואמר, רבונו של עולם, נקראת רחום, היה לך לרחם על בריותיך
השיבו הקדוש ברוך הוא, רעיא שטיא, כען אמרת דא, ולא בזמנא דאמרית לך בלישנא רכיכא, דכתיב (שם ו) עשׂה לך תבת עצי גפר כו’, ואני הנני מביא את המבול כו’, לשחת כל בשׂר כו’, ויאמר ה’ לנח כו’, כי אתך ראיתי צדיק לפני בדור הזה, כולי האי אתעכבית עמך, ואמרית לך, בדיל דתבעי רחמין על עלמא. ומכדין דשמעת דתשתיזיב את בתיבותא, לא עאל בלבך בישותא דעלמא, ועבדת תיבותא ואשתזבתא. וכען דאתאביד עלמא, פתחית פומך למללא קדמי בעיין ותחנונין
The Rabbis taught: When Noach came out of the ark and saw the world destroyed he began to cry and said to Hashem, “Master of the World! You are called the Merciful One. Why didn’t you have mercy on your creatures?” Hashem responded. “Silly shepherd! Now you say this? But not when I told you to make an ark of gopher wood because I am bringing a flood to destroy all humanity. Why did I wait so long (120 years)? So that you should ask for mercy on the world’s inhabitants. But once you heard that you would be saved, you didn’t think about the plight of the others; you just made the ark and saved yourself! But now that the world is lost, you open your mouth to ask for mercy?”
The Prophet Yechezkel tells us in the name of Hashem (18:32).
לב) כִּי לֹא אֶחְפֹּץ בְּמוֹת הַמֵּת נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱדֹוִד וְהָשִׁיבוּ וִחְיו
32) “For I do not desire the death of the one who should die,” said Hashem Elokim. “Turn yourselves back (do teshuva) and live!”
Hashem never wants to punish even evil people. Hashem created mankind to receive the greatest pleasure in the world, and He wants very much that each person in the world receive that pleasure. He would much rather that we do teshuva and receive that reward. This is why Hashem gave Noach a hint -120 years – that he should pray for his generation and try to save them.
Unfortunately, Noach did not take the hint. He did not understand that the reason that he was given 120 years to build the ark was to afford him the opportunity to try to save the people of his generation. He, however, thought that Hashem would prefer them all dead, and therefore did not pray for them. This is why he is faulted for the flood.
But why pray for the evil people? Why try to save them? Let them perish in their evilness.
The מביט Mabit (Rabbi Moses ben Joseph Trani 1500-1580) in his work בית אלקים (Bet Elokim) asks an even more difficult question, from a totally different perspective. Where is the justice in the evil people perishing because the צדיק neglected to pray for them? Why should they be punished for the sin of the צדיק?
He answers that these evil people deserved death because of their sins. Yet, the צדיק could possibly have saved them through praying for them that they come to their senses and do teshuva and return to Hashem. That is the essence of the prayers of the righteous, that all mankind recognize Hashem and fulfill His will. This will bring each person to the fulfillment of his purpose in the world and ultimately the entire world to its perfected state as Hashem’s kingdom. When the צדיק neglects to pray for the evil to mend their ways, they remain in their state of evil, and ultimately are punished for it.
This answer brings forth another difficult question. How does prayer for someone to do teshuva work? Does not the choice to do good have to originate from him? How is it that I can influence another’s freedom of choice for the good?
The greatest possible mitzvah that a person can do is to bring a Jew closer to his Maker, Hashem. To create a deep and close relationship with Hashem is Hashem’s goal for each of His creations. Hence, whomever aids in that process is fulfilling Hashem’s most fervent wish to have His creations close to Him. In turning to Hashem in prayer for a lost or evil soul to return to Hashem, the person praying is placing all his hope and trust in Hashem and comes closer to Hashem by creating this strong bond of trust between him and Hashem. The evil person who was the catalyst for this new closeness to Hashem has thus gained the great merit of having brought someone closer. The magnitude of this mitzvah alone could suffice to trigger a small change in the thinking or attitude of even an evil person and help him begin the teshuva process. With continued prayer, the merit of the person who caused it and its benefits, grows greater and greater. In time, his merit may be so great that he himself comes to recognize Hashem and go in His ways. While there may be some people who are so far gone that even the most fervent prayers of the most righteous person will be ineffective, one can never know; it was thus a critique against Noach for not trying.
When it came to destroying the city of Sedom (which we will read about in two weeks), Avraham reacted correctly, praying to Hashem to save them.
The people of Sedom were evil and sadistic. Their philosophy forbade acts of kindness. For example, in Sedom, one was not permitted to feed the hungry or host guests in his home. If a needy person came to town, no one was allowed to give him any food or invite him into his home to lodge. The local hotel was no better. They would provide a long bed for a short person and stretch him until he fit and would provide a short bed for a long person and cut his feet off. The screams of agony and suffering from the victims who were tortured by Sedom’s inhabitants reached Hashem’s ears, and the cry was so great that Hashem decided He needed to eliminate the entire city. Another example of their ingenious cruelty, and the event that sealed their fate, the Midrash relates, is the story of a poor man who came to town and remained a little too long. The townsfolk understood that someone must be secretly feeding him, so they staked out a spy to catch the culprit, who turned out to be a young girl. To make an example of her, they smeared her body with honey and put her on the top of a wall near bee hives, where the bees stung her to death.
Before destroying Sedom, Hashem made a point of telling Avraham what He intended to do.
יז) וַידֹוָד אָמָר הַמֲכַסֶּה אֲנִי מֵאַבְרָהָם אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה
17) And Hashem said: “Could I hide from Avraham what I plan to do?”
The people of Sedom were the antithesis of Avraham and everything for which he stood. Avraham was the pillar of kindness in the world and goes down in Jewish history as the person who perfected the attribute of kindness. He had a five-star hotel that was free to all, and he personally made sure that each guest received the best service possible.
When Hashem revealed to Avraham Avinu that the people of Sedom had crossed the line and were marked for destruction, instead of saying, “It’s about time! These evil people deserve to be destroyed!” Avraham argued and negotiated with Hashem to try to save them!
When Hashem told Avraham Avinu what he intended to do, Avraham asked himself, “Why is Hashem telling me this? Obviously, there is something He wants me to do about it.” Avraham correctly concluded that Hashem wanted him to pray for them and try to save them.
Avraham’s approach to saving the overwhelming majority of evil people in Sedom, was to seek an avenue through with they could be turned around and, in that merit, save them. Avraham realized that if there were righteous people in the city, they could pray for them and exert a positive influence on the others to change their ways, so He began by asking Hashem, “If there are 50 righteous people in the city, will You destroy the entire city including them?” Hashem said, “I will not.”
When there weren’t even fifty righteous people, Avraham bargained again with Hashem. “What if there are 45?” Hashem said, “I won’t destroy it if there are 45.” Avraham went to 40, 30, 20, and finally 10. At each request, Hashem responded, “I will not destroy the city for that number of righteous people.” Unfortunately, in reality, there wasn’t even one righteous person in the entire city, and there was no hope for them, so Hashem destroyed it.
Avraham’s efforts to save the people of Sedom were unsuccessful because they were too far gone, but the lesson to us is clear. Hashem wants prayer even for such despicable people, and, under the right conditions, prayer would have saved them even though they were so evil.
We find the same with Moshe after the Jewish people had committed the sin with the golden calf. Hashem said to Moshe (Exodus 32:10)
י) וְעַתָּה הַנִּיחָה לִּי וְיִחַר אַפִּי בָהֶם וַאֲכַלֵּם וְאֶעֱשֶׂה אוֹתְךָ לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל
10) And now, let go of Me and I will vent my anger against them and destroy them and make you into a great nation.
Moshe thought to himself. Hashem said, “Let go of me? Am I holding on to You? What do You mean let go of me?” Moshe realized that Hashem was giving him an opening to pray for them and save them. Moshe understood that even though they had sinned, Hashem still wanted him to pray for them and save them.
Moshe’s greatness and humility really come out here. Hashem told Moshe that He would destroy the Jewish people and begin a new nation from him. Instead of seeing himself as the father of a new nation, Moshe said to Hashem, “If a table with three legs cannot stand, how could a table with only one leg stand?” meaning, “If the Jewish nation, which was founded by three great and holy men, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, cannot survive, how could a nation that would come from just one person, me, possibly endure?” Ignoring the bait, Moshe knew that Hashem never wants to punish a transgressor, and he seized the opportunity to pray for them and, thus, saved them.
Knowing that Hashem never wants to punish His people but rather wants them to repent and continue to live, Moshe saved the Jewish people from destruction many times through his prayers for them.
If prayer is so powerful that if there were but 10 righteous people in Sedom it could have saved even the lowest most despicable people, we must contemplate how powerful and helpful our prayers are for the holy soldiers in the Israeli army (Tzahal) who are placing their lives in danger to secure the safety of their brothers.
If prayer is so powerful that it saved the Jewish nation who sinned with the golden calf, can you imagine how far it will go on behalf of our holy soldiers?
As explained above, when we pray to Hashem, we come closer to Him by showing that we place our trust in Him and understand that He is all capable and can fulfill our wishes. This confers the great merit of bringing someone closer to Hashem upon the soul of the soldier who caused it. This merit is so great, that it protects him and saves him in a moment of peril. As we continue to pray on his behalf, his merit grows and grows, continuously protecting him from harm.
It is important that we realize, that as we hear on the news of the successful campaigns of our troops against the enemy, that these successes are the results of our prayers and Torah learning on their behalf, and not the Israeli army’s military prowess.
In every shul and in every yeshiva after every prayer, morning, afternoon and night, extra Psalms are recited on behalf of the Israeli soldiers in battle. Many thousands of people have accepted to learn extra hours of Torah on behalf of the soldier in battle. Many thousands of acts of kindness are being done to bring merit to the soldiers in battle. This is the reason for their success. Of course, they are well trained and know what they need to do, but, the success of their efforts, as with everything in the world, depends of the will of Hashem. Praying for them brings them great merit, and gives Hashem good reason to protect them and grant them success. This is exactly what Hashem wants us to do.
We feel so privileged to be able to help and protect our brothers in battle against our lowlife enemy who want to kill every Jew in the most horrific way. Yet in the merit of our prayers and Torah learning, Hashem continues to protect them and our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael. We must redouble our efforts to pray and learn Torah as much as possible for the success of our soldiers in battle, and we thank Hashem for listening to our prayers. In the merit of our prayers, may we merit to hear only good tidings, and may the Mashiach come and save us from all this grief, speedily in our times.
The following story appeared in last week’s booklet but is appropriate for this week as well.
On a recent trip to Israel, Betsy and Simon Glick from Beverly Hills, California, visited one of the beautiful coastal cities situated on the Mediterranean Sea, the city of Herztliya. One evening, for dinner, they went to a steakhouse overlooking the water called Meat and Wine Co. Shortly after taking their seats at a table, they were greeted warmly by a polite and charismatic young waiter. After taking their order, he said, “If you need anything else, my name is Ayal.”
Hearing the name Ayal hit Betsy like a lightning bolt, and she said to him, “Tell me, by any chance, is your mother’s name Orna? “
Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Betsy had one more question, “and were you a soldier in the war last summer protecting the land of Israel from missile attacks?”
“Yes, I was, but how did you know?”
“Because, the name “Ayal ben Orna” is written on a piece of paper stuck to a cupboard in my kitchen, and I have been praying for your safety since last summer.” Exclaimed Betsy.
“But you don’t even know me! How did you get my name?” asked Ayal!
Betsy explained that she had called a special number when the war broke out, to get the name of a soldier to pray for. The name she was given was Ayal the son of Orna.
“You know what is even more amazing?” continued Betsy, “As I was praying for you just two weeks ago, I turned my eyes to heaven and said to G-d, “you know G-d, I don’t even know the fate of this young man! It sure would be nice to meet him and see how he is doing. And here I am talking to you! I am so excited to see that you are in fact safe and sound and that G-d had also answered my prayers for your safety!”
