Missing the Boat – Noach
וַתִּשָּׁחֵת הָאָרֶץ לִפְנֵי הָאֱ-לֹקִים וַתִּמָּלֵא הָאָרֶץ חָמָס. (בראשית ו, יא)
There is dissonance amongst Chazal and the Mefarshim regarding Noach. The passuk אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדֹרֹתָיו אֶת הָאֱ-לֹקִים הִתְהַלֶּךְ נֹחַ (בראשית ו, ט) seemingly leaves no room for doubt as to Noach's character. However, immediately Rashi on that passuk says that it is not so clear cut – there are some of our sages (referring to the machloket in Sanhedrin 108a) that judge Noach favorably and others that judge him unfavorably.
In previous years' shiurim we explored the positive character of Noach and the idea that the Ark was in fact a floating Beit Hamikdash. In this shiur we will examine the other side as presented by Chazal and the Mefarshim, who regard Noach as a failure.
Firstly, we have to confront a startling fact – when he was born, his father never named him Noach. In last week's parsha we read of the ten generations between Adam Harishon and Noach and the format of the psukkim is – "And so-and-so lived X years and gave birth to so-and-so". For example, וַיְחִי אֱנוֹשׁ תִּשְׁעִים שָׁנָה וַיּוֹלֶד אֶת קֵינָן... וַיְחִי קֵינָן שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה וַיּוֹלֶד אֶת מַהֲלַלְאֵל וכו'. However, when it speaks about Lemech giving birth to Noach it deviates from that format, וַיְחִי לֶמֶךְ שְׁתַּיִם וּשְׁמֹנִים שָׁנָה וּמְאַת שָׁנָה וַיּוֹלֶד בֵּן. וַיִּקְרָא אֶת שְׁמוֹ נֹחַ לֵאמֹר זֶה יְנַחֲמֵנוּ מִמַּעֲשֵׂנוּ וּמֵעִצְּבוֹן יָדֵינוּ מִן הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר אֵרְרָהּ ה'. The Yalkut Shimoni (בראשית ה, כח) says that Lemech, Noach's father did not call him נֹחַ at all, but rather יְנַחֵם and that it was Lemech's father Metushelach who called his new grandson Noach. The Midrash Tanchuma says that it was HKB"H who named him Noach.
In Sanhedrin 108a above, comparison is made between Noach and other generations, Rashi specifically mentions Avraham Avinu. In this shiur I would like to explore the view of the Zohar Hakadosh who compares Noach, not with Avraham, but rather with Moshe. The Zohar and the other sifrei Kabbalah reveal a chilling reality that directly impacts current events today.
Everyone knows the story of Noach as described in the Midrashim. HKB"H resolved to destroy the world with a flood because of "חָמָס" (we will understand later exactly what this means). He tells Noach to build a תֵּבָה. It takes Noach 120 years to build, not because that is how long the actual construction takes, but because Noach has to grow (from scratch) the cedar trees for the wood, since all the existing cedars were being used for avodah zarah. In all these 120 years people see Noach building the Ark and ask what he is doing. Noach tells them that HKB"H is going to destroy the world and that only those who believe in Him will be saved. The generation mock him and do not do tshuva. HKB"H unleashes the flood and the world is destroyed. Noach and his family are saved, they are on the Ark for 376 days and then they exit to find the world destroyed.
Besides building the Ark, what was Noach doing in the 120 years of its construction? We know from the Midrash above, that the actual construction did not take 120 years, perhaps 5-6 years, tops. How was Noach occupied in those 120 years?
The Zohar Hakadosh (זוהר חדש כרך א', פרשת נח) tells us (or at least it tells us what he was not doing). When Noach alighted from the Ark and saw the world destroyed, he burst into tears and said "HKB"H, You are merciful, why did You not have mercy on Your creations?" HKB"H replied – " רָעֲיָא שָׁטְיָא ('false shepherd'), now you ask Me this? I gave you 120 years to plead for mercy for the world, but when I told you that you will be saved on the Ark, you did not think about the rest of the world. Now that the world is destroyed you open your mouth to ask me for mercy?"
There is no doubt, it is not even a question, that Noach was G-d fearing. Noach was not part of the depravation of the world, he did not commit adultery, he did not steal, he did not worship idols, etc. Noach was the grandson of Metushelach, the previous Gadol Hador, he learned Torah from Metushelach, he was the new Gadol Hador and of the stature that he could have saved even that depraved generation from oblivion. Yes, people saw him building the Ark and when they asked him why, he told them. However, did Noach comb the land preaching doom and destruction and beseeching people to do tshuva (like Yona did in Ninveh)? Did he daven for his generation, his "flock", including all the sinners amongst them? The Zohar tells us that he did not. For this reason, the flood is forever remembered in his name כִּי מֵי נֹחַ זֹאת לִי (ישעיהו נד, ט).
Contrast Noach with Moshe Rabbeinu. When Am Yisrael sinned with the egel, HKB"H says to Moshe "I will destroy them all and restart Am Yisrael from you!" Moshe is safe, he is to be spared. Despite this, Moshe pleads with HKB"H for his flock. Moshe says to HKB"H, "If you destroy Am Yisrael, then erase my name from the Torah מְחֵנִי נָא מִסִּפְרְךָ". Moshe davens for his generation, even though they are sinners and deserving of obliteration and HKB"H acquiesces and forgives Am Yisrael. The word מְחֵנִי are the letters מֵי נֹחַ (and also יְנַחֵם). The Zohar calls Moshe רָעֲיָא מְהֵימָנָא – faithful shepherd.
The Ari Hakadosh (לקוטי תורה, פרשת בראשית, וכ"ה בשעה"ג הק' כ"ט) brings perhaps the biggest "mindblower" of all.
The Ari says that Noach was born with three neshamot, Yosef, Noach and Moshe - all in one. This is hinted at in the name that Lemech gave him when he was born יְ-נַחֵ-ם, Yud for Yosef, Noach and then Mem for Moshe. Also the gematriya of the rashei teivot of אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת נֹחַ נֹחַ (אתננ) is the same as the gematriya of "משה יוסף" ,(נתן שפירא זצ"ל, ספר מצת שמורים 'ר).
Lemech was not sure which of the three neshamot would be the dominant one, he was waiting to see. Metushelach (or according to the other opinion HKB"H), called him Noach - the end of the story is that Noach became the dominant neshama and neither Moshe nor Yosef.
Sefer Baruch Yomeiru gives a humorous anecdote to illustrate this. Two parents of a newborn baby come to their Rav to arbitrate a dispute over what to name the newborn child. The mother wants to call him Avraham and the father wants to call him … Avraham! "What is the problem then?" asks the Rav. The mother says "No, I want to name him after my late father Avraham who was a big Tzaddik, but my husband wants to name him after his late father Avraham, who was a no-goodnik!" The Rav's answer to them– "Name him simply Avraham, and wait. Eventually you will see how he turns out, a Tzaddik or a no-goodnik, and then you will know whose neshama he has!"
According to the Midrash (בראשית רבה פרשה לד יא), HKB"H intended to give the generation of Noach the Torah. For this reason, He heaped abundance and prosperity on them. HKB"H gave them a perfect climate. When they sowed seeds, it yielded crops for 40 years! Nobody ever became ill, they possessed superhuman strength and they all lived to over 800 years of age. This was the very same situation that Am Yisrael were in before Matan Torah. HKB"H gave them Clouds of Glory, to provide a perfect climate environment and protection from the elements. HKB"H gave them unlimited free food (Mann) and water (Well of Miriam) that cured all their physical ailments and gave them superhuman strength.
Instead of expressing gratitude to HKB"H for this abundance, Noach's generation responded וַיֹּאמְרוּ לָאֵ-ל סוּר מִמֶּנּוּ וְדַעַת דְּרָכֶיךָ לֹא חָפָצְנוּ (איוב כא, יד), they rejected HKB"H and became a depraved society worthy only of destruction.
Noach could have saved his generation, he could have davened and pleaded for his generation, he could have spent his life in תַּעֲנִית, roaming the land beseeching people to do tshuva, like R' Tzadok prior to the destruction of Bayit Sheini (Gitin 56a). Instead, Noach stayed put, secure in the knowledge that he and his family would be safe and did nothing. Did he defy HKB"H? On the contrary, he did everything HKB"H told him to the letter, אֶת הָאֱ-לֹקִים הִתְהַלֶּךְ נֹחַ, from א-ת. However, he failed as a leader. A leader is required to go beyond the letter of the law לִפְנִים מִשּׁוּרַת הַדִּין, as it says with Avraham הִתְהַלֵּךְ לְפָנַי וֶהְיֵה תָמִים and act out of love for his flock. Instead of being a Moshe, Noach was simply Noach. Instead of being a רָעֲיָא מְהֵימָנָא he was a רָעֲיָא שָׁטְיָא. The Gemara (Sanhedrin 108a) above says that Noach in fact also deserved to die like the rest of his generation, and if not for the fact that he "found favor in Hashem's eyes", he would have. What does it mean מָצָא חֵן? It means that HKB"H kept him alive because the neshama of Moshe was to be descended from him (see shiur on parshat Vayeira).
According to the Ari Hakadosh, Noach's neshama did not achieve its intended purpose and had to return 17 generations later with Moshe. This is why the passuk says כִּי אֹתְךָ רָאִיתִי צַדִּיק לְפָנַי בַּדּוֹר הַזֶּה (בראשית ז, א), the gematriya of הַזֶּה is 17 (ספר בן פורת יוסף, נח). This is also why the passuk says צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדֹרֹתָיו, and not בְּדוֹרוֹ, Noach had to mitgalgel in the future "generations" as Yosef (צַדִּיק) and as Moshe (תָּמִים). This is why Noach was in a תֵּבָה as was Moshe. (We will leave the gilgul of Yosef for another shiur).
The Gemara (חולין קלט, ב) asks what the origin of four people in the Torah are – Moshe, Haman, Esther and Mordechai? In other words, which passuk in the Torah hints at these four people (before they were born). The Gemara doesn't ask "Where is Avraham hinted to in the Torah?" (although there is a passuk that hints to Avraham אֵלֶּה תוֹלְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ בְּהִבָּרְאָם). Why these specific four? The answer is they all are involved in Matan Torah. Moshe received the Torah on Har Sinai and Haman, Esther and Mordechai were all instrumental in Am Yisrael receiving the תּוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל פֶּה willingly (קִיְּמוּ וְקִבְּלוּ הַיְּהוּדִים עֲלֵיהֶם וְעַל זַרְעָם). On Har Sinai Am Yisrael accepted the תּוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל פֶּה only because HKB"H dangled the mountain over their heads, forcing them to do so.
The passuk quoted in the above Gemara as Moshe's origin is וַיֹּאמֶר ה' לֹא יָדוֹן רוּחִי בָאָדָם לְעֹלָם בְּשַׁגַּם הוּא בָשָׂר וְהָיוּ יָמָיו מֵאָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה (בראשית ו, ג). The gematriya of בְּשַׁגַּם is the same as מֹשֶׁה. The origin of Moshe's neshama is right here in דּוֹר הַמַּבּוּל and Noach. This is where the Torah should have been given, but Noach "missed the boat" and it had to be delayed another 17 generations.
In previous shiurim we discussed how the Ark was a floating Beit Hamikdash. However, the Midrashim and the Mefarshim paint a slightly different picture. The Midrash (תנחומא, נח, יא) says that Noach considered the Ark like a prison, כשהיה נח בתיבה, היה מתפלל תמיד - הוציאה ממסגר נפשי. Another Midrash (ספר הישר, ספר בראשית, נח) says that the Ark did somersaults in the tumultuous waves. The Chatam Sofer (חתם סופר על התורה, נח) compares the Ark to a prison. On the passuk וַיִשָּׁאֶר אַךְ נֹחַ (בראשית ז, כג), Rashi says that Noach was groaning - אַךְ, from all the hard work of tending for the animals and being injured by the lion when he was late with its food.
How do we reconcile the two? Was it a Mikdash or a prison?
The truth is that a Kohen working in the Mikdash can have two diametrically opposed mindsets. One Kohen will regard it as a highly elevating experience, while another might regard it as a טִרְחָה. The Gemara (Sukkah 56a) speaks about one of the מִשְׁמְרוֹת כְּהֻנָּה whose name was Bilga. One of the daughters of mishmeret Bilga, Miriam, converted to Hellinism and married a Greek soldier. The Gemara asks "How did this happen?" and answers "Mishmeret Bilga always arrived late for their shift!" OK, so they overslept, so what? Does this result in their daughter straying from the path and marrying a Greek soldier? The Gemara is teaching us a fundamental principle of avodat Hashem. If you serve HKB"H enthusiastically and willingly, it is like you are a Kohen Gadol serving HKB"H in the Mikdash. If, however, you regard your service of HKB"H as a טִרְחָה, then even the Beit HaMikdash can become like a prison for you! Yes, the avodah in the Beit Hamikdash is unimaginably spiritually uplifting, but it is also extremely strenuous and hazardous. If you are not super-makpid in your avodah you may die! It all depends how you look at it. To mishmeret Bilga it was a טִרְחָה, and this filtered down to their children. When they came home after a shift and baby Miriam asked her Kohen father how was his shift in the Beit Hamikdash, all she heard was groans! That is how she ended up as she did, because her father instilled in her a disdain for avodat HKB"H!
Noach failed as the shepherd of his generation. HKB"H gave him a chance to do תִּקּוּן. HKB"H placed him on a floating Beit HaMikdash and gave him the "avodah" that he should have been doing in the 120 years while he was building the Ark – tending for his flock! HKB"H said to Noach – "You messed up the first time, now you have an opportunity to fix it by looking after the animals". How did Noach do this avodah? With groans! HKB"H said to Noach "I gave you the chance to be the Kohen Gadol in the Mikdash! And this is your response?" HKB"H ordered the lion to injure Noach. The Midrash (קהלת רבה, פרק י) says that a snake never bites someone and a lion never injures someone unless they are directly commanded by HKB"H to do so. HKB"H punished Noach by crippling him and thus making him passul to do avodah in the Mikdash. The job of Kehuna and offering korbanot was given instead to his son Shem (Malkitzedek Melech Shalem – from next week's parsha). Noach "missed the boat", literally. His neshama ended up being Noach and not Moshe, his grandfather Metushelach called him Noach, HKB"H called him Noach – as a sign of his failure.
In last week's shiur we explored the premise that the Torah, created before the Creation of the world, has embedded within it all the possible permutations of how the story of the world can evolve and end. This is a prime example.
The Mefarshim ask – "How can you compare Noach to Avraham, Moshe, etc.?" Each generation has its own leaders that are appropriate for that generation. The answer is that in this case, Noach's neshama was Moshe's neshama – they were the same person (or they should have been). What this also teaches us is that in each and every generation we have leaders appropriate for that generation, who have in their power to save their generation, or to fail in that task.
In last week's shiur I wrote that the attack of Hamas on Shabbat-Shmini Atzeret was an act of G-d and unexplainable. How they succeeded in avoiding billions of dollars of electronic surveillance and the best military intelligence in the world. Why they would do such a thing, knowing that it would certainly bring about their destruction.
With all the 24/7 media coverage and commentary (I don't think I have watched the news so much in my entire 58 years as I have in the last two weeks), what is noticeably absent is any "possibility" that there is a higher Power behind the current events. It doesn't raise any eyebrows that this atrocity, unparalleled since the Holocaust, perpetrated by Hamas, is taking place in the period of parshat Noach, where the Torah, for the first time mentions the word חָמָס? It doesn't set off any red lights that Hamas called their operation "Al Aqsa Flood"?
There are wheels in motion here that HKB"H is orchestrating and I believe בֶּאֱמוּנָה שְׁלֵמָה that in the coming weeks the "finger of G-d" will become blatantly obvious for everyone to see. I believe we will get to the limit of our כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי and will have no choice but to come to the realization אֵין לָנוּ עַל מִי לְהִשָּׁעֵן אֶלָּא עַל אָבִינוּ שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם (סוטה מט, ב). And when we do, we will receive the יְשׁוּעָה we are all hoping for.
Flipping between news channels, domestic and international, one cannot help notice a number of interesting patterns.
The first is the fickleness and degree of resentment the world has for us. When Hamas blew up their own hospital, they did what they always do - they wove a web of lies and blamed it on us. The speed with which our international support flipped 180 degrees was staggering. Within seconds Am Yisrael changed from being helpless victims to evil terrorists. Even if, hypothetically, it was us who blew up the hospital by mistake, does anyone imagine for an instant that Israel purposely attacks hospitals with the intention of killing civilians and arousing the ire of the world against us? The almost instantaneous, automatic reaction of both the Arab world in particular and the rest of the world in general, was to believe the Hamas lies, despite the dictates of common sense requiring the burden of proof. The Hamas lies and narrative were immediately believed and adopted even after we have proven that it is all evil lies. The Arabs around the world are incitable at the drop of a hat, they always have been and they always will be. Similarly, Israel will never win the media war. The world only loves us when we are being slaughtered. It would be well to understand this basic truth, stop trying to pander to the rest of the world and start doing what is good for Am Yisrael, regardless of what anyone, including our so-called allies, have to say.
The second pattern one cannot help but notice is that within Am Yisrael there are those that suffer from Stockholm syndrome and still cannot get past the misconceptions that have come crumbling down before their very eyes. The misconception that it is possible to make peace with the "Palestinians" and get them to stop hating us. They are Amalek, they cannot stop hating us. They always have and they always will. There cannot be peace with them.
The third pattern is that despite all the rhetoric of "how we should not look to place blame now, but rather concentrate on winning the war and afterwards investigate and hold accountable those responsible" – how everyone is incessantly and repeatedly placing blame – in the midst of the war.
Finally, I encountered a very disturbing phenomenon this week, that reeks of מְהָרְסַיִךְ וּמַחֲרִבַיִךְ מִמֵּךְ יֵצֵאוּ (ישעיהו מט, יז), that our worst enemies are from within and it has direct connection to this week's parsha.
I am not only talking about the radical left-wing Jewish antisemites that are siding with our enemy and airing hate on the foreign news channels that are aligned with our enemies, like Al Jazeera. I am also talking about self-righteous so called "Rabbanim" that are going around in חוּץ לָאָרֶץ (and perhaps even here in Eretz Yisrael) spreading vile lashon harah against Am Yisrael, under the guise that they are speaking in the name of the Torah. I had the misfortune to hear a "shiur" by a prominent "Rabbi" on the West Coast whose conclusion is that any Jew who chooses to live today in Eretz Yisrael is in fact equivalent to the many non-religious Jews who rebel against HKB"H and do not observe the Torah. That everything that happens to "them" (us) is well-deserved and that the Palestinians are right that in our current state we have no claim to the land.
Let's pause for a moment to define what sin חָמָס is, mentioned in our parsha. Chazal say it is גְּלוּי עֲרָיוֹת, the gematriya of כִּי מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ חָמָס מִפְּנֵיהֶם is "גְּלוּי עֲרָיוֹת". Chazal say, that it was mainly גְּלוּי עֲרָיוֹת but that the final גְּזַר דִּין that caused their destruction was because of גֶּזֶל. If, as the Gemara (Sanhedrin 108a) above says that Noach also deserved to die, it means he was equally guilty of חָמָס, of גֶּזֶל. Is it possible that Noach stole? How could one possibly imagine such a thing?
However, there are different types of "stealing". In next week's parsha we read how Sarah gives Hagar to Avraham as a wife and after she gives birth to Yishmael, Hagar begins to disrespect Sarah. Sarah complains to Avraham וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרַי אֶל אַבְרָם חֲמָסִי עָלֶיךָ (בראשית טז, ה). What does it mean חֲמָסִי עָלֶיךָ? Sarah says to Avraham "When you davened to HKB"H that He should give you an heir, why did you only daven for yourself, why did you not daven for me too?" By not davening for Sarah, it was as if Avraham had "stolen" something from her. Avraham's prayers had great power and if he had davened for Sarah, she would have been able to bear children.
Similarly, Noach's prayers had great power, he could have saved his generation. By not davening for his generation Noach was as guilty of חָמָס, stealing, as they were. Noach was a talmid chacham, he was G-d fearing, he was a Gadol Hador! But he did not daven for his people, that was his failure. How many Gedolei Hador are there today, both in חוּץ לָאָרֶץ and also in Israel, that are awesome talmidei chachamim and G-d fearing, but unfortunately are interested only in their own and their community's fate and not that of Klal Yisrael? Who think that the rest of Am Yisrael are expendable. If they would daven for Am Yisrael, HKB"H would listen to their prayers and how different things would look.
When this war is over, בְּחַסְדֵי ה' and with His סְעַיָּתָא דַּשְׁמִיא, we have to all do cheshbon nefesh and figure out how to preserve the fragile achdut within Am Yisrael and how to marginalize and neutralize the עֲדַת קֹרַח amongst us who rebel against HKB"H and also those who discard Am Yisrael and are interested only in their ד' אַמּוֹת.
Meanwhile we all need to focus on the ikar and that is all uniting together to fight the צוֹרֵר that has arisen against us and intensifying our davening to HKB"H for יְשׁוּעָה. In our prayers we must focus not only on ourselves and our wellbeing, but also on the rest of Klal Yisrael. Bizchut zeh, we will all hopefully witness אֶצְבַּע א-לוֹקִים and all the נִסִּים וְנִפְלָאוֹת that accompany the Geulah, בבי"א.
