Dvar Torah Parashat Noach

Dedicated Leilui Nishmat and in Loving Memory of

Rahamim Ben Adele, Mr. Rahmo Naftali A”H  

________________________________________________________

Parashat Noach

A Chance to Repent

Parashat Bereshit ended with, “Ve Noach matzah chen b’enei Hashem—But Noach found favor in the eyes of G-d (6:8).” We start our week by repeating this statement in our havdalah three consecutive times on motzei Shabbat. We want Hashem and others to find chen—favor in us!

Because Noach stood out among all the people in his generation, Hashem approached him with His plan to destroy the entire world, except for Noach and his family. Hashem told Noach to build a tevah—ark according to specific dimensions so that it would hold and protect his family and all the pairs of animals that would then populate the earth after the mabul—flood.

The question that’s asked is, why did Hashem burden Noach with constructing an ark that would take a hundred and twenty years to build, instead of performing a miracle to accelerate the process? Rashi (6:14) answers this question, saying that the reason was to give the people of that generation a chance to repent, as they watched Noach slowly build this tremendous ark on dry land. But instead of seizing this opportunity to change their ways and do teshuvah—repentance, they scoffed at him and called him crazy.

Noach also had an opportunity to save his generation, but his failure to try and influence the people is one of the reasons why the flood is often called mei noach—the waters of Noach, suggesting, according to the Zohar (page 42B), that he may have had some responsibility for the flood. There’s a Kabbalah (Tikunei Zohar 113A) that says that Moshe was a gilgul—reincarnation of Noach, and when Bnei Yisrael sinned with the golden calf and Hashem threatened to destroy the Jewish people, Moshe—who lived 120 years, the same number of years that it took Noach to build the ark—prayed on their behalf. He said to Hashem in Parashat Ki Tisa, “Mecheni na mesifrecha—Erase me from Your Torah” if You destroy this nation. The word “mecheni” contains the same letters as “mei Noach—the waters of Noach.”

Like Noach, Moshe was also allowed to repopulate the earth and start a new nation. However, Moshe prayed to Hashem that if the Jewish people would be destroyed, he would want to be erased as well, thereby saving the Jewish people of his generation. So, we learn from this that Moshe, as Noach’s gilgul, fixed Noach’s shortcoming of not reaching out to save his generation during the 120 years that it took him to build the ark.

Ish Tzadik Tamim—A Righteous and Perfect Man

Parashat Noach opens with the passuk, “Noach ish tzaddik tamim haya bedorotav—Noach was a righteous and blameless man in his generation.” We see from this passuk that Noach possessed three qualities. He was a tzaddik—righteous person. He was a tamim—faultless person. And he was an ish--person. However, notice that the sequence of the adjectives is ish, then tzaddik and tamim.

Rav Yisrael Salanter had a son-in-law who was about to marry off his daughter. The future son-in-law was a tremendous scholar and Rav Yisrael’s son-in-law was so impressed with him that he sent a notebook of the young man’s Torah insights to Rav Yisrael Salanter, so that Rav Yisrael could see who his granddaughter was marrying.

Rav Yisrael read the Torah insights and he said, “You’ve shown me that this son-in-law that you are considering is a Gaon. It is nice to be a Gaon and a talmid chacham, but first, you must impress me that he is an ish, a mensch, a proper and dignified man.”

Empathy and Kiruv

Noach was missing an important quality that Avraham had. Noach did not try to influence the others around him as Avraham did by taking in guests and performing acts of kindness. Avraham was the first person to recognize that there is a G-d who runs the world. He understood that it was his duty not only to be the beneficiary of Hashem’s kindness but to emulate Hashem in every way he could.

As great as Noach was for being a tzaddik who was righteous enough to be saved, he did not have it in him to help those around him to repent. (Some commentators say that maybe he did not really believe that the flood would come. According to this reading, Noach was not sufficiently strong in his convictions, and therefore he was not persuasive enough to help his generation make teshuvah and ultimately to save them from the great flood.) We too must realize that we are faced with a similar test and that we all have an opportunity to influence our fellow Jews in some positive way. And if we do not do this, we may also be held accountable.

We learn from this parasha, that it is not enough to be like Noach; rather, we must also try to emulate Avraham, who searched for opportunities to perform acts of kindness. We all should help our fellow Jew grow in Torah and mitzvot.

Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis told an amazing story in her book The Committed Life, about a speaking tour that she was on in Israel. She needed some musicians to accompany her, and out of nowhere, she was approached by a few yeshivah boys who offered their services. She asked them how they knew that she needed a band. The leader of the band answered, “Actually, we didn’t know, we just wanted to help.” With that, he began to tell his story.

“A few years ago, when I was living in New York, I was totally assimilated. I had no understanding of Judaism. My life was music, and I was on my way to Paris to continue my musical studies. I was walking on Kings Highway in Brooklyn when suddenly I heard a crash and the screech of brakes. I looked up, and there in the street, covered with blood, was a Rabbi who had been run over by a car. I rushed to his side and tried to talk to him, but he didn’t respond, so I stayed with him and held his hand until the police and an ambulance came. As he was lifted onto a stretcher, I noticed that his lips were moving. It seemed like he wanted to tell me something. I leaned down and bent my ear close to his lips so that I might hear him. Rebbetzin, you’ll never believe what the Rabbi said to me.” For a moment, the young man paused. Then he swallowed hard and continued with his story.

“‘Son, are you Jewish?’ the Rabbi asked me. ‘Yes, Pop,’ I answered. ‘I am Jewish.’ ‘Son’ the Rabbi whispered again – although it was obvious that it was very painful and difficult for him to talk. He mustered all his strength and said, ‘You must go to Jerusalem and study Torah.’”

“Can you imagine? There was this Rabbi, suffering from multiple fractures, his body bloody and bruised, and in his pain what did he do? He told me to go to Jerusalem and study Torah! That experience changed my life. I realized that I had met a saint, a man who was so committed to his faith that he was able to overcome his suffering to reach out to me. So now you know why I’m here. The Rabbi changed my life, and I want to give back.”

Rebbetzin Jungreis listened to his story but had difficulty answering him. She recognized that story; she knew it well because that Rabbi was her father. When he recovered from that accident, he told his children of the incident and asked that they try to find the young man to thank him for his kindness, for staying with him until the ambulance came. They never did find him, but now, years later, here in Jerusalem, he came to offer his services in gratitude to the Rabbi, and the Rebbetzin was able to thank him in the name of her father. We see from this story how the Rabbi reached out to another Jew even in an incredibly difficult time and was able to bring him back to Judaism. This is the trait of Avraham Avinu that Noach didn’t practice in his generation.

Chacham David Yosef shlita told a dvar Torah le’ilui nishmat his father, Chacham Ovadia Yosef, ZT’L. The midrash says that after the mabul, Noach went outside from the tevah, and looked around and cried about the loss of the world. Hashem told him, “You foolish shepherd. Now you’re crying?? If you cried before the flood, you could have changed My decree. Why didn’t you cry before the flood?”

“The question is,” Chacham David Yosef asked, “why does this matter? The reason Hashem brought the flood is because of the sins of that generation, not because Noach didn’t cry. So why would his crying have prevented the flood? Noach also tried to go around to help the people of the generation for 120 years while he built the ark, but he never saw any results.” The Rabbi continued to explain that there are many baalei teshuvah in the world now, and behind every baal teshuvah, there is a Rabbi who is behind him, encouraging him to become religious. How could it be that there are Rabbis today who helped over 100,000 people to become baalei teshuvah, but Noach, a huge Rabbi that Hashem designated, couldn’t even get one baal teshuvah, even one student, under his belt? Chacham David Yosef said, “The answer is in what Hashem asked Noach, ‘Why didn’t you cry before the flood?’”

Before the mabul, Noach would go around to the people of his generation and say, “You are bad people, and Hashem is going to destroy you. There is a flood coming and you will all die.” If we tried to make baalei teshuvah using Noach’s method, saying, “You are a bad man; you have to be religious, or Hashem will send you to gehenam,” then we will surely fail! Chacham David Yosef continued, “The only way to bring someone back is to show him that we care about him, to cry with him, to empathize, to show him love.”

Gratitude

The first thing Noach did when he left the ark was bring korbanot—offerings to thank Hashem for saving him and his family. Hashem did not command him to do so, yet before building shelter and planting crops Noach took the time to build an ark and make sacrifices.

One of the hostages speaking up about his horrific time in Gaza let the world know that they only gave him salt water to drink. You could literally see the salt crystals at the bottom of the container. Dying of thirst, he drank the salt water. If we were to only drink salt water, we would die quickly. Miraculously, the hostage survived two years under these conditions. The hostage, a secular Jew vowed from that day on to thank Hashem for every drop of water he drinks when he is freed.

We need to thank Hashem beyond our duties, beyond the set prayer times of Shacharit, Mincha and Arvit. Thanking Hashem does not have to be complicated. You can thank Hashem for having a good day, finding a parking spot, a warm house in the winter…. It can be done on something as simple as a glass of water. There is no such thing as too much gratitude.

Celebrating Corruption

Right before the flood it says, “And G-d saw the earth, and behold it had become corrupted, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth (6:12).” In Rashi’s comment on this verse, he writes that whenever there is promiscuity, catastrophe comes to the world and kills the good along with the bad. Noach’s generation was so corrupt to the point where even domestic animals, beasts, and birds, mated outside their species, and the people would sing songs praising the wicked behavior of that time. It was unquestionable that the generation of the flood had to be eradicated.

Until that generation, although people were immoral, there was still at least a feeling of “What we are doing is illegitimate, but we’ll do it anyhow… behind closed doors. I won’t go around bragging about it.” When society legitimizes something and turns immorality into cultural entertainment or an acceptable “alternative lifestyle,” that’s when G-d says, “Enough!”

Rabbi Mansour recently shared words about the current generation. It says in the Gemara, that tzaddikim asked one of the great Rabbis of their time if he desired to live in the time of Mashiach, and the Gadol, Ula, answered: “Let the Mashiach arrive, but after my death, so I will not see.” What did he mean?

The Gemara describes predictions of Mashiach to arrive in a generation filled with terrible degeneration. The great Rabbis did not want to see the deterioration of society’s morals. The Gemara Sotah predicts inflation, disrespect, division, the judgment of religion, and the desecration of Shabbat and holidays.

Rabbi Frand takes note that in the opening passuk the parasha, the name “Noach” is mentioned three times: “These are the offspring of Noach – Noach was a righteous man, perfect in his generations; Noach walked with G-d,” (Bereishit 6:9). The Medrash Tanchuma takes note of this strange sentence structure and comments that the passuk alludes to the fact that Noach is an individual who had the distinction of seeing three different worlds: He saw the world when it was settled; he saw the world when it was destroyed; and he saw the world when it was settled once again. 

Rav Simcha Wasserman expressed the thought that anyone who lived in Europe before the Holocaust, who lived through the Holocaust, and then merited to come out of the Holocaust and settle either in the United States or in the Land of Israel may also say about himself that he saw three worlds: He saw a settled world, a world in destruction, and a world once again settled. Today the world’s morals have sunk to new lows, which is the first step of the arrival of Moshiach. May we merit to see the next world, the coming of Moshiach very soon!

May we all walk in the ways of the righteous Noach, but may we also emulate Hashem by performing acts of kindness, following in the footsteps of the forefather of the Jewish Nation, Avraham Avinu. May we also make a place for ourselves in the shuls, yeshivot, and bet midrashim of our community to learn Torah, so that we may keep far away from the immoral ways of today's society! May we protect our eyes from the wickedness of the generation and may this grief have been enough for Mashiach to arrive swiftly in our days. Amen!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Amram Sananes, written by Jack Rahmey

Discussion Point:

• What is the impact that social media has on our generation?

This book is a compilation of Divre Torah from the weekly parasha classes from Rabbi Sananes’ teachings over the last 10 years along with my own experiences in those classes which has stimulated my Torah growth. I’ve included many pertinent stories and life lessons to grow from at your Shabbat table. There’s also questions and discussion points at the end of each Parasha to stimulate a Torah conversation at your Shabbat table for the whole family to participate in. Also, included is a holidays section at the end of the book to use for all of our special holidays and Yomiim Toviim.  Now available in all Jewish bookstores and Amazon! Scan the barcode on the right to purchase from Amazon.

Rabbi Sananes and I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Sincerely, Rabbi Amram Sananes and Jack E. Rahmey

AmramSananes@me.com and jrahmey@rahmeyfinancial.com (917-226-6276)               

Download Document

Le’ilui Nishmat…

Eliyahu Ben Rachel

Rabbi Shimon Chay Ben Yaasher

Avraham Ben Garaz

Sarah Bat Chanah

Esther Bat Sarah

Avraham Ben Mazal

Shulamit Bat Helaina

Rabbi Meyer Ben Chana

Rahamim Ben Mazal

Batsheva Bat Sarah Esther

Rafael Ben Miriam

Ovadia Ben Esther

Rav Haim Ben Rivka

Moshe Ben Mazal

Moshe Ben Yael

Yitzchak Ben Adele

Avraham Ben Mazal

Meir Ben Latifa

Chanah Bat Esther

Yaakov Ben Rachel

Malka Bat Garaz

Moshe Ben Garaz

Avraham Ben Kami

Yaakov Ben Leah

Mordechai Ben Rachel

Chacham Shaul Rachamim Ben Mazal

Natan Ben Rachel

Saadia Ben Miriam

Eliyah Ben Latifa Simhon

Margalit Bat Mazal

Ovadia Haim Ben Malaky

Rabbi Aharon Chaim Ben Ruchama

Luratte Bat Masouda

Esther Bat Menucha

Uri Ben Rahel

Rivka Bat Dona

Shalom Ben Zahra

Rachel Bat Sarah

Shalom Ben Zahra

Chava Yvette Bat Jamile

Yehoshoua Ben Batsheva 

Refuah Shelemah…

Rachel Bat Devorah

Gimol Sarah Ester Bat Batsheva

Haim Ben Miriam

Rachmim Ben Leah

Anyone interested in dedicating this Divre Torah Le'ilui Nishmat or Refuah Shelemah or In Honor of someone, can email me at

jrahmey@rahmeyfinancial.com. Checks can be made out to “A Life of Torah” for $101 and mailed to 2387 Ocean Ave Suite 1G, Brooklyn, NY 11229 (please put in the memo “Divre Torah”). Anyone interested in past parshiot please go to the website ParashaPerspective.org