This last summer we learnt with Rav Daniel an amazing Midrash (Bereshit Raba, 32) with the commentary of the Maharal… The story, adapted to today's social reality, goes like this:
IN the days before the flood, there was a tremendous scramble to get on board the ark…Sheker (Lies) realized the oncoming deluge and tried to get a place on board. "I'm sorry," said Noach. "We only accept couples, and you're all alone."
SO Lies heads off to the singles bar, looking for a date, and who does he run into but Pachta (Destruction). They start schmoozing and Lies proposes that they hook up to go on the ark together. Destruction looks up and says, "well what's in it for me? How about we make a deal - I'll be your partner, but everything you get, you have to give to me." Lies thinks it over, and agrees- the pressing issue being they survive the flood. So they head back to the ark and Noach sees the two of them together, and as they're a couple, he readily admits them onto the ark, and into our world…
Now this seems like typical Noach right? He has the opportunity to make a real fixing by denying falsehood a place in the post-flood world, but what does he do? Just plays by the rules that God told him- accept couples… Now if Avraham was there he would take the initiative in fixing the world, but not Noach, who is just comfortable doing just as God says, but nothing more. Back to the conclusion of the story…
So after the flood is over, life continues and so does the relationship between Lies and Destruction… But at a certain point, Lies turns to Destruction and asks, "Honey? Where is all the stuff I've been giving you all this time?" Destruction replies, "What do you mean? I've been destroying it of course!"
And the moral of the midrash is, that which you acquire through deceit will in the end not last…
A sweet parable… A true moral principle… but this midrash sure seems to bolster the notion that Noach was only a tzadik relative to his generation, neither arguing on behalf of the world, nor trying to fix anything - just staying comfortable?
Yet the Zohar seems to think that Noach really was a big righteous one…that he was totally bound to Hashem's will, he was the keeper of covenant with the Creator. And Noach did do exactly what Hashem said, namely he only accepted couples. Obviously God knew what he was doing…. Right? Then why let falsehood into the world?
So the question is: can how allowing both Lies and Destruction into our times be considered fixing the world?
The answer comes from the Maharal. The problem with the world before the flood was deeply rooted in the breakdown of couples. Humans were sleeping with animals, different species together…The way of Life was being perverted.. Everyone knows that a mule can't have babies. The notion of process was being halted by the breaking down of natural partnership. The world that was created by the letter Bet, of twos, of sharing, of duality, was being erased.
In the world before the flood one could lie and lie and lie, and there would be no consequences. One wouldn't even feel bad, or any less about what was gained. It was a world that allowed for and then became full of insensitivity to the other, abuse and solipsism. By Noah demanding that only couples can enter, he created a world where our actions show up in consequences. If what starts in lies ends in loss, then I have what to learn from in life. And it really is a coupled relationship between lies and loss, for when I lie about something, I am denying the existence of what is true through my words. This is the root of destroying things. The actual physical destruction is just a playing out of a lie. If one can lie and say there was never a Temple in Jerusalem, then it is very easy to destroy the physical evidences of such a building, for I say that it doesn't exist. This is a world of Toldot- which the Beit Ya'akov explains as something that was concealed being brought to light. This is a world where our relationships build and reflect back to us what is in ourselves, providing the fuel for our growth. If I have a smidgeon of feeling bad from telling a lie, it's thanks to Noah and it's from that consequence that I may now learn and grow- living the relationship of teshuva that this world is really about.
We must be aware of the sin of the generation of the flood, and watch out for those things which mask the consequences of our action. I always thought in college how intense it would be if all or our light came from candles, simply because we would realize how many candles it takes to provide us with light. Currently, when I just flip the switch- what notice do I take of the consequence from my flippant actions?
So let us say thank you Noach, for giving us a world in which we can all fall from our mistakes, instead of just gliding along in life without having to ever face the music. For true tzadikim, must fall seven times and learn and grow…and we owe that growth to Noach.
Shaul David Judelman
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Shaul David Judelman currently resides in Jerusalem. After growing up amongst the Douglas Firs of Seattle, Washington, he came to Israel on a quest for Judaism alive in its land. He spent six years in the Bat Ayin Yeshiva Rabbinical program and now teaches at Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo while working on several different environmental initiatives in Jerusalem. He is the founder and coordinator of Simchat Shlomo’s Eco-Activist Beit Midrash, a program offering holistic in-depth Torah study around issues of ecology. |