The Era of Noach & the Flood

From Adam HaRishon [after he was banished from Gan Eden] and on, a new period starts in Man’s spiritual life. Even if he wishes to, he can no longer remove the garments of materialism and his natural instincts [which are not necessarily good], and is forced, throughout his life, to fight his nature and to battle his corrupt middos until one of the combatants—either the intellect or the desire—falls dead. The people who lived after Adam could not battle against their nature as well as they should have. For generation after generation, Man’s spiritual condition continued to fall until the corruption of people and their evil became so great that the Creator regretted creating them and said: “I will erase Man, whom I created, from the face of the earth.” This was the generation of the flood.

Yet, at the time Man’s deterioration reached the ultimate extreme, when even animals were corrupted due to Man’s evil, an individual was found who was not afraid of the spirit of the times. He stood without fear and did not bend his shoulder to the wind that was blowing in the world. He was making a protest against the people in his generation. This was Noach.

“Noach was a tzaddik in his generation, and Noach walked with Hashem” (Bereishis 6:9). Rashi, zt”l, explains that “Noach walked with Hashem” means that he needed the Ribbono shel Olam to support him. [Noach had not, at this point, reached such a high madreigah as that of Avraham Avinu after him, who walked by himself—“lech lecha”]. Noach’s recognition of good was not strong enough that he did not need Hashem to help him. [He could not make it on his own.]

Noach was one of those people about whom the Gra writes (Kol Eliyahu Succah 52): “The Gemara says: ‘If Hashem would not help a person, he would be unable to conquer his yetzer hara’ (Kiddushin 30). If a person reaches this level and has done everything he could do, but without the Ribbono shel Olam’s help he will not be able to conquer it, then the Ribbono shel Olam does not let him fall into the hands of the bad.” We are told that everything is in the hands of Hashem except for yiras Shamayim, and now the Gra says that love and yiras Shamayim are from Hashem, too.

This was the madreigah shown of Noach. On his side, whatever was within his power and ability to do, he gave to avodas Hashem. But on the internal level, he was still missing some of the inner ahavas Shamayim and yiras Shamayim—which required the Ribbono shel Olam to give it to him as a gift. [“He walked with Hashem”—Hashem gave him the connection, held his hand.] On this, Chazal said: “He believed in Hashem, and at the same time, he did not believe. Rather, the water pushed him into the teivah” (Bereishis Rabbah 32,1). Noach believed in that which required all the actions he needed to do [whatever he had to do for the building or gathering, he did]. And in the small part where he did not believe, he required Hashem to help.

Noach was opposite of those in his generation, who did not believe and had belief. When it came to what they had to do and should have done, they were not believers. As the Rambam wrote (Hilchos Teshuvah 5,2): “A person has a choice—either you believe or you do not believe. Every person can either be a tzaddik like Moshe Rabbeinu or a rasha like Yeravam.” They believe in whatever concerns the Ribbono shel Olam helping them. Why shouldn’t they believe that? Does it bother them that they are getting helped? Therefore, the very same water that pushed Noach into the teivah, pushed the men of his generation away from the teivah.

This is exactly what a nisayon does: It elevates a person who is going up and knocks down a person who is going down. This is like the challenges experienced during the war [WWI, a terrible time, when at least a quarter million Jews were murdered in Eastern Europe; when ten armies were crisscrossing Russia and almost all of them were killing Jews]. A person who was seeking Hashem, who did what the Ribbono shel Olam wants, was able to withstand the test and rose even higher through the nisayon; the waters of nisayon pushed him into the teivah. And a person who did not believe the Word of Hashem was destroyed by the nisayon and was pushed away from the teivah, in which he already had one foot.

However, although Noach was a tzaddik gamur, as the Torah testifies, absolute clarity to us of what his exact madreigah was remains in doubt. We still do not know [we will never know] what it was that caused him to uplift himself over the rest of his generation. What was it that forced him to do so? This is what Chazal argue about, discussing that pasuk and asking: What does it mean that Noach was a tzaddik in his generation? [Does it mean he was a tzaddik “only in his generation” or “even in his generation”?] One rabbi says it is praise: “Even in his generation he was a tzaddik.” One rabbi says it is reprehensible: “Only in his generation was he called a tzaddik.” One rabbi says, “If Noach was in the generation of Avraham, he would also be a tzaddik there.” And one rabbi says that had Noach been in the generation of Avraham Avinu, he would not have been considered anything. (Sanhedrin 108)

To understand what this means, it is as follows: The Amoraim were not arguing about the definition of his tzidkus itself and how it would measure up to Avraham’s. Rather, they argued, why was Noach such a tzaddik? What was it that forced him to be a tzaddik? One says, it was his bikush, his searching for the right thing. He wanted to know what was the truth, and that raised him above everyone else so that he should not drown in the sea of desires, as the rest of his generation did. Surely if he lived in Avraham’s generation, when there was nothing to interfere with what he wanted to do, he would be a greater tzaddik!

The other opinion says that Noach would not have been more of a tzaddik than anyone in his generation if he was just seeking the truth. If that was the only thing he did, he would not be such a tzaddik; he would be just an ordinary person [with a good head and good insight]. However, Noach saw that in his generation, when people were so deteriorated and their middos were so ugly, he could not choose to be lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. If he did not seek to reach the highest possible madreigah, the emptiness of the world would pull him way down and he would not even be able to remain lukewarm. Had Noach lived in Avraham’s generation, when the people were more righteous and the level of spiritual danger was lower, then surely Noach would have chosen a lower level.

You can compare this to a person who is traveling on a train with a first-class ticket. If it is a time of peace, and all the train cars are empty, traveling in the first-class compartment shows he is a wealthy man who can afford the best. However, if it is a time of emergency, and all the lower-class cars are filled with soldiers, traveling first class is no indication of prosperity; the traveler may have no choice but to travel first class since the rest of the train is filled with soldiers. On this, Chazal said: “Had Noach lived in the generation of Avraham, he would not be considered a tzaddik at all, because his need to travel and his unwillingness to remain behind in the train station were what propelled him into first class.” But in essence, it does not matter why he got into first class; the fact remains that he is traveling in first class. Therefore, “Noach was a tzaddik in his generation.”