Genesis 6:9-11:32<\/a><\/p>\nIn 5785, a story about a world so full of evil that God sees no other path beyond total destruction is hard to handle. As our own world feels on the precipice of chaos, it is painful to imagine reaching a point where, as in the time of Noah, even HaShem gives up.<\/p>\n
In the story of Noah, the only source of hope that God found in humanity was our title character: Noah himself. So one must ask, why? Who was Noah? What qualities could he have possibly possessed such that he alone, along with his family, merited to survive, that he was the only hope God saw for the future of creation? What made Noah such a tzaddik?<\/p>\n
It turns out, our sages weren\u2019t so clear on Noah\u2019s virtues. Like so many things in our tradition, our ancestors passed down a lot of ambivalence about Noah.<\/p>\n
In the Torah, we read two things about him: Noah was a tzaddik, whole in his generation: \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e6\u05b7\u05d3\u05bc\u05b4\u05d9\u05e7 \u05ea\u05bc\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05d3\u05b9\u05bd\u05e8\u05b9\u05ea\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5\u2014ish tzadik tamim haya b\u2019doratav<\/em>\u2014and Noah walked with God\u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05be\u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b4\u05bd\u05ea\u05b0\u05d4\u05b7\u05dc\u05bc\u05b6\u05da\u05b0\u05be\u05e0\u05b9\u05d7\u05b7 \u05c3\u2014et haelohim hit\u2019halakh Noah<\/em> (Genesis 6:9).<\/p>\nIn the Talmud, we get two interpretations of these qualities: Reish Lakish said, Noah was a tzaddik of all tzaddiks\u2014whatever generation, he would have been the best. But Rabbi Yochanan says no. He was a tzadik in his<\/em> generation. But in another generation? He wouldn\u2019t have been that great (Sanhedrin 108a).<\/p>\nRashi tells us that when Noah walked \u201cwith\u201d God it was because, unlike other tzaddikim, he needed God\u2019s help. He didn\u2019t have a strong enough internal sense of righteousness to walk without<\/em> God. Rashi compares him to Abraham, also a tzaddik, but one whose righteousness he saw as internal, self-generated. Noah, in contrast, needed God beside him to keep him on track (Rashi on Gen. 6:9).<\/p>\nBut the biggest ambivalence about Noah comes from the Zohar, which points out the whole flood is actually named after him: Noah\u2019s flood. What kind of tzaddik<\/em> could he be if this destruction bears his name?<\/p>\nThe Kedushat Levi, an 18th century Hasidic commentator, answers this way:<\/p>\n
There are two types of tzaddikim who serve the Creator (barukh hu<\/em>)\u2014there is the tzaddik who serves God faithfully and believes that they have the power to direct the cosmos according to God\u2019s will\u2014as our sages , z\u2019l, said in Moed Katan, \u2018the Kadosh Barukh<\/em> Hu decrees and the tzaddik annuls the decree for good.\u2019<\/p>\nAnd, there is another type of tzaddik who serves the blessed creator but who is so lowly in their own eyes that they think to themself, who am I that I should pray and annul the decree? And therefore does not do so. Or, they think to themself, I am just like them\u2014if God is saving me, God must be saving them too. And so they don\u2019t pray on others\u2019 behalf.<\/p>\n
The Kotzker Rebbe, in the 19th century, calls this archetype, \u201cA tzaddik in Peltz\u201d\u2014the tzaddik in the fur coat. When cold, this<\/em> tzaddik wraps himself in a fur coat to keep warm, while the first type builds a fire\u2014keeping himself AND those around him warm.<\/p>\nThe Kedushat Levi continues that, though Noah was tzaddik tamim\u2014a full, perfect person\u2014he didn\u2019t see himself as capable of annulling God\u2019s decree. He is liable, despite his righteousness, for not praying to save the rest of the world with him. This, we learn, is why Rashi describes Noah as \u2018limited of faith\u2019.<\/p>\n
Perhaps we can understand this critique in dialogue with another common quote from the Kotzker Rebbe: There\u2019s nothing so whole as a broken heart.<\/p>\n
Though I\u2019ve heard this saying quite a bit, I honestly haven\u2019t always understood what it means. In this context, though, it strikes me like this: Noah was so whole\u2014so perfect\u2014his heart didn\u2019t break enough for the destruction of the world around him. Perhaps had he been a little more broken-hearted, a little more open-hearted, he would have been able to pray for them, too. He needed a little more brokenheartedness to complete his righteousness.<\/p>\n
In this way, the lesson from Noah amidst the chaos is not to seek to be tammim<\/em>\u2014to be whole and unbroken\u2014but rather to ensure that our hearts continue to break.<\/p>\nSome of our ancestors suggest that Noah\u2019s path of righteousness is not actually one we should follow. Rather, we learn from Noah not to wrap ourselves in a cocoon of our own wholeness\u2014whether out of excess humility, or passivity, or indifference to the suffering of others\u2014but to engage with the world, even when it breaks our hearts.<\/p>\n
Noah comes before the dispersions and divisions that follow the generation of the Tower of Babel. He comes before God\u2019s call to Abraham and his descendents. He comes before the existence of the Jewish people or any other people. Our sages see in Noah a warning that calls out to us from a past that is as old as the human family. All of us are descendants of Noah. And even the most righteous among us can succumb to the temptation to protect ourselves and our families from the chaos around us.<\/p>\n
Our sages\u2014audaciously\u2014ask more of Noah, and in doing so, ask more of us. Even if we are offered an ark, a shelter from the storm, the rabbis insist that it is still<\/em> incumbent on us to advocate for the safety of others. Who knows what story we\u2019d be telling if Noah had had the chutzpah to intercede on behalf of the rest of the world, to argue with God as Abraham did, instead of accepting the promise of personal protection as the waters rose around him?<\/p>\nRabbi Frankie Sandmel (they\/them), a 2022 graduate of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College<\/a>, runs BASE Bay<\/a> where, together with their partner Elaina, they are building a vibrant, rooted, and resonant Jewish community out of their home in Oakland. In their free time, Frankie is a fellow with SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva and they bake a lot of cookies.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Rabbi Frankie Sandmel \u201922 Parashat Noach Genesis 6:9-11:32 In 5785, a story about a world so full of evil that God sees no other path beyond total destruction is hard to handle. As our own world feels on the precipice of chaos, it is painful to imagine reaching a point where, as in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5493,"featured_media":4683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14,13,274],"class_list":["post-5142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-70-faces-of-torah","tag-seventy-faces-of-torah","tag-torah-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\n
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