WalkingTorah - Parashat No'ach

WalkingTorah

Where ancient lessons guide modern life

Rabbi Aryeh A. Leifert (WalkingIsrael.com)

Parashat No’ach פרשת נח

October 17, 2015 ד’ מרחשוון תשע”ו

Just who was Noah? Was he a righteous man? Was he an average man? According to the Torah (Genesis 6:9), the answer could not be clearer: “Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age.” What more is there to say? He remained an exemplary person in a generation of incredibly wicked people. He was truly “a diamond in the rough.”

Actually, there is a lot more to say, according to Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak, 11th-12th c., Troyes, France). Citing a famous comment on this verse, in which the seemingly extra phrase “in his age” is noted, Rashi says: “Some of our rabbis have understood this in his favor, in that had he lived in a generation of other righteous people, he would have been even more righteous. There are others, however, who interpret this to his detriment. Compared to the evil people surrounding him, he was a righteous man. But had he lived in the generation of Abraham, he would not have amounted to anything.” In other words, if your neighbors are robbing seven days a week, and you are only robbing six days a week, then compared to them, you’re a pretty good guy!

So which is it? It seems that Noah was a righteous man. But was he righteous objectively, or merely subjectively? According to the Amshinover Rebbe (Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Kalish, 19th c., Mszczonów, Poland), we must pay careful attention to how Rashi names the two parties to this dispute. The group which describes Noah as objectively righteous is “our rabbis.” The group which labels him as merely subjectively righteous is the “others.” The teachers and leaders of the Jewish people, the rabbis, give Noah the benefit of the doubt. They want to assume the best of him, that anyone whom God deemed worthy of being saved from the Great Flood must surely have been a truly good person. Why go out of their way to cast aspersions on him?

On the other hand, it is a no-name group, the “others,” who try to cut Noah down, suggesting that he was not really that great a man. They did not judge Noah favorably, though they had evidence to do so, says the Amshinover Rebbe, and they violated to principle of giving “the other” the benefit of the doubt.

Many of us have opportunities to act as the rabbis, or as the “others.” When we see someone greater than we are, in whatever field, we may be tempted to belittle the person’s accomplishments. “He’s not that great,” we might say. “Compared to his siblings, what has he really done?” Why do we feel the need to do this? Perhaps it makes us feel better about ourselves, in that we have not accomplished as much as the object of our scorn. But this does not help us do better in that field. Pulling someone else down does not mean that we’ve gone up at all. We may feel like we’ve moved closer to that person, but in reality, we’ve stayed in the exact same place.

May we be granted the moral strength and wisdom to avoid being in the company of scorners and cynics, the “others,” and be counted among the rabbis, always trying to see the good in those around us.

(Amshinover Rebbe cited in ב. יאושזון, מאוצרנו הישן - בראשית, p. 33)

Rabbi Aryeh A. Leifert is originally from Teaneck, New Jersey. He served as an Assistant Rabbi and Judaics Studies principal in San Antonio, Texas from 2006-2009. In 2009, he moved to Israel with his family, where he works as a licensed tour guide for individuals, couples, families of all ages, groups, schools, and religious institutions. He also offers Virtual Tours of Israel through the internet. He may be reached via his website, WalkingIsrael.com.​