Proverbial Noach – How We Are to Live Our LIves

Parshat Noach 

by Rabbi Avi Billet

לפְּֽרִי־צַ֖דִּיק עֵ֣ץ חַיִּ֑ים וְלֹקֵ֖חַ נְפָשׁ֣וֹת חָכָֽם

The fruit of a righteous man is the tree of life, and the wise man acquires souls. – Mishlei 11:30 

 In Medrash Tanchuma, the second entry on Parshas Noach has Rabbi Tanchuma expounding the following in the Beis Medrash. 

“The verse says (Mishlei 11:30) that the fruit of the Tzaddik (righteous individual) is the tree of life. Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi bar Shalom would say that when a righteous person departs from this world without having had children, he is pained and he cries. God says to him ‘Why are you pained and why do you cry? Because you didn’t have ‘fruits’ which are children? In this world there are ‘fruits’ much nicer than children!’ And the person says ‘Master of the World, what fruits are these?’ And the Holy One Blessed is He says ‘It is the Torah in which you involved yourself, as the verse says ‘It is a Tree of Life for those who cling to it (Mishlei 3:18)’!’ And how do we know this refers to Noach? Our sages taught us that Noach didn’t die until after he had seen the world repopulated, until he saw the Kotenes of Zippori, and until he saw 70 nations which descended from him. And yet how, in retrospect, does the Torah refer to him? אלה תולדות נח – these are the generations, or the legacy of Noach… נח איש צדיק – Noach was a righteous man.” 

 It is a beautiful sentiment that should apply to every person, regardless of whether one has children. We all know of the notion that “you can’t take it with you,” that the only thing which one takes to the grave is the good deeds one accomplished in life, and in the case of our People, a reputation that was founded in Torah principles, the memory of a life guided by the Torah’s teachings. 

 Do people who have children have someone to carry on their name? Often enough. If it’s about a family name, then those who only have daughters are more than likely not to have a family name carry on. And even if people know who are the descendants of any couple or individual, what does it mean anyway? 

Some children grow up and never marry, some marry and never have children, some people have children who do not reach adulthood (לא עלינו), and some people within a generation or two are telling their secular or not-Jewish grandchildren “My parents were very Orthodox” [I have personally met many people in this latter category, especially in Florida.] 

This is not to downgrade the beauty of building a family, but it is to simply note that there are very few guarantees in life, and that the only thing that is most within a person’s control in terms of outcome is one’s own behavior, and therefore one’s own reputation. We all know people who “did everything right” in raising their children, only to have their children go in a different direction in adulthood, and we also all know people who followed a different path through childhood and, later in life, found a path that is most gratifying, fulfilling, and meaningful. And no one could have predicted how far such individuals ‘traveled’ in their personal life journeys. 

 To Noach’s credit, if we follow a simply mathematical series of hints, we will discover that at the time of the commandment to build the Ark, Noach, at age 480, had ZERO children. When God approached him to build the Ark, it wasn’t because Noach was in a great position to rebuild the world. It was because God said to him “Because I see YOU as a righteous person before Me.” Not his children, not any one else, but Noach alone. 

The Midrash Tanchuma continues noting that the second half of the Mishlei verse also refers to Noach, because he took care of souls. He provided for them and fed them. There is a debate recorded as to whether humans and animals all ate the same thing on the Ark (R Akiva says he fed everyone dried figs, Rabbis think each species had its own food). 

Noach took responsibility for the souls of all the animals either simply through feeding them, or as the final interpretation in Midrash Tanchuma puts it, through being on top of feeding times for every animals, at every hour and at every needed feeding – so much so that the sages also say that Noach did not sleep for all of the 12 months on the Ark. 

[That last sentiment puts a very different light on the story of Noach getting drunk and falling asleep after getting off the Ark!] 

There is a popular debate over whether Noach was a righteous man for all time, or simply in comparison to those of his generation.

Attributing the verse from Mishlei to Noach indicates that Noach’s legacy is enshrined in his deeds, the legacy he left of fulfilling God’s word and giving of himself to help humanity in the way he could. 

Was Noach at fault for not doing more to save the people of his time? The jury is out on that one – some say he could have done more, while others argue that it was a fait accompli and Noach had to fulfill his mission so the world could experience what was to become its destiny. 

 Our lesson from Noach is that no matter what hand life has given to us, our job is to be a living legacy for those who see us. May we be blessed to be forever known for our accomplishments in Chesed, kindness, Mitzvah-fulfillment, and looking out for our fellow Man.

Man’s Purpose – Eden Ideal and Beyond Eden

Parshat Bereshit 

by Rabbi Avi Billet

When Man was first put into the garden of Eden, we are told his task was לעבדה ולשמרה (2:15). The typical explanation of this dedicated life is to work the garden and to guard it. 

Work it? For whom? [It didn’t need tending!] Guard it? From whom? 

Netziv (Rabbi Naphtali Zvi Yehuda Berlin) explains that these words, עבודה and שמירה, refer to Serving God and observing mitzvos, and that the purpose of the garden was one of spiritual pursuit. The human in the garden was to be an earthly equivalent of an angel, doing God’s will in a non-heavenly setting. Mankind didn’t even have a need to eat or engage in any worldy activities – similar to the existence Moshe Rabbenu had when he was on the top of Mt. Sinai for 40 days. 

This suggestion argues for the Garden to be much more than a place for Mankind to “hang out.” While the clarity of man’s purpose is not made clear to us in the text in a very detailed way, beyond Woman being referred to as an Ezer (Chapter Two’s outlined purpose for Man is noted above, Chapter One’s purpose suggests Mankind’s role in the world is to dominate the animal kingdom), we simply don’t know if it may have been made more clear to humanity eventually because the timeline of the narrative we are given of Eden doesn’t account for much activity or passage of time. Whatever might have happened in Eden was cut short due to a few bites of Forbidden Fruit. 

A life purpose for humanity becomes more clear at the expulsion from the Garden when Woman is told of her relationships to the snake (the Evil Inclination), her husband, her children (e.g. birthing labor), and Man is told of his relationship to the ground, to manual labor, and to mortality. However, the purposes as outlined in 3:15-19 is much more a function of their no longer being in the garden, than what would have been their initial purpose. 

Just to bring one example, there are sources which discuss the process and length of human gestation, birth, and speed of growth to maturity. What would that have looked like had they been in the garden? 

Perhaps we can argue against Netziv’s supposition, suggesting that Adam did need to protect the forbidden fruit from the snake, or protect his “Ezer” from falling under the serpent’s spell. Had he done a better job of “Shmirah” (guarding) through his “Avodah” (labors), perhaps the sin which caused the expulsion might have been avoided! 

And yet, God knew He was creating humans who had free choice. He knew that in creating Woman, God was creating a being that was different from Adam, with her own thoughts, and with her own ability to choose – or perhaps be swayed – differently from Adam. 

Perhaps God knew that Eden was an experiment, and the only real question of Eden would be “how long would they last?” 

Chasam (Rabbi Moshe) Sofer suggests that God was going to allow them to eat from the tree - on Shabbos! This plan was voided by the intrusion of the snake a little too early. The reason it was forbidden on Friday but was to be permitted on Shabbos was because during the week, the human who is made from dust is very similar to an animal. Eating from a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil has him process the information gleaned from the Tree’s fruit from more animal-like eyes. This makes his future choices more animal-like as they are informed by that aspect of his existence. 

But a person who is created in God’s image is supposed to be much more than an animal, and on Shabbos, when a person is given an extra soul – a Neshama Yesay’rah – the person eating from the Tree of Knowledge would have processed the information gotten from the tree in order to become more spiritual and closer to God. 

In this light, the task as outlined by Netziv can really inform what our ideal kind of task is, and specifically how Shabbos can enhance that ideal exponentially. 

While everyone understands certain aspects of our human experience, such as the need for relationships, the need to be active – whether in work or in other forms of activity, the desire to be healthy, it remains true that the strength we get from one another in the human-relationships realm, the ability to be self-reliant when in good health, and from aiming to better ourselves emotionally, spiritually, physically, intellectually, philosophically, etc. at all times are what makes us human, separate from and superior to animals, able to reflect and resolve to make the purpose of our existence meaningful to each of us – different for each person, but still giving us a sense of what gets us up each day to face each day for the new opportunities it gives to us. 

May we be so blessed, at this new beginning our restarting of the Torah gives us, to challenge ourselves to learn more, and to make every day more meaningful than the previous one, so our own efforts of לעבדה ולשמרה prove to be what gives us the greatest connection with the Almighty we have achieved to date, always looking forward to the next opportunity we will have to reach ever higher.

We Can and Should Purge Our Demons

Parshat Ha'azinu

by Rabbi Avi Billet

In the verse that describes offerings made to שדים (demons) that were non-gods, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch comments, “One certainty alone – the certainly that there is one sole God, Who maintains a covenant of intimate closeness with those who do Him homage – sustains man and uplifts him above all the other forces between heaven and earth.” 

It is not so much that Haazinu was designed to be read between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Haazinu is simply Moshe’s final message to the people, beyond the blessing we will read over and over on Simchas Torah. This crafted poem is meant to span all ages of Mankind throughout history. 

“This conviction alone frees him from all fear and from all degrading trembling which undermines morality; it alone removes from his heart the fear of real or imaginary forces that threaten man’s prosperity.” One might say, we talk a good talk if we say we believe in God. But if we fear external forces, one might further say one’s trust in God is not as complete as it could be. 

 Hirsch continues: “But once he leaves the service of the one and only God, man loses all stay and support; he imagines that he is free, and yet he is anxious about and afraid of all the forces of nature and fate – which are truly more powerful than a man who relies only on himself – just as he fears the nonsense invented by people claiming to have insight into the mysteries of nature and the universe.” 

This opens the door to a fascinating question. Who is most free? A person who can do whatever one wants, with no limitations, with no stops, and nothing guiding choices beyond what feels good and how far will I stretch limits of safety for the exhilarating thrills, OR the person who chooses to live under rules that may be limiting but may also be extremely gratifying?

Once again, here is Hirsch: “On the light of truth emanating from the one and only God, man sees the whole world illuminated in the clear light of wisdom and goodness. In this world, all creatures have a good end; and even if, on their way, they pass through darkness and death, pain and ruin, ultimately they are led to a higher state of existence and life, strength and joy, immortality and eternity. In this world, man is a child of his Heavenly Father and is given the task of living in His presence a life of duty.”

Hirsch is emphasizing the importance of this message penetrating our minds and our hearts. Sometimes we hear complaints, or perhaps we ourselves complain, of the difficulties of a committed life. If we only we could eat anywhere, if only we could take anything off the shelf, if only things weren’t so expensive, if only we could use our free time however we want without guilt, if only we could go shopping or to some other entertainment on Saturday, if only we didn’t have to explain to anyone that we’re taking another holiday off, if only morality weren’t dictated to us by a book and an unseen god, if only we weren’t hated by people for simply existing …

Hirsch: “Hence, man is close to his Creator even in his lifetime. Clinging to the hand of the one God, he can pass, even through darkness and death, in untroubled serenity toward light and life.” 

 This is the opportunity we have – seek, and ye shall find! ובקשתם משם את ה' א-לקיך is the line we hear and read in Parshas Va’Eschanan. You will find Him כי תדרשנו בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, when you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul. 

“But if man closes his eyes to this light and this life, his world descends into a dark night filled with demons, real and imaginary. In that case he has only the miners’ lamp of human experience to guide him through the darkness in which he must wrestle with hostile demons for his life and happiness. Then every delight and joy ends for him in disgust and disappointment. He enters life crying, to depart from it in sorrow and affliction. In such a life, man is the unhappiest of all creatures because he has the awareness that he is unhappiest. He feels that he has an inalienable right to happiness and to life – but as long as he does not lead a life devoted to duty, he will never enjoy this right. From the bliss of a world full of God’s glory to the pessimism of a world full of demons – that has always been the dismal road along which defection from God must lead, and that is also the road taken by Israel’s defection as described in these verses (Devarim 32:15-17)” 

Those born into this life sometimes need strength and encouragement too. And sometimes the best people to ask are those who found this to be the truth they needed – whether those who converted to Judaism or who took a different Jewish life-route – and have discovered great satisfaction and fulfillment in a life of Torah, Mitzvos, and observance of God’s word. 

May we all be blessed to experience and find the fullest degrees of meaning and beauty in the life we are blessed to live.