Parshat Noach
by Rabbi Avi Billet
Reading through Chapter 5, we find people living to be over 900 years old. In his Haamek Davar, Rabbi Naphtali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin argued that that kind of existence was possible in a Garden of Eden, and even afterwards, but Rabbi Yaakov Mecklenberg, in his Haktav V’hakabbalah notes that the atmosphere of the world changed after the flood, and people could no longer live that long.
In fact, ages were cut in half post flood (look at the two generations following Noach), and even further cut in half (down to under 200) by the time Avraham came around.
While I know that most people would like to continue living as long as possible, that assumes good health and not being a burden on anyone. Some who suffer just want all to end so their suffering can end. There are certainly different views on what makes life “too long.” Even for those who have good health until the final day, one question often comes up – “how do I spend my time?” (That is something people ought to think about if they have plans to retire, unlike those whose plan is to "work until I die.")
Owing to the flood, it is obvious that a point came when God said, “Enough is enough.” Not because people were living too long, but because humanity had failed. Perhaps too much time to spend idling about? Not enough ways to spend those hundreds and hundreds of years!
Every day newspapers indicate humanity is on a similar path. Terrorism, murder, depravity, all kinds of crime, corruption – these are the makings of societies that have skewed moral compasses. (I am not equating terrorism with silly political shenanigans in terms of degree of crime). The crime in Noach’s time was “chamas” which is defined mostly as robbery, but also includes murder, idolatry, sexual immorality. The common denominator was a lack of caring for other peoples’ bodies and property.
At the end of Parshas Bereshis we were informed that the ways the Bnei Elohim exploited the Bnos Ha’Adam was so distasteful to God that He said, “My spirit will not continue to judge man forever, since he is nothing but flesh. His days shall be 120 years.” Apparently, some people were not using their time well.
Targum Yonatan explains that God was saying, “I have put my holy spirit into people, in order that they do good deeds! And yet they’ve become evil! So I will give them a period of 120 years maximum to change their ways… so they can do Teshuva! And yet they did not.”
There are other explanations for this number and what it means, but I wonder if Targum Yonatan’s explanation is why at this point (nowadays) people don’t live for more than 120 years. That’s the maximal time we have to do Teshuva. Since no one achieves a complete Teshuva in life, we can’t live more than 120 years!
Perhaps this also explains why – beyond the covenant of the rainbow – God hasn’t destroyed the world, despite all the evil in it. Since people do not get 120 years to fail at doing teshuvah, the world can’t be destroyed.
The phrase I translated before as “My spirit will not continue to judge man forever” can also be understood to mean, “If My spirit can not be utilized inside of Man” that there is no need for Man.
What makes God God? His creativity. His generosity. God wants the best for others. At times God challenges Man to see if Man can rise to the occasion.
Man must create. Man must give. Man must seek out the best for others. When Man challenges fellow man, it must be to bring out the best in the other. When we’ve lived out our purpose, the task moves on to the next generation to improve upon or even finish what was started.
I recently read a book about the Wright Brothers. It is hard for us to appreciate their achievement because we’ve known of airplanes our entire lives. The way they studied birds and figured out how to automate flying is one of the most remarkable achievements in human ingenuity. However, partly because they were self-funded and because they worked alone, they could not take the airplane much further than they did. But once their idea was put out there, it wasn’t that long before someone flew across the English Channel, dogfights became a new arena of fighting in WWI, flights across the Atlantic and around the world were successfully undertaken, and air support became a most significant factor in WWII.
We are given a maximum of 120 years. God won’t destroy the world, despite the evil and terrible errors that are part of the human condition, because there is good in humans. We hear stories of people who love dearly and deeply, who are kind to the needy, to the physically disabled, to those born with all kinds of conditions – genetic, physical, mental, etc. who are propped up, honored, given dignified lives. We hear of people who respectfully combat bigotry and hatred. There are incredible people who give opportunities to the dead and the dying, while they can – I’ve seen stories of dying children given the chance to have wishes fulfilled, being made honorary police and fire chiefs, meeting celebrities or their sports heroes.
And of course, we hear of people doing their best to look out for family, friends and neighbors going through difficult times, whether financially, medically, or who just need emotional support. Sometimes very significant emotional support.
Our job is to always do a little more. To take upon ourselves a little more goodness, a little more tolerance, a little more commitment to turn our own little universes into better places.
The Mishnah in Avos notes that Noach was Tzaddik, but he wasn’t the father of the Jewish people. The salvation of the world in Noach’s merit was only through him and those people and animals he was able to bring on the Ark. Despite his efforts, the world continued on a deteriorating path until Avraham came around.
Avraham’s merit saved the world - even Sodom almost had a chance in Avraham’s merit.
We are the Bnei Avraham who continue to carry his legacy. It is our task to model being progenitors of kindness (chesed) to everyone, as Avraham did. Through being icons of chesed, we not only merit to be the children of Avraham, but we also become the reason for why we are here on earth, serving as God’s firstborn (see Shmot 4:22), and hopefully earning the rights for each generation to play their role in the betterment of the world – hopefully always (as we say in the Aleinu prayer) “under the kingdom of God.”
No comments:
Post a Comment