Chanokh, Who Made the Most of His Years

Parshat Bereshit 

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Some people are blessed in life to find and fulfill a unique purpose. According to Rabbi Yitzchak Arama (and many others), Chanoch (great grandfather of Noach) was a unique individual whose life was cut short (relatively speaking) either because he was going to go in a bad direction, so God “took him” while he was still “good,” or because he was so exceptional, so aligned with every special component of the world that God put in order, God wanted him at the point when he had reached the zenith of his existence.

Unlike almost everyone else from Adam through Noach who lives into his 900s (Mehalalel lives to 895 and Lemech lives to 777), Chanokh’s life ends at the age of 365 – though his death is not mentioned. “He was gone for God had taken him.” (5:24)

Just a few snippets from some of the commentaries: 

 Targum Yonatan: He served God with truth for 300 years, after the birth of Metushelach. 

Ibn Ezra notes that the phrase ויתהלך חנוך את הא-לקים (Chanokh walked with God) appears twice in his snapshot in the Torah, which follows the instruction from Devarim 13:5 to “walk in God’s ways.” Noting that the only other people described in this way are Noach (את הא-לקים התהלך נח) and Avraham who is instructed התהלך לפני, Ibn Ezra describes Chanokh as training himself to be extremely familiar with God, one who became a צדיק גמור (completely righteous individual) who was comfortable in the presence of angels. 

 Netziv describes Chanokh’s walking with God as a lifelong enhancement of his אהבת ה' (love of God), and that unlike Ben Azai (see Yevamot 63b) who dedicated his life to God and the Torah but neglected to have children, Chanokh not only fathered the righteous Metushelach, but ויולד בנים ובנות – he engaged in the commandment of procreation, having sons and daughters like everyone else. 

Malbim takes this idea a step further pointing out Chanokh’s earlier pursuits of truth and goals of fulfilling God’s will, but after he reached the age of 365, which is equivalent to the number of days in a solar year “he walked with God alone” and separated himself from this world. 

 Rabbenu Bachaye notes (in his “כד הקמח”) that Chanokh is categorized with Eliyahu as 1 of 2 people who never sinned and lived forever, to be distinguished from the 4 people who are credited as never having sinned, and yet died (Binyamin, Amram, Yishai, Kilav). (Shabbos 55b, Baba Basra 17a). 

In his commentary on the Torah, however, Rabbenu Bachaye circles back to the significance of the number 365 explaining that “This righteous man knew and understood the ‘journey’ of the sun (aka the solar year) and the great strength of the sun. He understood, in his own wisdom, that there is a Divine reasons for everything, and he clung to it. He knew there are heavenly luminaries (i.e. the sun, moon, and stara) and that their light is drawn from the Divine light – with which this righteous man (Chanokh) merited to connect. The word ויהי (5:23) is used to summarize his number of years, which is different than the word ויהיו used for just about everyone else (5:4,8,11,14,17,20,27) [Lemech has ויהי in 5:31, and he also has shorter years than everyone else, as well as interesting connections to Chanokh which are beyond this discussion about Chanokh - AB] The usage of ויהי is indicative of his tapping into this Divine Light which is also described using the word יהי אור ויהי אור. Moshe Rabbenu had a similar merit as the verse describes him on top of the mountain for 40 days "ויהי משה בהר" (Shmot 24:18). 

There may have been people who looked at Chanokh’s limited years (comparatively) and felt, “O Nebich, he died at such a young age.” Leaving aside that he did not die, these explanations indicate that Chanokh actually made the most of his days living every day to the max, never looking back at any day as a waste of a day, or of decisions as mistakes.

He knew what his goal in life was, and he made every effort to achieve exactly that, until the point that God said “There’s no place for him on this earth anymore, he needs to be with Me.” 

How many of us can live up to anything like that? 

Over Yom Tov, many thousands of people around the world suffered a great loss with the passing of Rabbi Moshe Dovid Tendler, Z”L. I spent a few years in his shiur, and dutifully called him my Rebbe, though surely not as close as others were. One of my friends, Rabbi Shimshon Nadel, who was very close with our Rebbe, wrote the following immediately after his passing. While still living in New York I had these experiences as well. I share Rabbi Nadel’s words because I am still processing my own – Rebbe always took my phone calls or called me back, always asked about “the Rabbanus” and about Milah (by being a Mohel), took a personal interest in the wellbeing of my family, and of course dealt with any and every question I had with patience, sensitivity and clarity. Reading what Rabbi Nadel (and many other Talmidim) have written, we see that like Chanokh, Rav Tendler made the most of his time in this world. Y’hi Zichro Baruch. 

 I hope to share some thoughts, reflections, stories, divrei Torah, and lessons I gleaned from this Gadol B'Yisrael. A true Torah giant. A towering intellectual. And a loving Rebbe. 

 As a preeminent posek, Rav Tendler zt"l ruled on the most difficult and delicate areas of Halacha. Questions of Pikuach Nefesh, end-of-life issues, organ donation, Agunot, family purity. No question was off limits or out of bounds. He answered them all with a surgical precision, a great finesse, and with a great sense of responsibility. 

 It was not uncommon for me to be sitting with him in his office at Yeshiva University, or at his home in Monsey, NY, and he would receive a phone call - usually from across the great expanses of the globe - on some serious matter. And it was also not uncommon for him to quickly gesture to me to listen in on the conversation, so I could hear how he navigated the delicate question. 

 He wanted his talmidim to be competent and confident in answering a shayla. 

He defined 'Torah L'shmah' - the study of Torah for it's own sake - as 'L'shem Hora'ah,' for the sake of being able to rule; to render p'sak halacha. He would invoke Kiddushin 30a: "The words of Torah should be sharp in your mouth, so should someone ask you a question you will not stammer - instead - answer him immediately." And was critical of those who study in Kollel for many years, but when asked how to make a cup of tea on Shabbos, 'don't want to pasken.' 

He was also the address when the answer was unclear, or the question too great for a newly minted rabbi. We knew we could turn to him and he would guide us. One of the Poskei Ha-Dor was just a phone call away, always magnanimous, always generous with his time. 

 It's no surprise he was generous with his talmidim, he loved us. Chazal compare the talmid-rebbe relationship to the parent-child relationship (Sifrei, Va'etchanan). This was tangible to anyone who merited to be a talmid of Rav Tendler.