Facing Floods (Parsha Noach) - Tehila Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship

had this as Jeremy was saying we had uh the vanino family here for Shabbat on the farm and I was just watching them pray on Friday night and they were praying with such joy and dancing and singing their little hearts out this beautiful family that I don't think I didn't even tell this to you Jeremy but I don't think that I've cried like that since October 7th because it was just seeing the Faith pouring out of these people who are just the most righteous and my heart was breaking and it's been breaking ever since Friday night just seeing the news you know one after the next and it reminded me you know when the war started I wasn't able to speak I was just speechless and Jeremy kept saying to me you have to speak to the fellowship members they're waiting to hear from you and I said but I can't and it felt like an eternity of Jeremy like pushing me every day and I remember that the first video I made one from the when the war started was for the Torah portion of Noah which is our Torah portion coming up this week and at the time it felt like an eternity had passed since October 7th until I was able to find my words and I don't know if you guys remember but I got on like sort of shaking and pale and just barely able to to speak about the portion of Noah and it seemed at the time that that was so long after the war started and now I see that we're a year after that I was like wow that was the very very beginning and what's so strange is that you know do you guys know how long Noah was actually on the ark he was he was actually according to the Torah in the ARK for an entire year so it's actually like from the time that I've had to study Noah and try to see what his message was for this situation that we're in until coming back to study Noah he's been in the ARK for the entire year and we've been in the ark we've been in this Ark for an entire year um and so now I'm revisiting this portion and seeing as we're still in this unbelievably long and difficult period in history what can Noah continue to teach us clearly we haven't you know completed the lesson and so in coming back to revisit this week's uh coming portion there was a question that sort of came up for me which is why did Hashem need an ark to save Noah have you guys ever thought about that it's not like the most obvious way for him to be saved Hashem could very easily have just made a little region that didn't get flooded made a little mountain not get flooded here you hang out here with all the animals have a little ecosystem it's not like the world was super duper populated we're 10 Generations since Adam I think that we could you know manage to find a place to tuck Noah away right I mean if already making so many miracles did we did Noah really need a boat what what is the boat doing here and what's also interesting about the boat is that there's so many instructions about making it like if Hashem was telling Noah to make a boat so make a boat it should say Hashem told him to make a boat and then he made a boat why do we need to know the measurements and what it's made out of like why does how big the boat is even matter what is that coming to tell us you know there's only two buildings in the Torah only two structures in the Torah that there are precise instructions for how to build it's the boat it's Noah's Arc and the Tabernacle the Tabernacle seems really important like we need to know how to put it back together generation after generation it's going to be built and dismantled and then brought to Shiloh and we we're going to need to like make sure to have this you know structure standing up properly for for hundreds of years but the ark why do we even need to know about the measurements of the Ark it's not like we're planning on building another Ark Hashem promised not to make another flood anyway are we going to like start rebuilding arcs all over the place what what do the instructions matter Hashem doesn't waste words and then I found a really interesting midash and the midash is very intuitive because it speaks to just what we would know to be true it says the ark seems too small it seems too small doesn't it it seems very small in the measurements it doesn't make sense there' be so many people and animals together and all of the food that they're going to need for an entire year in those measurements now what are those measurements coming to tell us because what's going to happen to us when we imagine this Arc and we're like remembering Noah and his ark this was not like a pleasure cruise this was not a Caribbean a Caribbean cruise with like nice meals this boat was really hard well if Noah was righteous why is Hashem putting him in these cramped horrible situations and horrible conditions the M says that Noah actually didn't sleep he had terrible that the midash goes into that level of detail saying he he and his children were not able to sleep because they had to spend so much time tending to the animals and feeding the animals that's it's like a midash but it seems like obvious right like if you're on a boat with so many animals stuck together in like a small space in these cramped conditions you're going to be working all the time if he's so righteous why is Hashem giving him such a terrible ride couldn't he have just had like a nice grw so maybe the ark was not just there to save Noah but it was there to guide him what do you do when you look outside and there's dust tragedy everywhere what do you do he's looking outside and even though he knows you know there's a reason that Hashem is doing everything he's watching even if the people weren't good he's watching at least innocent animals be swept away he's watching watching little babies drowning outside of him what do you do when there's pain and suffering that you can't understand so Hashem told him you build an ark you voluntarily put yourself into a place where you're going to have to be kind Jeremy you're not going to like this this is an ongoing argument between us you're going to have to be kind until it hurts you're going to be have to you're going to have to be kind until you're not sleeping at night until you're actually feeling enough pain to feel like you're paying back some of the debt of your very existence maybe do you guys know what I mean like he's having to voluntarily put himself on a boat where all he's going to have to do all day is not sleep and not rest and just be kind and maybe Noah after this year that he's in the Tava he's in the ark and we have this year that we're in a similar position to him watching a flood come over the world that we don't even really understand or don't even begin to understand maybe that those measurements and that Arc is there to teach us that the only way to survive when there's a flood like that is to build our own arc and what is the arc it's not just to save ourselves that Arc is to create a bubble where our entire life is really just dedicated to kindness kindness until until it hurts a little bit until it hurts a little bit and you know Israel is such a holy nation Jeremy's been hacking away at me to talk to our accountant to get my tax documents and da did you do it da you do so finally today I talked to my accountant you would think that talking to your accountant would be like a super dry experience right like when you guys talk to your accountant if you have an accountant it's like hello numbers send me an Excel sheet right like some sort of like nerdy conversation I called my accountant today I said Hi how are you and he said well as good as anyone can be in days like this and I was about to start asking the tax papers and he said you know there's only one thing for us to do this is my accountant guys he's not like my Rabbi he goes there's only one thing to do just do more do more if this is we're suffering so much and like these boys these husbands these men are dying in the war these righteous people are still righteous families are still being torn apart it means that every single person has not gone to the maximum that was what my accountant said to me you want tax advice you get Torah in Israel and I said you know what you're right I'm going to share the on the fellowship today that I think that all we can do is just be Noah just say like okay if this is still going on and it's still so hard I have to be I have to be better a lot more a lot more until I actually feel that I'm maxing out on better that's the only thing that we can do because that's what Noah did that's what Noah did in the in the in the arc he maxed out on as good as he can be to every single creature that he could reach and touch he sacrificed everything his rest his comfort to just be kind all day long and I said to my accountant well how do you do that this is my accountant answered me he said if you pray every single day that Hashem open your eyes to see the opportunities to be good I promise you you'll see the opportunities because if you live that way sometimes you feel like I'm doing the best I can I've done my best this is an ongoing argument between me and Jeremy Jeremy will say but I did my best I'll always say no you didn't because your best could have been better that's what my grandmother taught me your best can always be better and Jeremy say but I did my best I tried to clean up the house your best could have been better Jeremy and all of our best could have been better and that's what Noah is teaching us that our best can be better and that's what my accountant is teaching us that our best can be better and so what I prayed this sort of this uh what I'm praying for this season and maybe you guys will join me in praying for that is just for Hashem to open up my eyes to every opportunity that I can to be better because however hard it is it's not going to be as hard as it is for the people who are making the ultimate sacrifice right now so just maybe every person can accept upon themselves to open their eyes to something really hard to do right now in the Merit of our soldiers maybe that will save some suffering over here in Israel and bring more blessing that am Isel that the nation of Israel needs right now so with that let's just like let's just all team up and be a little bit be make our best better right Jeremy exactly