Rabbi Benjamin Yudin Discusses Parshat Noach on JM in the AM (5786)

Good morning. Good shabas everybody. I'd like to begin with something different that I've never done before. And that is as follows. We've developed a style that I'm privileged to start every week's our Torah with the words tomorrow. We have the privilege. I don't know where and how Hashem put those words in my mouth, but I'm so grateful because at least I know how to start each week. And the truth of the matter is each week is just that, another privilege. And then depending upon the week, I usually tell how many mitzvos there are in that particular week's para. Well, given that in the book of Batius there are only three mitzvos according to the and we had one in last week's para of pvu none in this week's para and mashem next week mila and then in ganos I do want to announce that in this week's para of Noah, we do have the Zion mitzvos ben Noah, the seven Noah laws that were given to all of mankind as found in the beginning of chapter nine of Paras Noah. And they are the prohibition against idolatry. One to in quotation marks bless the divine name meaning loweno the opposite. Number three prohibition of murder. Number four, Gileia Rios, immorality, sexual transgressions. Number five, theft and civil laws. Six, denim. They are to establish law courts. And finally, a min eating a limb torn from a live animal. Now, I'd like to talk about Noah. After all, that is the para yet he is a most controversial figure. What what does that mean? And not everybody has a song named after him. And the song actually comes from the very first verse in the para where the Torah says Noah is sadik. And I was never the kazin in showra only the rabbi. So I'm not going to sing it for you, but you've heard this at many Noah was a great. Okay, so no question about it. The Torah says, so you can't argue with that. But as everybody knows that it's on the very first puk that when the Torah is lording and compliment complimenting Noah it says that he was toim he was literally pure perfect in his generation. And whether it's generations or generation the idea is very clearly that rashi brings the two opinions which everybody knows raenu there are those of our rabbis who saw this as a great compliment that if he was in a society of evildoers and still look how great he was had he lived in the days of Abraham and other righteous persons he would have been even greater and then interestingly they're introduced as ves and there are others now without going into that that rashi forgot to write raenu maybe he didn't forget others that understand this ligonai as to his detriment Only in accordance with his generation would he have been and was considered a sadic. But if he lived in Abraham's day, he would not have been clum anything especially noteworthy. Be that as it may, it already sheds some light on something about Noah. And as much as we're praising him and the Torah does, there is something that is there that imperfection. And what I'd like to start with is very interestingly a um a u a comment of the last puck. But before I do that, unless I get too involved in a delicious kaduca levy, which I'll introduce in a moment, let me just say two words of introduction regarding the para. Number one is that what happens in this second para of Noah Abraham, the second thousand years of civilization, the Torah highlights two different era. the era Damabo of the flood who because the world was full of violence and not coincidental the name of Nebach those that come out of the tunnels to fight us in Gaza but let's stick to the point that this generation had to be as God says at the end of a m like they used to have a blackboard and an eraser wiped off and you couldn't see what was there before. this generation had to be killed out except for Noah, his wife, his three sons and sons-in-law, uh, daughters-in-law, excuse me. So, eight people. And then the end of the para we have the dora the generation of the flood excuse me that wanted to build the tower to literally fight God and that's the dha which means the generation that was dispersed and hence 70 nations 70 languages all this is condensed but Just one very important observation and that is the drussan. Why is it that the first generation of the flood had to be annihilated and the second generation was dispersed and the ran says something very powerful. He says there's a difference between a gener uh a flaw f l a w a deficiency a sin of midos. Midos is character and or a sin of deos which is knowledge. What does that mean? It means that character is passed down into and by the DNA and as a result the generation and everybody had to be wiped out because the next generation would also have been kas terrible. they had to be wiped out as opposed to at the end of the para. Interestingly, they were kind man to man. They wanted just to quote unquote uproot God. They were completely mistaken, misinformed with their knowledge. Ah this people can be taught and therefore Abraham comes on the scene at the end of the para and the rest as they say is history. That's one very important point. And the second point I always try to share is the Ramban that the Torah is telling us God's humility. What does that mean? The Torah tells us how large the ark was. And by the way, it was Ammo or 300 feet long. I'm sorry. 300 Amos. That's 450 ft long. Could you imagine? That's rather big. So, one could see maybe maybe all the animals could fit on says the Ramban. Keep this in mind everybody that 10 arks could not satisfy um all the animals, the people, the food for a year and even think how many birds just the birds alone in this world. So therefore, Hashem always tries to hide, to make light of his miracles, to always give man the opportunity to have free will. Is there a God or not? Okay, now let's get down to business. I want to share with you what I consider a delicious kaducas lei as found in the last puk in bacius which will give us further insight into Noah and his character. So the puk reads the noak after telling us at the end of bacious of the deterioration of the generation. The Torah tells us ah one good thing at the end that Noah found in the eyes of God in the eyes of God. Now what does the wordain mean? So our scroll and many others in the English translation use the word grace. I'm going to tell you that is a difficult word to translate. So for example, you ask me about a particular young lady for a I say I know one thing about her. She's got a lot of I think you can understand what I'm communicating without translating the word. Now what does it mean here? So I want to tell you that the kaduca sli shares with us as do many of the commentaries both early and later that there are two different kinds of sadikim. one who uh is close with God. Let atmo for himself what they call sadic and pelts meaning if it's cold outside two ways to either keep warm putting on a winter coat a pelts or by creating a fire. You put on the coat you're going to be kept warm but just you you create a fire. ah you can keep others warm as well. So Noah was the one who was righteous by himself but did not share the wealth in contrast to Abraham where the Torah says in the beginning of next week's para the souls that they had made how do you make a soul the answer is the men surah converted quote the women meaning elevated them they shared their spiritual wealth as Noah did not. In fact, Kadusha's lei brings from the Arizal and others that Noah needed Gilgal Moshe the idea of transmigration of the soul that after the soul leaves this world it goes to another. So the soul of Noah needed tikon fixing by Moshe Rabenu because whereas Noah kept to himself Moshe says the kadusha is he would rebuke Israel all the time. Good. Now let's go further says the um kadushi something which I find to be fantastic. We've read this p a hundred times but he finds something that I never saw before and that is the Torah says Noah in distinction to his generation he found favor in the eyes of God. Now what does that mean to you to find favor? Is he active or is he passive? I always understood that to mean that he was by his actions he was quote passively having found favor in the eyes of God. Meaning the god looked at him in a quote unquote special way. The kaduca sli brings the gammorra in Sanhedrin nun zali 57a teaching us that the people of Noah's time were immersed in immorality in contrast Noah was sadikim. Now here goes says the kaduca slave that Noah used this relationship for holiness. the relationship that he had with his spouse within his family. Ladouchia for holiness as opposed to the dormabul the generation of the flood that was immoral. They had this quote relationship of affection leipa for negativity. It was just immediate. It was transient. It wasn't permanent. And further the Noah Noah did not rebuke them. And this is how he learns in the puzz found. In other words, he was active. He found something. There's a there's an object there's an there's an some there's a there is a quality that you can actually touch metaphysically in this world called and this he elevated the kadusha but he only shared it beh Hashem with the with Hashem but not with the rest of his contemporaries. I believe the very powerful lesson is just like we're all familiar with that song. Noah was a great sadik. We should also be familiar with that song Gishmak. Once again, very hard to translate the word, very hard to translate the word gishmak. But I'll tell you what it does mean. Be proud to be a Jew. And this pride, we have to look deeper into ourselves and what's going on in Erit Israel today. The great divisiveness. Just as all of us welcomed the coming home of the hostages on Oshana Rabba. What a great gift on that very special day. So too. And we were all together all al welcoming them home. We must find a way that all of Cai Israel can get together to fully bring an end to this war. Shabbat shalom to all.