Noach - Planting a Righteous World

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with hm's never running assistance in ra Israel 5785 2024 this week's par Paras Noah and we didn't get to speak about Paras braas last week unfortunately but actually Noah is the crossover is mentioned at the end of pares braas and obviously par no is his story of Salvation and the salvation of Mankind through the sadic the righteous individual and I'd like to quote with you actually which talks about Noah which is at the very end of Paras tells us that Noah was 500 years old and when Noah was 500 years old at the age of 500 he had three kids shame the Jewish people come from shame also the great grandparents of all of mankind and the question that the Mish wants to help us understand and we're going to have to think about is if you look at the ages that the Torah enumerates for all of the other people who have kids in this in this time when people live to be 900 years old person who died young was 365 years old but they lived a very long time only at the end of parem says or maybe it's in par Noah I might be mistaken Hashem says look human beings are wasting their lives instead of living to be 900 years A Thousand Years it'll limit their lifespan to 120 years hence we say we wish people that they should live to be 120 but people lived a long time in those days people lived a long time even Abu Abraham lived to be 175 live to be 180 to be 120 but they lived a long time and what's interesting and we fortun speak this out and and and point out that if you look at the age of people when they had kids in those times we find that people had kids 65 years old 85 years old 10 and something years old generally speaking they had their children in the first two centuries of their life Noah interesting if we think about it would establish a kind of way of being which is reserved perhaps for sikim for for righteous individuals of having children late in his life he was 500 years old when he had his first child which was unusual for that time we think about Abu was 100 when he had his first child be 175 so was also past the midpoint of his life but the magish wants to understand why is it that indeed it took so long why did he have children only at the age of 500 why did he not have children at a younger age so we're going to examine that question it's an important question to understand but before we do I'd like to share with you a little bit of the medish there's two pieces here in the medish one addresses that point that's the second piece and one is just kind of an introduction to that was 500 years old brings the first praiseworthy is the Do Not Go In the ways of the wicked says the who is the one who doesn't go in the ways of the the Wicked This is no no was righteous in his generation he was saved of all the people of that generation so the me points out that he lived in three different Generations as far as people who were Wayward no was alive he was a young man but he was alive during the Doros the Doros the generation of Enoch was a time when people started to instead of call out to Hashem they started to Veer off and worship the stars and the moon the intermediaries as it it were instead of going directly to Hashem which is mistake of Christianity instead of going directly to God so they found an intermediary to Worship in Christianity it's a human being in those times it was the stars and the Sun the vessels through which Hashem sends down so Noah remained strong and righteous in the generation of Enos he remained righteous in the generation of the flood and he also lived until the generation of Thea the time when when they built a huge Tower which is at the end of par no and all of the 70 nations were separated throughout all of this time from when he was young his middle age till he was old he retained his righteousness he didn't go in the ways of the other other people in the ways ways of the wicked okay I'm skipping a little bit rather in the Torah of hem was his desire Noah was somebody who was studying he was searching he was constantly involved in trying to understand what is hashem's will he studied the Torah he studying the seven Mitzvah there were seven universal laws that apply to Noah and to all the generations to all human beings seven what we call the noahide laws so he studied those and and he would be involved in contemplating the Torah day and night what does this word mean says the Mish let see contemplating contemplation means that a person thinks about a matter he learns a concept and he's able to deduce from that concept how to apply the concept and he's able to to read between the lines let's say Hashem says to give to and to give charity clearly hashm wants us to inculcate into ourselves Aid a good attribute of being generous of generosity not just in order to help other people but also to become a better person ourselves that's called understanding the depth understanding the application of that and we can deduce from there that if I'm supposed to be a person who is of of generous spirit so there's many ways that can apply so he also no was somebody who was able to understand from that which he learned other things for example the measure says commanded him take seven of the pure animals 7 by seven maybe 14 of the pure animals and take 2 by two two of the impure animals he was able to deduce didn't tell him directly but said take the pure animals clearly sh wanted him to take more of those animals in order that he should bring a Corb and bring a sacrifice from them so he was somebody let's think about him he was able to withstand the pressures of the society around him he was able to be himself and be alone to do what's right and he was able to do that throughout when he's Young when he's middleaged when he's old he was able to study the Torah focus on hashem's will focus on the will of God and he was able to deduce from the command of Hashem Beyond the word the letter of the law what is the result very interesting we're going to see another PK which is the next part of the M which says the same word word is shul he's going to be like a tree which is planted on many Waters now the word shul as the M explains on the word sh is different than n to plant something is one kind of thing I plant something from scratch I take a seed or a or a bulb I plant it in the earth and then from there it grows and it stays in that place but sh means something different it means to take something which has already started to grow to take let's say a tree I have right here we have a remon tree a pomegranate tree which had already started to grow and to to dig it up and then to plant it in another place and as the Mal explains when you take a tree from one place to another it has the potential for that tree to grow much more so it was originally it started growing in one place perhaps a place which had less water and then you move it to another place where there's much more water you took the tree which is thead the righteous individual and you plant him in a place of Greater Waters T says the M Hashem planted him inside of the Tava inside of the Ark and I would think of it in terms of the Ark was a way station from the G from a time of utter destruction of utter wickedness to a place where all the wickedness is destroyed and now a new generation can be born New Generation can begin which hopefully will have a greater level of righteousness but as the Mal explains in the PUK the rightous individual and perhaps we can say about no as well he starts off in this world he starts off in he's involved in learning and he's involved in deducing and he's involved in the acts of goodness and kindness and then after the person passes away so the foundation that he that he developed here in this world that tree doesn't doesn't die that tree is is taken from here and it's supplanted into the world to come into the world of the souls but he's able to go from one world to another and also is able to go from one world to another because of his righteousness because of his and what's the result of this his fruit is produced he he the the fruit comes in its time Z shame this is a reference of his three sons to shame shame was the most righteous of his sons shame is the the forbearer of of Abraham of the Jewish people so that's the fruit that's going to produce and come in its time and you see here I have a tree which has beautiful green uh leaves but they're also some that have fallen you know it's the season of of fall and so the the leaves start to fall means that the righteous individual his leaves don't wither they don't wither they always have water maybe there's not enough water here that's why the leaves are falling off the righteous individual even his secondary thing as the M explained which are the the leaves leaves are not the main thing the fruit is the main thing but the leaves which are secondary they also don't wither and that's a reference Z even the least righteous of Noah's children was also given an opportunity Kam was cursed but still he would be be a servant to Shem he would learn from Shame Shame is the righteous one is not destroyed is not killed eventually his kids are MIT the Egyptians H MIT comes into the Jewish people as a child Nam ultimately is going to do Chua and be righteous in the end of timeses Y who's the forbear of interestingly says inuma Persia the Iranians Germany the Germans so they have a certain level of they have a certain level of success material success but what is that the result of it's the result of Theus the righteousness of the sadic he sees fruits his offspring are successful okay so that's all an introduction to what we're going to see here in the following piece of the brings in reference through the sadic we say this every Friday night shabas morning and M shabas at the end we refer to the sadic as someone who is planted or more correctly as we said sh means implanted in the house of Hashem he's he is taken from one place he starts growing in one place and he's implanted in another place which in is in the house of Hashem perhaps it can mean in the highest Realms after the sadic passes away in the in the in theard of they flower they become great as we saw in the other P which say here too who is this that sh that is implanted in the house of hem this is reference to as my for point out the word Bas hasem which means the house of Hashem is the same letters the word Tava which means an arc which means the the boat that he built the word Tava is made up of the letters of Bas he the the house of Hashem so he's given and colloquially in we refer to the the Bish the place where people go to study the Torah we refer to it as the Ark of Noah we refer to it as that place to get away to be alone with Hashem to be able to reconnect to spirituality to be able to be strong in the face of all of the all of the craziness of the world all of the wickedness of the world so he was separated out and he was replanted in a place he was alone with hem and as a result of that in the courtyards of hem he he's going to flower as a reference to the fact that he has these three sons sh so I asked you something I pointed out something to you at the very beginning that Noah was 500 years old when had his first child that's very old for those days to have a child sh when they are old they will have a it's referring to thead the righteous individual who dedicated his days and his life to serving Hashem when they get old they'll be they'll be so comfortable everything will be smooth everything will be wonderful everything will be refreshed he's in his old age and he's having kids he's being refreshed he's having Generations who ultimately are going to be righteous finally get to this question rud says why is it that all the generations they had kids when they were 100 when they were 200 meaning in the first century of their life in the second century of their life Why did no take so long to have kids I don't know exactly when he got married was he a bachelor for so long maybe just didn't have children yet so here's the the big reveal Hashem says like this Hashem knew that the mble is going to arrived when Noah is 600 years old Noah didn't have kids till he was 500 that means that Shem many office all three of them were under 100 years old at the time of the at the time of the flood hasem wanted them not to come of age the m is going to teach us an very interesting a very interesting foundational idea and that is that we know that today in our times when a person reaches the age of 13 so they're obligated in the mitz called a bar mitzvah we're obligated to know all the Commandments of the T at that age 13 but when is someone called a barin a barin is somebody who is liable for the punishments of the Torah a person does certain sins so a person can have forbid be liable for kis for spiritual exision person can be liable for other types of punishments different types of death penalties can be incurred for certain a for certain sins in the Torah at which point is a person liable for these punishments the answer is that it's at the age of 20 now the medish laids out something very interesting that's in our times people live to be 70 80 90 100 120 so the age of 20 was the was the AE is the age when a person has lived a certain amount of his life and now can be called that he's liable for what he does could be obligated in certain punishments in the times of Noah when people live to be 800 900 years old the age when a person would be called a barin which means fully responsible and liable for the mistakes and positive things that he does that age was 100 says the mes Hashem wanted Shem in the office to not yet reach the age of 100 because if they would be R if they would be evil but and they would be over a 100 they would already be liable for death and therefore no wouldn't be able to bring his children onto the table with him onto the ark remember this is a Bas Hashem the t is letters Bas Hashem it's the house of God in order to come into the house of God you have to be worthy to be there it says me interestingly if they would be over 100 and they would be too they would be very righteous not too righteous obviously they'll be very righteous so then Noah would have to actually make separate boats for each of them interesting and it would be a very great difficulty for him to do so to make boats for each of the children for each of his family members why think about it Bas AEM each one has their own world each one has their own spiritual accomplishments so Hashem therefore made it Hashem planned everything that Noah would not have kids until he was 500 when he was 500 and therefore his kids will be less than 100 when the mble arrives and therefore we would gain this issue we would gain this the potential is still in a state of potential for Noah's kids Shem obviously knew if they're going to be righteous or not but the potential is there but we haven't yet actualized it and therefore they can all first of all be saved no matter what and second of all they don't need a separate Arc it w't have to be wouldn't have to be a tremendous amount of effort soem made sure that no wouldn't be able to have kids until that point now that's the the first I mean this is really the second idea that we're we're bringing in but it's a very interesting idea of foundational idea that a person develops in the first 20 years of his life or in those times in the first 100 Years of his life it's all the potential for who he is but from the age of 20 and those times from the age of 100 they become their own person and they become it starts to to flower and give fruit now I want to finish off with one more last point in the medish which is very interesting and teaches us an incredible idea which has to do with the future time the days of mashiach and it connects in to the concept of a 100 of of the times of no the says I'm going to skip a little bit says that when msia comes when Messiah arrives in that unusual age of spirituality and closest to hm and revelation of hasem in the world so when a person the people will live very long just like it was in the times of Noah people will live a long time and if someone dies at the age of 100 the P says it's the p in yes chapter 65:20 if a person dies at the age of 100 that it will be considered that they died young that's what the P say now the mes gives us a very interesting an argument about what's going to be in the future we know that people are going to live forever once the once there's a a resurrection of the dead so people will live forever from that point on we'll get a new body the the makalum explained we'll get a brand new body the body that we have currently is not capable of living forever we'll have to have a new body which is more spiritual and that body will indeed be able to last forever but the question is the men should address is are we going to who is going to live forever who's going to live forever so here said I'm sorry I'm reading the wrong spot establishes that the Jewish people will live forever but not the non-jews those who have not entered into the Covenant of ab not become a Jewish person by the time Shia comes so they won't live forever only the Jewish people will live forever according to and that's supported by the P says that when a person dies young they'll have if person dies at 100 that will be called it's a reference to non-jews but Jews will live forever says it's not true he says everyone is going to live forever both Jews and non-jews how does he prove it upon Him says in reference to the fact that people will no longer cry because they will no longer be death has raised the tears from all faces all faces means both Jews and non-jews everyone will live forever said that it's not talking about non-jews it's only talking about Jews so why does it say all faces all of the tears will be wiped away it means off the faces of all of the Jewish people and asfor explain because you might have thought that there could be individuals amongst the Jewish people who also don't live forever maybe they weren't as righteous maybe they weren't as learned maybe they weren't as connected B is saying call upon of all of the Jewish people are included in the fact that they'll live forever so now the says about so says is very good he says the there's someone to there's someone to die at 100 that's a non-jew what about according to one says everyone's going to live forever he says something powerful he says back to what we said about no's kids that when it says in the PK that someone will die at 100 that will be called dying young it doesn't mean that people will die in the future it means that a person can be liable for death in the future at the age of 100 in the future time whereas now it's the age of 20 that people are can be liable for death if they done certain sins that age will be the age it will be 100 again it will return to being 100 like it was in the times of Noah it's going to be that way in the future as well it will be that's what the means doesn't mean that the person will die young because no one's going to just die naturally but it does mean that by the age of 100 a person could be liable to be killed by a court for having done a certain sin which needs explanation of course because in the future time when Mia comes people won't have they won't have an uh evil inclination they won't be there won't be people sinning anymore so we need to understand what that means but what I'd like to point out what that I'd like to understand and think about and leave you with is the fact that in the times of no that's how it was people lived a long time people lived to be 900 years and the age of 100 was the the point which is very interesting to think about that when a person has a longer life so that means that in the younger years there's could say less responsibility or he's still in a state of potential since the the potential is going to be actualized over a much larger time but when it comes to when it comes to the Future it's going to or when it comes to the present let's say so that time the 20 years is is the amount of time that we have potential and then it's actualized but it's going to return to the way it was again and as we spoke about in on sukus we spoke about the fact that in the times of the midbar there was a certain Revelation with the and the and that's something that we had the the the Clouds Of Glory that was something which was experienced then and it's going to be experienced again in the future times of mhia you see that there's more than one there's many parallels between what happened in the past in the times when there was a greater revelation of hem it's going to be it's going to return to that again and that's reflected in the fact that it's going to be the age of 100 is going to reflect that time when the potential the potential is still dormant we could say and it doesn't get actualized until further along bottom line the bottom line that I'd like to bring out from here is that the sadic the Noah and his kids they're in the Tava they're in the basem they're shle they're removed they're they're taken out of the ground and they are planted into a place where they will have a greater potential to be great to develop spiritually and sometimes there's a person like an AR ainu who can create around him a greater seiva a greater group of people to to with to grow with and sometimes there are individuals who don't have that like a Noah and he needs to go into his Tava and he needs to start a new world with his own kid and brand new potential but we all have this within us the ability to recognize to think about to learn the understand and to take ourselves out and be alone be alone in the Bas hasem be in the place where we can grow the B Med the place of study the place of learning the place of ultimate growth and connection to Hashem I bless you and ask you to bless me that we should indeed understand this develop this think about this and grow thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]