Why Wasn't Anyone Invited On To The Ark? [Noach]

Okay friends, the story begins. Paras Noah Noah was a very impressive person. Noah was somehow able to maintain um his morality living among very unmoral people. So unmoral that God wanted to destroy them. All of them. Get rid of all of them. And we know why God wanted to destroy them. because they were not treating each other with respect. Their immorality impacted their relationships. God doesn't like to tolerate that. In contrast, like Rashi says to the tower of Bavl, the Babylonian tower, you God, they were rebelling against God. So God says, "Okay, I'll separate you guys. But if you're rebelling against each other, I have to totally dismiss you." God can tolerate idolatry. He could tolerate if we're rebelling against him, even though that's not desired, but he's not going to tolerate rebelling against each other. But somehow Noah was able to maintain um his identity and be a righteous person, not get influenced. The Torah introduces Noah as an a righteous person. He was he was pure in his generation. And Rashi asks the question, why was he pure in his generation? Um, just say he was pure. Like what are we trying to insinuate? You're pretty good. You're you're pretty uh you're looking great today. Like today, what about the other days? Right? That's what we're saying about Noah. You are great today in this generation. Well, what about the other generation? So Rashi gives two answers. based on various midrashim based on various sources. Answer number one is in this generation he's righteous despite how bad everybody else is. Imagine what he would be like if he was with righteous people. He'd probably be even greater. That's the first explanation. The second explanation is he's righteous in this generation, but were he to be in Abraham of generation, he would not be considered to be anything. And I say that with quotes, he would be nothing. If he were to be in Abraham's generation, he would be nothing. No. In other words, he's relatively righteous because everybody else is bad, but he's not actually righteous compared to righteous people. That's the second explanation Rashi says. Okay, I I put this in parenthesis because it's not full point that I want to really discuss today, but it's just interesting to note that it says if he was in Abraham's generation. Um, commentaries ask if you look at the math, he was in Abraham's generation. They over overlapped by 58 years. Abraham was 58 years old when Noah died and it it's they theoretically could have met. Um unlikely that they did just but but they were in the same generation. Okay, that's a side point, different discussion for a different time. Let's take a step back for a second. Why was Noah different than Abra? We don't consider Judaism to be a noahide religion. All human beings are noahhides. All human beings are bound by noahhide law. All human beings are expected to uphold morality morality like a Noahide as Noah did. But Judaism is unique because Judaism doesn't just attribute itself to the Noahide lineage. We attribute ourselves to the Abrahamic lineage. We are from Abraham. Abraham is the patriarch not Noah. Why is Abraham greater than Noah? What was Noah missing that Abraham uh compensated for? In other words, why is it that he would not be considered anything relative to Abraham to Abraham? So, I'd like to share with you three answers and each of these three answers in its own right is going to teach us a powerful lesson that we can hopefully glean some sort of meaning from and direction from. Number one, uh the the Zohoyar points out that when God wanted to destroy Saddam, Sodom Gomorrah, Abrainu begged with Abraham and tried to bargain with Abraham, what if there's righteous people there? What if there's innocent people there? Um maybe you should not destroy them. God says, "Sorry, there's no righteous people." and and they went through this whole bargaining. Maybe there's 10 righteous people. Maybe there's 10 righteous people in each city. Maybe there's nine in each city. Araminu was begging and praying. What did Noah do for everybody else? He said, "There's a bunch of wicked people. Quick, there's a flood coming." Instead of praying that God reverse the decree or praying that they do toua, instead he says, "Quick, build an ark. Run everybody save yourselves." Okay? He was consed to build that ark. Fine. But he didn't really concern himself with everybody with with everybody else. He didn't take anybody else into consideration. He kind of just did what God told him to do. Now, here's an interesting thing. Why are we calling him righteous? If he's righteous, why didn't he pray for everybody? And if he didn't pray for everybody, why would we call this person a righteous person? Maybe he just didn't think of it. Why would I pray for him? So, one of the answers I read from the He explains that there's two types of righteous people. There's the type of righteous person who's very confident in his faith in God. And then there's the righteous person who is so confident in his faith in God that that translates to his faith in himself. He actually believes that his prayers make a difference. He believes that he's consequential. He believes that he can actually make a difference. Arainu believed he could make a difference. Turns out he didn't make a difference in that particular instance. God destroyed Som anyways. Good thing but Arama believed he could make a difference by arguing with God. when it Rashi points out by the way that when Abrainu confronted God it says Abraham Abraham approached God and Rashi points out that there's very few times we use that term vayash in the Torah you know when else we used it when Yehuda approached Ysef right don't take as captain and we know that Yuda was ready for war the same word he approached Arau was aggressive when he approached God. He was aggressive in his prayers because he believed that he can actually make a difference. He didn't just believe in God, which was huge. It was huge to believe in God back then. It's huge to believe in God now, but it's become normalized over thousands of years. It wasn't normal back then. But he also believed in himself. He believed he was consequential. We believe that his prayers actually make a difference. Noah was a believer, a believer in God, but not a believer in himself. And by the way, this is alluded to in Rashi in this week's para. Noah was told to enter the ark. And Rashi asks the question, why is he told to enter the ark? He had been building this ark for 120 years. At the end of the 120 years, it's began to rain. The flood is beginning. And God says, "Get in the ark. get in the ark. He knows he should go in the ark. Why would he be told or prompted to enter the ark? So Rashi says he was a believer and he wasn't a believer. He was a partial believer. Well, if he's a partial believer, then why are we calling him a he wasn't a partial believer in God? He fully believed in God, but he believed in God, but didn't believe in himself. He was a partial believer. He wasn't a complete believer. A Ramav was a complete believer. He believed not only in God, he also believed in himself and his ability to make a difference. This is one difference between Noah and Abraham where Noah had fallen short where Abra had compensated. Number two, we know from various midrashim that Noah had um attempted to inspire people. It took him 120 years to build this ark. He got it from IKEA. No, I'm kidding. It took him 120 years to build this ark. And the reason why God wanted it to take so long was so people ask Noah while he's on his front lawn doing his work every morning. Uh what are you doing? What is that big project you're working on for so long of building an ark? Why? Because there's a flood coming. Why is there a flood? Because you guys are horrible. You better do toua. You better repent. And how many people did Noah manage to get on that ark with him other than his family? Zero. Which is crazy. Imagine a Kabad center open for 120 years and you don't get anybody through that door. Anybody. That is crazy. Why couldn't he get anybody through the door? Not one person was interested. Not one person was interested in embracing truth. Contrast that to Abrahamu. Arainu had recruited thousands and thousands of people in the ways of montheism. Where are any of them today? I don't know. I'm serious. I don't know. I'm I'm cur I wonder is there anybody who traces their lineage back? Can we call Christianity and Islam Abrahamic religions, but they're offshoots of Judaism? They don't trace themselves back directly to Abraham. Maybe the Arabs do. Some of the Arabs do through Ishmael. But where are the people that Abra had converted? I don't know. But Ara apparently had converted or or had recruited inspired thousands and thousands and thousands of people in the ways of montheism. The Rambam says by the way that he had even authored books proving logically proving the existence of God. He wrote theological books. So somehow Arau was able to recruit thousands of people. Noah was not able to recruit anybody for 120 years. Why? What was the difference between the two? The answer is, you're going to love this. It's the food. Abra served food. Noah didn't serve food. Just stood at his porch. Anybody want to repent before you die for your sins? And apparently that wasn't attractive to people. Who opened up a restaurant? He fed people. And he said, "By the way, you think I gave you this food, but where do you think I got it from?" "From the farmer." "Where do you think the farmer got it from?" "From the ground." But where do you think the ground came from? It all comes from God. And he inspired people and even compelled people to thank God to recognize God. The way the lab puts it to me, this is so powerful because if you ever need to give somebody critique, got to think about this. Noah didn't succeed in his critique of other people, his rebuke of other people because he didn't care about the people. He cared about the mission. I have a job. My job is to get other people to do tush, to get other people to repent, is to get other people to believe, to buy in. And if they don't, well, that's their problem. They're not getting on that arc. I am. that but that that's that was Noah's attitude. It wasn't about the people. It was about the mission. Araminu took interest not only in the mission. It wasn't just this is what God told me to do. It was taking interest in the people, the individual people. It was talking their language. It was talking to their hearts and minds. That was his theological works that he had authored. It was talking to their stomachs. I mean, I mean that literally. He was talking to their animal soul. He was talking to them. He was speaking to people in a language that they can understand. He cared that they believe in God. He didn't just care about God. You know what they say that nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. It's great that Noah is inspired and and has a mission from God. and it's just going to do or okay that's great but seems to have taken interest in the actual people and when we care not just about the mission but about the people it's going to be a lot more impactful it's literally going to make a big difference um this is probably the secret to success of of any uh kabad center or outreach center or really any business um If if you're doing outreach in sales and you just care about selling and you take no interest in the individual you're trying to sell to, you're never going to connect to that individual. It just won't happen unless the person is desperate for the product. But if they're not desperate for the product or they don't feel desperation for the product and you're trying to bring them awareness that they need this product, you have to care about them and see what their needs are and show how this matches your needs. You actually need this. This it's going to help you. This is good for you. It's not just good for God. It's good for you. There is not just a right and wrong, which there is. There is a right and wrong. That is what Abraham came to effectively introduce with God. That there's a right and wrong. But there's not just a right and wrong. There's a good and bad. In other words, that which is objectively right is good for you. That which is objectively wrong is bad. Not just for God, it's bad for you. Abrainu matched truth with people, the individual. Which is why it says, by the way, the food thing. That's actually what commentaries explain. It says had planted an ael. What's an ael? An ael is can mean one of two things. It can mean like an inn. It could mean a tree, like an apple tree, an orchard. But in any case, he created some sort of center with which to feed people. That was one of his ways of inspiring people. It wasn't manipulation like like I'm I'm going to feed you now. I'll slowly indoctrinate you now that I got your It was taking interest in the people more than he did the mission. Number three, where did Noah fall short in contrast to Abraham? Okay, this one might appear to be not as fair, but that life's not fair. So, that's great. I'm kidding. Um, you'll soon see what I mean. How did Noah find out about God? Isn't that a weird question? I'll tell you why it's a weird question. Why should you need to find out about God? The first human being, Adam, did he ever find out about God? He didn't find out about God. He found out about people. He was created by God. Of course, there's God. He made me and I spoke to him and he spoke to me and our first conversation was very awkward or one of our first conversations was very awkward. Why did you eat from that fruit tree? And he starts blaming his wife. Right? He had a conversation with God. There was no such thing as doubt. There was no such thing as idolatry. There was no such thing as serving anything else because God was right there. It was two generations later where Adam's grandson Enosh suggested that you know God seems to give autonomy to other powers. The sun seems to shine pretty bright and the moon seems to give us light at night. They deserve our thanks as well. And here here was Enosh's plan. His plan was not to totally cut out God. You know what his plan was? He was being very strategic. When you want to, let's say you're selling a product and you're selling a product to a large company, a large corporation. You want to sell a product to Facebook. So, you know what you do? You open up your Gmail. You type in Mark Zuckerberg's email address. You say, "Hey, Marky, I got a product for you. You're going to love it." And you know when he's going to respond? never because he's the CEO of the company and doesn't have time for my wonderful product that he never thought of. So what I do is I build a relationship not with the CEO not with the top but somewhere more on the bottom because the people on the bottom are more accessible. So Enosh thought of course I believe in God but he's not accessible but he does give accessibility to the wind and to the sun and to the moon and he believed that they had autonomy and he would pray to them not at the expense of praying to God but in addition to praying to God but what did his children and grandchildren see they didn't see him praying to God they saw him praying to the sun to the stars and to the moon and that evolved D into this idolatrous belief that things have power, independent power, and that there is no god, there is no ultimate source, there is no ultimate creator. And because I can pray to things, I can worship things and I don't have to worship the creator, I can choose the things that fit my moral compass rather than allowing my moral compass to object to right and wrong. And that's where corruption blew out. By the time Noah came around 10 generations later from Adam, there was like so much corruption, so much distortment, so much confusion. And for many, for most, the tradition of God had been lost. That wasn't the case for Noah. Noah had somehow maintained that tradition. Noah held on to that tradition of God. He had received that tradition. This is what the midashim say. He received that tradition from Mushell. Mushell was also one of the earlier people, one of the oldest people to have lived. And he learned about God from Mushell. We know from Rashi, if you're just reading this week's Torah portion with Rashi, you're going to know that Noah knew Torah because God instructs him to take seven males, seven females of the kosher species on the ark and two of the non-coosher species on the ark. And Rashi says, "Well, how is he supposed to know? He must have studied Torah even though the Torah wasn't formally given yet. But he must have had some sort of relationship with God who dictates what is right and what is wrong, what is pure, what is impure, what is holy, what isn't. There must be some sort of objective morality that Noah was born into. So did Noah believe in God? Yes. Why did he believe in God? Because he was taught to. Not a bad thing. But let's compare this to Arainu. How did Abrainu who lived 10 generations after Noah even though they over overlapped by 58 years. How did Aramavinu discover God? Araminu asked questions questions that were not popular. Questions that were unacceptable unacceptable questions like who is the ultimate power? Because he had that assumption. Can't be the sun because that's being blocked by the clouds. It can't be the clouds because that's being blown by the wind. And it can't be the wind cuz that's being blocked by the trees. And it can't be the trees because that's being watered by the rain. And it can't be the rain because that's coming from the clouds. And it can't be the clouds because they can't see the clouds at night. Maybe it's the moon. The moon is out at night, but the moon's not out in the day. The moon trying to figure out who is who is the ultimate power. And through deep thought Arab came to the logical conclusion on his own independently that there must be some sort of original source which is the definition. This is the Rambam's definition of God by the way. How do you define God? Can't really define God but the way of Ramavu's conception of God just a primitive definition of God. the original being of which everything is dependent on and whom he, she, it, whatever is not dependent on anything. Right? It's the question that every child asks is who made Hashem and it's like how do I even answer that question? The definition of Hashem is someone who is not made but only makes. And Aramu literally figured this out before God introduced himself to Ara. Arau had a logical rational belief in God. His mind took him there. When did Aramavina, by the way, how old was he when he discovered God? Anybody know? It's there's different opinions throughout the midrashim, throughout the Rambam maintains that Ara was 40 years old when he had discovered God. The rivid. The rivid is one of the commentaries on the Rambam and it's like short little notes like parenthesis where he just disagrees with the Rambam. Disagrees with my monies. You chose the Talmud that says 40. There's another section of Talmud that says three. Why not follow that one into the riv that was more compelling that discovered God at three. commentaries reconcile it by saying that he began the journey at three but he had become confident in sure at 40 but to the Rambam it was more significant to highlight 40 than three because if it's three you could say he had some sort of spiritual disposition he's a three-year-old what does he know and maybe he did have a spiritual disposition but his mind took him there and that's the significance of 40 is the time of understanding some say you don't learn cabala until you're 40 cuz that's when you have complete mature understanding that's why I'm very immature discovered God at 40 independently with his mind and how did he teach others so the Rambam says my moni says an interesting um he uses interesting language he says he planted faith in people's hearts doesn't say he preached at people or even taught them about god I don't know how he did this exact like in detail we know that he taught and wrote books and stuff like that and but it says you plant it in people's hearts faith because you know what you do when you plant you drop a you soften up the soil you drop a seed in and you allow it to grow independently it doesn't need you it needs a little water and stuff like that but it grows on its own allowed people to grow their faith on their own somehow somehow he managed to do that the reason why he was able to manage to do that is because he wasn't educated about God. He figured it out. Noah did not figure it out. Noah was just taught. In the when we reference the voice when we reference the patriarchs we say and I don't know exactly how they translate it in the sitter but if you want to translate literally the god of Abraham and the god of and the god of why do you have to say and each time or why do you even have to say the god of each time just say the god of why the God of Abraham, the God of the God of Jacob discovered God on his own. Discovered God on his own and so did Yakov even though they were educated about God from their father. It was their own discovery. It made sense to them. They figured it out. Noah could have figured it out even though it was something he was taught. He could have internalized it much deeper. And if he did, if his internalization of God, if his relationship with God had that level of depth where he also figured it out and didn't just rely on a tradition, but it made sense to him, he may have been like Ara. He may have inspired tens of thousands of people to change. And to me, this is a powerful lesson. If we want to be an inspiring influence, are we just conveying things we know or do we actually relate to it on a very passionate level? Are we inspired ourselves? Okay, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.