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Noah These are the offspring of Noach, Noach was a righteous man, faultless in his generation. The entire Sedra which follows is the offspring from Noach's actions. Noach as the leader of the generation must take responsibility for it in its entirety. All to often we find those who wish to be in authority but with out the responsibility. Our Rabbis teach us that Noach should have rebuked the generation and prevented the deterioration which followed. Had he done so with honesty and commitment, he may well have succeeded. Explains R' YY Trunk of Kutna, Rashi says the above statement teaches us "The real offspring of Tzadikim (the righteous) are their good deeds." This statement is not found by Avrohom or other Tzadikim. Only with a Tzadik like Noach, who was not concerned about his generation, are his personal actions his sole offspring. Avrohom who taught his generation, his offspring are not only his personal actions, but the good done by all those influenced and encouraged by him. Says Rashi: "Some of our sages understand this as praise of Noach - had he been in a generation of the righteous he would have been still greater. Others understand this as an insult - for his generation Noach was a Tzadik, however had he lived in Avrohom's generation, he would not have counted at all." Why was Noach unsuccessful in rebuking the people around him while Avrohom was able to move them? The answer may lie in what they saw. Noach addressed himself to the idolatry of the masses. He did not realise that this idolatry was popular only due to the depravity it sanctioned. The purpose of the idolatry was just to create the space for the corruption. Noach was addressing the superficial issue rather than the core one. Avrohom, however, was able to ascertain and address the hidden agendas of all. And Hashem saw the earth and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth. The apparent redundancy of the word 'corrupt' offers an interesting insight. Without the absolute standard offered by the Torah, moral and ethical standards are determined by the mores of the contemporary society. When immorality is the accepted norm, it then ceases to be a vice, and depravity becomes the lifestyle of that society. With this background we can understand: Only in the eyes of Hashem had the world become corrupt. "For all flesh had corrupted its way on earth." Corruption and depravity had become the norm in the society and it could of itself no longer distinguish and recognise depravity and corruption. And they said, "Come let us build....and we will make a name for ourselves. The generation of the Tower was much worse than the generation of the Flood. The Tower people wished to rebel against G-d and deny his primacy in the world. The Generation of the flood simply looked for the pleasure. Nevertheless the Generation of the Flood was destroyed because people where not united. With the Tower everyone was united, and with unity one can even contemplate fighting Hashem. |
