Thursday, October 3, 2013
Parshas Noach: Was he really great or not?:
12:58 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
"These are the offspring of Noach - Noach was a righteous man, perfect in his generations; Noach walked with G-d." (Genesis 6:9)
Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky in his work Emes L'Yaakov brings the disagreement in Rashi whether Noach would have been even more righteous had he been in the generation of Avraham or whether he would not have been considered much at all. In reality, Rav Yaakov tells us that there is no disagreement between these two explanations because had he been in a generation of righteous people, he would have been considered even greater. The disagreement comes in what the words 'in his geneations' means; either to praise him or to deride him.
The question is why would we want to interpret Noach's character as in the negative when we could praise him for his righteous acts? Rav Yaakov explains that Noach could not have been truly righteous or he would have been able to save his generation. Not only that, but the Midrash implies that he did not know how to give rebuke to that generation and therefore was not successful in saving anyone else!
This is why there is the negative interpretation to Noach's righteousness. In reality though, why is this a knock on his righteousness, isn't it just a deficiency of wisdom? The answer is that this lack of judgment in wisdom is a blemish to his righteousness.
Had Noach been able to find the means to give rebuke properly, he would have found a way to explain it to his generation, thereby saving them. This is an important thing to keep in mind for us as well. We sometimes get caught up in the heat of the moment and forget about what we are here in this world to accomplish.
If we want to try and help someone but we are not successful, we have to try and think of other possible ways. Who is to say that there is only one way? Maybe our judgment has been skewed and we are not thinking clearly or just have made a mistake in handling the situation.
Sometimes we may have to go out of our comfort zone to be successful. There is a question as to who was better at hachnasas orchim (having guests) Job or Avraham. Rav Dessler tells us that Avraham was greater because when a guest came to the house of Job, he served him what he himself liked to eat where by Avraham, he served his guests what they themselves wanted to eat.
May we learn to give of ourselves and help others the way they need to be helped and what they need to hear rather than what we think they need to hear.
Shabbat Shalom
Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky in his work Emes L'Yaakov brings the disagreement in Rashi whether Noach would have been even more righteous had he been in the generation of Avraham or whether he would not have been considered much at all. In reality, Rav Yaakov tells us that there is no disagreement between these two explanations because had he been in a generation of righteous people, he would have been considered even greater. The disagreement comes in what the words 'in his geneations' means; either to praise him or to deride him.
The question is why would we want to interpret Noach's character as in the negative when we could praise him for his righteous acts? Rav Yaakov explains that Noach could not have been truly righteous or he would have been able to save his generation. Not only that, but the Midrash implies that he did not know how to give rebuke to that generation and therefore was not successful in saving anyone else!
This is why there is the negative interpretation to Noach's righteousness. In reality though, why is this a knock on his righteousness, isn't it just a deficiency of wisdom? The answer is that this lack of judgment in wisdom is a blemish to his righteousness.
Had Noach been able to find the means to give rebuke properly, he would have found a way to explain it to his generation, thereby saving them. This is an important thing to keep in mind for us as well. We sometimes get caught up in the heat of the moment and forget about what we are here in this world to accomplish.
If we want to try and help someone but we are not successful, we have to try and think of other possible ways. Who is to say that there is only one way? Maybe our judgment has been skewed and we are not thinking clearly or just have made a mistake in handling the situation.
Sometimes we may have to go out of our comfort zone to be successful. There is a question as to who was better at hachnasas orchim (having guests) Job or Avraham. Rav Dessler tells us that Avraham was greater because when a guest came to the house of Job, he served him what he himself liked to eat where by Avraham, he served his guests what they themselves wanted to eat.
May we learn to give of ourselves and help others the way they need to be helped and what they need to hear rather than what we think they need to hear.
Shabbat Shalom
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