Our parasha, Noah, tells the famous story of the flood. The people behaved in a corrupt and irredeemable way, until God “regretted” the creation of the world and decided to wipe out all of humanity and leave only Noah, who was an “innocent righteous man” and his immediate family. To this end, God commanded Noah to build an ark where he would stay with his family and a representative sample of the animals, and then washed the entire world with a tremendous flood of water.
The way the Torah presents Noah is unusual. Noah is not the only tzaddik that the Torah talks about, but he is the only one who is explicitly said to be “righteous”. It is not said about important figures in the history of the Jewish people that they were righteous people, but about Noah it was said “there was an innocent righteous man in his generations”. When God tells Noah to enter the ark, he reasons this with the following words: “Because I saw you righteous before me in this generation.” God says to Noah in explicit words: You are righteous in my eyes.
What is the understanding of this exception? Why exactly were these words spoken to Noah?
The rabbis explain it in the following way. Noah was a good and honest man, and in this way, he was unique and distinguished from his corrupt contemporaries, but God wanted Noah to become a man of a different order, worthy of being the “savior of mankind”. When God commands Noah to build an ark, Noah may encounter humiliating ridicule from the environment, social difficulties that will make him to give up and prevent him from carrying out the role that God intended for him. From where will Noah get the strength and courage to fight against the corrupt society and build the ark?
It is told about a rich man who encountered a criminal who threatened him and tried to assault him.
As a last step, he turned to the threatening criminal and said to him: “You seem like a good person to me, why are you taking my children’s money?” The same criminal replied: “Because I want to buy some alcohol.” The man pulled out $100 bill from his pocket and handed it to the criminal and he left the place. The next day, the scary criminal was waiting for him at the same place and handed him the change of the bill. The man was surprised, and the young criminal explained to him: “I am twenty-seven years old, and yesterday was the first time someone told me that I was a good person. They always told me that I was corrupt and bad and had no future. You are the first person who saw something good in me, and I don’t want to take money from you… “
When God said to Noah, “For I have seen you righteous before me in this generation,” he sought to instill in Noah the faith and strength that he can face the surrounding society alone and build the ark despite the ridicule and humiliation. God says to Noah: You have it! You have the strength to cope and be righteous! – This is so that Noah will indeed fulfill the role assigned to him and be the person who saved the continuation of humanity from destruction.
When we expect our children to invest in their studies, to behave appropriately, or to consider others – we can influence that these aspirations will indeed be fulfilled, the same way you water a plant and it grows, with kind words and compliments that build the person and give them wonderful abilities.
Demands that are accompanied by hurtful and humiliating words are often not fulfilled. On the contrary, the son or daughter is angry with the parent and wants to “take revenge” and “prove” to him that he does not control them. But when we believe in our children and express to them the appreciation, we have for them, this is what will give them the strength to succeed.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Refael Cohen