D’var Torah for Parshat Noach

Our parsha opens with a statement about Noah’s character, why he found grace in God’s eyes (Gen. 6:8). Noah was righteous and perfect in his generation, and he walked with God (6:9). Some commentators read this as saying he was only righteous compared to his generation, but he couldn’t compare to Abraham. Others see this as saying Noah was righteous despite the wickedness of his generation, begging the question of how great he would be if he had lived at another time. All things considered, I think the second interpretation is more accurate.

We all know how difficult it can be to do the right thing when we are surrounded by people pressuring us to do the wrong thing. Noah was able to resist that peer pressure and go his own way, to walk with God. And Noah’s strength of character is what saves humanity from complete annihilation.

Because Noah lived his life in alignment with the Divine he is able to hear God’s instruction to build the Ark that will preserve all life when God unleashes the primordial chaos: the undifferentiated waters covering the earth. The wickedness and cruelty of humanity had become so great that God regretted ever making humanity. We learn from this parsha how essential righteousness is to the continued existence of life. Without goodness, life cannot resist the destructive powers of chaos. And at the end of the ordeal, God establishes his covenant with Noah to never again flood the whole earth, and humanity is instructed to avoid violence and cruelty.

Oddly though, the covenant is based on the exact same reason that God sent the Flood. Humanity is wicked from a young age. But now, rather than death and destruction, God promises his mercy. Despite Noah’s status as “perfect” at the beginning of the story, God knows that perfection is beyond our ability. Even Noah eventually sins; the righteous man, ish tzadik, becomes the man of the earth, ish ha’adamah, and debases himself (6:9, 9:20). He plants a vineyard, gets drunk, and passes out naked. When his son Ham finds him, he tells his brothers who go in to cover up Noah. When Noah wakes up, he curses Ham’s son Canaan to slavery to Noah’s other sons.

Despite Noah’s ability to resist peer pressure, he wasn’t able to resist his own wicked heart. Perhaps this is why God decides to allow his mercy to rule over his justice. He knows that even though we were made in his image, we are not capable of perfectly walking with God. We cannot be God. Our goodness is not enough, but God’s is.

Nonetheless, we must strive to be like God. The failure of the people of Babel to make the attempt was the reason for their dispersion. The Midrash tells us that the people building the tower would mourn more for a dropped brick than the death of a person who fell from the heights. This cruelty and lack of humanity is why God confounded their language and forced them to disperse across the world.

The parsha ends with the introduction to Abram and Sarai. Their stories will show us once again that perfection is unattainable, but the attempt must be made. Even our greatest prophets have flaws and make mistakes. Abraham will be singled out for a special covenant with God, one based on righteousness and justice but fully dependent on God’s mercy and love. We are the heirs of that covenant, and like Noah and Abraham and Sarah, we are called to walk with God in humility, doing our best to serve the common good, to be a blessing to the world.