From this Week’s Torah Portion

“Noach walked with Elohim!”

“These are the generations of Noach, Noach was a righteous man he was perfect in his generations; Noach walked with Elohim.” (Genesis 6:9) There is an age old argument that by qualifying Noach’s righteousness and perfection as being “in his generations” Torah was teaching us that, as righteous and unblemished as Noach was, he fell short of Avraham, whose righteousness had no qualifying factor attached top it. While it is true that Noach, unlike Avraham, did not succeed in influencing others, or in teaching to others The Way of the One YHWH, being a righteous individual in the eyes of YHWH in the midst of a corrupt and wanton generation is no small feat. On the contrary: Noach wasn’t just righteous, he was pure and unblemished. Noach wasn’t just pure and unblemished, he walked with YHWH.

We were already told at the conclusion to last week’s Torah reading that Noach’s father Lemech saw great promise in his newborn son, naming him Noach, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands from the ground, which YHWH has cursed.” (ibid 5:29) And, of course, despite His profound regret for having created man, in light of the depths of depravity to which man, in ten short generations had descended, one man and one man only – Noach – “found favor in the eyes of YHWH.” (ibid 6:8)

Noach was a rock who could withstand the tide of iniquity which swept away his generation. He walked with YHWH when all others were following their own evil impulses and dancing to the tune of “I, Me & Mine,” all the way to the slippery slopes of self annihilation. Noach was a beacon and a lighthouse whom YHWH could entrust with navigating humanity to safer shores, even if humanity, at this point, consisted of Noach and his wife, and his three sons and their wives. The great sage, Hillel the elder said, “In a place where there are no men... be a man!” And this describes precisely the life of Noach. When all other men had purposely and flagrantly jettisoned the image of YHWH in which they were created, Noach held fast to his. And this was the chen – the grace – that Noach found in YHWH’s eyes. To cling to the truth that you are created in YHWH’s image, and to persist in the pursuit of honoring this truth in all your doings, is indeed to lead a righteous life and to achieve a certain perfection in your character. Had Noach been anything less, we would not be here to tell the tale. Noach walked with Elohim.

That YHWH should regret making man is a terrifying thought. Has man’s behavior improved over the thousands of years since Noach built the ark and weathered the storm of YHWH’s great disappointment? Yes – absolutely! And No – absolutely not! Fortunately for the rest of us there are many righteous who walk among us. But unfortunately there are still disciples of the dissolute human wrecks which peopled the generation of the flood. Yet today we rest assuredly and sanguinely upon the broad righteous shoulders of Noach and of the promise and the covenant which YHWH made with Noach on behalf of all future generations that “there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” (ibid 9:11) Should we be so confident? In looking around we can all spot the many black holes of wickedness which are sucking the life out of humankind, and we can all feel on our flesh the approaching storm of YHWH’s great discontent.

Perhaps basking in the promise of the rainbow as we proceed from day to day is no longer enough. Every covenant takes two. YHWH has certainly kept up His end of the bargain, but have we? Torah’s unparalleled description of Noach wasn’t simply intended as praise for the man, but more importantly as a blueprint for whom we must all strive to be: righteous, perfect in our generations and walking in step with YHWH – even if no one else is.

“And Noach built an altar to YHWH, and he took of all the clean animals and of all the clean fowl and brought up burnt offerings on the altar. And YHWH smelled the pleasant aroma, and YHWH said to Himself, ‘I will no longer curse the earth because of man, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth, and I will no longer smite all living things as I have done.’“ (ibid 9:20-21) Perhaps as Noach did, we should build ourselves an ark for the sake of ourselves and our children, and like Noach build an altar and make an offering of thanks and acknowledgement to YHWH, for the sake of all humanity.

(Adapted from an article by the Temple Institute)