Noach 5775:   All in a Day’s Work

By Rabbi Joshua (busily known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

Dedicated by R. Gerry Burke for a refuah shelaimah for Rachel bas Gayla Devorah 

The Torah relates that, in the time of Noach, “the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth became full of robbery (chamas)” (Bereishis 6:11).  God tells Noach, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth has become full of robbery, and behold I am destroying them from the earth (Bereishis 6:13)”.  The means of destruction, God tells Noach, will be a flood, and, because of his righteousness, He directs him to build an ark in which to save himself, and his family from the coming catastrophe. He also directs Noach to bring two of each animal on earth, in order to preserve them and perpetuate species. 

Rashi notes that even though the term “corruption" includes cardinal sins such as idolatry and murder, the final judgment of that generation was sealed because of chamas, or robbery.  Ramban and Rabbeinu Bachya explain that the law against robbery is logical and should have been obvious to all. Violating it, therefore, indicated an open rebellion against God.  Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky, zt”l, in his Emes L’Yaakov cites a midrash which says that the word chamas itself implies idolatry, murder and sexual immorality. Even though the plain meaning of the term, says Rav Yaakov, is robbery, an addiction to any sin, as the Ramban teaches in his Moreh Nevuchim (3:41) constitutes idolatry, indicating, as it does, a total lack of concern for God’s directive.  Idolatry, we may add, then lends itself to murder and sexual immorality.  Perhaps we can add a further dimension of the nature of chamas, and, in doing so, explain the unique activity that Noach and his sons engaged in while in the ark.

The Midrash Tanchuma relates that, during the year of the flood, Noach and his sons hardly even slept, because they were constantly busy with feeding the animals, giving each of them their proper diet at a fitting time. It is obvious, that, with all the species that were gathered in the ark, Noach and his sons could not, in a natural way, have provided for all of them on a constant basis, and, therefore, there must have been some miraculous divine assistance, as well. This being the case, what was the purpose of their feeding the animals at all, since God had to intervene in any case?  Rav Eliyahu Dessler, in his Michtav MeEliyahu (Vol. 2, pg. 155) explains that a person who robs is focused only on himself, and has no regard for the possessions of others. Since the world was being destroyed because of this attitude, Noach and his sons had to act, in the ark, in a way that focused on the other, as a corrective, so that they would be prepared to rebuild the world on a proper basis once they emerged. For this reason, they needed to spend all their time in the ark providing for the animals, taking the focus off of themselves and concentrating on others, in order to inculcate this trait in their very being. Perhaps, however, we can suggest a different reason for this activity, based on another explanation of the essence of the sin of robbery. 

Rav Dovid Feinstein has often pointed out that a person who steals displays a lack of faith in God’s providence.  Someone who truly believes that God knows best what a person needs and deserves, and provides for him accordingly, will not wrongly lay his hands on something that is not his, realizing that, no matter what he does, he will not receive  more or less than what God has determined for him. Noach and his sons, by having to provide for the animals, and realizing that it was only through God’s miraculous involvement that they were sustained, came to understand, first hand, that it is God, who, ultimately, provides for all beings. With this experience in their consciousness, they were prepared after the flood to emerge from the ark and rebuild the world in a proper way.