Walk the Walk

By Rabbi Joshua Hoffman, informally known as 'The Hoffer'

There seems to be a dispute between two traditional sources concerning the reaction of Noach to the news of the upcoming flood. The Zohar faults him for not rebuking the people of his time for their evil ways and thereby leading them to repentance that could have averted the flood. The Midrash Rabbah, however, says that he did rebuke them. During the one hundred twenty years preceding the flood in which he was building the ark as directed by G-d, people would ask him what he was doing, and he would tell them of the flood and rebuke them for worshipping idols. These two conflicting sources are reconciled by Rabbi Shaul of Amsterdam, who writes in his Torah commentary, Binyan Ariel, that Noach did, indeed, rebuke the people, but only for their idolatry. The final cause for the flood, however, was the chamas, the thievery that was widespread, and Noach did not rebuke the people for this iniquity. It is for this reason that the Zohar says that he did not deliver rebuke. The kabbalistic giant Ari goes so far as to say that the reason Isaiah, in this week's haftarah, refers to the flood as the "waters of Noach" is because Noach was, in effect, responsible for the flood because he did not properly try to prevent it. Rabbi Shaul of Amsterdam's distinction can help us understand an enigmatic Midrash, quoted by Rashi on the parsha.Commenting on Noach's delay in entering the ark until the waters of the flood reached his ankles and forced him in, the Midrash says that Noach was 'mechusar amanah'- lacking 'amanah' (soon to be defined), while Rashi writes that he was 'mechusar emunah'- lacking in emunah, or faith. Rashi explains that Noach believed that G-d would bring the flood, but in a sense did not completely believe because he needed to be forced to enter the ark by the flood's arrival. Actually, it seems a little incongruous that Noach, of whom G-d attested that he was a tzaddik tamim, a perfectly righteous man, and of whom the Torah says that he walked with G-d, should be faulted by the midrash, as presented by Rashi, for being deficient in faith. We can understand this criticism, however, if we take note that faith in G-d is something that must find expression in action. The Torah tells us (Shemos, 16, 11-12) that when Yisroel was attacked by Amalek, Moshe raised his hands toward heaven, and, when he did so, Yisroel was able to overcome its enemy. The mishnah in Maseches Rosh Hashanah explains that Moshe's uplifted hands directed the people's attention to G-d, and their faith helped bring them victory in battle. In describing Moshe's action, the Torah says, "Vayehi yadav emunah"-- and his hands were 'emunah'- faithful. Rabbi Eliezer Waldman of Kiryat Arba has explained this to mean that faith is something that must be concretized through one's hands, through action. One must express his inner faith through the outward actions of his hands. The Talmud in Shabbos refers to the mishnaic order of Zeraim- Seeds- as 'Emunas'-faith- and the commentary of Tosafos explains in the name of the Talmud Yerushalmi that this is because the act of planting seeds with the hope that they will ultimately yield a crop entails a certain degree of faith. The problem with Noach's rebuke was that it did not address itself to the practical violations of theft perpetrated by the people around him. These were actions that bespoke a lack of belief that G-d knew what they were doing. Noach's rebuke addressed the theoretical aspect of this problem, the worship of idols and concommitant lack of faith in G-d, but not the outward manifestation of the problem. This reflected his own failure to concretize his faith, as was brought out in his refraining from entering the ark until the waters pushed him. As mentioned, although Rashi cites the Midrash as saying that Moshe was deficient in his 'emunah,' his faith, the actual text of the midrash says that he was 'mechusar amanah'- lacking 'amanah.' This term is found in the Talmud, Bava Metziah, in reference to someone who does not carry out his word- someone who is lacking trustworthiness. In the context of Noach, this Midrash has been explained to mean that he did not fully carry out his word to enter the ark, because he was really forced. However, Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook explained the word amanah as meaning 'hemshech,' or continuation. Noach, said Rav Kook, was not able to give over his beliefs to the next generation. The idea behind this seems to be that in order to train others to believe in G-d, one must relate his faith to action and demonstrate his own faith through the manner in which he conducts his life. It was in this sense of the word amanah that Noach was found to be deficient, and unable to influence the people of his generation to change their ways.