Self-Doubt

By Rabbi Joshua (doubtfully known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

In this week's parsha we are told that Noach was a 'tzadik tomim,' a complete, righteous man. God informed Noach of His plan to destroy the world through a flood due to the corruption of humankind. Only Noach and his family, God told him, would be spared from the destruction, by means of an ark that Noach was directed to build. Later, when the flood is about to begin, God tells Noach to gather his family into the ark because"only you have I found to be righteous in this generation" (Bereishis 7:1). Rashi notes the divergence between the description of Noach in the beginning of the parsha as a 'tzadik tomim' and his description here as a 'tzadik.' He cites the midrash which explains that we learn from this change that one should tell a person only part of his praise in his presence, while the full praise is reserved for outside of his presence. Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, of blessed memory, noted that there is a double message in this midrash. On one hand, it is not good to praise a person profusely in his own presence, to avoid instilling a feeling of haughtiness in him. On the other hand, however, there is a need to praise him to some extent. The Talmud (Berachos 32b) tells us that four things require encouragement, and one of those items is 'ma'asim tovim' - good deeds. A person who does good deeds should be praised in his presence, in order to encourage him to continue doing such deeds. For this reason, God called Noach a tzadik so that he would be encouraged to continue to act in a righteous way, despite the corruption of his generation. A further look at the parsha will reveal that Noach did, in fact, require this encouragement.

When the flood finally begins, the Torah tells us that Noach and his family entered the ark' because of the waters of the flood' (Bereishis 7:4). Rashi comments on these words that Noach was a man of little faith. He believed that the flood would come, but he didn't believe fully, and it wasn't until the waters of the flood actually forced him into the ark that he finally entered it. This comment, taken from the Midrash Tanchuma, is extremely difficult to understand. How could Noach, a man whom the Torah characterizes as a complete tzadik, be called a man of little faith? Although we offered a different explanation of this midrash in netvort a number of years ago, I believe that the explanation of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berdichev, in his Kedushas Levi, is particularly meaningful. He writes that Noach's problem was a lack of faith in himself. The midrash tells us that, after the flood, Noah was criticized by God because he did not pray for the people of his generation after he was told of their impending fate. This failure did not come from a lack of concern for them, because we do find that Noach exhorted them for one hundred twenty years to repent and thereby avoid punishment. Rather, explained Rabbi Levi Yitzchok, it came from Noach's feeling that he was not worthy enough to evoke God's mercy for his generation through his prayers. Although a tzadik has the power to change an evil decree to a good one, Noach did not feel that he was on a level to do so, and, therefore, he did not pray for that to happen.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchok's explanation of Noach's lack of faith as being a lack of faith in himself, does not, on its face, seem to account for the statement of the midrash that he waited to enter the ark until the waters forced him to. According to Rabbi Levi Yitzchok, Noach, as we have seen, did not feel worthy of saving his generation from the flood through his prayers. What does this have to do with doubting the coming of the destruction, which in the way the midrash, apparently, describes his thought process? I believe that Noach did not doubt that the flood would come. Rather, he questioned his own worthiness of being saved. Although his self-doubt began as a presumption that his prayer was incapable of saving others, this lack of self - esteem had a 'ripple' effect. Once he began to doubt his worthiness, he continued on that road until he believed that he was not even worthy of being saved himself, and he only entered the ark when the waters forced him to. The fact that he entered even then may be attributable to the fact that God praised him before the flood began. Rabbi Soloveitchik's comment that it is necessary to praise a person, to an extent, in his presence thus takes on added significance. Noach needed that praise not only as an encouragement to continue acting as a tzadik despite the rampant corruption of his time, but also to convince him that he was, indeed, worthy of being saved, and rebuilding the world after its destruction.

Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) at the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.