Noah 1986

In the Torah portion Noah we learn about the great flood that came upon the earth and destroyed it.  The rabbis tell us that a comet came out of the constellation Plianes and hit the earth, tilted it on its axis and caused a great tidal wave to sweep over the earth killing all living things except for Noah and the animals that were with him in the ark.  The rabbis comment that the word "Noah" means "rest".  Noah had a different character than Abraham.  Noah was a person who was at rest with himself.  He did not do, as Abraham did, when Abraham heard the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were going to be destroyed, Abraham protested and said, "Will the judge of all the earth not do justice?" When Noah heard the news, even though the people who were going to be destroyed were his friends, he did nothing.  He did not complain.  Abraham, who had no friends in Sodom and Gomorrah, complained, but Noah did not.  He had a restful character. He accepted whatever came.  He did not plead for his friends.  He did build the ark for 120 years and when anyone asked him what he was doing, he told them.  He told them he was building an ark and the world was going to be destroyed and they should repent.  He waited for them to come to him, and he did plead to G-d for them. He was a Tzadek, the Torah tells us, because he was able to withstand the blandishments of his generation.  He was able to withstand the jeers and ridicule of those about him and still lead a righteous life.  How was he able to do this?  What allowed him to do this? Perhaps we can learn the answer to this in the second sentence of this Torah portion.  It says, "Vayoled Noah - and Noah begat - Shloshobenim - three sons - Shaim, V'chom, and Yofes - Shaim, Chom and Yofes." The word "Shaim Chom Yofes" can give us an indication of what was required of Noah to stand against the evildoers of his generation.  The word "Shaim", of course, means "name". 

It also stands for power, because when a person can name something he has power over it.  That's why G-d brought all the animals before Adam so he could name them. We know in science when we define something you have power over it. You can manipulate and use it.  It takes an effort of will.  Shaim stands for naming, for power, for the inner will that a person has in order to gain knowledge over something so he know its characters and qualities and use it the same way science does today.  It refers to a person who is willing to stand against the ridicule of the world when he knows he is right.  He has a will of determination to live by the truth and define things by the truth and live by what he is able to find out as the truth.  This is the quality that Noah had. He also had a second son named Cham, which means warmth.  A person needs the warmth of good relations in order to stand against  the crowd. So often youngsters are misled by peer pressure.  There is a campaign now started by President and Mrs. Reagan in which they tell students in school who are approached by drug pushers to just say no.  It is easier said than done, though.  It is hard to stand against your friends because you want to pleased them and be liked.  If you take unpopular positions they will not like you and will make fun of you, etc.  They will use all sorts of ephitets against you.  It hurts unless you have someone to turn to with friendship to make up for the friendship you feel you have lost. Finally, there is Yafes, beauty. 

You need to have beauty in your life.  You need to have the ability to see the beautiful things in everything around you.  I remember a teacher who came into class once with some black dirt.  He said, "This is the most beautiful thing in the world.11 He began to explain the chemistry, molecular, physics, and biology of it.  He said, "This is the most exciting thing."  It was just some black dirt.  We, too, must be able to see the beauty in the world, must be able to see there are many things which satisfy our curiosity, that we do not have to go after fads in order to feel the highs of life.  This is what Noah had.  He had Shaim, Cham, and Yafes.  He had a will which was able to allow him to seek the truth and live by the truth; he had warmth; and he had appreciation of the beauty of the earth so he did not have to look for false highs.  The people of his generation were corrupt.  They were people who were not truthworthy, people whose word was not their bond.  They wanted to be so free that they didn't even want to be bound by their word and destruction came to them.  Only Noah and those with him in the ark survived. Then the Torah tells us a very troubling incident.  It tells us that when Noah left the ark he planted a vineyard and he drank from the wine and became drunk and revealed himself in the midst of his tent. Why did the Torah have to tell us about this anyway?  All of us sometimes slip and don’t do the right thing.  What was important about this event? The Torah saw fit to tell us about the Tower of Babel and how the people of that day built a tower, "Nasa Lorn Sheim - Let us make for ourselves a name." Why did they have to tell us about this tower anyway?  It was an isolated incident.  Why did the Torah choose to tell us about these two incidents?  It seem to me that the Torah is teaching us something very important.  Noah was able to withstand the blandishments of his generation because he had positive virtues. He had the virtue of being able to live by the truth.  He had warmth, and he had beauty.  After the flood, though, this man who was at rest and was tranquil, was now overcome by guilt.  Many times when we are overcome by guilt it destroys us and does not make us better. This guilt which overcame Noah caused him to act in a way which was not proper.  Later we learn the same thing about the Tower of Babel. These people were motivated by fear.  That’s why it says, "Let us make a name for ourselves." They thought the world, every sixteen hundred years or so, was destroyed by a comet.  They wanted to preserve themselves.  They were overcome by fear.  They wanted to leave a mark behind so people would know they lived.  Better than that, they wanted to develop some kind of science which would allow them to destroy these comets before they hit the earth.  They were interested in preserving themselves, but their main motivation was fear.  Therefore, if a brick fell when building the tower everyone would scream and yell and cry.  If a person fell and was killed no one would care. They built a society on fear. In modern American today we in the Jewish community have tried to build the future on these two emotions:  guilt and fear.  Charles Silberman, in his book, makes that point.  He makes the point that the modern Jewish community has been built on guilt over the Holocaust, maybe guilt over deserting certain Jewish practices, and the fear of anti-Semitism.  In fact, it was actually the fear of anti-Semitism which caused this community to really organize with the ADL, the American Jewish Committee, etc.  It was the fear of Hitler that caused the federations to come into being.  It is guilt over the Holocaust which causes us to reach deep into our pockets and give money to help Jews in Israel and throughout the world to fight for Soviet Jewry.  This is all positive and good, but it cannot be the only thing in a community.  The community that is just built on fear and guilt will end up destroying itself.  We cannot wallow in guilt. Guilt should lead us into positive activities.  We have to be Jews because of positive reasons and not just negative reasons.  Guilt will not last too long, and guilt will eventually overcome us, and we will wallow in the tent as Noah did and be forced to look for all sorts of diversions to get the guilt out of our mind. 

The same thing is true of fear.  Fear is not a basis for society.  Fear will also lead Jews to leave Judaism.  After all, why should we risk our children and grandchildren's persecution?  Let them change and become like everyone else.  Guilt and fear will not build a Jewish community. What we need are positive values to build a Jewish community, the positive values of truth.  The truth of Judaism gives us the power to go on.  We realize Judaism allows us to overcome our problems and be better people.  It gives us warmth and heightens our interpersonal relationships.  It also lends beauty to our life.  It shows us so many things in the world that we otherwise would not see if it were not for Judaism. I am reminded of the story of the boy who did not want to go to school. His mother came to wake him and shake him and said, "Get up.” He said, "I don't want to go to school."  She said, "Why don't you want to go to school?" He said, "I don't want to go to school.  Give me three reasons why I should go to school." His mother replied, Son, first of all, I pay taxes.  Second, the teachers are expecting you. Third, you are the principal."  It so often happens in modern Jewish education today that many principals know that all the parents are interested in is conveying fear and guilt to their children.  They are not really interested in giving them positive Jewish values.  It is only the positive values which allow them to stand against the drug culture, which allows them to stand up against assimilation, which will allow them to hold their heads up as proud Jews.  Guilt and fear will help a little bit and we should, of course, teach about the Holocaust and be prepared for anti-Semitism, but that is not all there is to Judaism.  Judaism is also a very positive system of belief and practice which adds to our lives, enhances our life, allows us to withstand all sorts of temptations, and which gives us beauty and inner harmony and warmth.  Our children would never want to trade this inner harmony and warmth for any fad or any tinsel covered momentary diversion. Let us all hope and pray that the basis of our community in America will not just be guilt and fear but will also be appreciation of the positive values of Judaism.  Amen.