Making sense of the Sedra: Noah
Decency, humanity and peace must prevail
“This is a time of unbelievable pain and distress for Israel and the entire Jewish people. But, with God’s help, we will be delivered from it.”
The words of the prophet Jeremiah perfectly describe how the story of the Jewish people has changed following the massacre in Israel which was on a scale we have not seen since the Holocaust.
While we were making our annual prayer for life-sustaining rain, an evil wind blew into our beloved homeland and the most heinous acts of terrorism rained down on our beloved brothers and sisters. Our hearts and minds are with them, and we stand in complete unity and solidarity with them.
In response, our sons, daughters, relatives and friends have courageously gone to war to defend our people and our country. It was not of their choosing but they have had to do so, to say: “Enough is enough! We will never let this happen again. We have a right, like every other human being on this planet, to live in safety and security, without fear of terror.” And we say: “Israel, we stand with you. We are one. We are with you, and we will never leave you.”
It is especially at times like these that the words of the weekly sedra speak directly to us and the current situation. The Torah records that, before God created a beautiful and peaceful world, there was chaos and disorder “and the depths were covered with darkness.”
Only then does God give the very first command: “Let there be light, and there was light.” Light is not an ideal, it’s an imperative, it’s a Divine decree, it’s our mission in this world. But when the world became filled with evil and violence, God seemed to regret having created it and informs Noah of His sorrowful decision to destroy the earth with a flood.
The question that has exercised the minds of the commentators is why Noah was chosen to be saved and be the one to repopulate the world. This is particularly pertinent as there is a degree of ambivalence towards him, some are of the opinion that he was exceptionally righteous while others are less favourable and, in comparing him to Abraham, view him as somewhat insignificant.
However, what appears to have saved Noah from suffering the fate of the corrupt world around him was that he “found favour in God’s eyes.” Nachmanides explains that all of Noah’s actions were pleasing and sweet before God. On an objective scale, he may not have been the most righteous person to have ever lived but, in contrast to those of his generation, God saw sufficient merit in the good that he did to act favourably towards him.
What emerges is quite clear. Our world will also be saved through acts of kindness and goodness. We will find favour in God’s eyes when we seek to banish the darkness with light. We will create a more beautiful, peaceful world with unity, strength and love, knowing that decency, humanity and peace will and must prevail.
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