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Parshas Noach - Efforts Rewarded

By Rabbi Yosef Tropper

Posted on 10/19/17

Parshas HaShavua Divrei Torah sponsored by
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1) Miracles Versus Hishtadlus


Ramban asks a very obvious question opening about the Flood in Parshas Noach: If you have sulfur and acid that’s pouring down from the heaven, obviously a little wooden teivah, ark, is not going to save everybody? Also, how could the ark fit every species of plant and animal in its confined space? It was 300 amos long, which is about 600 feet, with 3 stories, but that still seems insufficient for all that must have been in there including man, animals, plants and food for one year?


Ramban makes clear that it certainly was a miracle that everything fit and it certainly was a miracle that it remained protected despite the sulfuric rain outside, but Hashem works with nature and He wants us to do our hishtadlus, minimal human effort, thus allowing Him to do the rest.


Sefer HaChinuch and Kriyas Yam Suf


Sefer HaChinuch talks about this concept when it comes to yitziyas Mitzrayim. Parenthetically, Sefer HaChinuch was probably written by Rav Aharon HaLevi (1235 - 1290), a contemporary of the Ritva, talmid of the Rashba. He used to teach his children and their friends who would come over for Shabbos. He would explain ideas from the parsha on taamey hamitzvos, p’shat and deep lessons. He points out that Moshe was told that he should lift his hand over the Yam Suf, and it would split. The pasuk describes that Hashem sent a ‘ruach kadim aza kol halayla, a very strong wind that blew all night’.  So, he says why did Hashem send a big, strong wind?


He explains two things. One is that while it’s true that, of course, Hashem miraculously split the Yam Suf, but Hashem also likes to do things al pi derech hateva where it could look like teva, nature at play. The second point is why Hashem operates this way. Hashem does so to maintain free will, and to give a pischon peh for those that don’t want to believe that they have a way that they could deny. In fact, there have been scientists who have written about this miracle and stated that maybe either Moshe’s staff, the material that it was made out of split the water, it was sapphire or they write about this big wind that the Bible itself describes. We find this in the Beis HaMikdash also that even though, really, miraculously a fire would come out of Heaven to consume the sacrifices on the mizbayach, but still there’s mitzvah l’havee min hahedyot. There’s a mitzvah for us to still light a fire on the mizbayach in order to cover up the miracle.  Hashem does not like to do outward miracles.  He did them at yitzeeas Mitzrayim and He showed Himself then, but to do so other times goes against the nature of the world.


That is what Ramban is stating her as well. The ark protected Noach and his family and held all the people, animals and food by way of miracle, but this did not take away Noach’s obligation to do outward efforts to build the taivah. Hashem then did the rest via miracle, albeit, more hiddenly.


2) Hashem Wants Our Efforts


Another thought which is very dear to me because I think it’s a very beautiful idea is that there’s a contradiction that needs to be answered. Look at Parshas Noach (7:9) where it says that two animals came to Noach to the teivah, zachar and nekaivah, like Hashem had commanded Noach. Rashi says explicitly, and the pasuk basically says it, “mei’alayhem,” the animals came to the teivah on their own. Noach did not have to chase after them. However, in an earlier pasuk when it describes it (7:2), it says that Hashem commanded Noach, “Mi’kol behaimah hatahorah tikach licha shivaah, shivaah, eish v’eishto.” You should take seven of the tahor animals, and the instructions are very clear: “Tikach licha,” that you should go take them. So, which one is it, did they come on their own, or did Noach have to actively collect them?


Ramban reads the pesukim brilliantly and clearly, and this is exactly what the pesukim are saying.  He explains that there were two reasons that animals were on the teivah. One of them was in order to help them survive the mabul. For this two animals of each species were chosen. These animals would be able to come off the teivah and continue their species and their line of generations.  The second reason for passage was for the extra kosher animals, six of each kind, that were therein order that Noach and his children could bring korbanos to Hashem to thank and appease Hashem after the Flood.


Ramban says if you read the pasuk clearly, the pasuk says straight out that the two that came in order to live, the male and female animals of each species each came on their own because that wasn’t Noach’s concern. They were, so to speak, G-d’s concern; He was trying to keep the world going.  And, so those did come on their own. That is the focus of the latter verse. However, the extra six that were going to be used for korbanos, they were going to be used for a mitzvah. Those Noach had to go after and get with his own effort. That is what the first verse is discussing.  


We see a beautiful yesod here. When a person does a mitzvah they need to put in effort, and Hashem wants our effort that we put in the mitzvos.  So, on the one hand, some of the animals did come to Noach on their own.  Those are the ones that were just there in order to survive.  But, the ones that were going to be used for a mitzvah, that Hashem made it that no, Noach they’re not coming to you.  You have to put in the work. And, when you put in the work then you get paid back. This may be why the first verse talks about the animals that Noach had to bring by himself, because those are the most dear to Hashem out of all the animals present.  


The Steipler and Imrei Moshe - Efforts Rewarded


I want to share a beautiful story that touches on this in two ways.  One, on the effort of a mitzvah, and two on the reward that we get when we put in effort, and really a very, very powerful story.


The poverty that was around in the Jewish communities throughout the world, especially in the early 1900s was very prevalent to the point that the Steipler told over that when the Chofetz Chaim passed away in 1933 he simply was not able to go to the funeral because he had no money. Seforim were not able to be purchased so easily as they are today. The Steipler was learning, and he was very interested in getting hold of a sefer called Imrei Moshe that had been published in the early 1900s and was taking over the yeshiva world by storm. It was a brilliant sefer written by Rav Moshe Sokolovsky of Brisk.  


The Steipler sent a letter to the author, Rav Moshe, and asked him: Are you able to send it to me, and when I get money, I’ll pay for it. He explained that he was a yeshiva bachur, and he was learning. The Imrei Moshe sent him a copy and included a letter explaining that since you’re a yeshiva bachur who is learning, I want you to have it for free as a gift.


The Steipler went through the sefer; he gained from it. There was a tremendous effort on part of the Steipler to get the sefer and on part of the author to give a copy for free.


What happened was that after WWII most of European communities were wiped out and the few surviving talmidim of the Imrei Moshe who had survived got together in Eretz Yisrael to discuss reprinting their rebbe’s sefer. During the Holocaust many great seforim were lost. The Nazis burnt all of the Ponevezher Rav’s manuscripts on Bavli and Yerushalmi. The students could not locate a single surviving copy of Imrei Moshe. The Steipler found out about this. He had immigrated; had escaped the Holocaust.  He had come from Europe to Eretz Yisrael earlier.  His brother-in-law, the Chazon Ish brought him in.  He had a copy of the sefer, and the Steipler was meticulous with his property, especially with his sefarim.  He had tremendous kavod haTorah for them. Thus, the last remaining copy of the sefer, which had been given with sacrifice and utter kindness by the author, became the source the survival and reprinting of the entire sefer!


This story is very touching to me on many fronts.  First of all, because we see the effort that people are willing to put in to learn Torah.  Secondly, we see how the chesed that the Imrei Moshe did by sending a free sefer to this bachur was repaid by the hashgacha of Hashem in that the sefer was able to be reprinted and learned by ten of thousands of people because of the great mitzvah. What a beautiful thought. Hashem loves and rewards our mesirus nefesh.


3) The Rainbow – Rebuke With a Smile


Let’s talk about the rainbow. Rishonim ask: After the mabul Hashem shows Noach and his family the rainbow, ‘es kashtee nasati b’anan.’  Hashem calls it my keshes, the rainbow is my bow, a choice weapon in ancient wars, and yet it is going to show that Hashem is no longer going to destroy the world? What does this mean? It’s very interesting, as Ramban and other Rishonim note, if you look at a rainbow it is actually a bow, as in bow and arrow.  It’s a bow, but, not poised to hurt anyone, rather the way the rainbow stands upright with the arch at top, it is actually an inverted bow. Hence, the inverted bow actually makes a strong statement of disarmament.


Why is the rainbow beautiful?


A young bright child once posed an interesting question at the Shabbos table. He said, “You know Tattie, I don’t understand. If the rainbow shows that Hashem wants to destroy the world, but is no longer going to, then why is it so pretty?  It should be very ugly.”  And, so the father said, “That’s a very good question.  Why don’t you ask our guest?”  I thought for a minute and suggested:


When I was about eleven years old, I often got into trouble for my behavior. It was a snowy day, and the school bus left me off at the corner in front of my house. There had been a little game each daring kid who got off of the bus was playing. The game was to quickly make a snowball and hit your friend’s window as the bus was pulling away and before the rebbe on the bus saw you.


As I get off the bus I quickly made the snowball, and I released it, and to my great chagrin it hit the window where the bus monitor was standing, and so I was caught, and I got a very, very frowned face, and I got in big trouble the next day at school. But, what was even more interesting to me was that behind me was my father.  My father was coming home from work and he had just pulled up, and he saw me, and on his face was a smile. He wasn’t laughing at what I did; but he was not screaming either. He was standing there smiling telling me clearly that he saw what I did, but he was not going to berate me. Even though I knew I was in trouble, the fact that he was smiling at me gave me the message that I still love you, despite what you did wrong.


This I believe is the message of the pretty rainbow. Hashem is smiling at us and giving us the message that I know you can do better and improve your behavior.


4) Mesorah From Adam to Us


The Ramban brings down a very fascinating thing, and we find this in Chazal as well. Noach saw his own father and his father had seen Adam HaRishon and so Noach was really a link in our mesorah from Adam to Noach’s father and through the generations.


We know that Avraham saw Noach, as well, for fifty-eight years. The gematria of Noach, nun ches, is fifty-eight because Avraham and Noach overlapped for fifty-eight years. Our mesorah is very strong, and if we think about it, we know that the mesorah of brias haolam that was passed down from Adam who saw that Hashem created the world down to us. This can really be mischazek our Emunah as the Kuzari says on the intellectual level to know that it’s been passed down, literally from Adam to Noach’s father to Noach and then to Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, and to all of us from there.


5) Judgment of Dor HaFlaga Vs. Dor HaMabul - Elokim vs. Yud-Kay-Vav-Kay


Ramban says that if you look at the whole mabul it always mentions the name of Elokim, judgemtn throughout. In contrast, for the narrative of Dor Haflaga, where they built a tower to go fight against Hashem, the name of Havaya, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey is used. This is the name of mercy. What is this about?


The sins that brougt about the mabul was that of hashchasas haaretz, that they perverted their ways on the land. Rikanti explains that Ramban is stating that the sin of the generation of the mabul was that the people divided among one another and did actions that hurt one another. Thus, they got the brunt of punishment and din from Hashem. However, the Dor Haflaga came together and worked together harmoniously, and thus there was room for mercy and they were not killed by Hashem. He points out that this is why we find by Sedom there was destruction because people were mistreating each other and stealing and cheating, and so that, once again, was intolerable to Hashem


Hale’vi Osee Azvu


What we see from here is what the medrash says that, “Halevay osee azvu v’Torahsee shamaru.”  That Hashem says that halevay if the Jews are going to sin they could forsake me, but at least they’re going to keep my Torah, at least they’re going to act appropriate and keep learning because hameor shebo machzeero l’mutav.  If you’re still holding on to proper behavior and trying to learn Torah and trying to do what’s right, you might be making mistakes, but at least the Torah can bring you back. However, if you’re perverting your ways and mistreating other people then Hashem has no tolerance, and “min hachamas asher b’kapeihem”, like we describe the people of Ninveh, the ikur teshuva that they had to do was to fix the stealing which they had committed against one another.


Mistreating One Another is Intolerable


We know that the Chafetz Chaim used to say before neilah that we have to make sure that we’re not stealing and mistreating other people because that’s a big kitrug against us - ‘l’man nechdal mei’oshek yadeinu, let us stop stealing from others.’ We want to focus on really living our life with Hashem, of course, through Torah and through proper dayos about Hashem and through proper understanding, but what is most intolerable to Hashem, is that which literally caused the entire world to be destroyed in the mabul was the gezel and the chamas asher b’kapeihem, the way that they were mistreating each other. Let us make sure we are keeping ourselves innocent and pure in this domain.


 


Rabbi Yosef Tropper is a shul rav, mental health therapist and an acclaimed author. Learn more and subscribe to the audio version and/or the print version at ParshaThemes.com