ספר בראשית

‎Genesis 7,1 ‎“For I have seen you ‎being righteous before Me in this generation;” these words ‎must be understood according to the Zohar I, 67. The ‎author of the Zohar contrasts Moses’ reaction to G’d’s ‎threat to annihilate the Jewish people and to substitute him for ‎the Jewish people (Exodus 32,10) with Noach’s silence. Moses, had ‎immediately responded to this threat by saying: “erase me from ‎Your Book, rather than make me the founder of a new Jewish ‎people. Moses was willing to give up his life if he could thereby ‎save his people”. When G’d (7,4) used the same expression ‎ומחיתי ‏את כל היקום‎, “I will erase all breathing living creatures,” He ‎elicited no response from Noach, just as He had not elicited a ‎response from him in 6,13, or in 6,17. Moses, by offering his own ‎life on behalf of his people during the episode of the golden calf, ‎atoned for Noach’s insensitivity at this time. Moses is viewed by ‎the Zohar as possessing a soul composed of all the souls destroyed ‎in the deluge. This is why our prophets refer to the deluge as ‎מי ‏נח‎, “the waters of Noach,” since Noach had not intervened on ‎behalf of his contemporaries. (Isaiah 54,9). The prophet appears ‎to imply that Noach had been remiss by associating the deluge ‎with Noach (himself) instead of with the sinners.‎It is known that Moses was considered a tzaddik, ‎righteous person. When our sages state that all the prophets’ ‎prophecies began with the word ‎כה‎, whereas Moses’ prophecy on ‎occasion commenced with the word ‎זה‎, “this,” they meant to ‎compare Moses to Noach of whom G’d had said ‎אותך ראיתי צדיק ‏לפני בדור הזה‎, “I have seen you that you are a tzaddik before ‎Me in this generation”. G’d implied that Noach would be restored ‎posthumously to this stature when Moses, a reincarnation of his ‎soul, would make up for his omission at this time. The words ‎בדור ‏הזה‎, are understood as a hint that in Moses’ time another ‎‎tzaddik would compensate for the sin of omission in Noach’s ‎generation. ‎