ספר בראשית

Having said all this, we are faced with the question why ‎according to Rashi, (Genesis 7,7) Noach was of a category ‎described by our sages as ‎קטני אמונה‎, “lacking in adequate faith.” ‎How could a man be described as perfectly righteous, ‎צדיק תמים‎, ‎and at the same time display a lack of faith in the Lord? Another ‎question we must ask is why Noach, if he did not feel that ‎rebuking his peers would help, did not at least pray for his fellow ‎human beings prior to the deluge?‎We must refer once more to the distinction between the two ‎categories of righteous people. One category has earned the title ‎‎“tzaddik” because he serves only the one and only true G’d, the ‎Creator, and believes that this Creator is all powerful and guides ‎the universe in accordance with His wishes.Noach, though aware of the many sexual perversions ‎practiced by the people around him, and being steadfast in not ‎copying their behaviour, is attested to by the Torah describing ‎him as ‎תמים היה בדורותיו‎, “he was perfect in his time.” ‎Nonetheless, his loyalty to the Creator certainly did not endear ‎him to his peers, hence “he walked with G’d”, as there was no one ‎else “with whom to walk.” Sadly, only G’d appreciated his self-‎restraint, his righteousness.‎Having said all this, we are faced with the question why ‎according to Rashi, (Genesis 7,7) Noach was of a category ‎described by our sages as ‎קטני אמונה‎, “lacking in adequate faith.” ‎How could a man be described as perfectly righteous, ‎צדיק תמים‎, ‎and at the same time display a lack of faith in the Lord? Another ‎question we must ask is why Noach, if he did not feel that ‎rebuking his peers would help, did not at least pray for his fellow ‎human beings prior to the deluge?‎We must refer once more to the distinction between the two ‎categories of righteous people. One category has earned the title ‎‎“tzaddik” because he serves only the one and only true G’d, ‎the Creator, and believes that this Creator is all powerful and ‎guides the universe in accordance with His wishes.Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmeni in Moed Katan 16 commenting ‎on Samuel II 23,1 where the prophet introduces King David’s last ‎utterances, (actually a “hymn,”) with the words: ‎נאום דוד בן ישי ‏ונאום הגבר הוקם על‎, ”words of David son of Yishai, and of the ‎strong man who has been elevated and anointed by G’d, etc.” He ‎continues there in verse 3: ‎אמר אלוקי ישראל לי דבר צור ישראל מושל ‏באדם צדיק מושל יראת אלוקים‎, “Israel’s G’d said concerning me: ‘be ‎ruler over mankind, be ruler over awe of G’d.’” According to Rabbi ‎Shmuel bar Nachmeni, the somewhat enigmatic verse must be ‎understood as follows: David, who had raised high the banner of ‎repentance (when he said to the prophet Natan in response to his ‎rebuke that he had been guilty of without ifs or buts in the ‎matter of Bat Sheva) “G’d rules man, whereas the righteous rules ‎G’d.” What is meant by “the righteous rules G’d?” Initially G’d ‎decrees what man’s fate will be; however, the intercession of a ‎‎tzaddik’s prayer” may result in G’d’s decree being cancelled.” ‎The Talmud suggests that when a tzaddik is not only ‎concerned with his own salvation but endeavours to bring sinners ‎closer to G’d, his prayer can influence G’d to the extent that He ‎will cancel a decree of death already promulgated in heaven ‎against certain individuals or groups of people. Noach, alas, did ‎not engage in active attempts to influence people by rebuking ‎them.‎[No doubt, whenever Noach was asked during the 120 years ‎that he built the ark why he did so, he told his peers that G’d had ‎instructed him to do this in order to escape the deluge that would ‎occur. Ed.]‎One of the reasons that he did not pray for his fellow man ‎may have been that he felt inadequate to be able to cancel a ‎decree that G’d had told him He had issued. He may have been ‎motivated by considerations we encounter in connection with ‎Neuchadnezzar (Sanhedrin 92). We are told there that when ‎throwing Chananyah, Michael and Azaryah into a fiery furnace ‎from which all three were saved, G’d also commanded Ezekiel to ‎revive the dead bones of the Jews that had been killed by ‎Nevuchadnezzar when he destroyed Jerusalem and burned the ‎Temple. One of the newly revived was instructed to touch ‎Nevuchadnezzar on his forehead and to identify himself as one of ‎the many thousands who had been resurrected. Nevuchadnezzar ‎was so impressed that he began to compose songs of praise ‎extolling the Almighty. Thereupon an angel shut ‎Nevuchadnezzar’s mouth to prevent him from continuing. Had ‎the angel not done so, all the hymns composed by King David ‎would have lost in value when compared to the songs composed ‎by Nevuchadnezzar.The word used by the Talmud to describe what would have ‎occurred is ‎לגנות‎, “to denigrate, or defame.” When reminding ‎ourselves of the tzaddik’s ability, under certain conditions ‎to reverse a decree that originated from the Attribute of Justice, ‎and to cause it to become a beneficial decree, we can understand ‎why Nevuchadnezzar had begun to sing the Lord’s praises; [after ‎all he had deliberately destroyed G’d’s Temple on earth. Ed.] When ‎he noticed that Ezekiel’s prayers had resulted in an army of ‎people being resurrected, he became afraid that another prayer ‎by the same person, or persons like him, would result in his life’s ‎work, the destruction of the Temple, being reversed also. In order ‎to pre-empt any prayer by any tzaddik being able to achieve ‎this, he tried to pre-empt anyone from offering such a prayer and ‎being granted his request, by extolling G’d’s greatness in even ‎more glowing terms than David had done in the Book of Psalms.‎Noach, far from being a boastful individual, proclaiming ‎himself as a major deity, was the very opposite, a humble person, ‎to whom it would not have occurred that a prayer of his would ‎influence G’d to reverse a decree which He had certainly not ‎arrived at without first having agonized over it. [He even told ‎Noach that He would delay execution of this decree for up to 120 ‎years, this is why He told Noach when he was 480 years old to ‎start building the ark. Ed.] It was because he did not consider ‎himself as especially righteous, that he reasoned that just as he ‎would be saved, so there must be numerous other people of ‎similar stature who would also be saved. When G’d noticed this, ‎He told Noach (Genesis 6,13) that He would have to proceed with ‎His intention to destroy the human race as there was no one who ‎had tried to intercede on their behalf. Nonetheless, He made plain ‎to Noach, that although he had not interceded on behalf of his ‎fellow humans, He would maintain the existing covenant between ‎G’d and mankind through Noach and his family. (Genesis 6,18).