Rabbi Frand on Parshas Noach
These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher
Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: Tape # 301, Teaching
Torah To Non-Jews.
Good Shabbos!
Free Time: A Challenge and A Responsibility
The name Noach was introduced and explained in last week's parsha [Bereshis
5:28-29]. "And (Lemech) called the name (of his son) Noach saying: This one
will comfort us from our toil and from the anguish of our hands, from the
soil that G-d has cursed." Adam had received the curse that the ground
would itself be cursed because of him, and that Adam would only eat bread
by the sweat of his brow. Lemech's prayer was that the birth of this son
Noach should somehow be a consolation and should in some way lighten the
burden of this curse.
The Medrash Tanchuma elaborates on this pasuk [verse]: When his son Noach
was born, how did Lemech know that Noach would be a great consolation that
would revolutionize society and would lighten the burden of the curse? The
Medrash explains that when Adam was given the curse following his sin in the
Garden of Eden, he asked G-d until when the curse would remain in effect.
G-d answered that the curse would last until a person was born already
circumcised. Noach was born already circumcised, alerting Lemech to the
impending lightening of this 10-generation-old curse. Lemech could therefore
immediately proclaim "this is the baby that we have been waiting for."
Now history will change.
The Medrash explains further that until Noach was born, when people planted
wheat they harvested thorns. However, with the birth of Noach, nature
returned to its intended pattern. When they planted wheat, they harvested
wheat; when they planted barley they harvested barley. Nature worked the way
it was supposed to work. Furthermore, the Medrash states, Noach invented the
plow and the hoe and all types of farming tools. Until his time, people did
agricultural work with their hands. Imagine plowing a field with one's
fingernails! It was Noach's brilliant idea that revolutionized the history
of the world, and indeed saved his fellow man from "our toil and from the
anguish of our hands."
Rav Avrohom Pam zt"l (1913-2001) observed that although this Medrash states
that Noach made life much easier and made society far more economically
productive, it was precisely in Noach's time that society became corrupt
and debased. Apparently there is a correlation between hard work and the
moral status of the world, between having it easy and moral deterioration.
Rav Pam remembered the "sweatshops" on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and
in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He certainly remembered pre-war Lithuania.
People worked 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week! However, 50, 60,
and 70 years ago in New York City, it was possible to walk outside at
night. Now, with four days a week, flextime, shorter hours, and paid
vacations -- all of a sudden -- we cannot walk the streets safely any more.
It is sometimes not even safe to drive one's car down the street, much less
walk!
We are so advanced, we have all these conveniences, and look what is
happening to the world! Apparently, there is something corrupting about
having so much free time on one's hands that one does not know what to do
with it. When that happens, the world deteriorates. This is what happened
during the years prior to the Flood.
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) commented similarly. There was a
striking change in the world after the Flood: "As long as the earth lasts,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night,
shall never again cease to exist." [Bereshis 8:22]
This was a revolutionary change. Before the Flood, there was no such thing
as a season. It was summer all year round.
Why are seasons necessary? Rav Hirsch explained that year-round summer is
not good for society. When life is too easy and people have too much time
on their hands, society deteriorates.
Life became easier during Noach's lifetime. Sudenly, people had too much
free time on their hands. The world deteriorated. This is a great ethical
lesson for all of us regarding the challenge and responsibility that free
time presents to us.
The Generation of the Flood: Immorality Institutionalized
The Chavos Yair (Responsa Chapter 163) addressed the following question: A
group of businessmen had a steady learning group with a certain rabbi for
many years. Although they came together regularly for Torah study, outside
of the learning sessions they were constantly at each other's throats over
business dealings. There were frequent "Dinei Torah" [Monetary disputes
requiring Court intervention] between them over matters of business
encroachments (hasagos Gevul). They were always putting down each other in
the eyes of customers.
Eventually, their legal fees from contesting all these "Dinei Torah" were
adding up to substantial sums. Finally one of the businessmen devised a
brilliant idea. "Let us make a deal amongst ourselves that as much as we
steal and rob and cheat and infringe and slander amongst ourselves -- we
will automatically forgive (be 'mochel') each other for these sins and we
will forgo our rights to monetary compensation via "Dinei Torah".
They asked their teacher if they were in fact allowed to make such a deal
amongst themselves. The rabbi responded that he could not answer their
question because he was an 'interested party' (nogeah b'Davar) -- since he
in fact was earning a livelihood from collecting fees for services rendered
in adjudicating their "Dinei Torah". Therefore they sent the query to the
Chavos Yair.
The Chavos Yair responded that their desire to enter into such an agreement
is itself a worse sin than all the stealing and cheating and infringement
that they had been engaging in prior to contemplating such an agreement.
They were now proposing to institutionalize falsehood and deceit. This would
be a Desecration of G-d's Name. The other way was dishonest, but at least it
culminated with a seeking of truth and justice. As unethical as their
previous behavior may have been, it was not nearly as bad as throwing all
ethics to the wind and formally sanctioning institutionalized falsehood and
cheating.
The Chavos Yair added that this was the difference between the Generation
of the Flood and the people of Sodom. In Sodom there were no righteous
people. The people there basically engaged in the same practices as were
prevalent in the Generation of the Flood. But by Sodom we read that "their
cries came before Him" [Bereshis 18:21]. At least there they still cried.
They knew they were being cheated. In the Generation of the Flood, there
were not even cries. People could do what they want, say what they want.
"Everything goes!"
A society that institutionalizes and sanctions sin is a society that is
totally corrupt.
This write-up was adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher
Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Torah Tape series on the weekly Torah portion.
The complete list of halachic topics covered in this series for Parshas
Bereishis are provided below:
Also Available: Mesorah / Artscroll has published a collection of Rabbi Frand's essays. The book is entitled:
and is available through your local Hebrew book store or from Project Genesis, 1-410-654-1799.
