Transcript
Should be a good morning, should be a great day for כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. We should hear בשורות טובות besoros tovos, we should hear good tidings and good news and a sweeping Israeli and IDF victory. I want to thank our parsha series sponsor for the year, Becky and Avi Katz, who continue to show their support and love in sponsoring the parsha series in memory of David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת l'ilui nishmas Becky's father, דוד בן מנחם מנש Dovid ben Menachem Manash. If anyone would like to sponsor a particular shiur or class, we of course would welcome it. Also at the conclusion of the parsha shiur this morning, everyone's invited to please remain behind, and we have the תהילים מחולק tehillim mechulak, we'll be able to divide it up and finish all of Tehillim if many people stay. It won't take long, but it'll be meaningful with each shiur, not only are we learning in the merit of our brothers and sisters in Israel, but also we are completing Tehillim with each and every shiur. תורה Torah and תפילה tefillah, the combination, please God, can be our contribution, among our contributions even from here. Parshas Toldos, Parshas Noach. Parshas Noach, page 30 in the ArtScroll Stone Chumash. אלה תולדות נח, נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדורותיו Eleh toldos Noach, Noach ish tzadik tamim hayah b'dorosov. I mention every year when we address when we learn Parshas Noach, people are not indifferent about Noach. The world can be divided into two camps: Those who see Noach as a צדיק tzadik who love Noach, who see Noach as a hero, and those who are the critics of Noach, those who see Noach, he was pretty good for his time, but his time was pretty pathetic, and that's the only reason he was good. Noach was really nothing special. Don't get too excited about Noach. People feel pretty passionate about Noach one direction or the other. אלה תולדות נח Eleh toldos Noach, the Torah itself testifies, these are the תולדות toldos, these are the offspring of Noach. נח איש צדיק Noach ish tzadik, he was a righteous man, תמים היה בדורותיו tamim hayah b'dorosov, he was perfect for his generation. את האלקים התהלך נח Es HaElokim hishalech Noach. Noach walked with God. So was he in fact great? Was he not great? Let's continue to weigh in every year. We try to bring to you new perspectives, new insights. We don't repeat, unless it's worth, unless we can't help it. But generally, we don't repeat. New insights, new ideas, and new perspectives on these same topics. The parsha is so rich, there are opportunities every year. The sefer צרוס חן Tzerus Chein, the אמרות טהרות Amros Tehoros of the רחמסטריווקא רבי Rachmastrivka Rebbe quotes the צרוס חן Tzerus Chein, who says על פי פשט al pi pshat, שאמרו רז\"ל בפרקי אבות she'amru Razal b'Pirkei Avos, the חז\"ל Chazal rather, our rabbis say in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos, כל שרוח הבריות נוחה הימנו, רוח המקום נוחה הימנו Kol she'ruach ha'brios nocha heimenu, ruach ha'Makom nocha heimenu. What's he bothered by? What's the obvious question? The redundancy. אלה תולדות נח, נח, איש צדיק Eleh toldos Noach, Noach, ish tzadik. These are the offspring of Noach, Noach was a righteous man. First of all, you didn't list the offspring of Noach. Why do we repeat the name Noach? The whole first posuk, if you're paying attention, doesn't read very clearly. אלה תולדות נח Eleh toldos Noach, if these are the offspring, list the offspring. If you're not listing the offspring, and you're just going to tell us about Noach, why do you have to repeat his name? Just say אלה תולדות נח, צדיק תמים היה בדורותיו Eleh toldos Noach, tzadik tamim hayah b'dorosov. Why אלה תולדות נח, נח Eleh toldos Noach, Noach? So that's what the צרוס חן Tzerus Chein is saying. The Mishna in Pirkei Avos tells us, כל שרוח הבריות נוחה הימנו, רוח המקום נוחה הימנו, וכל שאין רוח הבריות נוחה הימנו, אין רוח המקום נוחה הימנו Kol she'ruach ha'brios nocha heimenu, ruach ha'Makom nocha heimenu, v'kol she'ein ruach ha'brios nocha heimenu, ein ruach ha'Makom nocha heimenu. Whoever finds favor in the eyes of man, if people like you, God likes you. If people think you're a low-life jerk, אויסווארף oisvarf, reject, have no interest in being around you, then Hashem says, I have no interest in being around you. And that's what it means, because the זוהר הקדוש Zohar HaKadosh, the Zohar says, and the מדרש Midrash quotes this as well, כפל הלשון נח נח, נח לעליונים ונח לתחתונים kefel ha'lashon Noach Noach, nach l'elyonim v'nach l'tachtonim. He was נוח noach, he was pleasant above and pleasant below. The name Noach and the word נוח noach is a description or a reflection of how he was thought of both above and below. And that's what the צרוס חן Tzerus Chein says. אלה תולדות נח, נח Eleh toldos Noach, Noach. God loved him and people loved him. Noach was integrated. And when does Hashem love you? When you're integrated among his other children. But if you're not, if you're divided and divisive, if you're hypercritical of others, if people withdraw from you, then Hashem says, you don't get along with my other children? You can't get along with others? You're not well-liked? You're not integrated? You're not רוח הבריות נוחה הימנו ruach ha'brios nocha heimenu? So that's the לשון נוחה, נח lashon nocha, Noach. נח למעלה לעליונים ונח לתחתונים Nach l'maalah l'elyonim v'nach l'tachtonim. רוח הבריות נוחה הימנו Ruach ha'brios nocha heimenu. People are drawn to you. They are at peace with you, they like you, you're integrated with them. So they goes together. Hashem loves you if people love you. If the people don't love you, then Hashem says, no matter how righteous you may present yourself, I'm not interested in you as either. We have to be connected with the people around us. We have to be רוח הבריות נוחה הימנו ruach ha'brios nocha heimenu. We have to see ourselves as part of something bigger than ourselves. We can't withdraw. We're not on our own. We don't live isolated. We have to, it's not enough to be righteous vis-a-vis God, it's not enough to be vigilant and pious in Hashem's הלכות halachos and תורה Torah and מצוות mitzvos, but a core value, a core value of יהדות Yiddishkeit of Torah is community. It's community. It's not a, it's not a concession. It's not just like it's easier to do things in a community. You need a מנין minyan, what are you going to do? You need שיעורים shiurim, what are you going to do? You need a good קידוש kiddush and a שלה שודס shalosh seudos, what are you going to do? Living in a community, participating, contributing, being counted in community is not a concession, it is a core value. רוח הבריות נוחה הימנו Ruach ha'brios nocha heimenu. You don't just live by yourself. We've said now many times, the Rambam in הלכות תשובה Hilchos Teshuvah, פורש מן הציבור poreish min ha'tzibbur, you don't remove yourself from the ציבור tzibbur. A person who removes himself from the ציבור tzibbur, which the Rambam defines as not feeling the צער tza'ar, the crisis of the community. If you don't feel the crisis of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, אין לו חלק לעולם הבא ein lo cheilek l'olam haba, you have no portion in the world to come. You could be vigilant and righteous and and incredibly, incredibly rigorous in your observance of every detail of Jewish law, but you're not connected to community, to the people, to the nation, to our plight, to our destiny, to this crisis. If you're capable of being distracted from it, then you have to look and really see what you're made of. It's a real gut check. I wrote about this week an open letter to my fellow Jews of the diaspora. It's a real gut check moment for how connected we feel to כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael and to Israel in this moment. Your connection to Israel is not defined by whether you ate a blue and white cookie on יום העצמאות Yom Ha'atzmaut. That people want to sit in judgment of, did you say הלל Hallel with a ברכה bracha, without a ברכה bracha, blue and white cookie, no cookie, a פלאפל falafel ball, did you march? Did you wave a flag? People have very superficial definitions of how connected you are to Israel. Very superficial and very judgmental. That's not the, that's not הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Right now, how connected do you feel? What decisions are you making? Everyone has to make decisions that are right for them, but what connection do we feel? If you have to leave Israel, do you walk away backwards like you walk away from the כותל Kotel, or do you turn your back and run? What, what, what relationship do we have to community, to כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, to our nation, to our people? רוח הבריות נוחה הימנו Ruach ha'brios nocha heimenu. We have to be connected with community, with the people around us. נח לתחתונים nach l'tachtonim, if we have Noach לתחתונים l'tachtonim, then נח נח לעליונים nach Noach l'elyonim. And that's the פשט pshat says the צרוס חן Tzerus Chein, definitely not the פשט pshat, maybe that's the דרש drush. אלה תולדות נח, נח Eleh toldos Noach, Noach. שהתולדות שיוצא אדם נוח לבריות, שנעשה גם נוח לשמים. שהכן הוא נוח לאלה בשביל שהוא נוח לתתא. She'ha'toldos she'yotzei adam noach la'brios, she'na'asah gam noach la'shamayim. She'ha'ken hu noach l'eila bishvil she'hu noach l'tata. You have to be נוח noach both above and below. And then he quotes another פשט pshat. תנו רבנן שתי שנים ומחצה נחלקו בית שמאי ובית הלל Tanu Rabbanan, shtei shanim u'machtza nechleku Beis Shammai u'Beis Hillel. For two and a half years, Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel argued, they debated. נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא Noach lo l'adam she'lo nivra yoser mi'she'nivra. והללו אומרים נוח לו לאדם שנברא יותר משלא נברא V'halalu omrim noach lo l'adam she'nivra yoser mi'she'lo nivra. What is, is it better that we were born or would it have been better not to be born at all? Better that we're here, or would it have been better if we were never here? Which is better? Two and a half years, Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel had that debate. This world is filled, ותמלא הארץ חמס va'timalei ha'aretz chamas. The world is filled with such evil, animal, barbaric, there's no words that do justice to to who they are and how they've behaved and what they've done and the evil they've perpetrated, ותמלא הארץ חמס va'timalei ha'aretz chamas, so maybe נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא noach lo l'adam she'lo nivra. You look around this world with its hurt, with its pain, and we don't know what's worth it. Elie Wiesel famously said, you know that the worst atrocities are not because there's evil, but the people who are indifferent to it. It's painful, horrifilly painful in an unparalleled way, the brutal murder of 1400 and the kidnapping of of 200, but it's also brutally painful, supposed Ivy League universities, places of higher education and knowledge that are abandoning morality and basic truth, that closed down the university when someone was elected because the people might have been so injured by the thought that someone was elected, to protect Jewish students who are sitting in class next to people who are rallying with anti-Semitic slurs against them, they've disappeared. They're offline. They're nowhere to be found. In such a world, those are the institutions of higher, you've got to be a moron to go to Harvard. You're not smart. You got to be a moron if you let your child go to Harvard. If you let your child go to a secular higher education, you're not a reflection of being intellectually advanced and smart. You're a moron. I'm sorry to be so straight and blunt and direct. It's dangerous. It's dangerous. It's literally, downright dangerous. Look who the classmates are and look at the abandonment of the university itself. So maybe in such a world, נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא noach lo l'adam she'lo nivra. I'm sorry if the parsha class is laced with, it's just impossible to disconnect from what's going on. So you'll excuse me. We'll we'll focus on the Torah, I promise. So maybe in such a world, it's נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא noach lo l'adam she'lo nivra. Maybe we would have been better off not not being born. Two and a half years Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel debated that. In such a world that could marginalize and neglect כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, that could be so anti-Semitic, that could be so barbaric, maybe it's better just to not have been born. So the צרוס חן Tzerus Chein says, אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים eilu v'eilu divrei Elokim chaim. Both attitudes and both perspectives are true. ומר אמר חדא ומר אמר חדא ולא פליגי U'mar amar chada u'mar amar chada v'lo pligi. Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel really didn't debate. It's a question of when, at what moment, what experience, what perspective. שניהם לדבר אחד נתכוונו shneihem l'davar echad niskavnu, they really meant the same thing. ודעת אחת תלויה בדעת השניה v'da'as achas tluya b'da'as ha'shnia. והכרע בזה תלוי איך הוא שיבוא אדם על עצמו בעיני עצמו v'hachra'a b'zeh talui eich hu she'yashiv adam al atzmo b'einei atzmo. It's not really about this world, it's really about the way we see ourselves. כל אדם צריך לעשות לעצמו חשבון הנפש, איך נראה מעשיו הטובים. Kol adam tzarich la'asos l'atzmo cheshbon ha'nefesh, eich nir'eh ma'asav ha'tovim. האם הוא לומד כדבעי, האם הוא מקיים מצוות ומעשים טובים כראוי Ha'im hu lomed k'd'ba'i, ha'im hu mekayem mitzvos u'ma'asim tovim k'ra'ui. וכן צריך לעשות חשבון הנפש על מעשיו הלא טובים V'chein tzarich la'asos cheshbon ha'nefesh al ma'asav ha'lo tovim. A person has to look at their life and say, what am I making of my life? Am I rallying and advocating and davening and learning and standing up? Am I living a life of virtue and a life of leadership and a life of connection to כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael? Am I living a life that's going to leave a legacy that I will be proud of? So נוח לו לאדם שנברא noach lo l'adam she'nivra. So then it's worthwhile to be born. It's worthwhile to be here. אם נדמה לו לאדם שנח לו שנברא Im nidmeh lo l'adam she'noach lo she'nivra, if a person says to themself, it's worthwhile. ואם מסתפק בעצמו במצוות שכבר עשה וניראה לו שהוא בשלמות שהקדוש ברוך הוא רצה בו, ולפי דעתו כבר הגיע לתכלית השלמות, ועל כן נוח לו בדעתו שנברא, בא אדם זה האמת הוא שנוח לו שלא נברא. V'im mistapek b'atzmo b'mitzvos she'kvar asah v'nir'eh lo she'hu b'shleimus she'HaKadosh Baruch Hu ratzah bo, u'l'fi da'ato kvar higia l'tachlis ha'shleimus, v'al kein noach lo b'da'ato she'nivra, ba adam zeh ha'emes hu she'noach lo she'lo nivra. If it's נוח לו לאדם שנברא noach lo l'adam she'nivra, if a person thinks I'm all that and I'm done and I'm accomplished, I'm the finished product and I've made my mark and I've done what I have to do and I'm done. So such a person who feels נוח שנברא noach she'nivra, נוח לו שלא נברא noach lo she'lo nivra. If you think ever you're a finished product and you're complete and you're done, your best is behind you, not yet to come, then תקא taka you, it would have been better off if you weren't created. וזה מה שאמרו חז\"ל, נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא, מי שנברא. V'zeh ma she'amru Chazal, noach lo l'adam she'lo nivra, mi she'nivra. And that's why חז\"ל Chazal say, נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא, מי שנברא noach lo l'adam she'nivra mi she'nivra. If you think מי שנברא mi she'nivra, if you think it's good that I'm here, then better you weren't born. But מי שנראה לו בעיניו שנוח ויותר אילו לא נברא mi she'nir'eh lo b'einav she'noach v'yoser ilu lo nivra, but if a person who says, I've not yet accomplished what I'm meant to be, maybe it would have been better if I weren't created, because I've not yet become who I'm meant to be, I've not yet molded and fashioned myself into the person, the best version of myself, so maybe it would have been better if I weren't here, such a person, נוח לו לאדם שנברא, מי שלא נברא noach lo l'adam she'nivra, mi she'lo nivra. When a person has an attitude of שלא נברא she'lo nivra, then that person נוח לו לאדם שנברא noach lo l'adam she'nivra. It's a fantastic, beautiful insight. Beautiful insight. Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel weren't arguing. They were describing two different people. The person who thinks, I'm all that, who arrogantly and pridefully thinks, I'm done, I'm finished, I'm accomplished. So such a person, תקא taka it would have been better if you're not here. But the person who thinks, my best is yet to come. What's his name, Lloyd Wright, who was the great architect? Frank Lloyd Wright. I love this quote. He was once asked of all of your designs, famous architect, accomplished, award-winning architect, of all of your designs, which is your favorite? And you know what he answered? My next one. His favorite was my next one. You're not done. Your next one. Your next, your best is yet to come. Your best davening, your best learning, your best parenting, your best marriage moment, your best eved Hashem moment, your best selflessness. Our best is yet to come. Who cares what age and what stage of life? Our best is yet to come. So he say, נוח שלא נברא noach she'lo nivra. I've not yet done enough. It would have been better if I weren't here. I have more to do. I have more to become. I have a better way to live. I have a better version of me to show the world. תקא taka for you, it's good you're here. But the person who says, נוח שנברא noach she'nivra, do you know who I am and what I've done? Do you know how much I've accomplished, how much I've achieved? You? נוח שלא נברא Noach she'lo nivra. It would have been better you weren't here. What does that have to do with our parsha, you're wondering? Me too. So he says, so he says, צרוס חן Tzerus Chein, that's what it means אלה תולדות נח, נח Eleh toldos Noach, Noach. שהתולדות של נח האחד הוא נח השני. She'ha'toldos shel Noach ha'echad hu Noach ha'sheini. שאם לדעתו נוח לו שלא נברא, אזי מזה נולד חיוב נח השני, שבאמת נוח לו שלא נברא, וכן להפך. She'im l'da'ato noach lo she'lo nivra, azai mi'zeh nolad chiyuv Noach ha'sheini, she'be'emes noach lo she'lo nivra, v'chein l'hefech. So אלה תולדות נח, נח Eleh toldos Noach, Noach. Your attitude to נוח שנברא noach she'nivra and נוח שלא נברא noach she'lo nivra will result in the second Noach of whether תקא taka נוח שנברא noach she'nivra or נוח שלא נברא noach she'lo nivra. אלה תולדות נח, נח Eleh toldos Noach, Noach. Your real legacy is your attitude to Noach, to נוח שנברא Noach she'nivra or נוח שלא נברא Noach she'lo nivra. That will determine what kind of quality of life you have and who you are and who you become. אלה תולדות נח, נח Eleh toldos Noach, Noach. Two interpretations of the צרוס חן Tzerus Chein, two interpretations quoted by the אמרות טהרות Amros Tehoros. The נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech gives us another. The נועם אלימלך Noam Elimelech, the הייליגער ר' אלימלך מליז'נסק heiliger Reb Elimelech mi'Lizhensk, the רבי ר' אלימלך Rebbe Reb Elimelech. He tells us because the posuk continues, איש צדיק תמים היה בדורותיו ish tzadik tamim hayah b'dorosov. Noach continues, Noach was a great tzadik. Noach was a big tzadik from his כפל'ך kapeluch to his פיס'לאך fiselach. Noach is a great tzadik. איש צדיק תמים היה בדורותיו Ish tzadik tamim hayah b'dorosov. So פרעגט fregt the Noam Elimelech, asks the question, what should the posuk have said? Noach was a righteous man ב...דורו b'doro. In his generation. What's the difference between the word בדורו b'doro in his generation, and בדורותיו b'dorosov? What's the difference between דורו doro and דורותיו dorosov? Says the Noam Elimelech, בכל דור ודור יש מצוה אחת מיוחדת לעשות הדור, שעליה צריכים בעיקר לעבוד ולתקן b'chol dor va'dor yeish mitzvah achas meyuchdes la'asos ha'dor, she'aleha tzrichim b'ikar la'avod u'l'saken. Every generation has its mission, its task, its mitzvah. Of course, we're all bound by all 613, but there's a different emphasis, a different focus, there's a different mission and a different mandate. Rav Elyashiv said, you know what the mitzvah of our generation is? קידוש השם Kiddush Hashem. The last generation, the Holocaust, Eastern Europe, was to die על קידוש השם al Kiddush Hashem. That seems to have been their mitzvah. Said Rav Elyashiv, our mitzvah is to live על קידוש השם al Kiddush Hashem. To be מקדש שם שמים ברבים mekadesh shem shamayim b'rabim, the way we live, the way we carry ourselves, the way we interact with the world, what we do. Every generation has its mitzvah. דכתיב בדורנו היינו שכן היה בעצם הדור של הרבי הקדוש הרבי ר' אלימלך, המצוה של הדור שצריכים לתקן היא מצוות ציצית D'ksiv b'doreinu haynu she'kein hayah b'otzo ha'dor shel ha'Rebbe ha'Kadosh, ha'Rebbe Reb Elimelech, ha'mitzvah shel ha'dor she'tzrichim l'saken hi mitzvas tzitzis. Reb Elimelech said about his generation what they needed to fix was tzitzis. People had abandoned the mitzvah of tzitzis. Restore the mitzvah of tzitzis. Tzitzis is supposed to remind us, the strings, a person ties a string around their finger to remember something, we tie strings around our garments to remember. Tzitzis reminds us of who we are. Tzitzis is the uniform of a holy Jew, that we're here as soldiers in Hashem's army, in the צבאות השם tzivos Hashem. So that's what it means, says Reb Elimelech, זהו שכתוב בנח, תמים היה לא בדורו, בדורותיו, שבכל הדור שהיה נח חי בהם, היה מתקן בתמימות את כל המצוות שהיו צריכים לתקן בדורות אלו. Zeh hu she'kasuv b'Noach, tamim hayah lo b'doro, b'dorosov, she'b'chol ha'dor she'hayah Noach chai bahem, hayah mesaken b'tmimus es kol ha'mitzvos she'hayu tzrichim l'saken b'doros eilu. Noach's life spanned several generations, and in each generation, Noach led the charge to fulfill the mitzvah, whatever the mitzvah was of that generation that he lived in. The אוהב ישראל Ohev Yisrael, the אפטער רב Apter Rav, has another interpretation. היה רגיל לאמר האפטער רב, אוהב ישראל Hayah ragil lomar ha'Apter Rav, Ohev Yisrael. The Rebbe from Lublin says the same thing in his דברי אמת Divrei Emes, שמה שפרשם דיני אלה דורשים לשבח ופשוט She'mah she'meforshim dinei eilu dorshim l'shvach u'pashut. And now we have the debate. בדורותיו b'dorosov. Was Noach great just for his generation, but if he lived in Avram's generation, he was a גורנישט gornischt. He was a nothing, he was a nobody. Nobody would have noticed him. Or no, do you say Noach, Noach is a righteous, and he would have been righteous in any generation. The great Noach debate. Everyone has to take a side. There is no neutral. Was Noach great for any generation? Was Noach great just for his generation? Says the אוהב ישראל Ohev Yisrael, the אפטער רב Apter Rav, so if you're דורש לשבח doresh l'shvach, we understand it. If you praise him, he was righteous, we got, the posuk says he was righteous. Everyone else indulged in חמס chamas behavior. Everyone else either was a member of חמס Chamas or a חמס Chamas sympathizer, but Noach wasn't. So תקא taka that makes him a צדיק tzadik. I understand why he's worthy of praise. דורשים לגנאי Dorshim l'gnai, who was the one who judged him unfavorably? Who was the one who was critical of him? He builds the תיבה teiva, he saves humanity. Should get the Nobel Peace Prize, whatever the ultimate Nobel Peace Prize is, he literally saved humanity. So who could possibly be critical? Who was דורש לגנאי doresh l'gnai? Who is דורש לגנאי doresh l'gnai? So said the Ohev Yisrael, נח בעצמו היה דורש את עצמו לגנאי, מחמת ענוותנותו Noach b'atzmo hayah doresh es atzmo l'gnai, machmas anvanuso. Noach was exceedingly humble. So no matter how much he accomplished, no matter how righteous he was, no matter how much credit he deserved, he always felt unworthy. He never put the spotlight on himself. He always said, you know what? Yeah, compared to the אויסווארפס oisvarfs I live with, I'm pretty good, but you should know that if I lived among real צדיקים tzadikim, I would be nothing. והיה מפרש לעצמו במה שהשם יתברך כינהו צדיק לפני הדור הזה, הוא רק לפי ערך דורו השפל V'hayah mefareish l'atzmo b'mah she'Hashem Yisbarach kinahu tzadik lifnei ha'dor ha'zeh, hu rak l'fi erech doro ha'shafel. Every time God praised him, every time God said, you're pretty good Noach, every time God said, I'm going to save the world through you, Noach, he would recoil and say, thank you, and I'm honored, and I feel the awesome responsibility, but I know that it's only because of how terrible everyone around me is. It's not really because I am great. I realize it's only relative to the people around me. Who was דורש לגנאי doresh l'gnai said the אפטער רב Apter Rav? You know who was דורש לגנאי doresh l'gnai? Noach. It wasn't some third party, some outside person who was critical of Noach. Noach was critical of himself. לכך הוא נקרא צדיק כנגדם, אבל כלפי דורו של אברהם אינו נחשב לכלום. L'kach hu nikra tzadik k'negdam, aval klapei doro shel Avraham eino nechshav l'klum. ורק בדור הזה הוא נחשב לצדיק. ואם כן זהו עצמו גם כן שבח של נח. V'rak b'dor ha'zeh hu nechshav l'tzadik. V'im kein, zeh hu atzmo gam kein shvach shel Noach. So that's also something worth praising about Noach. He never got to his head. You know, it's very easy. I always say the רבנות rabbanus is divided into two groups, the ones I like to hang out with and the ones I stay away from, but there are the rabbis who they let it go to their head. They believe whatever the hype is about them. Rabbis get a lot of grief and criticism, they also get a lot of honor and distinction and praise. So the ones who let it go to their head, and they don't only take what they do seriously, they start to take themselves seriously. So, yeah. But the ones who take what they do seriously, not themselves seriously, and the ones who realize everyone's saying nice things and maybe the rabbi's mother believes it, but the rabbi shouldn't believe it. So, that's the rabbi I like, those are the rabbis I like to hang out with. They keep it real. They're real, they're down to earth. You know what's the difference between those rabbis? Their רעבעצינס rebbetzins. If you have a good רעבעצין rebbetzin, she'll keep you humble. You're not so great, you're not so special. Don't forget to take out the garbage. Don't forget to, you know, that דרשה drasha was a B minus, that speech was a C plus. So you know, and and that's their job. עזר כנגדו Ezer k'negdo, that's their job. So, Noach, one of the reasons we praise Noach, I'm not saying that by the way, facetiously or or, I I mean it. All of us need in our lives for each other. That's an עזר כנגדו ezer k'negdo, last week's parsha. When Hashem says it's not good for Adam to be alone, עשה לו עזר כנגדו eseh lo ezer k'negdo. עזר Ezer means you need a support. You need somebody who's going to lift you up and bolster you and compliment you and see your worth. But you also need a כנגדו k'negdo. You need the person who when they say, you know, it's going to your head a little bit, you're starting to believe the hype, your time is no more precious or valuable than anyone else's, and you are no different, you also put your pants on one leg at a time, and you're no different than anybody else. You need the person to be כנגדו k'negdo. When are you an עזר ezer? When you're כנגדו k'negdo. If you're never כנגדו k'negdo, then you're not an עזר ezer, you're a כנגדו k'negdo. So when you're כנגדו k'negdo, you're an עזר ezer. And if you're never, if you're, if you're only an עזר ezer, then you're acting כנגדו k'negdo. That's how you have to interpret those פסוקים psukim. That's how marriage has to work, find that balance. And you also have to know within your spouse, I don't want to break into a whole שלום בית shalom bayis talk here, but you have to know within your spouse, when do they need an עזר ezer, and when do they need a כנגדו k'negdo? Right? Like the the ר' בונים Reb Bunim it's quoted in many people's names, a person has to walk around with a little פתק petek, a little note in each pocket. And one pocket, the note says, בשבילי נברא עולם bishvili nivra olam. The whole world was created just for you. You're so worthy, you're so consequential, you make such a difference. This whole world was created just for you. And in the other pocket it says, אנכי עפר ואפר anochi afar v'efer. You're a גורנישט gornischt. You're future worm food. You come from the dust of the earth and that's where you're going back. You're nothing special. And the קונץ kuntz is to know when to pull which פתק petek, which note out of which pocket? When should you be an עזר ezer, when should you be a כנגדו k'negdo? When is the world telling you that you're great? So the spouse has to say, you're not so great. When is the world beating you up and knocking you down? that the other person has to lift you up and say, don't listen to them. That's their problem, not yours. When to be an עזר ezer, when to be a כנגדו k'negdo? So יש דורשים לשבח, יש דורשים לגנאי yeish dorshim l'shvach, yeish dorshim l'gnai, is not some third party. It's not חז\"ל Chazal, it's not the ראשונים Rishonim, it's not the מפרשים meforshim, it's not the רבנים rabbanim who are דרש'ענינג darshaning. Who should be דורש לגנאי doresh l'gnai, who should be דורש לשבח doresh l'shvach? says the אוהב ישראל Ohev Yisrael, the אפטער רב Apter Rav, we ourselves. When do we need to דורשן darshan our life לשבח l'shvach, and when do we need to דורשן darshan our life לגנאי l'gnai? When do we need a pick me up, and when do we need to be knocked down a few notches? When do we need to be lifted, and when do we need to be humbled? It's that balance between the two is in the own conversations with ourselves. It's what it means to be a good spouse, a good friend, a good rav, a good rebbe. It's what it means to know when to be שבח shvach and when to be גנאי g'nai, when to be praised and when to be critical. The Toldos Aharon talks about two Noach. שאם היה דורש את עצמו לשבח ואינו היה דורש את עצמו לגנאי. She'im hayah doresh es atzmo l'shvach v'eino hayah doresh es atzmo l'gnai. צדיק שחי בדור שפל, הוא צריך להוריד את עצמו ולהוכיח את בני דורו. Tzadik she'chai b'dor shafel, hu tzarich l'horid es atzmo u'l'hochiach es bnei doro. שיש לו שיכות עם בני דורו על יכול לבוא מדרכיהם חס ושלום. She'yeish lo shaychus im bnei doro al yachol lavo midarcheihem chas v'shalom. So a righteous person has to lower himself. You can't live in an ivory tower. You can't live where you wish the people were. You have to live where they are. But there's a danger of living where they are. What's the danger of living where they are? They'll have an influence on you. They'll become like them. ועל כן הוא צריך להיות בגדלות, לאמר הלא צדיק אני. V'al kein hu tzarich liyos b'gadlus, lomar halo tzadik ani. A person has to know, I'm a צדיק tzadik. אבל מצד שני צריך גם להקטין את עצמו להראות את עצמו בשפלות. Aval mitzad sheini tzarich gam l'haktin es atzmo l'har'os es atzmo b'shiflus. וזהו, יש דורש לשבח ויש דורש לגנאי. V'zehu yeish doresh l'shvach v'yeish doresh l'gnai. כל זה הוא נח בעצמו בשתי הבחינות. Kol zeh hu Noach b'atzmo b'shtei ha'bchinos. So again, both the אפטער רב Apter Rav, the אוהב ישראל Ohev Yisrael and the Toldos Aharon, they both approach it similarly, which is that because otherwise it's it's very outside our our our religion, our practice. All of a sudden when it comes to Noach, what are you going to come to shul and start rating people? Who's team are you on? Let's rate the the rabbi, the chazan, the rebbetzin, the president, the committee head, the head of school, the principal. The people do do this, but we we generally reject it. We generally discourage it. We generally don't believe we're supposed to work that way. You don't start, יש דורשים לשבח yeish dorshim l'shvach, who's דורש לגנאי doresh l'gnai? Let's start evaluating, you know, let's see what the Russian judges give, let's see what the Chinese judges give. We're not, you know, dismounting from the, you know, Olympic, whatever that thing is called. We're not, we're not holding up numbers. We're not, you know, synchronized swimming. We're not trying to give who gets which medal. So all of a sudden when it comes to Noach, we don't find that. Let's go through all the biblical personalities and let's rank them, let's rate them. You don't find that. Let's go through אברהם יצחק יעקב, שרה רבקה רחל לאה, משה אהרן יוסף דוד Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Sarah, Rivka, Rochel, Leah, Moshe, Aharon, Yosef, Dovid. Let's go through יעל Yael and תמר Tamar. Let's go through the whole תנ\"ך, דבורה Tanach, Devorah. Let's go through everybody. Should we be דורש לשבח, לגנאי doresh l'shvach, l'gnai? We don't find that. Poor Noach, all of a sudden with Noach, poor Noach, we find that? So what they're all interpreting, and I never saw this or thought about it until this year, they're all interpreting, no, we we still are not in the practice of doing that. So who's דורש לשבח, דורש לגנאי doresh l'shvach, doresh l'gnai? Who is the one doing that? Noach himself. And we should in our own lives and for ourselves be evaluating when do we need to pick me up and when do we need to be humbled? When do we need to lower ourselves to be where the people are, but when do we need to be realize that I'm still not above them, but I demand more for myself. My aspiration, my ambition is above that. I don't want to lower myself. So there's different approaches. Last one for the opening posuk, then we'll move on. אלה תולדות נח, נח Eleh toldos Noach, Noach. These are the offspring of Noach, Noach. By the way, I'll give not the last one, second last one, because if you heard the Shabbos Shuva drasha, it was all about your future self. אלה תולדות נח, נח Eleh toldos Noach, Noach. You know who the offspring of Noach are? Noach. Our future self is being born today. The actions, the choices, the behavior, the reputation, the brand, the name that we earn for ourself, we are giving birth to our legacy. The present is shaping our future self. How will we be thought of and who will we be? What will be our physical health, mental health, spiritual health? Our future self is counting on our present self to make the right choices and live the right way, emotionally, physically, spiritually. Our future self is relying on it. And that's I think the most basic understanding of אלה תולדות נח, נח Eleh toldos Noach, Noach. Before you get to the offspring of who are your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, please God, everybody should be זוכה zocheh and blessed, be married, have children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. But before you talk about them being your legacy, you have your own legacy. Who's your own legacy first? You and your actions. I think we spoke about this last year or two years ago. That's why what was one of the names? למך Lemech. One of his children is called למך Lemech. How do we use the term למך lemech in Yiddish? למך Lemech translates to a loser. You're a loser, you're a למך lemech. Nobody should ever say that to you, and you should never say it to anyone you know. But in Yiddish, you call a loser a למך lemech. Why is a loser a למך lemech? Because when Lemech was given his name, it was after the loss of hope of of the father that he had any ability to forge his own legacy. It would only be through his children. And that makes you, that makes you a loser. If you if you don't believe that you have your best yet to come, if you don't realize that אלה תולדות נח, נח Eleh toldos Noach, Noach. Our children many will make good decisions, the right decisions, decisions that are consistent and conform with what we want for them, and we'll be incredibly proud. And some might, God forbid, and awfully painful, make decisions that are not consistent or don't fulfill the dream that we had for them. But our definition and identity should not exclusively be intertwined with them. Part of who we are are the children and grandchildren we leave in this world, but that's not entirely who we are. They become their own people, they make their own choices, they they forge their own destiny. And we could have done the best that we could to bring them to a point and after that, they they are who they are. So they're part of our תולדות toldos, they're part of our offspring, but most basically, our core offspring is ourselves. What's your brand? What's your reputation? What's your legacy? What will you leave this world? How will you be thought of? What's your name? What's your future self? אלה תולדות נח, נח Eleh toldos Noach, Noach. But now the last one comes from the קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi. Again, I want to thank the ArtScroll who sent me the three-volume Kedushas Levi they began to translate it. So it says the following, נראה דאיכא שני מיני צדיקים, שעובדים את הבורא. Nir'eh d'ika shnei minei tzadikim she'ovdim es ha'Borei. There are two types of righteous people who serve Hashem. You know this one. There are two types of people who serve Hashem. צדיק אחד יש שעובד הבורא ברוך הוא בהתלהבות גדול. Tzadik echad yeish she'oved ha'Borei Baruch Hu b'hislahavus gadol. There's a person who is incredibly fervent, has tremendous fervor, tremendous passion, who's on fire. But הוא לעצמו hu l'atzmo. But the person is really all about themselves. They're very focused on themselves. ואינו מקרב אחרים שיהיו גם כן מעובדי הבורא ברוך הוא. V'eino mekarev acherim she'yihyu gam kein mei'ovdei ha'Borei Baruch Hu. And they're not working on the people around them. They're not connected to the community around them. This is a theme you see here. They're not connected to their people and their nation and their community, and they're not trying to lift everyone and inspire everyone. גם כן מעובדי הבורא ברוך הוא רק שמבין עצמו לבד עובד בורא. Gam kein mei'ovdei ha'Borei Baruch Hu rak she'bein atzmo l'vad oved Borei. ויש צדיק אחד שעובד הבורא ומחזיר רשעים שיהיו גם כן עובדי הבורא. V'yeish tzadik echad she'oved ha'Borei u'machzir resha'im she'yihyu gam kein ovdei ha'Borei. second type of צדיק tzadik. There's the צדיק tzadik who recluses themselves and withdraws and recoils, and the צדיק tzadik who just cares about themselves. They learn, they דאווענען davenen, they observe, and the world around them, not their problem. And then there's the צדיק tzadik who says, the world around me is my world. I need to inspire and lift and redeem and repair the whole world.So come on, so who was who? אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu היה מגייר גרים haya megayer geirim. בכתבי האר\"י B'kisvei ha'Ari, על ידי זה נענש נח al yidei zeh ne'enash Noach, שלא היה מוכיח הרשעים שבדורו she'lo haya mochiach ha'reshaim she'b'doro. נח Noach ultimately is punished. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu is אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. He's forever our forefather. We are his offspring. We are בני אברם bnei Avram. Why? Because אברם Avram was a צדיק tzadik who wanted to make the world a better place. He didn't care only about himself and his survival. He wanted to make the world a better place. But נח Noach, נח Noach, they're called מי נח mei Noach. The הפטרה haftorah of the פרשה parshah, the נביא ישעיהו Navi Yeshayahu calls them מי נח mei Noach, the floods of נח Noach. Why is it the flood of נח Noach? Isn't he the savior? Isn't he the one who helped save the world? The answer is no. He's called מי נח mei Noach because yes, he saved himself, but he could have saved others and he didn't. He didn't.We have a tradition, the אריז\"ל Arizal says, נח Noach was reincarnated. His soul came back and had to do it again, and this time get it right, where he didn't just save himself, but he cared about others. Who did נח Noach come back as? He came back as משה Moshe. הוצרך לגלגל במשה hutzrach l'galgel b'Moshe. ומשה היה מתקן, שהיה מוכיח תמיד כל ישראל u'Moshe haya misaken, she'haya mochiach tamid kol Yisrael. משה Moshe was the leader, the shepherd, who actually was so selfless he didn't even go into the land. All he did was lead and care about the people. וזהו הפירוש שאמרו חז\"ל, טוב לשמים, טוב לבריות V'zehu ha'peirush she'amru Chazal, tov la'shamayim, tov la'briyos. And then the the קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi of רבי לוי יצחק Reb Levi Yitzchak goes on. The הקאצקער Kotsker famously called it, coined it, צדיק אין פעלץ Tzadik in pels. What's a צדיק אין פעלץ Tzadik in pels? A פעלץ pels is a fur coat. When a person's cold, as we woke up in the frigid South Florida weather this morning, I think it dipped into the 50s. It dipped into the 50s. Yeah. So, frigid. Everyone's going to take out now their fleeces and their what are they called those furry shoes? Uggs. Thank you. The Uggs and the leather jackets, and they dip into the mothballs and they take out their New York clothing. So, in the frigid weather, there are two ways that you could stay warm. Two ways you could stay warm, the קאצקער Kotsker said. You could put on a fur coat and you'll have a wonderful result. The result will be you're warm. But what about the other people around you? The other way you could stay warm is you could light a fire. And when you then cozy up to the fire, not only are you warm, now everyone around you is warm too. And the קאצקער Kotsker called that a צדיק אין פעלץ Tzadik in pels. A צדיק אין פעלץ Tzadik in pels is somebody who's a צדיק tzadik in their fur coat. They're on fire, they're warm in their fur coat, while everyone around them is frozen. Or you could light a fire where you're not only on fire and you're warm, but you've made it warm for everyone around you too. That says the קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi, that says the קאצקער Kotsker, is why נח Noach is held accountable. They're called מי נח mei Noach, and he had to come back as a גלגול gilgul in משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu, and he had to try again, and he had to fix it.קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi doesn't only have this insight. The קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi lived that life. רבי לוי יצחק מברדיטשב Reb Levi Yitzchak mi'Berdichev was the great defender of the Jewish people. He said he'd rather be in גיהנום Gehenom with fellow Jews than be in עולם הבא Olam Haba by himself. He was the great defender of the Jewish people. And any situation, any scenario that you could tell him that would be an indictment of the people, he would twist it, he could figure out a way to say, no, no, no, the people are, aren't they amazing? Aren't they amazing? Look at your people, look at your children, השם Hashem. He was amazing. He was amazing. This insight answers another question later in the פרשה parshah. You thought we weren't going to get past the first פסוק pasuk, but now we're going to fly all the way later in the פרשה parshah. The rainbow is the sign that השם Hashem gave after he destroys the world and begins and creates a new, after he does a hard reset on the world, השם Hashem puts a rainbow in the world as a symbol, as a sign that he won't do it again. And in previous year's פרשה parshah we went through, are you supposed to take a picture? Are you supposed to tell people, look at the rainbow? Is the rainbow a positive sign, a bad sign? If you think about it, the rainbow really is an omen that in that moment, the world is as unworthy as it was when he destroyed it. But what could he do? He made a promise he's not going to do another reset. So that doesn't sound like a very positive omen, even though people look at the rainbow. Once upon a time, the rainbow didn't have, before the rainbow was hijacked, the rainbow was just a rainbow. The rainbow was the sign of of השם's Hashem's love and השם's Hashem's patience and השם's Hashem's commitment to peace and not to bring a flood again.רש\"י Rashi quotes חז\"ל Chazal, addressing the spelling of the word לדרת l'doros, the rainbow is for generations, without the letter ו vav. It says לדרת l'doros, למד דלת ריש תיו lamed daled reish tav without without the without the ו vav. Why? The unusual spelling indicates there would be future generations that would not need a sign at all because of the righteous. Which generations? חז\"ל Chazal tell us, חזקיהו Chizkiyahu, king of יהודה Yehudah, the generation of רבי שמעון בר יוחאי Reb Shimon bar Yochai, there would be outstanding generations that would have outstanding צדיקים tzadikim, who the presence of those צדיקים tzadikim, you don't need a rainbow. As long as they were alive and their merits, השם Hashem could never reset the world. The ספר דבר המלך Sefer Dvar HaMelech, ספר דבר המלך על רש\"י Sefer Dvar HaMelech al Rashi raises a question of these חז\"ל Chazal because we know that חז\"ל Chazal, the גמרא סוכה Gemara in Sukkah and the מדרש רבה Midrash Rabbah tell us that in every generation there are how many צדיקים tzadikim? ל\"ו צדיקים Lamed Vav tzadikim. There are 36 צדיקים tzadikim in every generation, comparable to the days of creation and יעקב Yaakov. So if every generation has ל\"ו צדיקים Lamed Vav tzadikim, why do you need a rainbow altogether? Don't just tell me חזקיהו Chizkiyahu and רבי שמעון בר יוחאי Reb Shimon bar Yochai, their generation had such a righteous person, you didn't need a rainbow. If טאקע taka every generation has ל\"ו צדיקים Lamed Vav tzadikim, then what do you need a rainbow ever? The דבר המלך Dvar HaMelech explains that the rainbow comes to remind us השם Hashem will not destroy the world. When there's a famous צדיק tzadik everybody knows, so you don't need the rainbow. That צדיק tzadik, living publicly as a צדיק tzadik is in lieu of the rainbow. But what's the problem with the ל\"ו צדיקים Lamed Vav tzadikim? They're hidden. The ל\"ו צדיקים Lamed Vav tzadikim are hidden. There's no, I mean, there are people who have a ל\"ו Lamed Vav society, that's just another fundraising gimmick. But there is no ל\"ו Lamed Vav society that we named the ל\"ו צדיקים Lamed Vav tzadikim. I have some suggestions who should go on that list. There are some really amazing people. But but nobody asked me. There we don't have a list. There is no ל\"ו צדיקים Lamed Vav tzadikim list. They're hidden. So the דבר המלך Dvar HaMelech says that's why we need the rainbow. Because true, טאקע taka, there are 36 צדיקים tzadikim in every generation, but since we we you can't Google them, and no Jewish newspaper puts out a list of who they are every year, doesn't name them, so therefore we need the rainbow.ר' שאול אלתר שליט\"א Reb Shaul Alter shlita, the גערער ראש ישיבה Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva, who unfortunately just had to officially cancel his trip here in November. אם ירצה השם Im yirtzeh Hashem we'll reschedule it. But the holy גערער ראש ישיבה Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva, it's a real loss for us. We were looking forward to hosting him. Suggests a different answer. He doesn't like the answer of the דבר המלך Dvar HaMelech. Why? Because the פסוק pasuk states clearly that the rainbow is there for השם Hashem to see, not for us. והיתה הקשת בענן וראיתיה לזכור ברית עולם Hayisa ha'keshes b'anan, u're'isiha lizkor bris olam. The rainbow is not for us to remember he won't destroy the world. The rainbow was השם's Hashem's sign, as if to himself, he didn't need a sign, but כביכול k'viyachol, השם's Hashem's sign to himself of his covenant not to destroy the world. So does השם Hashem know who the ל\"ו צדיקים Lamed Vav tzadikim are? Surely he knows who they are. So the fact that they're hidden shouldn't be a problem. It's a problem for us, but it shouldn't be a problem for him. And the rainbow is for him, not for us. So we're back to the original question, which was, if there are ל\"ו צדיקים Lamed Vav tzadikim in every generation, why do we need a rainbow?So the holy ר' שאול אלתר, the גערער ראש ישיבה שליט\"א Reb Shaul Alter, the Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva shlita answers it based on his father, the פני מנחם Pnei Menachem. פני מנחם Pnei Menachem, last גערער רבי Gerrer Rebbe, would quote the early Chasidic masters, the students of the מגיד ממזריטש Maggid mi'Mezritch, who said the פרשיות parshios that we read in the winter are cloaked in pelts. These פרשיות parshios, not just the צדיק אין פעלץ tzadik in pelts, the פרשיות parshios are cloaked in pelts. Right, meaning there's a thick cover concealing the secrets that lie within these פרשיות parshios of the אבות Avos and of going down to מצרים Mitzrayim. But there's another layer. Doesn't just mean it's cloaked in fur. It's קאצקער Kotsker, a צדיק אין פעלץ tzadik in pelts, a צדיק tzadik in a fur coat, that this צדיק tzadik, that this was a phony, merely dressed up as a רבי Rebbe, wearing a thick fur coat, is a practice of Rebbes. Kotsker explained it in a deeper manner. Right, the simple idiom, a צדיק אין פעלץ tzadik in pelts is that, you know, the רבי Rebbe used to walk with a fur around the neck. So this guy's put on a costume. He's dressed like a רבי Rebbe, but he's really an imposter. A צדיק אין פעלץ tzadik in pelts, he's just an imposter. But the deeper meaning is what we explained the קאצקער Kotsker. You could either wear the fur coat and you're warm, or you could light the fire and warm everybody up around you. So the real צדיק tzadik, the righteous צדיק tzadik, the genuine צדיק tzadik lights the fire. The צדיק אין פעלץ tzadik in pelts, who's really an imposter of a צדיק tzadik, only stay stays warm themselves. נח Noach was a צדיק אין פעלץ tzadik in pelts. You see the פני מנחם Pnei Menachem and the גערער ראש ישיבה Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva were on the לגנאי lignai side. I told you, everybody with נח Noach, nobody's neutral. So, נח Noach was a צדיק אין פעלץ tzadik in pelts. He had no influence on the people of his generation. So only he himself was saved, as someone who warms himself in a fur coat. אברם Avram, who's a true צדיק tzadik who lit the fire of אמונה emunah and spread its warmth around the world, so he warmed up the whole world. And that's the deeper meaning maybe of the words of the students of the מגיד Maggid. Starting from אברם Avram, the פרשיות parshios discuss the אבות Avos, who unlike the צדיקים tzadikim before them, spread the warmth all over. So the צדיקים tzadikim before them, נח Noach and others were a צדיק אין פעלץ tzadik in pelts. But אברם Avram lit a fire that warmed the whole world. So the גערער ראש ישיבה Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva of ר' שאול אלתר Reb Shaul Alter wants to take that idea and with it answer the question, why do you need a rainbow if there are really 36 צדיקים tzadikim in every generation? Although their power is great, they do not warm up their generation. The fact that they're hidden means that they're only righteous for themselves. We need them. We live off of them. Their merits are wonderful, but they're a צדיק אין פעלץ tzadik in pelts. They're hidden. They're hidden. They're ל\"ו צדיקים Lamed Vav tzadikim, they're hidden. If you're hidden, you're not lighting up the world. You're not transforming the world. Only the צדיקים tzadikim who elevate their generation are able to protect the whole world, are able to protect the whole world. So maybe that's why. Indeed, every Jew is a צדיק tzadik. ישעיהו הנביא Yeshayahu HaNavi said, עמך כלם צדיקים amech kulam tzadikim. Your nation is all righteous. עמך כלם צדיקים amech kulam tzadikim. And that's what we're seeing now. עם ישראל חי Am Yisrael Chai and עמך כלם צדיקים amech kulam tzadikim. So with that, he wants to answer, that's why you still need the rainbow. Because the 36 צדיקים tzadikim, the ל\"ו Lamed Vav in every generation are צדיקים אין פעלץ tzadikim in pelts. The fact that they're willing to remain hidden in their צדקות tzidkus is helping themselves but not helping the generation. And that's why you still need the rainbow.Okay. פרק ו פסוק יא Perek Vav, Pasuk Yud Alef. ותשחת הארץ לפני האלקים Vatishaches ha'aretz lifnei ha'Elokim, the whole world was destroyed before God, ותמלא הארץ חמס vatimalei ha'aretz chamas. Did you ever have a greater indication of how the פרשה parshah always speaks to what's happening in the world? ותמלא הארץ חמס vatimalei ha'aretz chamas. The world was filled with חמס chamas. What's חמס chamas? It's corruption, anarchy, misery. ותמלא הארץ חמס Vatimalei ha'aretz chamas. The whole world is filled with with corruption, with corruption.נח Noach was the righteous one of his generation. I got a new ספר sefer this year, ברוך יאמרו Baruch Yomeiru, ר' ברוך רוזנבלום Reb Baruch Rosenblum. Wonderful collection. He's a מגיד maggid in Israel today. Beautiful collection of דברי תורה divrei Torah. So he quotes the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar says exactly in the three things that the generation did wrong that made them need to be reset are the three ways that נח Noach got right. That's the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. What does that mean? ותשחת הארץ לפני האלקים ותמלא הארץ חמס Vatishaches ha'aretz lifnei ha'Elokim, vatimalei ha'aretz chamas. ותשחת זה לשון ערוה ועבודת אלילים Vatishaches is lashon erva, v'avodas elilim. ותשחת Vatishaches, they destroyed, corruption, is is promiscuity, עריות, ערוה arayos, erva. עבודת אלילים Avodas elilim is idolatry. ותמלא הארץ חמס Vatimalei ha'aretz chamas is גזל gezel. Now it's not סתם גזל stam gezel by the way. It's it's translated as as not only גזל gezel as stealing, but as snatching, kidnapping, snatching away and kidnapping. Not respecting property, not respecting life, not respecting independent ownership, but snatching away and kidnapping is חמס chamas. ותמלא הארץ חמס Vatimalei ha'aretz chamas. The world was destroyed and corrupt because חמס chamas was allowed to rain. And חמס chamas violates, rape, עריות Arayos, עבודת אלילים Avodas elilim, idolatry, worshiping evil, worshiping some worldview that is so foreign to our own, and lastly, snatching away, stealing, kidnapping that which doesn't belong to them. על כן הקדים לומר שנח היה גדול בשלשתן Al kein hikdim lomar she'Noach haya gadol b'shloshtan. He's איש צדיק ish tzadik, he didn't steal from anyone. תמים היה בדרתיו Tamim haya b'dorosav, he was pure, he wouldn't violate promiscuity. את האלקים התהלך נח As ha'Elokim hishalech Noach, he had perfect אמונה emunah, he didn't give into to idolatry. The very three ways in which חמס chamas, in which that generation was corrupt, are exactly the three ways in which נח Noach excels.צדיק Tzadik, to be righteous, also relates to ממון mamon, money. To be righteous is our attitude towards money. That's what רש\"י Rashi says. נח היה צדיק במעשיו Noach hayah tzadik b'ma'asav, says רש\"י Rashi, בלא חמס b'lo chamas. גמרא עבודה זרה דף ו Gemara Avodah Zarah daf vav. נח Noach was righteous when it came to his actions, his tax returns, his interactions, his business dealings. רש\"י Rashi says, בלא חמס b'lo chamas. To be honest, to not steal and rape and pillage and kidnap, all those are the behaviors of חמס chamas. נח Noach was צדיק tzadik. Where do you see that? The רמב\"ם Rambam, it's a very interesting רמב\"ם Rambam. We tend to call יוסף הצדיק Yosef ha'tzadik. אברם Avram is אבינו Avinu, דוד המלך Dovid ha'melech. יוסף Yosef is a צדיק tzadik, but the רמב\"ם Rambam doesn't call יוסף Yosef a צדיק tzadik. Whom does the רמב\"ם Rambam call a צדיק tzadik? יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu. In הלכות שכירות hilchos schirus, the רמב\"ם Rambam writes that יעקב Yaakov is a צדיק tzadik. And why is יעקב Yaakov a צדיק tzadik? It's also according to a שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch, because when he worked for לבן Lavan, he was completely honest to a maybe to a fault, to an extreme. He was honest, even though he was living in the house of the biggest trickster in the world. He was honest. Being honest earns the label, earns the title, צדיק tzadik. So נח Noach was honest about money, and that's why he was a, that's what made him a, that's what made him a צדיק tzadik. That's what made him a צדיק tzadik. You also see רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says, there was a hard reset on the world because חמס chamas was filling the world. And if חמס chamas can fill the world with rallies in New York and London and Paris and South Africa and Australia, the Opera House, and Fort Lauderdale, if on Ivy League campuses, administrators and professors could turn the other way, ותמלא הארץ חמס vatimale ha'aretz chamas. חמס Chamas is not just in Gaza. These values, or lack of values, this evil, this wickedness, this corruption, ותמלא הארץ vatimale ha'aretz, it can feel like the whole world is filled with חמס chamas. Not just the perpetrators themselves who, please God, hopefully within hours will be purged and wiped from this world, from this earth. What about the sympathizers? What about those who identify with? What about the defenders in elected office, in the halls of Congress, in Ivy League offices and classrooms, in the supermarket or gym next to you. ותמלא הארץ חמס Vatimale ha'aretz chamas can feel like it. The whole world needs a reset, it needs to be rebooted. It feels like the world is upside down and inside out. That's what רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says, very interestingly. Jewish people are called בני אברהם יצחק ויעקב bnei Avraham Yitzchak v'Yaakov. The whole rest of the world, what are they called? We have שבע מצוות sheva mitzvos, the laws and the rules that we have that apply to the rest of the world are called בני נח bnei Noach. Why is that? Why are they called בני נח bnei Noach? We know why they're not called אברהם יצחק ויעקב Avraham Yitzchak v'Yaakov, that's those are our particular patriarchs. But instead of בני נח bnei Noach, who should they be called? בני אדם Bnei Adam. They should be בני אדם bnei Adam. Why do we ignore אדם Adam? אדם וחבה Adam v'Chava are yesterday's news. We read about them, they're kicked from גן עדן Gan Eden, we're done with them. אדם וחבה Adam v'Chava. Some some Renaissance paintings they make their way in, but other than that, they're purged from history. And instead, the rest of the world from our perspective are known as בני נח bnei Noach, not בני אדם bnei Adam. Why not? Why? So listen to what רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says. He says, בודאי כשם שהיה אדם הראשון אב ראש לכל הנבראים אחריו b'vadai k'shem she'haya Adam ha'Rishon av rosh l'chol ha'nivra'im acharav, because just like אדם הראשון Adam ha'Rishon was the father of all humanity who came after him, כן היה נח אב וראש לכל הנבראים אחר המבול kein haya Noach av v'rosh l'chol ha'nivra'im achar ha'mabul. אדם Adam no longer got credit for anything that came after him as of נח Noach, because the world in the time of נח Noach was created anew. It was brand new. It was a hard reset. וכשם שהיה לאדם הראשון שלשה בנים U'k'shem she'haya l'Adam ha'Rishon shlosha banim, just like אדם Adam had three sons, קין הבל ושת Kayin, Hevel, v'Shes, two of them were עיקר ואחד התקלקל ikar v'echad hiskalkel. כן תמצא בנח שלשה בנים שם חם ויפת Kein timtza b'Noach shlosha banim, Shem Cham v'Yefes, והשנים עיקר והשלישי התקלקל v'ha'shnayim ikar, v'ha'shlishi hiskalkel. There are parallels between אדם Adam and נח Noach. Both had three children. Two of them were, they continued the legacy and one did not. וכשם שתמצא בבני אדם הראשון שהשלישי היה שת שממנו הושתת העולם מעיקר בניו U'k'shem she'timtza b'bnei Adam ha'Rishon she'ha'shlishi haya Shes, she'mimenu hushas ha'olam, may'ikar banav, just like with אדם Adam there was a third son through the main world continuity came through. Similarly with נח Noach, he had שם Shem, who becomes the father of humanity of continuity. So רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says that נח Noach is really the father of humanity. This hard reset that was done on the world. That's also why you can understand, the מדרש Midrash tells us, בכל מקום שנאמר אלה פסל את הראשונים b'chol makom she'ne'emar eleh, pasal es ha'rishonim. Whenever the Torah employs the word אלה eleh, it means אלה eleh this in contrast to that, something new. But whenever it says ואלה v'eleh, מוסיף על הראשונים mosif al ha'rishonim. When you have the ו vav, the ו' החיבור vav ha'chibur, ואלה v'eleh, you're adding on, you're continuing. What does it say with נח Noach? How does the פרשה parshah begin? אלה Eleh, not ואלה v'eleh. It doesn't say, you know, בראשית Bereishis, we had בראשית Bereishis, wonderful, let's continue the story, ואלה תולדת נח v'eleh toldos Noach. It doesn't say that. It says אלה eleh. There's a insert page break, insert new chapter, insert new volume, insert new book, insert new world. It is a new world altogether. It's not ואלה v'eleh, a continuation of what came before, but there's a hard reset and there's something brand new of what came before. And that's why Hashem, how did he, how did he reset the world דוקא dafka through, through the flood and through water? How does that reset the world? So the חדושי החסיד Chiddushei HaChasid, the שבט מוסר Shevet Mussar both say the following. The גמרא זבחים דף ק\"י ג Gemara Zvachim daf kuf yud gimmel tells us that מי המבול היו רותחין mayim ha'mabul hayu roschin. The water of the flood was boiling. It wasn't lukewarm, it wasn't cold. The water of the flood, our tradition teaches, was boiling water. Why? שברותחין קלקלו וברותחין נדונו She'b'roschin kilkelu u'v'roschin nidonu. Because if you saw the חמס chamas, if you saw the דור המבול Dora Mabul, the way they behaved, they were boiling with rage, boiling with passion, boiling with evil. They were on fire with it. So the same attitude and element they brought to what they did wrong, מדה כנגד מדה mida k'neged mida, is the same way השם Hashem treated them with boiling water. So if they were boiled in boiling water immediately and that destroyed the world, so why'd you need it to rain for 40 days and 40 nights? They immediately were boiled in the water and they died. Why'd you need the rain to continue? On the first day, in the first hour, when boiling water descended on the world, so it killed and reset everyone and everything there. So why did it still need to rain? So they answer the following. The הלכה halacha is, if you want to כשר kasher a pot, how do you כשר kasher a pot? Water. What kind of water? Boiling water. How do you כשר kasher the pot though? You could put things in the pot to כשר kasher it, but the pot itself, how do you כשר kasher? It needs to bubble over. You heat a stone, you drop it inside, the water then gets even hotter and it goes over the sides and comes down. חוסוועס הכלי Chosvei'os ha'kli. לכן נצטברו מי המבול עד שעלו כל ההרים הרמים Lachen nitzra'u mayim ha'mabul ad she'alu kol ha'harim ha'ramim. ויכסו כל ההרים אשר תחת כל השמים V'yechusu kol ha'harim asher tachas kol ha'shamayim. You have to immerse the entire thing in bubbling, boiling water. It has to be מלא אבעבועות malah avabuos is an onomatopoeia. An onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like what it is and what it describes. אבעבועות Avabuos is the Hebrew for boiling over. אבעבועות Avabuos, it's boiling over. So in order to כשר kasher, I know it's not a pre-פסח Pesach workshop, everybody take a deep breath and relax, but when you כשר kasher, if you drop so much cold silverware in that the water loses its boil, it's not kashering. You have to drop it in little by little so it doesn't lose its boil, because the boiling water is what purges the non-כשר kosher or the חמץ chametz that was absorbed in the כלי kli. So they're explaining השם Hashem was kashering his world. His world had become so contaminated with impurity, the world became so corrupt by חמס chamas that השם Hashem had to כשר kasher the world. How do you כשר kasher the world? Boiling water. The boiling water can't just touch part of the vessel. The entire vessel has to be submerged and immersed in order for it to be kashered, in order for it to be kashered. And what do you do after you כשר kasher? What do you do after you כשר kasher? You put it in cold water, but not only that, where do you bring it? Let's say you acquire a כלי kli. You you went to the flea market and you bought a used vessel. Now you're going to כשר kasher it. Good, you kashered it. You dipped it in boiling water. What do you have to do next with it? You go to the מקוה mikvah. How big is a מקוה mikvah? What's the minimum measure of a מקוה mikvah? 40 סאה se'ah. 40 days and 40 nights. The rain, the מבול Mabul that came on this earth was the two-staged way of kashering the world. השם Hashem said, you want to try this again? You want to be born anew? You want 2.0? You want to try again? I have to boil over the whole world. I have to כשר kasher the whole world. You got to purge the חמס chamas, the non-כשר kosher ideology, philosophy, residue. You got to purge that חמס chamas, and that's the only way that we can continue. You got to get rid of it. You got to burn it out. You got to boil it out. You got to eliminate it altogether. You have to get rid of it. And then, מ' סאה mem se'ah, 40 days and 40 nights, you've got to כשר kasher this world. You've got to כשר kasher this world. You got to כשר kasher this world. There's so much to say and so little time and so much חמס chamas. We'll do a we'll do a Rabbi Soloveitchik. There was so much to say. Rav Soloveitchik says, ותמלא הארץ חמס vatimale ha'aretz chamas. The world was filled with חמס chamas. The Rav says hishchis implies not only ethical corruption, but natural as well. All creatures had overreached themselves. Certain processes developed that changed the nature of animal and man. They began to reach for someone else's goods, to strip others of their rightful possessions. חמס Chamas is the universal act of interfering with someone else's rights and prerogatives. You hear what Rabbi Soloveitchik said decades ago? חמס Chamas is the universal act of interfering with someone else's rights and prerogatives, usurping something that's not their own, the act of overreaching oneself and reaching out to the non-self. Theft is a specific case of חמס chamas in which concrete goods are taken from their rightful owner. We know חז\"ל Chazal tell us that ultimately the the דור המבול Dora Mabul, the generation of the flood had to be wiped out, had to be reset, had to be purged. Why? What put it over the top was that they stole. That was more than rape? That was more than idolatry? Why was stealing what put it over the top? Why was stealing what did it? Since when is since when is stealing a יהרג ואל יעבור yahareg v'al ya'avor? Since when is stealing something that is a a capital crime? Why was that the uh the final? So the Ramban is bothered by that question. And the Ramban says, you know why? Because don't worship false gods, you don't know. You can't into it. You don't necessarily instinctively have the right philosophy of life. But don't steal. That's a rational law. What kind of society can you have? A basic societal contract is to not steal from something someone that's not yours. So you should have known. And not even doing something you should have known. It's reminiscent of what we said last week from the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. השומר אחי אנכי Ha'shomer achi anochi? Cain was saying, you never told me I can't murder. To which Hashem said, your brother's blood is calling from the ground. It's from the ground. It's a natural law, it's a rational law. You should know on your own. You don't need to be taught, you don't need to be told. The Ramban gives a second answer and he says stealing is רע לשמים ולבריות ra la'shamayim v'la'briyos. You're actually an affront to God and to man. If you can't respect property and you don't trust and have faith that Hashem will give you what you need, it's an affront to both Hashem and to mankind. So גזל gezel was the מכה בפטיש makeh b'patish. גזל Gezel, stealing is what put it over, is what put it over the top. And that brings the מבול של מים mabul shel mayim. Why the מבול של מים mabul shel mayim? Why the flood? So we spoke about why it was boiling water, and we spoke about why it was 40 סאה se'ah, why it was that measure, because like a מקוה mikvah, 40 סאה se'ah, it had to be kashered, and the world then had to go to the מקוה mikvah. But there's another, the Maharal says something amazing. The Maharal throughout his commentary and throughout all of his works talks about what he calls חומר וצורה chomer v'tzurah. חומר Chomer means the substance, and צורה tzurah means the shape. There's the matter, the material, and then there's the shape. חומר Chomer is like the חמור chamor, the donkey. That's how the Maharal explains that Avraham and Moshe rode the same donkey. Mashiach will come on the same donkey. חומר Chomer is the is the the חמור chamor, the donkey is the חומר chomer, the material of this world. But our mission is to give it צורה tzurah. We take the material of this world that's neutral, and we shape it, and we mold it, and we give it boundaries, and we give it shape, and we give it purpose. We give the צורה tzurah to the חומר chomer. Why did Hashem need a מבול mabul? Because the flood, when is there a flood? When is there a flood? We just saw massive flooding. Right? The people whose basements, נבעך nebach, were flooded. New York, massive flooding. Where did that flooding come from? Because when the boundaries that are supposed to hold the water in place are breached, and the water overruns, and there's no boundaries, there's no borders, there's nothing holding it in place, then it's able to flow freely everywhere and it can destroy. That's מדה כנגד מדה mida k'neged mida for the attitude of the דור המבול Dora Mabul. The דור המבול Dora Mabul didn't live with boundaries. They took women that were not their wives. They stole property that didn't belong to them. They worshiped ideologies and ideas that weren't deserving of worship. There were no boundaries, there were no borders, there were no morals, there were no ethics. There was chaos and anarchy and חמס chamas. So what is the מדה כנגד מדה mida k'neged mida? A מבול mabul, a flood. Because what is the substance that is the ultimate חומר chomer that has matter but lacks צורה tzurah, that lacks shape? Is water. Water is matter, but the water is it in the cup, is it in the bowl, is it in your straw, is it in the pipe, is it in the man-made lake, is it in the canal? It has a what gives it the צורה tzurah, we give it the צורה tzurah. It has a חומר chomer. So Hashem was saying מדה כנגד מדה mida k'neged mida. You failed to take my world, my earth, the חומר chomer, and to give it a meaningful shape. So therefore, the מבול mabul, you you you want a world without boundaries? You want a world without borders? You want a world that has no vessel? You want a world that doesn't take shape? I'll show you such a world. And then Hashem visited the מבול mabul upon them. That's what the world looks like when we have no boundaries. That's what the world will look like. That's what the world looks like. צהר תעשה לתבה Tzohar ta'aseh la'teiva. A window was put into the ark. נח Noach is instructed how to build the תבה teiva, the ark. And there's a window, a צהר tzohar. It means either a light, a stone that was put into that space. The stone refracted the light, or a window to be able to see, to be able to see. Now, yeah, we'll end with this. Even though there were 100 more things to say, but we'll end with this. I told you the הפטרה haftorah describes the flood as מי נח mei Noach. כי מי נח זאת לי אשר נשבעתי מעבור מי נח עוד על הארץ Ki mei Noach zos li, asher nishbati mei'avor mei Noach od al ha'aretz. The נביא ישעיהו Navi Yeshayahu says, for like the waters of נח Noach this will pass to me, just as I swore the waters of נח Noach would never again pass over the earth. And why is the מבול mabul called the מי נח mei Noach? We said because he was a צדיק אין פעלץ tzadik in pelts, because he just warmed himself and he didn't warm or repair the world. By the way, why didn't he? This I've told you before, but ר' לוי יצחק מברדיטשב Reb Levi Yitzchak mi'Berdichev, another קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi, he says, you know why he failed? רש\"י Rashi tells us, quoting חז\"ל Chazal, when did he get into the to the תבה teiva? When did he climb in? Only when it started to rain. Why? Because he didn't believe it would happen. And רש\"י Rashi says, מקטני אמנה היה mikatnei emunah haya. He was those who lacked אמונה emunah. מאמין ואינו מאמין Ma'amin v'eino ma'amin. He wavered in his faith. So the ר' לוי יצחק Reb Levi Yitzchak says he wavered in his faith? This is נח Noach. He had conversation, he heard God, he built the תבה teiva, he saved the world. Really? So ר' לוי יצחק Reb Levi Yitzchak says it wasn't faith in God. God. Whom did he not have faith in? In whom did he not have faith? Himself. He didn't believe that he could impact the world. He didn't believe he could impact the universe. He didn't believe he could make a difference. He didn't believe that his voice mattered, that it counted. He thought if he'd stand on his soapbox and try to inspire the people around him, they'd never listen. So he just kept to himself because מקטני אמונה miketnei emunah, he didn't have faith in himself. חברה Chevra, that's such a powerful and important message for us. Who knows if your next paragraph of תהילים Tehillim is what's going to switch the situation in Israel? Who knows if your next letter to an elected official, if your next letter to the media or to the Ivy League institution. Use your voice, you've been gifted it. השם Hashem is waiting for you to use it. He wants you to believe in yourself and believe in your power of influence and believe in the difference that you can make. Don't knock yourself down. Don't lack such faith in yourself you think you can't make a difference. He's waiting for all of us to use our voice. Use our voice to him in תפילה tefillah, and תורה Torah, and תהילים Tehillim, to use our voice to speak truth to power, to use our voice to protest.The Ivy Leagues have made a big miscalculation because it turns out that the למך'ס lemechs who they're so worried about, the woke people in the universities that they're placating, they're not the ones who fill their coffers and endowments. And it turns out that their graduates are one by one, another one who previously gave, I think 300, was pledged 300 million and just withdrew it from Harvard. Good. Let these universities suffer. They're on the wrong side and they're going to pay a heavy price. You know why? Because the people with deep pockets are not קטני אמונה katnei emunah. They know their influence. They know their power. And all of us, all of us, I don't know, Starbucks, boycott, don't boycott, the union, the official, I don't know. Still got to figure that out. Whatever. Figure it out. But we all don't be קטני אמונה katnei emunah, don't lack faith in yourself, the difference you could make. Stay afterwards in a minute, afterwards meaning in 30 seconds. Take a תהילים Tehillim. Maybe your תהילים Tehillim is what's going to put this over the top for כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. Believe in yourself. Maybe your letter, maybe you're showing up at the rally, maybe the difference you can make. But let's end with this.The רד\"ק Radak teaches that the reason נח Noach was ultimately permitted to eat the animals from the flesh of animals was because he toiled with the beasts and the wild animals and insects and birds to sustain them in the תיבה teiva. That's what the רד\"ק Radak writes. Because he was selfless in taking care of all the animals, he was granted permission license from השם Hashem to become a carnivore, he was allowed to eat. The intensive efforts were not for his own sake or even on behalf of his children, who had all their needs taken care of. Had נח Noach been absorbed in his own needs and desires, he would have allowed himself several hours of rest and peace of mind a day instead of busying himself with the animals all day long. נח's Noach's efforts were spurred by a noble intention to sustain the world. So why did he fail to דאווענען daven on behalf of his generation? Why? Why?אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu when he hears something's going to happen in סדום Sdom, what does he do? Screams out, petitions השם Hashem. He says, how can you do it? And השם Hashem replied that there were even ten צדיקים tzaddikim could not be found in סדום Sdom. What does אברהם Avram do? He stops דאווענען davening. חז\"ל Chazal explain, why did אברהם Avram stop at ten? Why didn't he go down? 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, if there's one צדיק tzaddik don't destroy סדום Sdom. Why did he stop at ten? What did he see? What did he know? He knew the data. There were eight in the generation of the מבול Mabul, there were eight צדיקים tzaddikim in the world and it wasn't saved. נח Noach and his family, they were eight צדיקים tzaddikim. So אברהם Avram did a little math and once השם Hashem said no to ten, and eight he knew was not worthy of being saved, he stopped. He stopped. It wasn't enough of his זכות zechus. So if אברהם Avram was not at faulted for stopping to דאווענען daven when he reached only eight, נח Noach knew his prayers on his behalf of his generation wouldn't have worked. So why was he held accountable for failing to דאווענען daven?So the בריסקער רב Brisker Rav said the following. Listen to this insight. ר' וועלוועל סולובייצ'יק Rav Velvel Salaveitchik, the בריסקער רב Brisker Rav. He said, if you wake up in the middle of the night and your kid left their toy in the middle of the floor and the light was off and you stopped and you stubbed your toe, what do you do? You scream ouch. Is ouch going to help? Does ouch make your toe feel better? You know, the doctor gives you the shot, you got your flu shot, it hurt, ow. You wince. Ow. What does that do? What does that do? Ouch doesn't make the pain go away. What's the answer? Because when a person is in pain, they scream ouch. When a person's in pain, they cry out. So if you didn't cry out, so the nurse who gives you the shot, if you don't make a face and you didn't say ow, what do they believe? It didn't hurt. Didn't hurt. If you don't say anything, it means it didn't hurt. Because if it hurt, you would have screamed. If it hurt, you would have said ouch. So although נח Noach dedicated himself wholeheartedly to sustaining the world inside the תיבה teiva, he was held accountable for failing to דאווענען daven to save his generation. Ah, he couldn't have saved them through his דאווענען davening. He knew. If אברהם Avram knew eight wasn't enough, נח Noach knew his generation had no shot. So why did he have to דאווענען daven? Said the בריסקער רב Brisker Rav, his failure to דאווענען daven wasn't because his דאווענען davening would have saved the generation. His failure to דאווענען davening meant it didn't hurt. His generation was being wiped out and he didn't scream ouch. It didn't hurt.So חברה chevra, maybe I should have said this last night at our תהילים Tehillim gathering, it's a beautiful idea. But you know what that means? If right now you're not screaming ouch, what's happening in Israel is not hurting. Ay, what's your ouch going to do? You watched the news, you saw the headline, someone sent you the latest video. You saw the hostage. You saw now I don't know, we're living in such a cursed time with technology that they're getting the GoPros from the terrorists. First of all, terrorists wore GoPros. What does that tell you about them? Their evil knows no bounds. They wanted to memorialize what they were doing. They wanted to capture their own evil. Killing old people, to decapitate, I don't need to elaborate. They wanted to capture it. But from their own cameras that they wore and from the dash cams of the cars at the festival, we're seeing. How could you be exposed to those headlines and these numbers? I'll never forget the rest of my life when I found out when I walked into שול shul שמיני עצרת Shemini Atzeres what had happened and the first opinion I gave the דרשה drasha out and I had to end up by talking about what's happening. I'll never forget, 50. Can you believe there was an infiltration and 50 of our brothers and sisters were killed? חברה Chevra, we're up to 1400. 1400. How do you hear that number and not cry? Cry out, scream ouch. If you don't scream ouch, it didn't hurt. If it doesn't hurt, check your lineage. Are you really Jewish? Check, are you really connected to our people? Check.So the בריסקער רב Brisker Rav says נח Noach is held accountable. Why? His screaming ouch, sitting under a palm tree in Boca Raton and screaming ouch, is that really going to make a difference in Israel? Is that going to bring, is that going to bring those who have been taken captive back? Is that going to bring those who were murdered back to life? Maybe not, just like it didn't for נח Noach. But you know what it will do? It'll show that you have a Jewish soul. It'll show that it hurts. If you don't scream ouch, it didn't hurt. You got to scream ouch. You got to scream ouch and that's why they're called the מי נח mei Noach, because נח Noach didn't scream ouch. Please stay for a few minutes. If everyone stays, it'll take literally a few minutes. With each שיעור shiur we're going to finish the whole book of תהילים Tehillim in honor of all the things that כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael so desperately needs.
