The fifth reading of parashat Bereishit is devoted to the lineage of Cain. Lemech was the sixth generation from Cain, and he had two wives, Ada and Tzilah. Why does the Torah tell us about Lemech and his two wives? In effect, this story is a cautionary tale about what caused the flood. As Rashi explains, like the other men of his generation, Lemech had two wives because the one, Adah, was meant to bear children, while the other, Tzilah, was forced to drink a sterilizing elixir which would prevent her from conceiving, thus keeping her youthful beauty. By doing so, Lemech was catering to his egomania.
It was a generation where everything served the self-interest of the man. Even though the plain reason for the flood was the rampant lawlessness, we can certainly say that the flood was a punishment for the way in which they treated women.
(from a class given on the 20th of Marcheshvan 5778)
