Never Lose Hope
Towards the end of the parsha, it states (6:5-7), לבו מחשבת יצר וכל בארץ האדם רעת רבה כי 'ה וירא אל ויתעצב בארץ האדם את עשה כי 'ה וינחם היום כל רע רק האדם את אמחה 'ה ויאמר ,לבו , "Hashem saw that the evil of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of his heart was only evil all the time. Hashem regretted that He had made man upon the earth, and He became grieved in His heart. Hashem said "I will destroy man..."
The Chebiner Rav zt'l heard a wonderful explanation to these words following the path of remez. He heard the lesson איש מפי איש from the Chozeh of Lublin zt'l: בארץ האדם רעת רבה כי 'ה וירא, Hashem sees the many bad deeds that people do, but Hashem isn't angry with them because Hashem understands היום כל רע רק לבו מחשבות יצר וכל, that people have a yetzer hara. Therefore, their aveiros aren't really their fault. Who can stand up against the strong yetzer hara?
In fact, 'ה וינחם, Hashem regrets creating the yetzer hara. As the Gemara (Succah 52) lists four things that Hashem regrets, and one of them is that He created the yetzer hara.
However, לבו אל ויתעצב, if a person will be sad and upset that he has so many aveiros and he loses hope, then האדם את אמחה 'ה ויאמר בראתי אשר , Hashem says He will destroy man. Because man must be happy, no matter what happens. Sometimes we fall, we aren't perfect, but that isn't the problem, as much as the feeling of despair that comes from it. A person should forget about the past, and to forge forward with his avodas Hashem.
The first letter of the Torah is a ת"בי, which is closed from all three sides and opened in front to hint that we don't think about what was. Looking further, “our focus is on making the future better”.
Hashem asked Kayin (4:6) פניך נפלו למה, "Why did your face fall?" The Sforno explains, "Whenever there's a problem that has a solution, it isn't proper to be upset about what happened, rather to fix it in the future." Hashem was telling Kayin that if he didn't bring a good korban, that could be fixed in the future. He can bring a better korban next time. Why should he be sad?
After the sin of the eitz hadaas, eating from the Tree of Knowledge, it states (3:7), חגורות להם ויעשו תאנה עלי ויתפרו, "They sewed fig leaves and made themselves belts." The Divrei Shmuel of Slonim zt'l said that belts are an expression for strengthening oneself. (As we say, בגבורה ישראל אוזר, Hashem girds us with strength). After his aveirah, he didn't permit himself to feel down. He girded himself with confidence and joy and was ready to serve Hashem again.
