Corruption, Thievery, and the Fatal End

Corruption, Thievery, and the Fatal End

Looking closely at this verse, we see the reason given for the Flood was the extortion and pilfering that was rampant in that sinful generation, which the Torah calls corruption (‘Chamas’) – “the earth is filled with corruption.”

Yet when we look at Rashi’s commentary, we find he explains that the decree of the Flood was sealed specifically because of the sin of theft (gezel): “for the earth is filled with corruption” – ‘their doom was not sealed until they committed theft.’

This demands further explanation, for there is a significant difference between theft and general corruption.7 Why does Rashi interpret this to mean that their fatal verdict stemmed specifically from the sin of theft?

The kabbalist Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli, of blessed memory, explained as follows:8 When it arose in G-d’s will to create man so that man would know Him and serve Him, He created, for the sake of free will and life’s tests, the forces of impurity as well.

Man stands in the middle between two forces, with the choice in his hands whether to choose holiness or, G-d forbid, the opposite. The primary forces of impurity are three: the Satan, the Serpent, and Samae’l. G-d wished to limit their power so they would not ruin and destroy the world, so He surrounded and confined them with His holy Names in order to curb their strength.

With the Name El (‏אל‎), He limited the power of Samae’l (the core of Samae’l’s name is ‏ס”מ‎, and G-d appended to him the Name El, ‏א”ל‎). The nachash (serpent) – the impurity within it is the letter chet (‏ח‎), alluding to chivya, Aramaic for serpent. G-d appended to it two letters: ‏נ‎ from the Name Adonai (‏אדני‎), and ‏ש‎ from the Name Shaddai (‏שדי‎). (Similarly with the Satan – the impurity within it is the letter tet (‏ט‎ for tamei, impure), and the same two letters of ‏שן‎ in its name are the letters of holiness.)9

In the generation of the Flood, people sinned so grievously that G-d removed His Names from these forces. From Samae’l, He removed the “El.” And from the nachash, He removed “Shin-Nun.” This left ‏ח‎ (chet) from nachash and ‏סמ‎ (sa’m) from Samae’l, which together form the word corruption (‏חמס‎). This is the meaning of “for the earth is filled with corruption” – the world became filled with pure, unbridled evil, evil with no limitation or guardrails of holiness.

Now the above matter can also be understood: The fate of the Generation of the Flood was indeed sealed and doomed because of theft, as Rashi comments. The reason why the Torah nonetheless uses the term corruption (‘Chamas’) is to teach us that the evil of that generation had sunk into absolute and total evil with no good mixed in at all…

Yet G-d still wished to give them another chance.