“אלה תולדות נח נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדרתיו, - “These are the offspring of Noach – Noach was a righteous man, perfect in his generations.”
Iyov 42:3 “מי הקדימני ואשלם, תחת כל השמים לי הוא” – “Whoever came before Me, I can reward him, for everything under the heavens is Mine.” Chazal tell us that a bas kol is going to hover over the top of the mountaintops and say, “Who had a bris milah that I did not give them a son? Who made tzitzis that I did not give them the article with which to put the tzitzis on?” In other words, without Hakadosh Baruch Hu providing everyone with everything that they have, they would not be able to perform any mitzvos. One can perform the mitzvah of bris milah because Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave him a son, and one can perform the mitzvah of tzitzis because Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave him clothing. Therefore, one is not entitled to any reward, for Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the main component in the person performing the mitzvah. However, the meforshim explain that those who perform mitzvos with זריזות וחשק, alacrity and desire, are not part of מי הקדימני, for being that they are showing their intense desire to perform the mitzvos, they are entitled to reward for their alacrity and desire.
A siman to this is “זריזין מקדימין למצות” – “Those who perform the mitzvos with alacrity – they come before the mitzvah.” רבינו מהר"א מגרמיזא says that the last letters of the words “נח איש צדיק” spell “חשק” – “desire.” “אלה תולדות נח” – These are the toldos of Noach – these are the ma’asim tovim of Noach, which made him into an איש צדיק. If one will ask, but why did his ma’asim tovim make him into a tzaddik, when we know the concept of "מי הקדימני? “נח איש צדיק” – The last letters of these words spell “חשק”. Since Noach had a great desire to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu, it is considered that he came “before the mitzvos” and was therefore entitled to reward. (נחל קדומים)
Noach’s generation was a generation of immorality and theft. While it is well known that the sin of immorality is great, one would think that the sin of theft is not a great travesty. It should not be done, but what is so terrible about theft? One who steals is demonstrating that he does not believe that there is a Ribbono Shel Olam running the world. Everything that a person has, he is supposed to have. Stealing that which he should not have will be lost from him one way or another. He is ultimately not accomplishing anything by stealing. He is just creating more work for himself. If he was in fact supposed to have that which he stole, Hakadosh Baruch Hu was going to send it to him in a permitted way.
Noach understood this, was happy with what he had, and did not look at what others had. Noach served Hakadosh Baruch Hu with desire. That is a great zechus for one to be entitled to receive reward. While we know that Noach did not do enough to save his generation, there is still much positive to learn from him. We must seek to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu with true חשק and recognize that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is running every aspect of this world. We must do our hishtadlus but remember that it is nothing more than hishtadlus, for Hakadosh Baruch Hu is doing everything.
Taking the Yom Tov with Us
The Pnei Menachem zt’l said, “People try hard to tie the Yom Tov to them. Actually, the Yom Tov never leaves us. The problem is that we leave the Yom Tov. Our goal should be to bind ourselves to the Yom Tov. This is the meaning of אסרו חג בעבותים; we should attach ourselves to the Yom Tov.
A story will illustrate the concept of taking our kabbalos of the holiday period with us into the new year.
A landlord in Golders Green, London, was always careful to lease his apartments to people he trusted would pay rent. If the person applying for an apartment appeared to be untrustworthy, he would find an excuse not to rent it to him. But there was a time, ten to twenty years ago, when there were many vacancies in the Golders Green area, and he realized that he couldn’t be too picky. If he found a potential tenant, he accepted him, even if he feared that he might not pay. At least with one of his tenants, his fears materialized, and the tenant refused to pay rent. The landlord summoned him to court, but he feared that he would lose the case because in England, the renter is favored in court over the landlord.
The judge asked the tenant why he hadn’t paid the rent. He replied, “He leased me a deficient apartment. The heating and air conditioning didn’t work, and there are also problems with the plumbing and electricity. I asked the landlord numerous times to fix these problems, but my requests fell on deaf ears. I had to pay tradesmen to come fix my apartment. So, why should I pay the rent, too?”
The landlord feared he would lose the case because he had no proof with which to disprove the tenant’s claims. However, the judge asked the tenant, “Did you pay rent for at least one month? If you didn’t even pay rent the first month, that proves you never intended to pay rent.” He hadn’t paid even the first month, so the judge ordered him to pay up entirely.
Reb Elchanan Halprin zt’l of Radumishla told this story and said that it is a lesson in kabbalos tovos. Sometimes, people have excuses for why they didn’t keep their kabbalos. But the Heavenly court will ask, “Did you keep your kabbalah at least once? Did you begin the year adhering to the kabbalos you took on? If you didn’t even begin with your kabbalos, that shows you weren’t serious, and you never truly intended to keep them.”
RABBI YAKOV YOSEF SCHECHTER
RABBI ELIMELECH BIDERMAN
COUNTING DOWN UNTIL UMAN 335 DAYS
