And Noach found favor in the eyes of Hashem (6:8). These are the children of Noach, Noach was righteous, a perfect man, etc. (6:9).
Last week’s parsha ends off with the Torah saying that Noach found favor in the eyes of Hashem, and it was because of this that he was saved from the Flood. The Zera Shimshon asks that being that Noach’s children were also saved, the passuk should really have said, “And Noach and his children found favor in the eyes of Hashem.”
The Zera Shimshon offers two explanations.
1) Before the Flood, one had to be one hundred years old to be punishable for their actions. Before then, a person was considered a ‘minor’ and would not be punished for their wicked deeds. Still, we find that all the people, even those under one hundred years old, perished in the Flood. Only the children of Noach were saved. This obviously was only in the merit of their righteous father, Noach. Therefore, they are not included in the passuk, and only Noach is mentioned since it was in his merit that his children were saved.
2) The Zera Shimshon offers another possibility. Noach’s children were saved in their own merit since the Gemara (Brachos 48b) says, “One can tell a well-rooted sapling from the beginning stages of its growth.” The Gemara uses this as an allegory to young children under the age of accountability; nevertheless, one can tell from their actions in which direction they are generally headed. So too, Noach’s children, although they were not yet accountable and thereby punishable for their actions, their leaning to be good was clear. In contrast, the children of the rest of the inhabitants of the Earth showed bad leanings and were therefore eradicated.
However, Noach’s righteous children were due largely to the fact that their father Noach’s actions guided and illuminated the proper path for them. This is why the passuk only mentions the fact that Noach found favor in the eyes of Hashem, because although his children were also righteous, it was due to Noach’s righteousness that they were also righteous.
The Zera Shimshon uses this explanation to attribute a deeper understanding to Rashi’s comment at the beginning of the parsha.
The parsha begins by saying, “These are the children of Noach,” and then goes on to enumerate Noach’s righteous ways. Rashi explains that a tzaddik’s real children are his good deeds. This is why the Torah mentions Noach’s good deeds after saying, “These are the children of Noach.”
The Zera Shimshon understands these words of Rashi to be a lesson in chinuch. The tzaddik raises righteous children not by preaching good deeds but rather by serving as a live example. Hence, “a tzaddik’s real children are his good deeds” means that a tzaddik’s children grow to be righteous by seeing their father’s good deeds by live example.
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