In Parshas Noach the Torah describes the great flood that destroyed all human and animal life except for Noach, his family, and the animals in the Ark (Teiva) that were with him.
The Alter Rebbe sees the purpose of the flood as a cleansing process that purified the world and refined it, more than just a punishment for those that sinned.
Based on this perspective, it comes out that even though the flood was very destructive, there was also a positive aspect to it, and only through this flood could Noach and his family rebuild the world in the proper way.
The Alter Rebbe explains that the idea of a “flood” that looks destructive but is actually positive and needed is found in the spiritual life of every Jew.
Our Divine soul comes from a lofty spiritual level of attachment to Hashem, and comes down into a “flood” of physicality and materialism. The materialistic drives of the animal soul and of the entire surrounding world threaten to “drown” the Divine soul’s yearning to connect to Hashem.
Yet, not only does our Divine soul have the power to overcome this “flood” of materialism, but specifically by coming into this world and refining our animal soul and material needs we come to a much deeper connection to Hashem than we could have ever had in our spiritual source.
The Alter Rebbe will explain this theme using the verses from Song of Songs (Shir HaShirim), which describe the unbreakable love of the Divine soul for Hashem. Ultimately, through refining the material world the Divine soul comes to a deeper love and connection to Hashem.
Part 1
It says in Shir HaShirim (8:7): “Many waters cannot extinguish the love [of the soul for Hashem] and rivers cannot drown it. If a person would give all the wealth of his house in exchange for this love, people would ridicule him [since no wealth can equal this love].”
Now, the “many waters” referred to in this verse are the worries about livelihood and all of the thoughts regarding physical matters.
Nonetheless, “they are not able to extinguish the love”, meaning the hidden love for Hashem that is naturally in every Jewish person, which comes from the Divine soul, whose nature is to constantly desire to go up and become reunited with its source Above, just like the nature of fire is to rise upwards by itself.
Like it is written in the previous verse (in Shir HaShirim, verse 6): “its flames are flaming fires, a fiery love for Hashem”, which is a fiery love that comes as a gift from Above to the Divine soul.
Since, the Divine soul, before it became invested in a physical body it enjoyed the “Radiance of the Shechina” and was totally united with Hashem’s Infinite Light.
Therefore, even after it becomes invested in a physical body and is occupied with material matters - which are referred to in this verse as “many waters”- nonetheless, they cannot extinguish this love from continuing to have a wondrous yearning to ascend and become reunited with its source Above.
In fact, just the opposite is true, through the soul being invested into these “many waters” described above, it is able to reach a higher level of love for and connection to Hashem than it had before it descended into this world, as will be further explained.
Now, these “many waters” described above are called “the waters of Noach”, as it is written (Yeshaya 54:9): “[Hashem says:] Just like I have sworn not to bring the [Great Flood called the] ‘waters of Noach’ again upon the earth, so to I have sworn to not become angry and rebuke you [the Jewish People] again [after the coming of Moshiach].”
The reason the Great Flood is called “the waters of Noach” is because the name נֹחַ-Noach is connected to the Aramaic word נַיְׁיחָא which means “rest”, as in the phrase “נַיְׁיחָא דְרוּחָא-a relaxed/satisfied spirit”, which means rest and relaxation, like someone who ceases from work and relaxes.
As it is written (Bereishis 2:2): “וַיִּשְׁבֹּת-And He [Hashem] ceased from the work [of Creation] on the Seventh day.” The translation of Unkelos is “וְנָח-and he rested”, thus translating the entire phrase: “and He rested on the Seventh Day etc.”
We thus see that the name נֹחַ -Noach is connected to ceasing from work and resting, like Hashem “rested” on Shabbos.
The fact that the name Noach is mentioned twice in the first verse of the parsha is coming to hint to two levels of “rest” on Shabbos, these two mentions of Noach correspond to “rest of those Above and rest of those below”, which represent the “Lower level of Shabbos” and the “Higher level of Shabbos” which will be experienced in the Future era of Redemption, which is called (in the Mishna, end of Tamid): “the day which is completely Shabbos and rest for eternal life”, which is not the case with the “Lower level of Shabbos” which is not “completely Shabbos”, as will be further explained in this maamar.
Let’s look into the following: Seemingly, it is difficult to understand the purpose of the Great Flood, if its purpose was only to remove and destroy the sinful people, why was it needed to have such a great commotion of a world-wide flood, surely Hashem could have removed them in one second even without a flood?
The truth, however, is that the Great Flood came to purify the earth, as it says (Bereishis 6:13): “Because the earth became filled with violence” and became very corrupted, therefore it needed to be purified.
It is specifically for this reason that the Great Flood came, since it consisted of water, which is used to purify those who are impure.
This is similar to a Mikveh which has 40 seah of water which purifies someone impure who immerses in it, so too the 40 days of rain of the Great Flood correspond to those 40 seah of water in the mikveh.
Similarly, the Great Flood came to purify the entire earth, like it is written (Yechezkal 36:25): “And I [Hashem] will pour upon you [the Jewish People] pure water and you will become purified”, so we see that pouring water is connected to purification, and this was the purpose of the Great Flood.
It is for this reason that waters of the Great Flood were called “the waters of Noach”, since from them Hashem and the world came to a rested, relaxed and happy spirit resulting from the purification process provided by them.
Now, the obligation to obtain livelihood is also called “the waters of Noach”, like our Sages say (Bereshis Rabbah 44:21): “Avraham our forefather chose for his descendants that they would need to go through the process of obtaining livelihood instead of the process of going through Gehinom”.
This means: Just like Divine soul cannot come to Gan Eden to enjoy the “Radiance of the Shechina” until it first descends into Gehinom to become purified, like our Sages said (Chagiga 15b) regarding Elisha ben Avuya who they called “the other guy”: “It is better that he be judged and punished in Gehinom in order that he be purified and be able to come to the ‘World to Come’ of Gan Eden”.
In addition to needing to go through Gehinom to enter Gan Eden, the Divine soul needs to immerse in a spiritual “River of Fire” in order to ascend from one level of Gan Eden to the next level, as explained elsewhere.
So too, through having to go through the obligation to provide livelihood the Divine soul is able to reach a much higher level of connection to Hashem than before it descended into this world.
Now this “obligation” isn’t referring to the fact that we have a king (or government) over us that takes taxes from us, since even in the time of the Beis Hamikdash we had a Jewish King, and the taxes we paid him were even more than we pay (to the Czar in Russia), as is known that everyone had to pay one tenth of all their income to the Jewish King, (which is more than the taxes that the Czar took);
Rather the meaning is: in the time the Beis Hamikdash existed there was tremendous blessing and abundance from Hashem flowing into the Land, until Eretz Yisroel was a land “flowing with milk and honey” in a completely supernatural manner, as described in the Gemara tracate Kesubos, and therefore they had no concerns about their livelihood at all;
Nowadays, however, everyone has to work hard and be occupied with pursuing a livelihood which requires being involved in material matters of this world.
These material matters are the “many waters” described above that are called “the waters of Noach” since they are a purification process that causes relaxation and satisfaction for the Divine soul.
Because through these “many waters” of material concerns the Divine soul becomes elevated to a higher level of connection to Hashem than it had before it became invested in the body, when it only had enjoyment from the “Radiance” of the Shechina, as our Sages say (Pirkei Avos 4:17): “One minute of teshuva and good deeds in this world is better than all of the life of the World to Come”, since it now has the advantage of light that comes specifically out of darkness, which is the idea of “iskafya-overcoming” the “side opposite of holiness” and “is’hapcha-transformation” of spiritual darkness into light.
Part 2
How is this elevation achieved? When a person spends the whole day involved in material matters in pursuit of livelihood, and afterwards he contemplates during prayer:
First of all: “there is no blade of grass below in this world that doesn’t have a spiritual source called a ‘mazal’ Above that causes it to grow,” these are the ‘mazalos’ that through them life is draw down into everything in this world, as it is written (Devarim 33:14): “And the sweetness of the produce that comes through the sun, and the sweetness of the plants that comes through the moon.”
The spiritual source of everything in this world is a conduit for Hashem’s life-force to come into it, just like the life of the plants comes to them through the medium of the radiance of the sun and the moon.
These ‘mazalos’ receive spiritual life from a higher level of angels called ‘officers, which receive their spiritual life from a higher level called ‘the remnants of the angels called ofanim’, which receive their spiritual life from a higher level of ...
