With the Help of Hashem we are now onto Pardes Yehuda English number 601. The lesson we can learn from Noach is for our generation!
These are the generations of Noach. Noach was a good and just man. He was a pure man in his generation. [Bereishis 6:9] Also, Parshas Bereishis ends with the Posuk. But Noach found favor in the eyes of Hashem. Further in Parshas Noach it says: And Hashem said to Noach, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, for it is you that I have seen as a righteous man before Me in this generation." In that Posuk Rashi explains: for it is you that I have seen as a righteous man before Me. But it does not say, “a righteous man, perfect” [as it does in 6:9]. From here we deduce that we tell part of a person’s praise in his presence and all of it in his absence. —Bereishis Rabbah 32:3]
From these Psukim we learn that Noach was certainly a righteous man, finding favor in the eyes of Hashem, was a good and just man, and "I have seen as a righteous man before Me." This bodes well for Noach. Yet there are limitations in these phrases. The Torah states "in his generation." In another Posuk "in this generation." This causes a discussion: if Noach was a great Tzaddik, why does the Torah have to say he was righteous in his generation? Simply state Noach was righteous? He writes: "There are among the sages who view Noach positively. Certainly, had he been living in a generation of just individuals, he would have been more just. While some view him negatively. Had he been living in the generation of Abraham, he would have been considered worthless." Much has been written on the negative opinion as to why the Torah would negate the righteousness of Noach when Hashem calls him a Tzaddik, not once, but twice!
To have a better understanding: Rashi in the first Posuk in Bereishis asks, Why does the Torah have to tell the story of creation and the sages when it should have begun with Parshas Bo with the Mitzvah of sanctifying the Hebrew month? Rashi answers the question that Hashem wanted to prove to the nations: He created the world, and He will give the land of Israel to the Jews. The Ramban answers that the book of Bereishit is certainly relevant, even though it does not contain mitzvos because it teaches us critical lessons in the belief in Hashem and His creation of the world. Rabbi Yehoshua ibn Shuaib (1280–1340) was a Spanish Torah commentator and Kabbalist. He was a student of the famed Rashba, and teacher of Rabbi Menachem ben Aaron Ibn Zerach. He brings the opinions of Rashi and the Ramban, but adds another layer: that there are valuable lessons in faith that can be learned from these early stories in the Torah.
What specifically is the measure of a Tzaddik, a righteous person? It's the measure of his belief in divine providence, hashgacha. The more a person believes that Hashem runs the world, the more a person is a tzaddik. The Gemara Makkos 24a: The prophet Chabakuk came and established the 613 mitzvot upon one, as it is stated: “But the righteous person shall live by his faith” (Chabakkuk 2:4).
Based on these holy words, we have Noach a righteous man; he was wholehearted in his generation; Noach went in the ways of Hashem. Therefore, Noach was definitely a Tzaddik. But was he a great Tzaddik in retrospect to Avraham? He is irrelevant. Noach lived in a corrupt world full of evil and sin and could have been swayed to join the masses. He chose to be close to Hashem and have Emunah. This made him a Tzaddik, and Hashem attests to it twice. Noach was chosen by Hashem to merit through him the continuation of the world and the Jewish people.
Noach toiled 120 years building the ark. He suffered mockery and embarrassment from the evil people. But his faith and Emunah in Hashem kept him going. Of course, he was a Tzaddik! This is a lesson to our generation, where we are surrounded by evil and are being enticed to follow the evil inclination, yet we stick to our Emunah and do the best we can. By Davening and learning and doing chesed, we are all Tzaddikim with strong Emunah, as the Posuk states: "And your people—all of them are righteous!" Every generation has to look and be judged only at that present generation. We are not expected to be the giants of the previous generations. This is the lesson we learn from Noach! That is why Hashem attests: Noach was a Tzaddik because of his true faith in Hashem and therefore merited to continue the Jewish golden chain.
(Yehuda Z. Klitnick)
