Noach’s dedication to the animals’ needs aboard the ark teaches us the extent to which we must go when we are charged with a Divine mission. Particularly, Noach’s devotion to providing his passengers with their sustenance serves as a metaphor for those who have been tasked with providing others with spiritual sustenance.
Rashi describes the physical toll that tending the animals took on Noach:
He was groaning and spitting blood because of the burden of tending to the cattle and the beasts. And some say that he delayed feeding the lion, and it struck him; concerning him it is said: ‘Behold, a righteous man is requited [for his sins] in this world.’
Noach was a spiritual person, the most righteous in his time, yet he fully dedicated himself to the exhausting job of feeding the animals, unabated even by the detriment this caused to his physical health. Emulating Noach, we too must commit ourselves to carrying out our mission to bring the Torah’s message of G-dliness and holiness to the world under any circumstances, even if it comes at the expense of our physical comfort. We must not be discouraged, even if we find ourselves “groaning and spitting blood” from the challenges that present themselves.
At the same time, however, we must learn from Noach not to impose this “readiness for discomfort” on others. As Rashi concludes, “Some say that he delayed feeding the lion, and it struck him.” Noach was punished for delaying the lion’s food to teach us that while we must readily sacrifice our own comfort for the success of our vital and lofty mission, the next person’s needs, or even their conveniences, are not ours to sacrifice or delay.
—Likkutei Sichos, vol. 5, pp. 53–56
