The Rise of Enosh’s Generation

The booklet went on to recount the story of Adam, the first human being:

After Adam was expelled from Gan Eden, he settled somewhere and continued to serve his Creator. Over the years, Adam and Chava had sons and daughters, as it says: “And the days of Adam, after he begot Seth, were eight hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters” (Genesis 5:4). The descendants of Adam multiplied and quickly filled the earth.

For the first 265 years of the world, mankind remained pure and righteous, serving their Creator. But in the year 266 from Creation, in the generation of Enosh, corruption began. Since they were the first to sin, when we describe a sinful person we can describe him as being “like the generation of Enosh.”4

Despite this corruption, there still roamed the earth individuals of extremely lofty and powerful souls, on a scale unfamiliar to us today. They were privileged to literally behold the upper worlds and the holy sefirot, and through their wisdom they recognized the One who spoke and brought the world into being.

So great was their spiritual stature that the only title fitting for them was “sons of G-d.” As it is said: “When men began to increase on earth and daughters were born to them, the divine beings (benei ha-Elohim) saw how beautiful the daughters of men were and took wives for themselves from among those that pleased them” (Genesis 6:1–2).

However, since man was created to battle the evil inclination, these people were likewise given an evil inclination commensurate with their greatness. That inclination ignited their hearts with desires and lusts; their passions grew very strong, leading to fierce inner conflicts and a lack of peace or rest. The constant close struggle caused them to fall time after time… and these repeated failures led them to despair of themselves and accept the reality of evil!5

Having made peace with sin, they became caught in a cycle of sin. The cycle expanded until evil and sin became their very essence.

Rabbi Gedaliah Schorr wrote:6 In that generation, all boundaries became blurred; they acknowledged no limits whatsoever, not even the most basic social boundaries between one person and another. The fundamental nature of the sin of the Flood was the unchecked expansion of evil without any restraint. They refused to recognize any limit – leading them even to outright theft and pillage, as they no longer respected even the boundary between what is theirs and what belongs to someone else. They would not confine themselves at all and instead took everything for themselves. This, in essence, is the root of thievery: erasing the boundary between what belongs to a person and what belongs to his fellow, refusing any self-restraint and just taking everything for oneself.

Since this was the case, it was decreed that they be wiped out by the waters of the Flood. As it is said: “And G-d said to Noah: ‘I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with lawlessness because of them: I am about to destroy them with the earth’” (Genesis 6:13).