After these ideas, we can understand something wonderful. The fish did not sin – why? We brought the words of Tosafot, that since they cannot be crossbred, they did not sin. It seems difficult, however, for there are other small creatures that did not sin and yet were killed – why? We previously brought the parable from the Gemara, that if man sinned and for him the whole world was created, then if there is no man, there is no need for the other creatures! And from this, we return again to the question – what distinguished the fish that they were saved?
There is a place called אֶ רֶ ץ – land, and a place called יָם – sea. They are two completely different places! The Sefat Emet says (Pesach 5636), the sea is a creation unto itself, as Chazal said (Chullin 127a): Everything that exists on land exists in the sea. The Torah says: מִכֹּל אֲשׁ ֶר בֶּחָרָ בָה מֵתוּ – of all that was on dry land, died. “On dry land” refers to our world – the land. But our place called "sea" is a separate domain. The sins of the Dor Hamabul are not connected to it. There, at sea, no sins were committed, as it says: עַ ל הָ אָ רֶ ץכִּי הִשְׁחִית כָּל בָּשָׂר אֶת דַּרְ כּוֹ.
The Gemara (Chullin 127a) says: תּ ָ נ וּ רַ בּ ָ נַ ן: ָם חוּץ מִן הַחֻלְדָּה ... כֹּל שׁ ֶי. אָמַר ר' זֵירָא מַ א י קָ רְ אָ ה, הַ אֲזִינוּ כָּל יֹשׁ ְ בֵי חָ לֶד. The Rabbis taught: Everything that exists on land exists in the sea, except for the mole. Rabbi Zeira said: What is the Pasuk? "Listen, all inhabitants of the world."
The Midrash in Yalkut Shimoni (Mishlei 953), says: From the words בּ ְ תֵ בֵ ל אַ רְ צ ו ֹ מְ שַׂ חֶ קֶ ת – Rejoicing in His inhabited world, we learn that there are ten names for the land: Eretz, Adamah, Charava, Yabasha, Arka, Tevel, Cheled, Reishit, Gai, and Sadeh. The name חָ רָ בָ ה is because the waters destroy it, and חֶ לֶד is because people are buried in it. The Zayit Ra’anan says Cheled means they rust when buried in the ground, and the Midrash says the faces of the wicked rust in Gehinnom. On the name חֶ לֶד, Rashi says “inhabitants of Cheled" refers to the inhabitants of the land, which is a place inhabited by moles.
These words are puzzling and obscure, according to sefer HaDeah v'Hadibur. Why is there no mole found in the sea? And why is the land considered a place inhabited by moles? The words can be explained based on what Chazal say in the Yerushalmi (Shabbat 14:4): Just as this mole drags and deposits and does not know for whom it deposits, so too all the inhabitants of the world drag and deposit and do not know for whom they deposit, they will gather and not know who will collect them. This trait (to drag and deposit), the trait of the mole, is found only among the inhabitants of Cheled (the land) who earn their livelihood with toil and sorrow, and naturally, they have concern for tomorrow. (Of course, this concern is not found equally among all land creatures, only those whose sustenance is most difficult worry the most and drag and deposit).
Thus, it turns out that we are exactly like the moles – what do they do? They hoard! Another creature that also hoards and hoards is the ant. The Midrash (Devarim Rabbah, 5:2) says: This is what the Pesukim say (Mishlei 6:6-8): אֶל־נְמָ לָה עָצֵל רְ אֵה דְ רָ כֶיהָ וַחֲכָם׃ לֵך אֲשׁ ֶר אֵין־לָהּ קָצִין שׁ ֹטֵר ו ּ מ ֹ שׁ ֵ ל ׃ ָצִיר מַאֲכָלָהּ׃ ַיִץ לַחְמָהּ אָגְרָ ה בַק תָּכִין בַּק Lazybones, go to the ant; study its ways and learn. Without leaders, officers, or rulers; It lays up its stores during the summer, gathers in its food at the harvest.
Why did Shlomo HaMelech choose to teach the lazy one through the ant? He could have taken the lazy bear as an example too! Chazal say this ant has three houses; it lives in a villa with three floors and does not store its food in the upper one because of the rain, nor in the lower one because of the moisture, but in the middle. It lives only six months, assuming it was not trampled on before, and all its food is only a grain and a half – yet it goes and gathers in the summer all it finds! Why does the ant do this when she lives only six months? She says, "Perhaps Hakadosh Baruch Hu will decree life upon me, and I will have food ready to eat." She might think, "Maybe I will be the exception among my family – my father died at five months, and none of my siblings lived past six months."
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai recounted an incident where they found three hundred kor of food in its hole; it had gathered and stored away 51 tons of wheat between summer and winter! And yet, the ant continues to hoard? "Maybe they will extend my life," and if they do, will you be in a wheelchair, unable to work and gather more? If they extend your life, continue working! Therefore, Shlomo HaMelech said, "Go to the ant, you lazy one; consider her ways and be wise." You too should prepare Mitzvot from this world for the world to come. What does it mean to consider her ways and be wise? Chazal say, "See the way of the land that she flees from theft." Ants do not steal from other ants – perhaps because they don’t grow wheat – but from humans they do steal!
