Why Didn’t Noach Speak Up for the People?
The Torah tells us that when G-d had informed Avraham, our Patriarch, that He was going to obliterate Sodom, he immediately engaged G-d in a dialogue on their behalf. After the sin of the Golden Calf, G-d told Moshe that He was going to destroy the Jewish people and establish a new nation from him. Moshe, prayed to G-d that they should be forgiven. In contrast, when G-d informed Noach that He was going to bring an end to all existence because the world had become corrupt, Noach remained silent and did not respond.
Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh asks, “How could Noach, being of such dimension of righteousness, not seek mercy on behalf of his generation? When G-d had told Noach of the impending destruction of existence, it was clear the He had already reached the verdict that the world would be destroyed. There was no possibility that G-d would retract His decision. As it states, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me…’ Noach understood from G-d’s terminology that it was a closed subject. It would be an affront to G-d if Noach would plead on behalf of his generation. However, when G-d communicated to Avraham and Moshe, He did so in a manner that indicated that His decision was not necessarily final. Thus, Avraham and Moshe were given the opportunity to plead for G-d’s Mercy.”
Who Can Save The World From Destruction?
“Fashion an Ark” (6:14)
The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh teaches that this command can be explained by the pasuk in Yechezkel 14:14: “Now should these three men be in its midst: [namely] Noach, Daniel and Iyov; they will save themselves with their righteousness, says the L-rd G-d.” Three have the power to save themselves from evil, whereas only two – and obviously just one – cannot prevent themselves from destruction… This is why Noach was commanded by HaSehm to build “himself” a teiva, because he was not righteous enough to be saved on his own merits. Clearly his sons were also not as righteous as he was, since together they were more than three and, had they been sufficiently righteous, they would have been saved from destruction.
In the previous pasuk the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh cited Chazal (Medrash Bereishis Rabba 49), that Avrohom Avinu only asked HaSehm to prevent the destruction of Sedom if there were ten Tzaddikim, and that he learned this from Noach, who did not daven that the world be saved because there were fewer than ten Tzaddikim. However, this idea is difficult to understand, because Noach was alone in his generation (and how could Avrohom learn this from Noach when their situations were not the same)! The answer seems to be that once the angel of destruction was unleashed into the world, they were required to be as righteous as Noach – or more so – in order to prevent their own deaths and save themselves. Had Noach davened to prevent the destruction before the forces of evil were unleashed, he would have succeeded. Although others in the world were not as righteous as him, their righteousness was sufficient to save others before the destruction was unleashed. Once it was unleashed, however, only Tzaddikim of an equal stature to Noach could have stopped it and saved even just themselves. But Noach was alone.
This is why the pasuk in Yechezkel names three specific Tzaddikim: Noach, Daniel and Iyov, rather than counting any three Tzaddikim, because once permission is granted for the forces of evil and destruction to begin, only those of similar stature can succeed in saving others.
The Raven – Nevermore?
The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh questions why the raven was sent but rejects the suggestion that it was in order to check the water level: The Torah surely would have stated this, as it does subsequently regarding the dove's mission. Rather, in keeping with a Talmudic tradition (Sanhedrin 108b) the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh reveals why the raven was sent: because Noach didn't want it around. The Talmud suggests that the raven was cast out because it broke protocol and had relations on the Ark. While the dove was sent on a reconnaissance mission, the raven was simply expelled. The raven, for his part, refused to leave.