Noach Parsha Lesson- Life on a Deeper Level
For Year 2 of Parsha Lesson, I will be focusing on one practical middah, character
trait, to think about in the week ahead and steps we can take to attain it.
Background
After the flood waters stopped and the water level started subsiding, Noach and his family were still stuck on the Ark. In order to find out whether dry land had appeared, Noach sent a couple of birds out of the Ark to see if they could find any place to land or any vegetation to eat.
The second time that Noach sent out the dove, it came back to Noach with the branch of an olive tree in its mouth. Rashi explains that the dove had a message that it was trying to convey to Noach: I would rather have this bitter food from Hashem rather than the delicious food that you had fed me. Meaning, I would rather have less savory food from Hashem- which is far more honorable- than delicious food from you.
Question
What is the bird’s message? Honor is more meaningful than better food!? Any school age kid would rather have Lebron James’ sock than a beautiful custom-made suit! This is actually quite a simple and not insightful message! Which begs the question- why is the bird sharing this message with Noach, who was a brilliantly smart and insightful person? Additionally- why is the Torah sharing this message with us?
Answer
I would like to suggest that the bird was saying something more meaningful than just honor and prestige being better than the actual enjoyment of something physical. What the bird was saying is that the bitter olive branch from Hashem actually tastes better than the delicious food from you!
How is that so? Because it is served to me in a more honorable way.
Lesson
Like Shlomo Hamelech observed in Mishlei ‘better a feast of vegetables with love than fattened geese with hate.’ The context of how one enjoys physicality is more important than the actual physical object itself. Not just with regards to the emotional, psychological effect on a person, but with regards to the actual, physical enjoyment!
How many of us have experienced a new food or music in a particularly wonderful context and then come to enjoy that food or music for the rest of our lives? Similarly, if one’s initial experiences with a physical pleasure was accompanied by discomfort, pain and unpleasantness- this will mar one’s ability to derive pleasure from that going forward.
The deeper, more profound aspects of our experiences have much more effect than the superficial physicality itself. How important it is to be aware of how we are reacting to them in our lives as well as being aware of how what we do affects those around us.
First Step
Try to focus on being in a positive mood, being agreeable and pleasant and to then do something nice for someone else. If we can observe how much more meaningful and effective that act of kindness will be to the other person. This can be an important step in the direction of living life on a deeper level and not just getting by with superficiality.
Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos!
Rabbi Eli Meir Kramer
