Noach Parsha Lesson- The heart of the matter
For this year's Parsha Lesson, I will be focusing on one area of character
growth, to think about in the week ahead and the benefits that a person
would have from becoming better in that area.
Background
In various places in the Torah (Gemara, Midrash, etc.), Noach is criticized for not having done enough to save the ‘Generation of the Flood’. While personally Noach was a tremendous Tzaddik (the Torah labels him as such!), and his dedication and devotion in trying to persuade the people of his generation to repent was legendary, nevertheless the Torah finds fault in Noach for not having done more.
R’ Yakov Kaminetsky explained that where Noach fell short was in his rebuke of the people of his generation. Noach spent 120 years building the teivah (ark), which was arranged in such a way by Hashem in order that Noach be able to have much interaction with many many people and hopefully influence them to repent. Noach carried out this mission fully and without error. What then was his mistake?
R’ Yakov explains that it was in the way that Noach rebuked the people. Noach criticized the people with regards to their idol-worship. However, this was not really the fundamental cause which was leading them astray. Rather, their lust and desire for immorality is what led them to idol-worship, as a way to lull themselves into being able to indulge themselves without fear of Hashem.
Question
Of what fault was this to Noach!? Noach did everything he was supposed to, his own behavior was not found to be lacking, and his dedication, devotion and care about others was an extremely fundamental part of his existence- in accordance with the mission of each person to emulate G-d. He, in fact, invested himself entirely for 120 years to the cause of convincing the people of his time to repent. But because he was not the best ‘diagnostician’, because he could not properly discern the root cause of those who were wicked, therefore Noach is criticized and taken to task? Why?
Answer
R’ Yakov goes on to explain that this was in fact a fault of Noach’s, it was not merely an innocent misdiagnosis. Noach’s inability to discern the fundamental problem that his generation was led astray by, was due to a lack of doggedness in his pursuit of the truth. If he would have been a more complete ‘man of truth’, then he would have been able to see that idol-worship was only a symptom of a more bedrocked issue that needed to be addressed.
This flaw of Noach’s, which was only discernible on a very subtle and minute level, is the reason why the Torah criticizes this otherwise completely righteous person.
Lesson
There are a number of very important lessons that can be learned from here, I would like to focus on a couple of them:
- Mistakes and errors that we make, almost always boil down to flaws of character. If a person were to recognize them as such, they would be more motivated to improve themselves, and be more self-aware of their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, recognizing one’s mistakes as stemming from character flaws, enables a person to more properly address their challenges.
- The inability to drill down to the ‘heart of the matter’ is almost always the reason why people ‘get stuck’ and keep falling back into the same problems. It seems that Noach was effective in getting through to the people of his generation and if he had hit the nail on the head, it appears that he would have been successful.
One can only imagine the people who accepted and took to heart that which Noach was telling them. They were probably inspired to make effort after effort to pull themselves out of the sin of idol worship, only to constantly fall right back into it. Not because of a lack of effort or interest, but rather due to their unaddressed lust for immorality which was really what was plaguing them.
Benefits of this...
People have a base need to see themselves as good and successful. This need can be a tremendous help in growing, and can be a tremendous source of motivation and drive to do the difficult work of character development. At the same time, this need to be good can be a tremendous obstacle in one’s path towards becoming more refined. How is that? This need to see one’s self as good can seduce a person into believing that they have become much more successful at self-improvement than they actually are.
It is therefore so necessary for a person to train themselves to be unsatisfied with a superficial understanding and judgement of things, and to hone one’s ability to delve deeper in order to get to the heart of the matter. One must work to not look at external trappings and markers of success in the area of personal development and growth, rather to insist on focusing on the ‘inner’ cause and foundations of where one’s actions stem from. As a person becomes more ‘inner’ focused in general, they will naturally be better positioned to be attuned to their own progress.
R’ Yakov concludes his essay by noting that this is, in fact, the foundational point of all of service of Hashem: to be able to understand the central, root point upon which the various outward manifestations stem forth.
Have a wonderful Shabbos!
Rabbi Eli Meir Kramer
