A Tzaddik in His Generation
ISRAEL
KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
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STUDENT SUMMARIES OF SICHOT OF THE ROSHEI YESHIVA
PARASHAT NOACH
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This shiur is sponsored by Larry and Maureen Eisenberg
in memory of Devora Leah (Lillian) Grossman
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SICHA OF HARAV YEHUDA AMITAL ZT”L
A Tzaddik in His Generation
Translated by
“These are the generations of Noach; Noach was a righteous man, he was perfect
in his generation.” (Bereishit 6:9)
This parasha needs to be considered
from two different perspectives. One perspective focuses on man’s actions, which
corrupted the entire world, resulting in the terrible Flood. The other focuses
on God’s actions, bringing the Flood to destroy the world, and thereby revealing
His providence and control over all of creation.
From Chazal’s teachings it appears that
the generation of the Flood had attained great achievements in the technological
sphere. The Gemara in Massekhet Sanhedrin describes them sowing
seeds only once every forty years, traveling from one end of the world to the other in a
short time, and so on. Their success
was what caused them to stumble. Having attained all of this, their desires were
no longer satisfied by what they had. They sought out new excitement and
stimulation, to the point where they engaged in bestiality. The people of that
generation did not know how to use their achivements to further the development
of the world.
Their punishment expresses an erasing of
culture, of their advanced civilization. Even mankind’s most impressive
achivements are of no use if they are not accompanied by Torah. According to the
Zohar, that generation, with its great potential, should have received
the Torah. The opening of the “windows of heaven” (arubot ha-shamayim)
symbolized the opening of the gates of knowledge and wisdom, since these two
gifts are interconnected. However, so long as there was no Torah, their enormous
powers were directed and used in an improper direction, and this doomed all of
existence. Without Torah there is no value to scientific development.
The same problem that plagued the
generation of the Flood exists also today. Mankind has attained wondrous
achievements, in all areas. Enormous efforts are invested in technological
development. Man’s potential is huge. But without Torah accompanying his
progress, man uses some of this potential for negative purposes. Wiping out the
world is not the solution in our times – God promised that He would not bring
another Flood to the world. The solution must lie in channeling our human
potential in the proper direction and using it for good purposes. We can do this
only on the basis of the outline provided by the Torah.
“Noach was a righteous man; he was perfect
in his generation.” The test of a tzaddik, a righteous man, is not only
within his own generation, in the realm of relations between him and the people
around him. The question that must guide him is whether he is using all the
potential that he possesses. Is he activating all his positive abilities at the
same level of intensity and with the same motivation that his companions are
using their energies for negative purposes? Only thus will the righteous ones of
the generation tip the scales in the direction of the good.