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A Righteous Man
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Shabbat Noach: Genesis 6:9-11:32;
Isaiah 54:1-55:5.
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his week's sedrah, Noach,
tells the story of the flood
that destroys the wicked
and the survival of the
righteous Noah and his family
While the nature of the cor-
ruption of the wicked is rather
unclear and subject to interpre-
tation, it would seem that Noah
is the epitome of righteousness;
the verse says explicitly that "...
Noah was a righteous man—per-
fect he was in his generation—
Noah went with God" (Genesis
6:9)
Yet the Talmud (San. 108A)
brings Rabbi Yochanan's opinion:
"In his generation but not in oth-
er generations."
Noah was considered right-
eous only compared to his wicked
contemporaries, but, as the great
medieval commentary, Rashi,
paraphrases: "Had he been in the
generation ofAbraham, he would
not have been considered much."
According to this opinion, God
saved the "best" of his generation
from destruction, but Noah's
righteousness and perfection
were only relative.
Noah is described as: "... A
righteous man—perfect in his
generation—Noah went with
God." How could Rabbi Yochanan
disparage such a man? What
could there be in this description
to indicate some lack?
If Noah truly was "perfect" and
"went with God," what more
could he do?
It seems to me, that Rabbi
Yochanan understands that hu-
man perfection is something im-
possible to achieve and, therefore,
this description of Noah must of
necessity be relative. The truly
righteous individual must always
strive to perfect himself—to im-
prove.
-/The verse indicated that
Noah's character had reached a
plateau; it was in a static state.
Likewise the phrase "Noah went
with God" indicates a compla-
cency, a satisfaction with one's
achievement rather than a per-
petual quest.
On the other hand, God ap-
pears to Abraham and commands
him (Genesis 17:1): "...Go before
Me and become perfect." Abraham
is not given the comfort of merely
"going with God"—but is com-
manded to "go before Me."
For Abraham , the challenge
is to strike out on "his own," to
Rabbi Eliezer Cohen is rabbi of
Congregation Or Chadash.
take risks, to assert his own ini-
tiative, to push himself in his own
personal quest for the righteous
life... and to "become" perfect.
Abraham is not told to "be" per-
fect—to achieve a certain level of
attainment and to stop the quest,
but to always be in the process of
perfecting himself, always be "be-
coming perfect."
Rabbi Eliezer Cohen
Much the same principle can
be seen in the Talmud (Ber. 64A)
"And Rabbi Abin the Levith said:
"One who takes leave of his friend
should say: 'Go to Peace'... One
who takes leave of the dead
should say: 'Go in Peace.' It is only
the dead who are in the static
state of Peace—the living must
always continue to strive to ar-
rive to Peace."'
The truly righteous are never
satisfied with themselves or with
the present condition; they strive,
struggle and work to become bet-
ter. This is the folklore of the "tri-
als of Abraham."
It also must be understood
that Noah's self-satisfaction with
his own piety was personal and
to a certain degree selfish. Noah
resisted the corruption of his so-
ciety, but while resisting the in-
fluence of the evil upon himself
we don't see that he influenced
anyone else in his goodness.
Again, this self-satisfaction
and fear of contamination is con-
trasted with Abraham. Abraham
continually interacted with oth-
ers and influenced them, not by
attempting to impose his will or
life-style upon them, but simply
by setting an example of right-
eousness and piety in his rela-
tions with all.