Noach
Gen. 6:9-11:32
Précis: The story of Noah (Hebrew: Noach) and the Flood appear in this parasha. Noah, called by God, builds the Ark and collects the animals. It rains for forty days and nights. Noah and his family are saved, and afterwards leave the Ark, build an altar, and make sacrifices to God. God sets a rainbow as a promise not to destroy mankind again. Noah plants a vineyard, makes wine, and becomes drunk. An odd incident with sexual overtones takes place with his sons. The story of the Tower of Babel is included in this parasha, and it ends with a genealogy of the ancient peoples of the Bible, concluding with Abram.
Gen. 6:9 “...Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age.”
The Sages debate about the relative “righteousness” of Noah. Was he truly righteous or merely better than those around him? Noah is identified in these verses as both “tzaddik” (righteous) and “tamim” (blameless). According to rabbinic thought, a “tzaddik” is one who has been proclaimed righteous following an accusation of wrong doing, while the term “tamim” describes a person who required no defense because no wrongs by him have been alleged. Most commentators agree that Noah merits praise, since nothing is more difficult than to be moral when one is surrounded by deceit and sinfulness.
The text informs us that Noah lived in a time filled with corruption and violence. Despite societal pressure, he “walked with God." So whether he was truly righteous on some immutable scale or merely better than those around him seems to fall on the side of the former.
I take from this an important lesson: there is, indeed, a difference between right and wrong, regardless of the circumstances. We all too often fall into a false reliance of “moral equivalence” when acts of barbarity are brushed off because “the other side” also acts improperly. Israel is repeatedly treated by much of the world in this manner, falsely being equated with apartheid South Africa by the BDS movement, or by claims that its continued “occupation” of Palestinian territory justify violence by Hamas or other terror groups – as if these two were morally equivalent.
In the current election season in America, there is the real danger that all too many see a similar moral equivalence between the major candidates. If Noah is to be our guide, it is our responsibility to vote for the candidate who best represents our historic American ideals of equality, justice, and the recognition that those with whom we disagree politically are all part of the American fabric.
