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Sefer Bereshis
Parashas Noach
Bereshis: Chapter 7, verse 7
"Noach
and his sons and wife and daughters-in-law went into the ark because of the
floodwater."
Rashi learns from this that Noach was lacking in faith and did not really believe
that the flood would happen. That is why he did not enter the ark until the
water forced him.
Harav Altusky in
his book Hidushey Basra on Yalkut
Shimoni (no. 78) explains the situation as
follows:
Noach had spent much of his life preaching to
his generation that their bad deeds would lead to disaster. He then began
to build the huge ark and make plans for entering it when the flood would
begin. In the back of his mind, however, he was worried. Noach realized that it was possible that G-d would in
the end forgive the entire population of the world and not destroy them by
flood. In such a case his life's work would turn into a ridiculous waste of
time in the eyes of those who knew him well.
So
Noach was careful not to go into the ark until he
was absolutely sure that the rain was "the real thing". Only when
the rain water flooded the entire area, Noach
entered the ark.
Harav Altusky notes
that our Rabbis called this a lack of faith. We should have faith that G-d
provides us with everything we need. One of the things we need is humility.
Would it have been so bad if Noach had entered
the ark and closed the door and G-d had forgiven the world and stopped the
rain? What if the entire world laughed at the "wierdo"
that preached destruction? Had Noach been perfect
in his faith in G-d, he would have realized that the divine plan contains
more than just prizes and rewards. A true servant of G-d should be ready
for anything.
On
the other hand, we must realize that the people around us are human and
would do anything to prevent others from laughing at them. We must prevent
the use of laughter as a weapon against our fellow Jews. However, if it
happens to us we should not allow laughter to destroy our lives.
Harav Altusky ends
by asking us to teach young children not to laugh at people whom they feel
are strange. This very bad habit should be viewed by us similar to stabbing
someone in the back.
The
Torah teaches us to understand human nature in order to aid us in becoming
proper servants of G-d.
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