Parashat Noach

Parashat Noach
Cheshvan 1, 5772 ~ October 29, 2011
by Joel Ackerman

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury:

What I am about to tell you will run contrary to some thoughts of some of our most respected rabbis, those whom we often call our sages; those to whom we look for wisdom and advice. And, like you, I have the greatest respect for them. Nevertheless, it is necessary for me to take these contrary positions. I really have no other choice. For, you see, my client, Noah the son of Lemech, has been unjustly maligned by our sages – and not once, but several times.

We attorneys are typically taught that we should never repeat the charges against a client. To do so tends to highlight the charges in the minds of jurors. But here it is necessary to do so that I might give them a decent burial. So let me quickly lay the two main ones out for you.

1. The Torah states “Noah was a righteous man, perfect (or whole-hearted) in his generations; Noah walked with God”. This seems to be high praise. Yet there are those who take it to be faint praise. Yes, Noah was a righteous man in his generation, they say, but his generation was completely sinful. Had he lived in a different generation, that of Abraham, for example, he would not have been considered so righteous. And Rashi states: “Noah walked with God. And about Abraham the torah says ‘Walk before me.’ Noah needed support but Abraham would strengthen himself and walk in his own righteousness.” Nehama Leibowitz sums up these opinions and agrees with the conclusion of Rabbi Mordekhai Yaffe that Noah’s righteousness was “mediocre”.

2. Almost immediately on leaving the ark, Noah planted a grapevine and got drunk.

Ladies and gentlemen, our rabbis seek to compare Noah with Abraham in many ways, but I must point out that not only is this improper in general, but that the proper comparisons have not been made.

On the first point, please remember the testimony of that highly esteemed rabbi, Ramban:

“Rabbi, is it proper for the commentators to consider whether Noah would have been as righteous had he lived in Abraham’s generation?”

“No, not really. The plain meaning of the verse is simply that – that he was righteous in his corrupt generation. That is all! He was righteous! That is why the Torah states that he found favor in the eyes of G-d. This verse does not call for speculation as to how righteous he might have been in other generations or in comparison to anyone.”

Not only that; a comparison of the two men shows quite clearly that:

A. They lived at different times. Noah lived in a generation that otherwise was wholly sinful; in Abraham’s time some were more sinful, some not very sinful.

B. Noah is criticized in the Midrash for not arguing with G-d, as Abraham did about Sodom, not seeking to save others - only to save himself and his family. But could Abraham have saved that generation? Not likely. In his years in Haran, in a normal, not especially sinful society, Abraham saved a few people but most remained unchanged in their behavior. He probably could not have done even as well had he lived in Noah’s time. And besides, the Torah gives no basis for concluding that Noah did not argue with G-d. It is quite possible that in the supposed 120 years he spent building the Ark he did argue.

C. G-d gave them different tasks and different instructions. Noah’s task was to survive, to serve as an example. He was not a charismatic figure, as was Abraham; he probably lacked the ability to spread the word of G-d as well as Abraham. On the other hand, Abraham probably could not have built the Ark – he was too impatient to spend the length of time needed for that.

G-d told Abraham “Lech lecha” – leave! Leave your land, your relatives, the people and places that are familiar to you, and go to a land that I will show you. He took Abraham away from the bad influences of his society.

G-d told Noah “Stay put”. Stay in the midst of this sinful society and try to convince them that I plan to destroy the world if they do not change their ways. I am not taking you out of there. You are to spend 120 years slowly building that Ark, absorbing all the scorn, the ridicule, the evil that you will receive from this society, in order to try to accomplish what I ask of you.

No, Noah was no Abraham, but Abraham also was no Noah. He could not have done what Noah was asked to do.

And about the getting drunk. The authors of Midrash like especially to beat up on Noah about this. They concoct ways that the grapevine could have been planted, grown, ripened, and made into wine in just one day – that Noah would have gotten drunk almost immediately after leaving the Ark.

No, ladies and gentlemen, I don’t buy that, and neither should you. You live very close to the top winemaking areas of our country; you all know better. It took the normal time for all this to happen – perhaps five or six months for the grapevine to grow and the grapes to ripen, and at least a few weeks to make even the simplest wine from those grapes.

Here was Noah. He had to face the extreme sorrow that everyone else in the world had been killed – all of his siblings, their children and grandchildren, all of his relatives, neighbors, friends – and everyone else, whether he knew them or not. And he had been unable to convince any of them to change their ways.

On top of that, he had just spent the greater part of a year locked up in a boat full of animals. It was a bedlam; animals screaming, animals that had to be cared for, had to be fed every day, and their wastes had to be cleaned up. And only eight people to do all that, day in and day out.

Who wouldn’t want to get drunk after all that!

But Noah had to wait at least six months before he could get drunk. And on top of that, planting a grapevine was not the first thing he did – the first thing was to offer a sacrifice to G-d. So, he had his priorities straight.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure that you agree that Noah has been unjustly maligned. He was a person for whom the world should be re-established – a fine example of humanity, a righteous man in a corrupt generation, who did not go along with the crowd, who did not succumb to peer pressure. A man with all of the good basic character that a person should have – and yes, perhaps a few shortcomings, just like all of us. But they could be overcome. He was, after all, very human.

I rest my case.