וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקים לְנֹחַ קֵץ כׇּל־בָּשָׂר בָּא לְפָנַי כִּי־מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ חָמָס מִפְּנֵיהֶם וְהִנְנִי מַשְׁחִיתָם אֶת־הָאָרֶץ׃
God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with thievery because of them: I am about to destroy them with the earth. (6:13)
Did Noach rebuke the people of his generation before the flood? The Midrash states that the 100 years it took to build the Ark were meant to pique people’s interest and create a chance to bring awareness that a flood was coming for their sins.
What did Noach say to them? Chazal say in בראשית רבה לא, ג that he said, “Fools! You forsake a G-d whose voice smashes Cedars and instead you bow to a piece of dry wood!”
It didn’t work. Now, we might have said that this was no fault of his. Rather, the people were so corrupt they didn’t want to listen. However, from many sources we see that Noach fell short in guiding the people back on to the right path. Perhaps their basis is that we find that the flood is referred to as מי נח (Isaiah 54:9), the waters of Noach, implying that the flood was in some way his fault.
Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, of blessed memory, in the collection of his thoughts on the parsha called Emes L’Yaakov, explains that Noach saw their flaw as a philosophical one and he attempted to address the fallacy of their belief. The real issue was something else.
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 63b) states that the Jewish people recognized the fallacy of Pagan worship. When they followed this worship they did it to allow themselves to indulge in their base desires. If they abandon belief in Hashem and accept a religion that sanctions these kinds of actions they’ll feel no guilt. The issue was not about philosophy. It was about lust.
R’ Yaakov suggests that the people of Noach’s generation were the same and therefore his rebuke should not have been about tearing down Pagan worship.That was only a symptom. The root cause was lust and he should have focused on guiding them to control their base desires.
This is a crucial lesson when it comes to guiding others like our children and students. We can’t just focus on what’s happening in front of us. That’s just a symptom. We’ve got to get to the root cause in order to solve the problem.
Children may misbehave and we discipline them to stop. However their misbehavior may just be a symptom of a deeper issue. Perhaps there is something troubling them. Or perhaps they may need an overall lesson in what respectful behavior (what we refer to as Derech Eretz) really is. We need to address what might be the cause. Not just the symptom.
This is equally important when it comes to how we work to improve ourselves.
For instance,we may suffer from jealousy and we might say to ourselves that we need to strengthen our faith and trust in Hashem that whatever He does not grant us is what’s really best for us. That concept is absolutely true. But the real issue might be that we lack fulfillment in our lives and if we can find something that gives us the satisfaction that fills that gap the pangs of jealousy would go away.
We can’t just focus on the behavior we see in front of us. We have to delve deeper, identify the root cause (or what might be the root cause), and work from there.
Then, with Hashem’s help, we can hope to see nachas from our children and be happy with ourselves.
Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak