Noach
Righteous In His Generation
"These are the records of Noach.
He was a righteous, perfect man in his generation." (Genesis/Bereisheet 6:9)
These are the opening words of the story
of Noach, whose family survives the great flood that wipes out the rest of
humanity. As the story unfolds, we learn that "his generation" is a
generation of wicked, violent people - so bad that even God, their creator, wants to get rid of them. So, what
does the Torah mean when it says Noach was perfect "in his
generation" - in a wicked, violent generation?
Our most famous commentators offer a
range of answers. Some say the Torah means that Noach was so righteous, he even
behaved well when everyone around him behaved terribly. Others say Torah means
the opposite -- Noach was not righteous by today's standards, but only relative
to his awful generation. Still others say that Noach must have been the
exemplar for his generation. He did good deeds, taught, counseled and corrected
his contemporaries.
So many different standards for
righteousness! Is "better than others" good enough? Must we have
strong principles and stick to them unwaveringly no matter what the context?
Must we always be looking out for the moral growth of others as well as
ourselves? By which standard should we judge ourselves? Or others? Should we apply higher standards to
ourselves or to others? One ambiguous verse leads to a flood of questions!
Return to
Reb Laura's "Taste of Torah" list.
Return to
"Teachings from Our Rabbis and Friends" list.
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