[Jewish] [Mindful Torah] Was Noah a Righteous Man?

[Rabbi Steven Nathan]

Noah haya ish tadik v’tamim b’dorotav. Noah was a righteous man,
blameless in his age. This simple verse with which our parasha opens
has been the basis for much discussion by the rabbis and others through
the generations. In 12th century France, perhaps Rashi encapsulated the
argument best. To paraphrase him “on the one hand the fact that Noah
could be a righteous man in an age when everyone else was so debased
and immoral makes him more worthy; on the other hand, he was only
considered righteous in comparison to the unrighteous ones of his age.
Had he lived in the time of Abraham, when righteousness abounded, he
would not have been considered righteous at all.” So… will the real
Noah please stand up. Was he a righteous man bravely facing the
injustice of his age, or was he simply an OK guy who seemed good
because everyone else was so bad?

The consensus of our rabbis of old seemed to be that Noah was what they
call in Yiddish, a tzaddik im pelz. Literally this means a righteous
person in a fur coat. Personally, this one of my favorite images. This
is so not only because of the possibility for humor to be found in the
image of Noah sitting around in a fur coat (something that not even
Bill Cosby could have imagined), but because the image is so
descriptive in its simplicity. Imagine a freezing cold day in a time
when central heating was non-existent. In those days there were two
ways of keeping warm, wrapping yourself in fur or blankets or lighting
a fire. One way you take care of your needs only. The other way you may
not be quite as warm yourself, but you also help give warmth to others.
Noah clearly seems to be the former at first glance. He takes care of
himself and his family and the animals on the ark, but does little to
help the rest of humanity. This is in stark contrast to his descendant
Abraham who, when told about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,
argued with God to save the people of those cities if even 10 righteous
people could be found.

Noah is righteous because he follows God’s word, but he is lacking
because he doesn’t try to help others. Or was he?

It is true that one has to look at the nature of Noah’s righteousness
in the context of his generation. But the different interpretations do
not necessarily make him out to be more or less righteous. Perhaps then
it is not a matter of how righteous he was, but what was the nature of
his righteousness. Perhaps it wasn’t that he was a tzaddik im pelz,
taking care only of his own needs. Perhaps instead he was simply a
humble man who didn’t have the strength to argue with God because he
didn’t view himself as particularly righteous or as a leader. Again, we
contrast this with Abraham who was clearly a leader and a strong
personality both in the biblical text and in the midrash. After all, it
takes a lot of strength and security to smash your father’s idols –
both literally and figuratively.

The Hassidic rebbe Yechiel of Alexander reminds us of the teaching of
his rebbe, Simhah Bunem of Przysucha that each of us must carry two
slips of paper in our pockets. On the first slip is written the verse
from Genesis (18:27) “I am but dust and ashes.” On the second slip is
written the Talmudic verse “For my sake was the world created”
(Sanhedrin 37). Depending on where we are in our lives each of these
verses is meant to serve as a corrective. For the yetzer ha’rah, the
inclination to evil that exists within each of us, can lead us to
feelings of self-exaltation self-denigration depending on the
situation. Simcha Bunem’s teaching reminds us that when we are feeling
an excess of pride we must remember that each of us is but dust and
ashes. Conversely, when feeling worthless we must not forget that the
world was created for each of our sakes. Noah, says Simha Bunem,
surrounded by evil and licentiousness must have felt dejected,
depressed and yet he acted as if the world were created for him. That
was at the heart of his righteousness. The text says that he was
righteous and blameless. Simha Bunem interprets this as meaning that
Noah viewed himself as righteous and blameless because he held fast to
the belief that the world was created for his sake. Now you could argue
that he took this dictum too much to heart by ignoring everyone else
and yet, says Simha Bunem, he needed to hold fast to this belief in
order to remain righteous amidst such wickedness. However, he
continues, had Noah lived in the time of Abraham he would have instead
considered himself as dust and ashes. Not because he was unrighteous,
but because in a time when one is surrounded by righteousness a degree
of humility is needed in order to keep things in balance.

And so that brings us back to Rashi’s original question: was Noah
considered righteous only because he lived in the time he did? Based on
the Hassidic sources I just cited, I would say that the answer is no.
Rather, the verse can be interpreted to mean that Noah considered
himself as righteous in order to stand up to the evil in the world and
not be swallowed up by it. Had he lived in Abraham’s time he would have
considered himself as dust in order to compel himself to continue his
righteous behavior rather than resting on the laurels of that
generation. In either case Noah would be the same Noah exhibiting the
same behavior.

But the question still remains, why didn’t he stand up to God and
challenge the destruction of humanity as Abraham challenged the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? Perhaps the answer is simply that
Abraham had the luxury of being able to stand up to God because, with
the exception of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (and probably a few
others), he had basically lived among the righteous. On the other hand,
Noah – surrounded by evil -- knew that if the people of the world were
saved it would simply provide more opportunities for him, and the few
other righteous people to be tempted into joining the crowd. Noah
became a tzaddik im pelz, wrapping himself in the protective warmth of
his righteousness in order to protect him from being dragged down to
the level of everyone else around him.

I believe this interpretation holds a message for our world today. So
many people today feel as if maintaining the moral high road is a
difficult, if not impossible task. Drugs, violence, prejudice, excess
and greed seem to dominate so much of our society. Whether in the
streets of our cities, the halls of our school, on television and
movies or in the seats of government and finance, today there are many
who are held up as virtuous though they are deemed so only in contrast
with the corruption that surrounds them. There are others in public
positions pretend to be virtuous because they don’t want to be
associated with corruption.

For our children today trying to be righteous is not an easy task. They
are surrounded by peers and others who are participating in less than
desirable activities; they see leaders on both the national and local
level who are engaged in immoral activity or exhibiting pseudo-morality
by clearly skirting around certain issues rather than simply confessing
to human transgressions. It is easy in this kind of environment to
believe that we are all but dust and ashes and to sink to the lowest
common denominator. But the answer from Jewish tradition is to do just
the opposite. Like Noah we must remember in the face of everything
around us that the world was created for the sake of each and every one
of us. We must also remember that, though it may seem like corruption
and immorality is rampant, as in the days of Noah, that there are more
people out there who are taking the high road and acting in moral ways
than the media and others would lead us to believe. In order to teach
ourselves and our children to be righteous in our age we must look up
to those who serve as examples, whether they be leaders, politicians,
teachers or clergy or whether it’s simply the person down the street or
your local mail carrier.

We must also try not to be a tzaddik im pelz whenever possible. For
when we do we are closing ourselves off from the rest of the community
and the others who may be on the path with us. We are separating
ourselves from those other people striving for righteousness who can
support us and to whom we can lend support. However, if like Noah, any
of us are put in a situation where it seems that everyone around us is
taking the low road it is then that we must wrap ourselves in the
warmth of Torah and tradition and of the ethics and values imparted to
us by our heritage and by our families and cut ourselves off from those
around us – no matter who they are or how attractive they might seem to
us – if we are in danger of being dragged down with them. This is the
message that we must give to our youth and that is the way we must all
live our lives if we are to turn our world around and work towards the
day when we can say of all humanity that we are righteous in our age –
or in any age. Shabbat Shalom.

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Posted By Rabbi Steven Nathan to Mindful Torah at 10/23/2009 12:17:00 AM
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