Dvar Torah for Parshat Noach

When Noach emerged from the ark and saw the world desolate, he began to cry. “Master of the World! You are the Merciful one. Why didn’t You have mercy on your creatures?!” God answered him, “Foolish shepherd! Now you say this?! You should have said this when I told you, ‘I see you are the only saint in the generation. I am sending a flood to destroy the world. Build yourself an Ark....’ I told you this in order that you would pray to Me to have mercy on the world. But once you heard that you would be saved it never occurred to you pray for the world. Now that it is destroyed you start with requests and entreaties?!”
– Zohar Chadash 29a

The main perfection and beautification of faith comes when those who are distant from God, even non-Jews, are drawn close to Him, so that, “They will all call out to God and serve Him united” (Zefaniah 3:9).
– Likutey Moharan I, Lesson #62

When God saw that the world was filled with sexual deviancy and chamas (robbery) He decided that mankind had gone too far and needed to be destroyed. Thus He told Noach—a tzaddik—of His decision. Was all hope for mankind lost at that point? No.

It took Noach 120 years to build the Ark (Rashi on Genesis 6:14). Even when it was finished God waited another week to send the rain (Sanhedrin 108b). Even when He sent the rain, it began as gentle rainfall (Bereishis Rabbah 31:12). Had mankind repented at anyone of those times the tragedy of the Deluge would have been avoided. They didn’t and it wasn’t.

There was another way the tragedy could have been averted. Had Noach prayed for God's compassion to extend to all mankind there would have been a lesser Deluge or none at all . Yet after mankind had been found worthy of destruction, God still waited 120 years for them to repent, despite their persistence in their immoral deeds. What more compassion could He have shown? What other or additional compassion could have been granted? What should Noach have asked for?

Rebbe Nachman teaches that Mashiach (the Messiah) will conquer the world with the gentle weapon of tefilah (prayer). Imagine: rocks thrown with hate, Molotov cocktails hurled in fury, guns shot with venom met by a volley of Psalms, a litany of blessings and a wall of hitbodedut (personal prayer in one’s own words). Often our prayers are inspired by our own needs or aspirations, or by those close to us, family, friends or neighbors. How often do we think to pray for an enemy?

Certainly those who want to destroy us, even if only physically, must be considered enemies and we are obligated by the Torah to protect ourselves from them. (See below.) Yet what sort of defense or victory do we seek? Our lives are valuable because of our mission as the Chosen People—to inculcate all of mankind with faith in God. His glory is increased immeasurably as more and more people come to acknowledge His kingship (2 Zohar 69a). This was the focus of our prayers on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, “VeYeesayu”—that all the world would proclaim, “God is the King!”

Dead subjects make for a poor kingdom. We ourselves have an “Ark”—we have a promise that as a people we will exist forever. Might not God have a legitimate complaint against us: You knew you would be saved, but why didn’t you pray—for God’s sake—for the rest of My creations to believe in Me and My Torah, and to make Me their king?!

As mentioned above we are obligated to protect and defend ourselves. While we must never lose sight of the ultimate goal of all mankind, let us keep in mind some of Rebbe Nachman’s teachings:

One must stand strong against the enemies and wage war against them with strategy. The Holy One, Blessed be He, will do what is good in His eyes. (The Aleph-Bet Book Conflict A:96; see 2 Samuel 10:9 – 12 and 1 Chronicles 19:10 – 13)

Through the study of Torah dread descends upon the nations so that they do not wage war against Yisrael. (ibid. :99; see 2 Chronicles 17:9 – 10 and Rashi)

During wartime once must prepare weapons, as is done. The Holy One, Blessed be He, will do as He desires—do not rely on a miracle. (ibid. :101; see 2 Chronicles 26:15 and Rashi; ibid. 32:1 – 9; Proverbs 24:6)

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!