Many of us have grown up being taught about the contrast of the kindness, and compassion Avrohom Avinu felt for others — that compelled him to pray to G-d to spare the degenerate inhabitants of Sedom from destruction if there would be just a handful of righteous citizens among them — with the self-absorption of Noach — who, although dutifully spent 120 years building the Ark, nevertheless never extended prayers on their behalf.
_x000D_In truth, there is clear evidence that Noach must have prayed for his generation as well.
_x000D_Avraham initially appeals to G-d that if he were to discover fifty righteous individuals among the populace, each quorum should be deserving of saving one of the five cities of Sedom. G-d readily consents. Fearing he may not be successful in finding that number of worthy ones, Avrohom requests that perhaps forty-five should suffice —dividing that number into five representative groups of nine, with G-d counting as the ‘tenth’ one completing the requisite ‘minyan’ to save each of the five towns. Once again G-d agrees. From that point on Avrohom negotiates to save four cities in merit of forty righteous; three for thirty; two for twenty, and one for ten.
_x000D_At this point the bargaining concludes.
_x000D_Rashi wonders as to why Avrohom refrained from continuing to plead to save them even if there are even fewer than ten?
_x000D_He answers: For fewer than ten he did not ask. He said, “In the Generation of the Flood, there were eight: Noach and his sons, and their wives, but they did not save their generation.” And for nine together with counting [G-d] he had already asked but did not find.
_x000D_The Mashgiach of Yeshivas Kol Torah in Jerusalem, Hagaon R’ Yitchok Yerucham Bordiansky, questions this conclusion. If indeed Noach did not pray for his generation, then perhaps that is why eight wouldn’t suffice. But with Avraham beseeching on Sedom’s behalf, coupled with the existence of eight righteous ones, perhaps eight would indeed bring salvation.
_x000D_Evidently, Noach offered heartfelt prayers for their benefit, nevertheless as there were only eight righteous, it was insufficient to warrant them a reprieve despite his prayers.
_x000D_The question begs though, because both the Zohar and Midrash clearly state that Noach was taken to task for not interceding on their behalf with prayer.
_x000D_The Mashgiach makes a powerful assertion to answer this dilemma.
_x000D_Noach knew that although he was a member of this generation and perhaps equally deserving of punishment, he and his family would receive a pardon and escape the waters safely ensconced in the Ark. He prayed not for himself, but merely for his fellow generation.
_x000D_Similarly, Avraham was no card-carrying member of Sedom, yet he prayed for their salvation, nevertheless. As was apparent from Noach, even when praying for others eight righteous people do not suffice to gain amnesty.
_x000D_Noach though, was different, these were his people, his society, his generation. He, if not for the grace he found in G-d’s eyes, would have been swept away with the raging waters with them. True, he was told he would be saved, but the nature of his prayer should have been as one who is the same boat with the rest of the world. He wasn’t being × ×•×©× ×‘×¢×•×œ ×¢× ×—×‘×¨×™×• — carrying his fellows’ burden. One must empathize more deeply with their pain. Their pain is your pain.
_x000D_Noach lapsed in this awareness and that is why he was taken to task for his lack of empathy.
_x000D_We find ourselves in a similar predicament. Here we are six thousand miles away from the war, deluding ourselves we are safe. Firstly, that notion is clearly wearing away with the rising levels of antisemitism that is once again rearing its ugly head.
_x000D_But that is not the point. Regardless we are ‘One Nation’. The Midrash states that we are termed in the words of the prophet as a שה פזורה — scattered sheep, because the nervous system of sheep is such that the pain it feels in any part of their body is equally felt throughout its entire body.
_x000D_We are not individuals we are each ‘Am Yisrael’.
_x000D_A chareidi volunteer at the front in Azza was tirelessly issuing food and refreshments for the worn soldiers. A secular soldier was touched by this young man’s loving and sincere devotion, approached him asking him for his name, to which he in genuine modesty responded, “Am Yisrael!”
_x000D_A woman who had five sons and two sons-in law called up for army duty was part of a wider group of cousins who gathered for a family Tehillim group. She presented to her cousin who was leading the Tehillim with a list of her children in the army’s names to be noted to the group. The cousin’s instinctive response was to tell her that today we are not praying for ‘our’ children, but for all the children serving, with all the relatives nodding in agreement.
_x000D_As the war wages on with greater intensity, and unfortunately with terrible casualties, we must not only intensify our prayers but also our empathy, contemplating the suffering the parents, spouses, children, family and friends of soldiers and hostages are experiencing, and trying to absorb into our own minds and hearts.
_x000D_The Torah reports how after an angel informs Hagar that her seemingly dying son, Yishmael, will live, a well miraculously appeared before Hagar, ‘and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the youth to drink.’
_x000D_The Midrash points out how instead of running to the child to revive him with much needed water, she delays to first fills the jug with water so she would have a reserve later when perhaps she will find herself without hydration again.
_x000D_The Midrash labels her from מחוסרי ××ž× ×” — those lacking in faith.
_x000D_She had just been visited by an angel, miraculously discovering a well amidst the arid desert, did she really think G-d who interceded to save the child would mercilessly withhold water from her son? Why would she fill the skin before resuscitating her son?
_x000D_The illustrious and beloved late Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim in Queens, Rav Henoch Leibowitz, claims that certainly she did not doubt it for a minute. Where she failed was in her ability to embed that faith so deeply into her psyche that it would quell the instinct for self-preservation and the reflex to ‘grab’ as much as she could — even at the expense of prolonging her own child’s suffering.
_x000D_The test to determine how deeply one’s faith has penetrated one’s soul is how we act when faced with a state of confused anxiety and fear.
_x000D_Our cousins, possess the genetic makeup of Hagar, who despite claiming a faith founded in the home of Avraham, have never allowed it to permeate their base instincts, remaining a wild ass of a man.
_x000D_Our victory over our enemies will come when we pare away our selfish needs and see ourselves as truly one integrated entity — Am Yisrael.
_x000D_The word for faith is ××ž×•× ×”. The root of this word is ×מת — truth. (רד”ק)
_x000D_Our faith represents our true reality. When faith is used as a tool to serve one’s instincts and ambitions for dominance, rather than defining who we truly are, it is the greatest falsity and corruption of truth.
_x000D_How we sense the pain of our fellow Jews is the litmus test in determining how truthfully, we live our credo.
_x000D_This is our moment of truth.
_x000D_ב×הבה,
_x000D_צבי יהודה טייכמ×ן
_x000D_
