Shabbat Shalom,
My torah portion is Noah, which I guess works out because Noah was the first human to quarantine. He didn't have a say either!
Noah is the second parsha of the Torah. Here’s a recap of what happened in the first Parsha, B’raisheet: It was a pretty eventful chapter if you ask me. I mean the world was created from nothingness. First there was day and night, then the sky, next the sun, moon, and stars. Later plants, birds, animals and finally humans. Those humans were named Adam and Eve. Eve ate the forbidden fruit. As a result, they left the garden of Eden and started a family. Sadly there son, Cain murdered their other son, Abel. From the beginning humans had the capacity to be evil and choose wrong.
The people of Noah’s generation are described as wicked. We start in Parshat Noah learning that Noah is described as a good person of his generation We all know that then a flood came, and the only things to survive were Noah, his family and the animals on the ark.
The Torah says that “Noah was in his generation a tzaddik, a man who was righteous and wholehearted. Noah walked with G-d.” What I want to know is was Noah a tzaddik or a righteous person only in his generation or would he have been a tzaddik in ours.?
One of the commentators, Nachmanides or Ramban, a leading Jewish scholar who lived in 12th century Catalonia, said that Noah was “neither a person of violence, nor a person who cheated and lied as did the guilty people of his generation….he did not participate in cults of astrology, enchantment and soothsaying, nor did he worship idols. He walked with G-d.” I question this: I do not believe Noah was righteous. The people of Noah’s generation were wicked and Noah was not. That makes him stand out but that doesn’t make him righteous. That’s like someone telling me to follow the laws. Does not murdering someone automatically make me a good person? Noah is being a good dubie following directions he was given. He is not being righteous.
On the other hand, the Zohar, an important work in Kabbalah literature, says that Noah was acting selfishly in order to live. He did not speak up for the people of his generation or challenge God when he was told everyone else would be killed. I agree with Zohar’s interpretation. First of all, human beings who care about those around them should advocate for them. Humans have a conscience and are more sophisticated than animals. In the Torah, God made humans more capable than any other animal. People have the capabilities to be good and bad. Noah made the choice not to advocate for the people of his generation and decided to care only for himself and his family. He did good deeds to benefit himself.
I relate the Zohar to modern life in the T.V. show “The Good Place.” Tahani, one of the characters, had raised a lot of money for charities in order to impress her parents and appear to be better than her sister. She did good things that helped others but wasn’t righteous. Now let me explain MY interpretation of righteousness. It is doing good things because of just that, it's good. Even though Tahani did good things, she did not do them with good intentions--and thus she was not righteous and, spoiler, was in the bad place. Noah may have not done wicked things, and he followed G -d’s directions, but were his intentions anything other than saving himself and his loved ones?
Rabbi Elimelech of Lizensk, a Hasidic master of the 18th century, once told a story about two kinds of righteous people. One kind is what he calls “a tzaddik in peltz” , someone who dresses like a “righteous” person by putting on a fur coat. This person finds a wolf, takes its fur and makes himself and ONLY himself cozy. The other kind of righteous person gathers what is needed to create a fire and invites others to join him. He gives himself warmth and shares it within the community. Is Noah righteous based on this story? Rabbi Elimelech says that Noah was a “tzaddik in peltz,” who only helped himself. He made it so life could go on but couldn’t he have saved others lives? Noah only helped his family and animals; he did not try to help the many people that were to die in the flood.
I understand Rabbi Elimelech’s description and can relate his definition of tzaddik to people I consider heroes in the world today. There are righteous people helping stop this pandemic right now in contrast to what happened with Noah and the people of his generation--everyone died except Noah. An example of a true righteous person today is Dr. Anthony Fauci. He does not do his job for his own well being, wealth, or good publicity. He creates a warm fire based in science and caring for the public health of the nation and the world. He does it to help those around him and minimize the spread of Covid, illness and death of others. Dr. Fauci is a true tzaddik, someone whom I consider a role model.
When I started preparing for my Bar Mitzvah, I had a very different vision of how today would be. I started this year with my classmates and my tutor in person learning at the synagogue. I thought there would be many people in the sanctuary today, all my family and friends here with me. Then the pandemic hit. And I am so glad everyone has come to support and see me on this milestone of my life even if for most of you it isn’t as expected.
I learned to look for the good in the situation. For example, there are people who would not have been able to be here in person, but they can witness my bar mitzvah online in spite of the pandemic. I used extra time freed up from not being
in school all day to connect with friends. This bar mitzvah will open many doors for occasions in the future even after covid-19 has subsided. People that are unable to travel will still be able to witness momentous occasions in their loved ones lives. I have learned that it is very important to me to connect with family and friends and adapt to make that possible. This is a great life lesson because life isn’t always very forgiving and time is always moving. Instead of postponing you need to move forward.
And on that note I would like to show my appreciation to those that have supported me and help me have a bar mitzvah. I would like to thank my hebrew tutor Missy for being a kind and forgiving teacher that made learning prayers and torah easy. I would like to thank Rabbi Penzner for her outside the box thinking that helped me have a bar mitzvah in the middle of Covid and her insightful point of view of my torah portion. You showed me things in Noah that I had never noticed before. I would like to thank my bubby and grandpa for being loving and supportive, including using their english teacher editing skills on this very dvar. I would also like to thank Bernie, for letting us live in his house the last 5 months. And cooking very good meat. I would like to thank my brother for keeping me entertained and my parents for making this happen. I would like to thank everyone on zoom today. It's not ideal for you guys but it means a lot to me. I would like to thank my friends for making this pandemic bearable.