Yitzhak Eliyahu ben Shmuel v’Leah יצחק אליהו בן שמואל ולאה
October 25, 2025 / 3 Cheshvan 5786
Parashat Noach
Shabbat Shalom. Raise your hand if you think the current world is corrupt. I think that the world can be considered corrupt in three main ways: one, violence; two, prejudice; three, greed.
Raise your hand if you sometimes believe the world should have a reset. When I think of a reset, I think of being eliminated in a video game and then starting back over. When I reset from a game over, I sometimes feel relieved, but at other times frustrated, because all my progress is lost.
In my parashah, Noach, the world does get reset. God wanted to destroy the earth because of how corrupt it was, so He chose Noah, whom He believed was a righteous man, to build a giant ark to hold him, his family, and various different animals, for God was going to flood the whole earth.
I think that God should not have destroyed the whole earth, since there are surely other innocent people on it. Even though a large majority of the world was corrupt, that does not mean that everyone was corrupt.
I have read through a couple of commentaries that have similar thought processes to mine. In one commentary I read by Rabbi James Jacobson Mizel, the stories of Noach and Sodom and Gomorrah were compared. God and Noah destroyed the world without a second thought.
However, in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, God was approached by Abraham, and they were able to have a debate and come to an agreement that if ten innocent people were found, He would not destroy the cities. Rabbi Jacobson Mizel says, “Noah is obedient, but surprisingly unperturbed by the destruction of all life. His behavior is, of course, a stark contrast to Abraham.”
When Abraham is informed by God of God’s intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he asks, “Will You sweep away the innocent along with the guilty?” bargaining for the opportunity to save the lives of the people of those towns.
When I read this, I thought, is Noah really as righteous as God claims he is? But it also made me think that perhaps Noah was just living in a terrible time, so he was considered the most righteous of that time, aside from the innocent people.
I think that the difference between innocent and righteous people is that righteous people may do what is right because they know to do so, and innocent people do not necessarily do bad things on purpose, or may simply be young children.
At the end of Noach, God promises Noah and humanity that He will never destroy the earth again. I wonder if God would not have flooded the earth had Noah tried debating with God about the innocent people, as Abraham did.
Now I would like to talk about how God is said to have human feelings and behavior, which also connects to the idea that all humans are created in God’s image. For example, God expresses anger toward Moses after the Israelites build the Golden Calf.
In both Noach and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, God is pretty annoyed or disappointed with the behavior of humanity. In these stories, I think that God demonstrated growth, because at the end of Noach, God says to Noah, “I will maintain My covenant with you. Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
God may have realized that the decision made was harsh and vows never to bring destruction upon the whole earth again. This makes me think that maybe God at the beginning of Noach would not have had the debate with Abraham, in contrast with God at the end of Noach and God before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Well, what about our world now? What if I had the opportunity to speak with God? If I could talk to God, I would ask a lot of questions.
I would ask God why He has not been doing anything about our world right now. I would ask God to lend a helping hand to everyone who would benefit from His guidance. I would also ask how humans, with all the corruption in the world, can still find the light in the world to do what is right.
I would ask God how we can find Him in even small things. Maybe a beautiful sunset could be God. Maybe the small things in life that we often overlook are God.
The reason I think God has not done anything to make His presence clearly known today is because, despite all the corruption in the world, there is still so much good. There are always going to be good people, and maybe not-so-good people.
So I think it is okay to be frustrated with the world, or even frustrated with everything. Nobody is perfect. Everyone still has room to grow.
Even God grew.
What I want for everyone is to always remember to do the right thing, despite all that may be going on, and to never lose hope. The story of Noach taught me that the world is never going to be perfect.
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah taught me that you have to look at the whole picture. In conclusion, despite all the corruption in the world, it is important to seek the beauty in the world and to spread love and not hate. It is also important to put yourself in other people’s shoes and look at the bigger picture.
You are always growing, so do not dwell on your mistakes.
I would like to thank everyone who has been with me all these years. I want to first thank my co-workers. Thank you for all the laughs and memories. I also want to thank my current covering class. You guys are cool.
Thank you to my mom and dad for raising me and helping me become who I am today. Thank you to my grandma and grandpa. I love you guys so much.
Thank you to Gigi for being such a big motivation and teaching me that I have the power. Thank you to Gema and Grandpa Bernard for always taking me to El Golfo and teaching me tennis. Thank you to my Uncle Ben. I always enjoy the times I get to talk to you, even if it is not often.
Thank you to all of my dad’s family who showed up for me today, and thank you to all my mom’s family who showed up. Thank you, Tracy, for helping me learn all I needed for this day. I really enjoyed getting to know you.
Thank you to Rabbi Aliza for giving me a helping hand and pushing me to write this d’var Torah. Thank you, Moreh Jon, for always being such a great teacher and figure in my life.
Thank you, Putnam and Calliope. I love you both very much, even though you guys are rage bait. Thank you to Benita. You are the best, and you are always the highlight of coming to Temple.
Thank you to Rabbi Barbara, and lastly, thank you to the whole congregation and everyone who showed up here today. Thank you.