Parashat Noach 5770--Walking with Humanity

“Noah was a righteous man (ish tzadik), blameless/innocent in his generation; Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). Last week, I had the privilege of sitting down with members of Dorot Tzedek (Generations of Justice), a group of people at TIOH committed to working on behalf of justice. Noah and this group of folks from TIOH have something in common. He was called an ish tzadik and they are called Dorot Tzedek. Tzadik and Tzedek are from the same Hebrew root, meaning justice or righteousness. The similarities between them end here. You see, Noah learned that his world was coming to an end and he “walked with God” and “built and ark.” Folks from Dorot Tzedek see that our world is broken, and they have begun building relationships, accessing power, and publicly speaking words of truth to heal us.

Rabbi Moses Alshekh (c1498-1593) asks “Why are Jews not considered to be the descendants of Noah but rather of Abraham…?”

Alshekh answers:

The explanation is that even though Noah was righteous and perfect in his actions, he was not the ideal of the righteous Jew. “Noah walked with God,” not with people, not with others—he was not interested in humanity, in the environment. His righteousness was directed inward, to himself and his family…

In the face of brokenness, Noah was given a choice: Focus inward or focus outward? Focus inward: Either in despair, or personal triumph, or fear, or in an attempt to sustain life as he had known it. Or focus outward: Like the prophets of the biblical world and modern times, rail against injustice, seek ways to heal the brokenness, reach out to others, affect change. Noah focused inward.

Alshekh continues:

He was commanded by God to build an ark—he built it board by board and nail by nail, for a hundred and twenty consecutive years, and it never crossed his mind that there might be a way to avert God’s decree and save the world from destruction.

Noah was so focused on hammering and nailing (and how productive must he have felt in his toils!) that he never once looked up. No cries throughout the city, like the unwilling Jonah or the suffering Jeremiah. No speeches to move a nation like Martin Luther King, Jr. No attempts to turn prayer into action like Stephen S. Wise or Abraham Joshua Heschel.

Alshekh reminds us that we are the children of Abraham. Abraham and Sarah started their life journey as two individuals. The Torah doesn’t teach us that they were perfect. On the contrary, they were individuals who piled up a lifetime of flaws and hurts and mistakes. Much like all of us, if we’re being honest. But, Abraham and Sarah did something remarkable. They turned their two into hundreds and then thousands. They built relationships and sought to change their world.

I think back to the Dorot Tzedek meeting. And, I understand that we today are given a choice. Will we be the descendants of Noah or the descendants of Abraham? Will we build up the walls of an ark, nail by nail, surrounding us so thoroughly that we are no longer burdened by the sight of this world? Or will we build bridges that link us, inextricably, to the fate of humanity, and invite them along for the ride?

My deepest gratitude to Lila Foldes, from URJ's Just Congregations, for introducing me to this Alshekh interpretation.