Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

The Flood story resonates with much of late twentieth century experience. There is something ironic about Cain and his descendants. Cain, the murderer, becomes the founder of civilization. Whereas Cain unintentionally killed his brother in the heat of rage, his descendants killed with purpose and design. Cain’s descendants made killing and exploitation of the weak into an art form. Additionally, man’s alienation from his brother leads to his alienation from God and from nature.

These issues are present today, as we witness the erosion of the earth’s ozone layer, which has already affected the climate in many parts of the world. Of course no natural evil can even hope to compare to the ubiquitous threat of moral evil-especially when it is sanctioned by religion! It is amazing that contemporary scholars seemed to be more intent on focusing on the problem of natural evil instead facing the real issues of our troubled times-moral evil.

In our multicultural environment that champions the philosophy of multiculturalism, I wonder: How can anyone say that a culture that executes its women in the name of religion, or threatens to kill people who fail to show up to religious services with death, is equal to a society that promotes egalitarian values? Our inability to see through the mist of political correctness, combined with our refusal to stand up for the millions of people who are repressed by sexism constitute one of the great moral challenges of our time. To date, civilization itself seems to be asleep at the wheel-even now as Iran threatens to export the technology of death to the highest bidder.

Back to our story!!

Even the most beautiful structure requires a strong foundation for its support than just bricks and stone. The rise and fall of civilizations can also be traced to structural weaknesses within their own society’s values. The story of Noah’s times is an eternal testament to the human capacity to self-destruct and illustrates the timeless truth: Man is the only species that habitually preys on its own kind.

I am reminded of an old quote: Someone once asked Mahatma Gandhi what he thought of Western civilization, he replied, “I think it would be an excellent idea­.” Despite our technological progress, we are still ethically living in the caves. Here in the Torah, is a clear description of the signs that accompany the imminent collapse of a civilization. Social upheavals are almost always manifestations of inner turmoil, of tensions and frustrations within, of fears, anxieties, worries, wild urges, and impulses. This was no less true in ancient times than it is today.

But even a depraved society is not without a vestige of good people living in its midst. Out of this crumbling world emerged one person whose strength of personality was quietly able to resist the tide of violence, cruelty, and sexual exploitation. In the biblical mythos of Genesis, one man stood apart as a nonconformist—such a man was Noah. In what way, therefore, was Noah blameless? Why was he whole when the rest of society had gone to pieces? The answer is the quality of peacefulness and integrity that refused to die. He was, in the parlance of the Torah, a צַדִּיק (tsaddîq), one who strove to be honest in all his interactions with people—Noah was a just and ethical man.

Can one person save the world? The Torah answers emphatically, “Yes!”

6:9 נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק — Noah was a righteous man— I for one have never liked the translation “righteous,” because צַדִּיק (tsaddîq) is someone whose behavior is wholly given over to the pursuit of צֶדֶק truth and integrity, without any partiality to the persons he is interacting with (Lev. 19:15). Such a person avoids commercial fraud and deception (Lev. 19:36). The צַדִּיק is one who truly does not deviate from the ethical in all of his or her personal relationships. Noah was a just man in both his personal conduct and his character. But can one man make a difference in the world? Rabbi Haim of Volozhin (1749–1821), the great Talmudist and mystic, argues that one certainly can! Not only that, one just man can affect the destiny of an entire world. He writes:

“Let no one in Israel—God forbid!—say to himself: “What am I and what can I accomplish through my humble deeds in the world?” Let him understand, rather, let him know and let him fix in his thought that not one detail, from any moment at all, is lost of his deeds, words and thoughts. Each one goes right back to its root in order to carry on in the height of heights, in the worlds and among the pure superior lights. The intelligent man who understands this according to the truth will fear and tremble in his heart in thinking of the points reached by his bad deeds, of the corruption and destruction that even a slight misdeed may cause… Let the heart of the holy people tremble, for it includes in its stature all the forces and all the worlds…for these are the holiness and the sanctuary above… Just as the body’s behavior and movements are due to the soul that is inside man, man as a whole is the power and living soul of the upper and lower countless worlds which are all led by him.”[1]

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[1]Emmanuel Lévinas, Beyond the Verse (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994), p. 160.