Parsha Perspectives - Noach

Tob welcome back to para perspectives forward today. First of all, I'm so deeply appreciative that you were willing to adjust the time together with me for a good reason and a good conflict. But I'm grateful every time we change a time I wonder whether I'll be sitting here alone. And every time people show up, I'm shocked but amazingly gratified and I'm so happy to be able to learn together as we launch our new year and a new cycle through learning. The amazing thing is you can learnish every year of your life. the same text, the same words, the same story, the same narrative. But the world is different and you are different. We mature. We gain wisdom. Life experience. The world around us is changing. And we see in these sacred words, we see in our timeless Torah messages that impact us for today. And tragically, sadly, there are way too many Jews whose knowledge of the parish and kumish is fixed from when they were in third grade. whatever they heard from their teacher, the Malama, the para they came home with, that's where they're stuck. But to come every week to explore, to ask questions, to be curious, inquisitive, to think critically about what we're learning, it's what makes our Yiddish kite so special. So I'm so grateful that you join on this journey of learning parial perspectives together. I want to thank as always our very generous series sponsors our dear friends Becky Naviki Katz and family in loving memory Becky's father our learning is Nishmas David Gman David Ben man this morning shar is also sponsored by Amanda Lions as a thank you for the weekly learning for the flea bas and all those affected by the terrible attack that took place in Manchester over yum kipper certainly wish them a rafua and a speedy recovery we're on page 30 in the arts girl stone kish and we have the privilege this week of learning together. So, let's go. We could spend at least an hour on the opening, but don't worry, we won't. We won't tempted to, but we won't. A told us these are the offspring of Noah and the Torah doesn't list the offspring of Noah. Already by the second part of the Torah, the Torah's got a healthy case of ADD. It started a thought and then got distracted by its own thought and doesn't come back to the thought until the second actually gives us the offspring. So why do we introduce these are the offspring of Noah only to forget what we were talking about and to in fact not list the offspring until the next p and we interrupt it with what told us Noah Noah. These are the offspring of Noah. And who are the offspring of Noah? Noah. Why do we say his name twice? I've shared before, but I find it so powerful. I mentioned it last night and a schlam for our dear friend Phil Zimmerman that there are people who live for their children and grandchildren. And that's a wonderful attribute to take nas and to have pride if one is blessed to have future generations. But never to do so at the neglect of our own legacy, of our own reputation, of our own name, of cementing our own place in this world. Ayah told us Noah the biggest offspring the biggest legacy to Noah left was Noah is sadik his name his reputation who he was what we leave is our name is our reputation that's what we give birth to so we think oh my children my grandchildren they're the ones who will give me nas what about giving yourself nas living such a life and earning such a reputation that you give yourself and what made him a sadic he was he was pure and innocent Again, we could get into each of these words much deeper. We're not going to, but like we learn this in means to not subscribe to horoscopes and superstition and silliness and narite, but rather when are you only when that you live a life with you embrace your place. You are where you're meant to be. Hashem puts us in those places in those circumstances. We'll talk and see that more in this para. When are we tim when are we whole? And when are we complete? And when are we pure? We're not speculating. We're not guessing. We're not predicting. We're not anticipating. We're not controlling. We're not micromanaging. When are we tim when are we leaving a hole in a pure life? So Noah was this person who was tim like the Tom at the seder that we say somewhat somewhat negatively about that tom is simple, but there's a beauty to simplicity. We've over complicated and sometimes we need to simplify. And the person who simply lives a life with Hashem there's simply a mench simply a good person the will of Hashem living a mission that was God translate these words that clause that phrase is what do the words mean walked with God that's how article translates it but it's not what it says they did though because it's hard to translate it differently to God walked Noah. [snorts] I don't even know I don't know how to translate it better but this morning bashm the reason we delayed my son Boayom today is his Hebrew birthday turned 13 bar mitzvah so at his yeshiva at school we had a beautiful day and it was a beautiful moment and a beautiful morning for which I have boundless gratitude so Rab Zalden the head of the middle school spoke very sweet and he quoted Rab Victor Miller what is I say I was preparing for the parish this year among Other reasons I went what form of the verb is that it's reflexive wasn't born this from his to his he walked with God. It wasn't a coincidence and it wasn't an accident. He wasn't born that way. He learned, he cultivated, he conditioned himself his hik reflexive. He transformed himself and cultivated himself. It's not easy. It's hard. You know, it's easy to talk about Hashem when you're in the shul. When the sitter's open, the taleum's open. It's easy when you're diving our heart out to release hostages and thanking him with our heart out that they were released. The 20 living are home and back with their families should continue to recover and feel well. And those who are who are unfortunately no longer with us should be returned as well. But what about when you're living life when you're in traffic or the business deal goes wrong or your spouse or child does something you didn't want them to do? Are you still his do we transform ourselves in those moments to realize Hashem you're in charge, you're in control. I surrender. I submit. So Noah was surrendering to Hashem Saxsh. I think it's now available. >> Yes. Okay, good. I get no commission. Maybe a little donation to BRS from Kurin, but we quote it every week because it's beautiful. And Rabbi Sax in the introduction to the para describes paras brings us to a close brings to a close the 11 chapters that precede the call to a and the beginning of the special relationship between the descendants and God. So paras is the end of if you had to break up Torah and Noah are written for the whole world and with the introduction to a we now get particular about the Jewish people. Aram by the way may not have been Jewish. That's a separate topic for another time. I think we've spoken about that. Believe it or not, the pious holds that a did not have kadush is a is the first. He's the first Hebrew, but he couldn't have counted for a minion. That's pretty harsh thing to say about our forefather that we begin the amida with. Why? What defines a Jew? You had to have stood at Sinai at hari to have kadush the sanctity of a Jew is to be obligated and bound in mitzvah did so voluntarily but according to this interpretation the meal because he wasn't commanded he didn't have kaducious is technically he wasn't a Jew but he is our forefather in that he introduces or promotes promugates ethical monotheism he's the first Hebrew he's a hamongy all that story that journey begins next week with We get the 11 close of the 11 chapters that precede that tell us what happened in the world. And during these chapters, the Torah gives prominence to four stories and he Noah and the generation of the flood and the tower of Bavl. Each represents another step in the maturation of humanity. The first thing we learn as children is that our acts are under our control. Personal responsibility. Not that someone made me do it. I couldn't help it. I take after you. It's my genes, my DNA, my brother, my classmate, my This is what Adam tried to deny. When faced with primal failure, man blamed the woman, the woman blamed the snake. The next lesson is that not everything we can do, we may do moral responsibility. We cannot say like cayenne, am I my brother's keeper? And justify the harm we cause. The world lost last week. At Saras, a dear friend and mentor of mine, Rabbi Mosha Howard, a colonel of Ra. A horrific, horrific tragedy and an enormous gaping loss and whole for Israel. I wrote an article this week. What I would have said if I knew I could have one more conversation with him. He was a very special friend and and a mentor to me and to so many others. After October 7th, he said, Cen asked a question. When God said, "What did you do to your brother?" He says, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Rabbi Howard said, "The challenge of our generation post October 7th is not to ask a question." Am I my brother's keeper? But to make a statement, I am my brother's keeper. That's what it means to change, to transform, to take responsibility. Is not to is not to skirt responsibility. Is not to say, "Am I my brother's keeper?" But to transform that from a question to a statement. I am my brother's keeper. Whatever it takes, whatever is needed, I will step up. I will step forward. The next stage which we arrive here in our par is the realization that we have a duty not just to ourselves to those on whom we have an influence. Collective responsibility. This is the test that Noah fails. The story above demonstrates the failure of antlogical responsibility. The idea that something beyond us makes a call on us. There's an author of being. Therefore, there's an authority beyond mankind to whom when acting morally, we respond. This will close the first cycle of the story of mankind, preparing us for the Hashem's call to Abraham, go. So, these four stories are four stages of maturation. What are the four stages again? Personal responsibility. They blame. They point the finger. Me? No, no, no, no, no. She gave me to eat. She says, "Me? No, no, no. The snake gave me to eat." And the answer and the antidote is personal responsibility. That's lesson of the first story. The second is moral responsibility. A statement moral responsibility. Then collective responsibility. Our para Noah Noah can't say I built the ta I saved myself. What about the rest of humanity? What about caring about those around you? And lastly is ontological responsibility which is that not only responsibility to the people around us collective but ontological which is a very fancy word to impress you which means something bigger than ourselves that Hashem has a plan for us. There's a a call that we have to answer and that is the introduction of our para the bamb we're towards the end of our cycle of using his incredible safer. I hope they print and publish more of his Torah because it's all been outstanding. Rashi quotes and it's familiar. Everyone who's learned knows this debate. Rashi quotes some some interpret and analyze the opening favorably that it's flattering Noah that it's praising him. Noah was a saddic when he lived in this miserable, corrupt, morally depraved, horrific generation. Imagine if he loved among the righteous, how great he would really be. And some some interpret this critically. Yeah, he was pretty good for his generation, but if he were in any other generation, there'd be nothing special or impressive. And before you jump on the bandwagon, I have a dear friend in our community Noah. Every year he gets very defensive for Noah. He says, "Noah gets a bad rap." Could you imagine? The man saved humankind. And still every year on the anniversary of our reading his story and thanking him, we say, "Ah, he wasn't special for that generation." Really, we can't just say thank you. 120 years he built an arc. He saved his family. He saved the world. So we have these two opinions. Are we praising or are we criticizing? And asks, what's a question that may be bothering you? How could you possibly interpret that Noah critically? After all, Hashem himself endorses Noah. That Noah found favor in the eyes of God. No. It's the opening puk. Noah is a righteous man. He walks with God. And we're still debating is he a good guy or a bad guy. We're still debating just how good he is. Just open the Torah. It testifies the ultimate endorsement of the Almighty. It's a good question. No. says, "The writes that if a person is living among wicked, evil, corrupt people, you got to book out. You got to leave. It's time to go. It's time to go." And if you can't migrate to another area, then live in a desert because you have to protect yourself from bad policies and bad people. I saw a house being advertised in our community for sale and it said pre-Mani pricing. That was the advertisement. It listed a price and said pre-mani pricing which may only go up because is if their policies people bad then you've got to move, you've got to book out, you've got to exit, you've got to go. But what can or should a person do if they can't go live in the desert? For Noah, the whole world was filled with such moral corruption there was nowhere to go. So what should he do? who was raised by her father Basul and her brother she was a katana she was a young child there was nowhere for her to go is a so then if a person finds themsself inescapable from a bad place they have to look inward and ask why am I here what's my mission what's my purpose what's my moment what we've been learning about in the amunes we finished that chapter from to be Whatever matzah of whatever moment we find ourselves in, don't say I'd serve Hashem if I had a different job and a different spouse and a different neighbor in a different neighborhood and a different bank account, different children at a different wherever whatever what you're going through is your moment in that mat of what's your mission? What's your mission really? It's to move. If you can't move, then don't feel stuck. Don't feel stuck because you can't move. Say why? I really should have a new job. I need to look for a new job. I need to get a new job, but I can't for whatever hundred reasons right now. Fine. So, in this job, how do I make the best in this moment, in this mat, in wherever I find myself? And if a person embraces their place and lives their moment with mission, then you could reach the level of as if you're living in a holy place filled with sadikim. If you accept upon yourself even where you are which may not have the best influences or environment still I strive to be my best self then Hashem will help out and we saw this with Rifka. Even though Rifkco was raised in a home in a house of evil wicked influence, Bouel love on a place of idolatry. Nevertheless, she emerges a young, wholesome, pure, righteous woman [clears throat] who's compared to none other than Senu. Similarly, we find about Yakov. Jacob has to flee from his brother Asov. He doesn't have the luxury of just going wherever he wants. And he finds himself in what home? the same one that Rifka had to avoid the influence of namely. And what does he do there? He lived with Lavan and yet he observed all 613 mitzvah. We find it also with Yoseph. Yoseph is cast, thrust against his will down to Egypt in a foreign environment, foreign influence, corrupt, unfamiliar. And what does he do? Yoseph Yseph remains as righteous and wholesome and pure even in the morally decadent distorted perverted place of Egypt as he was when he was learning at his father's feet. So we see that the Ramom says if policies people around you change if there's negative influence you got to get out you got to go somewhere else even to go to the desert if you can't make the most of where you are find your mission in that mat and then it's like you're living among sadikim even where you are now back to our question asked are you kidding me why would you learn the para to be critical of Noah The Torah itself endorses Noah wholeheartedly. The Almighty's endorsement. And yet we're going to find a reason and a way to criticize. Why? Listen to this. How many times have you heard that Rashi? You're about to hear something you never heard before in your life. I think unless you learned in the mere Brooklyn under those who meaning he was at for his generation but if he lived with nothing special is if you learn the it's a bigger if you learn the part that praises him in fact you're criticizing If you say if he lived among a bigger to suggest that Noah only would have been better unimpressive among Sadikim could have been better among Sadikim is to suggest that Noah couldn't become his best self even among Rashe but we see you can Rifka did Yakov did Yoseph did and before them Noah did so the reason that Dorai is not to be gay the reason that they learn it to be critical is not to be critical but is actually to compliment that Noah even among that generation not he was great for the generation he was the greatest he could possibly be even in that bad generation. Don't say he was only good compared to he was as good as he could get even only in if you live your best self when you're living in the best environment there's nothing impressive about it. It's what you're supposed to do. But if you could live and be your best self even when you're in a bad environment, now we're talking. Now we're cooking with heat. That's impressive. So the reason to learn he was good compared to his generation is that in fact that's not that that's praise not criticism. Because what we're saying about Noah is embrace your place. We shouldn't become our best selves relative to who we're with. We should be our best selves comparing and competing with ourselves. With ourselves. Don't be satisfied. Minions called for 9ine. 99% of the people come after 9. So when you get there at 9:05, you're pretty good. You're pathetic. If you could be there at 8:59. Don't be relative and compared to other people. Who are we compared to ourselves, our potential, and our best? That's the challenge. That's who we are. And don't say Noah, Noah could have said, "Look where I'm living. Look at this environment. This whole world is so corrupt. Hashem's doing a hard reboot and reset, and that's who I live among. Forget about it. I might as well also indulge my impulses." He says, "No, I must be here for a reason. I have to build a T. I have to build an arc. I have to save a world. There's something I have to get done." So really turns this whole on its head. This he changes it. The reason the reason to learn seemingly critically is not to be critical but is that the critical view is actually the more complimentary and the one that that's praising the generation is in fact criticizing him. That's the question of whom or the generation you follow a beautiful interpretation. We're moving. We're flying now. Noah had three sons. Three sons. shame and the do you remember we started learning the who wrote the list of who was the lisker of hers freriman he was the rebba of keristier's father died at a very young age he went to go live with the liskar and I'm uh excited and fond to quote to learn the safer because we went we went to liska and we visited the liskar of the summer and to and so on. So he says the following his his beautiful he says you see from here Noah had three sons every human being has three elements and what are they shame our name our good name as the Torah we learn the mitzvah we the good deeds, the character, the integrity, the kind of person that we are. What's the is the heat of passion the drive of impulse temptation for a is what's y what's y beauty the physical the material eating drinking and sleep. When it comes to cursed is the negative animalistic impulse bes when it came to that son that offspring that child that element or component that we all have called that draw to material When is it? Is beauty good or bad? Is beauty in the aesthetic a value, something we admire or something that we have no use for? The answer is yes. If it's an ends to itself, if you worship and admire the form, the body aesthetic, then it's a problem. This was our shir on Torah where I began. I don't want to get in trouble, but quoting the statistics of cosmetic surgery, Botox, adjustments, procedures that are proliferating and exploding more than ever. And if you think that is gender bias, the biggest growth in that area is among men. And then the second article was how many people are traveling to Turkey to get hair transplants? How many men some of us clearly have not are getting hair transplants? And the shear was about this issue of where does simra where does real simka come from? And when you pursue and chase, if you're trying to stay young and you're fighting mother time, father time, whoever is the parent of time, you're trying to fight time, you can't slow it down. You're not going to win. Embrace your age. be lucky and happy and grateful to be alive and the accomplishment and the wisdom of what you can show for it. You're not going to win. So then you'll find ye the offspring of Ye. Who's Greece? Yavan Yavan robbed us. Loni the loni was gless yavan. There's no you'll never be able to be happy. You'll constantly be looking in the mirror, competing, comparing, chasing, treating procedures, cosmetics, makeup. You There's nothing wrong with it. I'm not judging. Enjoy. It's wonderful. Let it make you happy. If you can afford it, undergo it. Pay. It's beautiful. Enjoy. Just don't let it define your life or your happiness. Don't let it be who you are, your identity. Where is there room for yim? When it's yi is beauty, shame is the base of Torah. When the purpose of the beauty is to enhance Torah. So when you want to have a positive appearance, fashion and style, you want to keep up because you want to make a kdish hashem. Beautiful. If you want a beautiful home because you want to host parlor meetings and guests and raanim and Torah learning, beautiful. The room is when and where? Why? When it's that is the a lot more to say about that. We didn't do a service just now. But if you want then be happy with what you have comes from a satisfaction with our Latin life. The farmer who brought his don't look in the basket of the person next to you. Their fig is so much bigger. Their fig is so much juicier and plumper and shines beautifully. My little dried up pathetic tiny little microscopic fig. Just look in your basket. How can you find that one's got a flowing head of hair? Not one gray I can wear. Why me? No. Look at be happy with your stop competing, comparing, keeping up. Be able to be satisfied and happy with your own lot. Look in the mirror, beautify in appearance, stylish, look good, nice tie, nice knot. Ben, you got a nice little pinch. You got to have it all right is why because you're giving the you need a nice pinch. You got to look good. As long as it's skipping ahead, we have the decree of the flood, the final call. We've learned all this before. When did Noah get in the ta? only when it started to rain. Why? Mikat amuna. He was a believer, maybe not a full believer. He was waiting till the last minute. Were critical of Noah. He could have used a platform in order to inspire, to transform, to educate the rest of his generation. He failed. They're called the May Noah. The flood inundates the world for 40 days and 40 nights. We know that that number 40 represents 40 days in the embryo. 40 days Moshe was on hari. 40 days. We have that letter me. What is unique and specific about the letter mem? I give you a hint. Every other letter in Hebrew, if you spell out the whole letter, alf is Ahmed, alf meaning the word alf, which is the name of the letter, if you spell the word, it's alfed pay. Alf baz yud tough and so on. Gimmel me. How do you spell me? Mem mem only its letter. What you see is what you get. The inside is the outside. The mem to become pure transformed. What you see is what you get is the letter mem. A mikvah has to be made of what's the measure? How much water in a mikvah? How many saw? >> Memsa 40. Me. 40 days. Moshe goes up. 40 nights and days of rain. 40 days. The baby in the womb before they're not just considered to be embriionic fluid. That number 40 has a lot of significance in our rich tradition. The waters recede. We're on perv sorry per Zion. The waters recede and and uh before we're up to the waters recede per giml the final call. The rain falls 40 days and 40 nights. It sounds like August in Florida. On that day, Noah and his three sons and his wife, what was her name? And the three daughter-in-laws, they all entered the table. Why are they listed separately? Why not just say Noah and his rebbitson and the kind they all came into the TVA. We say Noah and his three sons. Then Noah's wife and the three daughters-in-law. Why they listed separately? Rashi tells us that while the world was being destroyed around them, no tashita intimacy was off limits because if there is crisis in the world, you don't indulge in the pleasures of this world. For two years there were people I don't know about that particular practice but I do know people in our community who didn't have chocolate for two years soldiers were fighting on front line hostages were held underground I know who didn't sleep with a pillow for these two years and there is a tradition that we have that while the Jewish people while the world is in crisis we restrict ourselves we show that we're holding back a little we're not living life as normal and as usual and therefore they're listed separately. Why is it? Keep reading. They enter. Then the Torah continues all the different animals and the birds and the creepy crawies. They all enter two of every species that had life. male and female and Hashem closed the door behind them. Hashem shut it on his behalf, says Rashi. The people of his generation said, "If we see this guy trying to enter his ark and save himself, we would destroy the ark and kill him. Really? That's your threat? Guess what? He's not going to sneak into the ark in the middle of the night. [clears throat] He's going to climb into it in broad daylight. You're all going to watch and no one's going to do anything. And indeed, that's how the section ends. Hashem closes the door behind him. There were wild animals around the entrance. Anyone who tried to attack Noah they protected these wild animals protected Noah even from them. Kasha Noah is here. Noah after all where did he build the tava? Not in the back of the house. He built it on the front lawn so that the whole world would see. Got cited by the HOA over and over and over again. He built it on the front lawn. Why? Rashi quotes so that they would see and say, "Hey, what are you doing?" Say, "What am I doing? I'm glad you asked. We are not fulfilling the purpose of creation." And God told me he's going to reboot the world. And there's still a last chance. If we all change and transform, we got another chance. And they ignored him. So since Noah tried to inspire them all to do chuvaos, what's their complaint? Why would they try to kill him? He said, "Hey everybody, we can still, we're still redeemable. We can still keep this thing on track. We can still save ourselves." And they blew him off. So now when he's climbing into his tava, why are they trying to kill him? Why are they trying to kill him? Says, You know why? In every generation when there's a beacon of moral clarity when there's a person or there are people who are living with a moral compass with moral values with principles with faith then those who don't want that moral conscience try to eliminate like writes at the core and at the root of anti-semitism and this is not the time we have spoken about it but past Why anti-semitism is the world's oldest hatred and it defies explanation? Because they hate us when we're rich. They hate us when we're poor. They hate us when we assimilate and integrate. They hate us when we isolate. They hate us when we're on top. They hate us when we're down. They hate us when we're loud and boisterous. And they hate us when we're quiet. It defies explanation. So what's the core and source of anti-semitism in the world? The Rambam writes because We are or at least we are meant to be the moral conscience of the world living righteous and virtuous lives. And when you want to indulge in your most base animal lowest selves, you don't want that goody two shoes around. That example, that honor society, that model student, you don't want that person around. Why does the model student the honor society get bullied in school? Why' they get a noogie and thrown in the locker in a big wedgie? Why does that happen to that student? Leave him alone. Let him succeed. What are you being picked on? Because you're making the rest of us look bad and you're making the rest of us feel bad and we don't like to have you around. And in fact, that's what the Gmorrah says. Why? Why was the mountain from which the Torah was given called? Because from that mountain, hatred came to the world. They hated us still since we stood at the mountain. S hatred. Since we stood at Saii, hatred has been against us in this world. That's not to make us feel better about it. That's not to make you feel less worried about it, but it is to help us understand a little bit where maybe some of it comes from and to not be grateful for it, but to be proud. If you hate me because hopefully I'm living a morally straight, honorable life. We're a moral conscience, a faithful people, living righteous, principled lives. We're living for eternity, not for the here and now. We are a people with a rich history and a rich destiny. We've defied all the laws of history and all of the odds and we're still here. We're still here. We've been beaten and we've been persecuted and we've been expelled and we didn't come anywhere and say, "Now we're entitled. Now you owe us." You know what we said? We're ready to rebuild. We're ready to go. And you know other people don't like that. Other people don't like that because what does it say about them? So this is the source. That's why they wanted to kill him. Goody two shoes. God's favorite moral conscience man of faith in principle. We're all violating boundaries. That's why by the way the mabul came. The mabul is mida mida measure for measure. Why? Where does a flood come from? A flood is when the water doesn't respect the boundary of land. The earth, the globe, we have seas and oceans and rivers and we have dry land and the there's supposed to be a barrier between them. The kof the shore is the barrier between the ocean and the land. Bakaya says the word comes from the word when you stand under the the bride and the groom. This is one of those bonus Torah for you. So if you need to speak at a pay attention the is a boundary around the on the one hand open on four sides welcoming and warm and inviting. But on the other hand there's now a boundary around the two of them setting the two of them off from the world. They have a home. They have a relationship. They have an intimate connection. They are a unit. They are [snorts] like the beach, the shore that stops the ocean from the land, the from the world around. Back to our regular schedule program. So, we have water and we have dry land. What happened with the flood? The water ran all over the land and it covered the whole land. There was no boundary. There was a breach of the boundary. It was breached. When there's a hurricane, usually the biggest danger of a hurricane low alleu the biggest danger of a hurricane are not necessarily the high-speed winds. It's the flooding because the flooding breached the what's it called? And the I'm trying to the levy. Thank you. The breach the levy. So the mabble flooded the world. Why was that mida mida? Because the world is set up with boundaries. There's a husband and a wife and you respect that boundary. But they didn't. What were they called, by the way? Timas. [snorts] Kamas. This is not a new story. Kamas filled the world. Anarchy and chaos. How did it function? Without boundaries. That's your wife, but I'm attracted to her. That's your money, but I want to take it. That's your food, but I'm hungry. They had zero respect for boundaries. They violated, kidnapped, held captive that which wasn't theirs in terms of women, money, things. And therefore, if you can't violate boundaries, Hashem says, "You want to know what a world with no boundaries looks like? No problem. I'll take away the boundaries." And the world is covered in a flood that destroys it. A world without boundaries. Hamas is the chaos, corruption and anarchy that comes from having no boundaries, breaking through a fence, taking and kidnapping people horrifically doing things to them with no respect for borders and for boundaries that always has been that is and please God we can eliminate that ever being that is what kamas is no boundaries. So they wanted to kill Noah says barbam. You know why? Because Noah has bound. He's building a ta. This is my boundary. This is my wife. These are my children. These are my things. You live yours. I have mine. There are boundaries. There are boundaries. We want no boundaries. Chaos and anarchy, moral corruption and decay. And you're promoting and living boundaries. They wanted to kill them. We who model for the world boundaries when they want to blur those bound there's no male there's no female there's no monogamy there's no all the boundaries that have held man together with all the progress we're making technologically AI and otherwise morally we are regressing make no mistake 2025 tough shin pv technologically and medically we are progressing morally we are regressing even faster. The boundaries that civilization has held for a long time, we can define and we know what genders are. We know what relationships are. We know the definition of marriage. We know we've had definitions and we're losing those values and those definitions. And that's no coincidence. No coincidence. This is a par perspective for today that when boundaries are blurred, anti-semitism goes up. Why? This is as old as Noah and his ark because those who are blurring the boundaries have no use or patience for those who are maintaining and holding on to them. And when there's a segment of society, when there's a people who embrace and hold on to those boundaries, when the world wants to blur them and eliminate them, there's a spike and a rise of anti-semitism. They wanted to kill Noah for what he stood for, and they want to kill us for the same reason. for the same reason. So is tracing this challenge, this problem he didn't live to see in our time, but all the way back. It goes all the way back to No. Chapter 8, verse 8, bottom of page 36 Noah sends the Yona. He sends the dove to see whether the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. Why did he send them? Rashi tells us since the water had receded, it was time to leave the ark. But he said, "I only entered when he invited me. I'll only leave when God says it's time to go." So if Noah is only going to leave when God says it's time to go, why send the dove? He sent the dove to go explore, come back, report. Has the water receded? Is it safe to go out? But why bother? If you're not going to leave until God says to go, why send a dove? It's a good question. No, says now it's time to rebuild the world. A new there's a big avod. A big avod. And that takes preparation. That takes preparation. If you need to rebuild the world and you need to start again, you don't wait for God to invite you out. You start looking around and preparing. What do you need to do? Yesterday, I was texting with a friend who had some theories about the survivors in the Holocaust and Paras Noah. Holocaust survivors and paras Noah. Noah comes off the TVA. The first thing he does is plant a vineyard and have a drink. And Hashem is critical of Noah that he has a stiff drink. What's the criticism? He says because Noah was living a holy life and he made it. He made it mundane. Wasn't he entitled? That's a long time in an arc cleaning up after the elephants and giraffes and feeding the lions and the tigers. He saved the whole world. He wasn't deserved a nice stiff drink on the rocks. No rocks. Everyone thinks on the rocks is a fancier way, but if you're a fine schmecker, you know that on the rocks is not. It's an amateur way to drink. You add a little bit of water to open up the flavor. You make a and you drink. So Noah knew how to drink properly was not on the rocks. He had a little bit of water. There was plenty to go around at the time. And he had a Why are we critical of Noah? So my my dear friends, he he conjectured his when Noah took that drink and he was processing and he was healing from his having survived the destruction of the world. He lost the edge and the drive he needed to rebuild. That's what Hashem was critic critical of. Our survivors, our heroes, they didn't process. And we know that because just ask their children. There's a researcher whose parents used to live in our neighborhood. Rachel Rael Yehuda did a lot of research actually scientifically showed it in the genes in the very DNA of second and third generation became absorbed attributes and traits of Holocaust survivors who didn't necessarily process go to therapy work through because when they got off their arc of survival when their world was flooded and destroyed their focus was on one thing one thing only which was to rebuild to rebuild. It's actually beyond remarkable to think what they did and what they accomplished. The communities, the yeshivas, the schools, the kashras, the av state of Israel, what they did, had they paused and hesitated to plant a vineyard and have a drink and go for therapy and process, who knows if our world would ever exist. They didn't. They just That was his theory. And it's a fascinating theory of really learning from our parha about surviving the destruction of a world or the world and what it means and what it takes to then focus on building the next world. I told him, I'll tell you, it's interesting. A lot of Holocaust survivors didn't talk about their own experience. Their children, dates, places, experiences were left and cloaked in mystery. But fascinating when they had grandchildren all of a sudden they would tell a grandchild they would open up at a pesak seder they might come speak in that grandchild's school why why didn't they tell their own children but they only told their grandchildren. So a theory is because they weren't ready to tell their children when they didn't know that there'd be a continuity and a future and a world. They didn't want to burden their own children with the pain of what they went through. But once they had grandchildren and great-grandchildren, once they saw that there was a future, there was a tomorrow. Now they were prepared to tell their story. Now they could process by by first sharing a little bit. There are parallels. There are parallels between Noah, the destruction of a whole world. You think about these hostages who came home. I read Alishar's book over Yantiff. The whole book is heartbreaking. The last page is devastating. But he says the only thing that kept him alive those 400 plus days in captivity was believing that Leanne that his wife and two daughters were alive. The moment he was released he found out that they had been killed. He emerged to a world that was destroyed. His world was destroyed like Noah. How do you build tomorrow? This para this para is the architecture of what unfortunately tragically has been the story of our people over and over again. Soam suggests why did he send the dove? He wasn't going to exit until Hashem said it's time to leave. But if you have to build, if you have to rebuild a world, you can't wait. You have to be ready. You have to plan. You have to look. You have to know. You might recognize this. Those who just said it. We're going to turn now to Salv. Sorry, not where is I lost the place. Sorry. God remembered Noah and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And he brought a wind and the water withdrew. on those words writes this p is the first cited in the section of rash. So we all just saidash and the first p in the section of the special musaf the section of remembering is this p god remembered one theme of zronos is divine providence. God sees and remembers everything. He is concerned simultaneously with the universe as a whole as well as with each person individually. The moral correlator to this idea is the notion that one should never discount the value of the individual. Just as God exhibits both universal and individual concern, so too should man. One should thus not dedicate all of his efforts on behalf of the communal needs while ignoring individual needs. Hashem is concerned with infinity itself, both in the historical sense regarding all generations of mankind and in the physical sense regarding the boundless cosmos. At the same time, it remains concerned with each and every individual. Noah was rescued from the flood for two reasons. First, through Noah, humanity is saved. Second, Noah was saved as an individual, he was deserving. Even had humanity been saved by another means, Noah himself would have been spared on his own merits. So Torah tells us Noah. We have to simultaneously see the whole, the collective, the community, but also not lose the forest for the trees. You have to see and know and love every individual. Rabbi Howard, that was one of his greatness. Every conversation with him since I met him many years ago, he used the words he framed conversations about Israel. What are we doing for Israel? What is the agenda? What are the challenges for Israel? He was a Israel thinker, but who also cared for each and every Jew. You can't care about the cl so much so that you don't see the prat the individual personal moving along chapter nine rebuilding the world the covenant Hashem made with Noah verse 13 top of page 42 Hashem made a bow as the sign and the symbol the rainbow with the world says as rabbit saxs. We're back in the new rabbi saxs. When we read bracious and shmo superficially, it seems as if the covenants of Noah A and Sai are the same, but they're not. The covenant of Aram and Sai are covenants of faith. But the covenant, the bris of Noah says nothing about faith. The world has been almost destroyed by a flood. All mankind, all life, with the exception of Noah's ark, has shared the same fate. There's a famous prophecy in Shai that one day the wolf will lie down beside the lamb. So far, it has only happened once. Where? In Noah's ark. Why there? Not because they were friends, but because otherwise they would drown. That is a covenant of fate. In the Noah had covenant, Hashem is saying, "Never again will I destroy the world. But I cannot promise you that you will never destroy it because I've given you free will. All I can do is teach you how to not destroy the world." Isn't that so interesting that formulation? Hashem says, "I make you a promise. I will not destroy the world but I don't promise you you won't destroy it. This code the covenant of Noah has three dimensions. The first is the sanctity of human life. Second is the integrity of the created world. If we read the chapter carefully we see that five times Hashem insists the covenant of Noah is not merely with humanity but with all life on earth. The third is the symbol the rainbow. Reverse suggests this sign represents the white light of Hashem refracted into the infinite shadings of the spectrum. This is what I have called the dignity of difference. Unity in heaven creates diversity here on earth. These three dimensions define the covenant of faith. Note the covenant of fate precedes the covenant of faith because faith is particular but fate is universal. Without these foundations of human solidarity, we cannot and we will not survive. A beautiful insight by Rabbi Saxs. Pericut Alfuk alf. Skipping right along. We have the descendants of Noah, a long list, the genealogy to perake Alf. Now we move to the story of Mdal the tower of Babylonia of and here we have an insight backed by the whole earth was one language and of common purpose. One language and of common purpose. In fact, before we see the I'll tell you what was the problem. So one understanding of the problem was that they wanted to we're going to build a tower a city. We'll build a city and a tower that will pierce and penetrate the heavens and we'll make a name for ourselves. And one problem is arrogance and ego honor. They wanted a name. You know this God. Why you always talking about God? You know who I am? What I've done? Why are you saying God's in char? I'm in charge. Nonshame. They wanted a name. They wanted to be influencers. They wanted followers. We are meant to have influence. But I don't know that it was ever a Jewish value to be an influencer. We're supposed to be Mashpia, have influence. I've spoken about this and written about this several times because I think it's a challenge in our time. We should be mashpa. We should influence the world with goodness and with example. But to be an influencer as a career choice is a different question. Not necessarily bad. There are people doing extraordinary, wonderful, remarkable, beautiful, positive things, but it's something we have to think about and be careful with. So says the let's start with the list of the the generation of the flood who had no boundaries. They didn't want to accept the yoke of heaven and therefore everyone stole from their friend, violated their friend's marriage. The now we get the to the tower of above. So the last story, the flood story are people who are violating boundaries could care less about the people around them. Now we get to a story where everyone is getting along, everyone's cooperating, everyone's collaborating, just not for a good purpose. Now they think so we were divided, morally corrupt. A flood came and wiped that out. We got another chance. We said, "Oh, that was bad. We're not supposed to steal and rob and violate marriages. No, we're supposed to have boundaries and mutual respect. We're supposed to get along." So now they got along. But what united them was a common enemy. And what was their common enemy? God. He's not in charge. He's not in control. It's us. It's our power. Our intellect, our ego. Say they're one people. They are united in this common enemy. Me. I need to divide them. And what's the punishment in our para? He creates the United Nations. The big punishment. I wish I were joking. The big punishment in our para. It is a severe punishment that we continue to suffer from today. He created the United Nations. He created separate nations. Separate nations. That was the answer and the antidote. If you're using unity for uniformity, it's a problem. Uniformity is the problem. That's why refers was saying the rainbow is the answer to uniformity because there's one ray of light of Hashem refracted into all these beautiful colors. We're still allowed to by the way talk about the rainbow. We're still allowed to. Nobody could take the rainbow from us. The rainbow belongs to all of us. We could still talk about the rainbow. And the rainbow should remind us immediately we should think about the rainbow. The rainbow is the image of godliness and diversity. that Hashem is one ray of light light refracted into eight miny on this campus medish nates all the colors of the rainbow from the one ray of light because the answer to uniformity is unity but a unity ver with diversity you know I care a lot about this because it's the tagline of our of our shul diversity not divisiveness unity not uniformity so hashem got rid of the uniformity by dividing the tower and by spreading people out. Salvich also has a comment on this. What was their drive and motivation? They wanted to make a city. Dormaba represented or giastic man the man of pleasure. This generation was dominated by the quest for hypnotic pleasure for compulsive hedon for uninterrupted engagement in the aesthetic experience. Western man personifies the dora mabble. The Doraflaga with its apex touching the heavens does not represent orastic man. Dorafluga represents authoritarian man. Man who wanted to rule not only the earth but the heavens as well. Dorafluga was not pleasure addicted. Durafluga was a power-hungry band of fanatics who wanted to rule the heavens as well as earth. Scoffing at faith in God, human weakness, the very idea of individual human dignity. The cliche had utter contempt for ordinary men. Even though the Torah portrays the durab flug ideologies existing in two different seemingly unrelated generations, it is clear that hedonistic society inexorably involves evolves into a tyrannical society. A pleasure conscious individual is ready play to the scheming of a power- hungry evil mind. The Doraflaga thus necessarily follow Dora Mabul. In modern times, this is what occurred in Germany in the 1930s. Germany was an orastic society seeking pleasure and enjoyment where the flesh ruled and determined human aspiration. It was an overindulgent permissive heeden drunk flesh intoxicated society that ultimately promoted overindulgent permissive heed on drunk dominion of evil tyranny and madness. In the allaya the hedonistic society is called benbaser children of the flesh while the authoritarian society is called rish the evil of the earth. one leads into the other. If you begin with overindulgence in hedenism pleasure, then you end with authoritarianism and you end with desperate leaders and you end with this uh oppression and tyranny that we see even still now in our time. We got almost to the end. Thank you again for adjusting to the new time this week. Back on our regular schedule next week. Have a wonderful day.