After building the תיבה as Hashem commanded, Noach is told that the flood will begin in 7 days (ז:ד). When the time comes to enter the תיבה the תורה relates:
(ז) וַיָּבֹא נֹחַ וּבָנָיו וְאִשְׁתּוֹ וּנְשֵׁי־בָנָיו אִתּוֹ אֶל־הַתֵּבָה מִפְּנֵי מֵי הַמַּבּוּל:
Rashi notes that the words "מִפְּנֵי מֵי הַמַּבּוּל" seem to imply that Noach literally fled the waters of the flood, that he waited until he was actually threatened by the rain and only then entered the תיבה with his family. Rashi presents the following reason for Noach’s delay:
"מפני מי המבול" - אף נח מקטני אמנה היה, מאמין ואינו מאמין שיבא המבול ולא נכנס לתיבה עד שדחקוהו המים:
How can we understand this Rashi? What does it mean that Noach is מקטני אמנה- what does he not have faith in? Does/how does this conflict with other views of Noach? (consider the Rashis in 6:9 and 7:1) Can this be resolved? Are there other interpretations for the words "מִפְּנֵי מֵי הַמַּבּוּל" ?
Dina Wagner- The Me'am Loez helps us understand Noach's behavior. He says that Noach may have waited because he thought Hashem would have mercy on them; Or because he thought the people would repent at the last minute. However, he continues and says that the pasuk is criticizing Noach because he waited, he should have gone right away. A person should not let his thoughts or hopes stand in the way of what Hashem says.
ReplyDeleteAleeza Katz- Q: how can we understand this Rashi? A: ר' יצחק ווארקא says that the way to read the Rashi is not that Noach was מקטני אמנה, but rather that Noach believed in the קטני אמנה & thought that they would do teshuva. Therefore, he didn't believe that the flood would come. He waited until the last second, hoping that the people who had sinned would do תשובה.
ReplyDeleteNachama Stern: Dr. Avigdor Bonchek translates the Rashi in a different way which does not make Noach seem unfaithful to Hashem. He says Noach had faith in the non-believers to do teshuva and therefore did not think the flood would come. Because of this, he waited until the last possible moment to board the ark. This reveals Noach's forgiving characteristics; his ability to find the good in everyone, even people who sinned like they did.
ReplyDeleteDoes/how does this conflict with other views of Noach?
ReplyDeleteAccording to the באר יוסף, Noach DID have trust and faith in ה, because it says in another pasuk ואתה קח לך מכל מאכל אשר יאכל ואספת אליך והיה לך ולהם לאכלה : take for yourself from every food that is eaten and gather it for yourself that it shall be for you and them as food. From here we can see that Noach was told to bring food for only him yet it would last for him AND his animals. Because of this we can see that Noach did have faith in Hashem because he still did what hashem said and got on the Tavah
How can we understand this Rashi? How can we say that Noach didn't believe that the flood would come until it was already bad? Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman helps explain that a person has two different thought processes. A rational thought and an emotional thought. Noach obviously believed in Hashem and knew that a flood would be coming. However, he could not emotionally grasp the concept of his entire city being destroyed. His emotional self lead him to denial. So it is not that he didn't believe in Hashem or his words, he couldn't let himself believe that this was truly happening.
ReplyDeleteWe see in our pesukim a contradiction on whether Noach was righteous or not. Rashi tells us in pereck vav pasuk tet that Noach was not righteous, but rather only in his generation. He says that if Noach would have been in the same generation as Avraham he would not be considered righteous. He says we can see it in the text from the the fact that it says Noach walked with Hashem while it says Avraham walked alone. We see noach is not righteous from this because Noach needs to walk with Hashem, he needs Hashem's support, while Avraham can walk alone because he is so righteous he does not need Hashem's support. But in pereck zayen pasuk aleph the pasuk says Noach is righteous and Rashi comments that it does not say Noach is perfectly righteous, which it wanted to say. It does not say perfectly righteous to teach us that we do not say all our praise about someone in front of them. This implies that Noach was righteous. We have a contradiction is Noach righteous or not. Rabbi Dr. Maisels says on this that no Noach was not righteous, only to compared to his generation he was. He gets this answer from the actions of Noach compared to the actions of Avraham. When noach hears the whole world will be destroyed he does not beg Hashem not to do it, he does not ask Hashem to forgive the people, instead he builds a boat for refugee. But Avraham on the other hand hears a city will be destroyed, and he pleads and begs Hashem not to do it. Avaraham tries to stand up for the people being destroyed and tries to help them, while Noach just accepts it. We see from the fact that Noach is not asking Hashem to save the people that he is not righteous, but only compared to his generation he was righteous and he was perfect, but had lived at the same time as Avaraham he would not be considered righteous.
ReplyDeleteTili Tsour-Rav Yitzchak of Vork sheds light on the Rashi and explains how it is not that Noach did not believe that Hashem would bring the flood, it is just that he so strongly believed that even the diminished ones would do tshuva. This helps us understand why Noach did not immediately get on to the ark. He genuinely thought that the mabul wouldn't happen because everyone repented and hashem would no longer have to punish us.
ReplyDeleteNava Wiesel: The Me'am Loez explains that Noach waited until the last minute to enter the ark because he did not fully believe Hashem would bring the flood. He thought that either Hashem would change his mind or the people would do teshuva at the last minute. The Me'am Loez explains that the pasuk is criticizing Noach for not having faith in Hashem.
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ReplyDeleteQ: Are there other interpretations for the words "הַמַּבּוּל מֵי מִפְּנֵי"?
ReplyDeleteA: The עזרא אבן interprets the words, "הַמַּבּוּל מֵי מִפְּנֵי" differently than Rashi. He adds the word “פחד” ("הַמַּבּוּל מֵי פחד מִפְּנֵי"), fear, to show that Noach was afraid of the oncoming flood. As opposed to Rashi, who interprets the phrase as Noach lacking faith, עזרא אבן says Noach was just afraid. This implies that Noach DID have faith in G-d and the pusuk might only be saying these words to emphasize his worry about the flood. עזרא אבן is adding the word “פחד” to bring proof and accentuate that Noach has complete belief in Hashem’s abilities.
Rashi says that Noach waited to enter the teivah until he was forced to by the rain because he was a "מקטני אמונה". How could this explanation make sense? Wasn’t Noach described earlier as an איש צדיק ותמים? Also, Rashi uses the words מקטני אמונה, which sounds as if Noach didn’t even believe in God in the first place. How could Noach be struggling with faith? Didn’t he spend 120 years of his life acting like a navi and risking his life building a teiva in anticipation of the mabul? Rabbi Uziel Milevsky offers an idea that can help us understand Rashi’s criticism. He says that we first have to understand what emunah means and gives a mashal to explain this concept. When a surgeon meets with a patient to decide whether or not to operate, he has to carefully assess the situation and discuss the risks and potential danger that could occur. The surgeon might decide that the chances for surviving the operation are 60% and therefore the surgery should be performed. Although the chance of success is higher than that of failure, it can only be true if the operation is performed with full effort and confidence. However, if the surgeon operates with the high possibility of failure in mind, then the chance of failure will become much greater. We learn from the mashal that just as the doctor is expected to act with 100% effort and precision, so too emunah demands from us to act in a proper way. Rabbi Milevsky explains that everyone struggles with ideas of faith, including Noach, but we are expected to do the right thing regardless. If a tzadik like Noach had enough conviction to build a teivah for 120 years, then he should have entered the teiva with the same passion and commitment. We see that Noach’s doubts overcame his conviction and produced a lack of action, but he still went into the teivah even though he waited until the last moment.
ReplyDeleteChava Segal-Are there other interpretations for the words "מִפְּנֵי מֵי הַמַּבּוּל" ?
ReplyDeleteThe Ibn Ezra explains that it was because Noach was scared, so he pushed off going into the teiva until the flood actually started and he didn’t have any other option. One can say that really Noach was just delayed because he had to get all the animals into the teiva. However the Ibn Ezra says that all of the animals came to the teiva on their own, so Noach would not have been delayed gathering all of them.
Avigayil Shapiro:
ReplyDeleteQ:What does it mean that Noach is מקטני אמנה- what does he not have faith in?
A: According to R. Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev, the pasuk is not saying that Noach has a lack of faith in Hashem's ability to carry out his promise. Rather, the pasuk is describing Noach's lack of faith in himself. Noach is characterized as one who is “mi’katnei emunah”, lacking faith, due to his lack of self-confidence. Furthermore, R. Levi Yitzchok states that perhaps it is because of Noach's low self-esteem that he did not argue against Hashem's decision to destroy the world. Such an act would require confidence, like Avraham possessed while negotiating with Hashem, when Hashem wanted to destroy Sdom and Amorrah.
This is not a case where Noach is unfaithful. He never said he didn't believe Hashem was going to send a mabul, nor did he under-prepare. He hoped the city was going to do to teshuva, and gave them a chance until he felt the rain was life threatening to him and his family.
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ReplyDeleteRabbi Uziel Milevsky, Z”L, in the sefer Ner Uziel, is quoted as having said that to understand Rashi we first have to understand what emunah, or faith, means. Each of the Rambam’s 13 principles of faith, as we have it printed in the siddur, begins with the words "אני מאמין באמונה שלימה" , “I believe with perfect faith”. But what if a person struggles with one of the principles? Should he simply skip it? Just say 12 of them and ignore that one? Of course not! Rather the individual should say all of the principles, and if he finds some of them are more difficult, he should work on those ones. He might feel that he is being dishonest by saying “I believe in perfect faith” when he truly does not, but perhaps we have to reevaluate the true meaning of the word faith.To explain this, Rabbi Milevsky gave a mashal. When a surgeon meets with a patient and decides whether or not to operate, he has to carefully assess the situation. Could the patient survive without the operation? Will the patient recover after surgery? What are the chances that the patient will pass away during the operation itself? The surgeon might decide that the chances for surviving the operation are 60% and therefore the surgery should be performed. Although the surgeon knows that the chance of success is higher than that of failure, this evaluation only holds true if the operation is performed with full effort and confidence. However, if the surgeon operates in a depressed state, with the high possibility of failure in mind, or if he decides to only sterilize 60% of his instruments, then the chance of failure will become much greater. This is one way that we can understand emunah. The same way the doctor is expected to act with 100% effort and precision, even though he feels that he might be working in vain, so too emunah demands from us that we act in a proper way, even in the face of doubts.
ReplyDeleteSo what can we learn from this?
Everyone struggles with ideas of faith, including Noah, but we are expected to do the right thing regardless. If a tzadik like Noah had enough conviction to build a teiva for 120 years, then he should have also entered the teiva with the same fervor. It seems that at the last moment, Noah’s doubts got the better of him, and this was reflected in his lack of action.
It's not that Noach didn't have faith that the flood would come. He knew that as long as the people didn't do teshuvah, they would be punished by the flood. However, R' yitzchak of Vorki says noach did not believe the Mabul would come because he thought the people would do teshuvah and therefore Hashem would not even bring the Mabul. Noach had faith in the people, and that they would do teshuvah.
ReplyDeleteArielle Weinberger-- this Rashi means that Noach did not completely believe that the flood would come. the Ibn Ezra says that Noach was actually afraid of the flood. Rashi explains that Noach was only considered a Tzadik in his specific generation. He goes on to explain that if Noach were to have lived in a different time period, such as Avraham Avinu, that Noach would have been an ordinary man. Through this interpretation we can understand why it could be expected that Noach would fear the flood.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Jonathan Sacks takes a completely different approach. He says that it was not that Noach losing faith in HaShem, rather that Noach justifies HaShem's faith in humanity. The world was in such a horrid time; there was corruption, violence and cruelty- so obviously HaShem wanted to destroy it and "restart". But, Noach is the one who justifies HaShem's faith in humanity again. This then reminds HaShem why he created humanity in the first place. Rabbi Sacks then makes the connection that Noach is to humanity just like Avraham is to the Jewish People.
ReplyDeleteThere are many changes in the presentation of the chivalric code from its earliest manifestations in beowulf to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
ReplyDeleteDoes that fact that Noach does not have faith contradict with other views of Noach?
The Torah stresses that Noach was a righteous person in his generation. Rashi explains that some sages interpret this to Noach's credit considering that in a sinful generation Noach remained righteous. Others interpret it negatively. They state that Noach was considered righteous in his generation only in contrast to evil people of his generation and if he lived in Avraham's generation he would not have been considered remarkable.
So which view is correct? The fact that Noach was righteous? Or that he was lacking faith and was only remarkable for his time?
The Beis Av resolves this conflict with an important concept from the Chazon Ish. He states that Halachah permits one to give derogatory information about a craftsman's work in order to know the truth about the craftsman before he hires him and this is not considered lashon hara. This is also true in regard to the great people in our past, says the Chazon Ish - we must know the truth about them for their experiences are important lessons to us. We must know their strengths ands weaknesses. The Bies Av concludes by saying that when Noach is called a righteous man the Torah makes sure to inform us of any of his reservations such as his lacking faith. Only then can we truly understand the character of Noach. This makes Noach more relatable because we are all human and therefore make mistakes. Shabbat Shalom! - Abby Stiefel
Ariella Rand.
ReplyDeleteThe Me'am Loez, says Noach waited because he thought that Hashem would have mercy and not bring the flood, or that the people would do Tishuva and the flood would not happen.
מקטני אמנה means that Noach did not have faith that the Mabul would come. According to Beraishit Rabbah, Noach believed that the first few drops of rain would just be a small rainfall. This is because he believed that the people eventually listened to his warning of the Mabul and did Tshuva. Additionally, Noach also believed that the flood would not come because he thought that Hashem would not keep his promise of the Mabul and show mercy. Therefore, he waited outside his Tevah untill the water reached his ankles.
ReplyDeleteOn theyeshivaworld.com it explains the previous Rashi with two possible meaning. One way to understand it is that Noach had belief, but he did not believe that the flood was really going to come. Only until the waters practically forced him in to the taivah was when he went to the taivah with his family. Another explanation is that Noach believed in hashem, but he believed that the non-believers would do teshuva, causing the mabul not to happen. However, as we know, the mabul did happen, and noach did have to enter the taivah.
ReplyDeleteThis is a side of Noach that we don't always see. Noach is notoriously known for being the diamond in a rough. He was the only one who believed in Hashem at his time, and he is praised for that. However, noach's emunah still was flawed. At times, I'm sure it was difficult for him to keep his eye on the ball, and always remember that Hashem is the one true God when he is surrounded by polytheist. Here, we see that Noach is human and he is not perfect.
Rabbi Label Lam explains this Rashi, that Yonah hesitated to go into the tevah because "he both believed and didn't believe" that the mabul would actually come. Therefore, he only went into the tevah after he realized the reality of the flood and waters forced him to. Even though, Noach prepared the tevah for 120 years, there was still a slight gap in his belief that the flood would actually happen, and this was what caused his hesitation.
ReplyDeleteRashi responds to this question with an answer that can have 2 different meanings. One way of reading it is to say that Noach didn’t have belief that the flood would actually come. He didn’t go into the ark until it was clear that he had to. Another way of reading his response is to say that Noach believed that the non-believers in God would eventually do teshuva and the ark would not be necessary. He therefore didn’t get onto the ark until the last minute.
ReplyDeletesarah eisenstadter