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Brought to you by Naaleh.comVolume 2 Number 28

Dedicated in memory of Rachel Leah bat R' Chaim Tzvi

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Parshat Noach: Four Heavenly GiftsBased on a Naaleh.com shiur by Rabbi Herschel Reichman

Rav Acha taught that Hashem desired to give the Dor Hamabul four gifts; Torah, yissurim, korbanot, and tefila. They rejected these gifts and they were destroyed. The Dor Hamabul did not even keep the seven Noachide laws. What did Hashem mean by wanting to give this generation the entire Torah?

The Shem Mishmuel explains that the original soul of Adam and Chava contained all the souls of the people who would ever live. This universal soul was meant to produce future generations pure of spirit just like Adam. However, after the sin of the eitz hadaat, a mixture of good and evil was introduced into the world. Hashem intended life to be pure, good, and simple. He did not want life to be rife with conflicting tempta-tions, which it became after the sin. Our mission on this world is to return to the original state of Adam and Chava by purging, or at least subduing, the evil within our souls. This process of rectification is accomplished through the four gifts. Hashem placed great souls with a tremen-dous capacity for goodness in the genera-tion of the Flood. They could have reached the level of Adam before the sin had they so chosen. However, since they declined the good, evil overwhelmed them to such an extent that Hashem needed to destroy them.

Hashem saved Noach and built mankind

anew in another attempt to see if humanity would choose correctly. He gave the next generation, the Dor Haflaga, a powerful ability to build. The entire civilized world united in a major construction project. However, instead of using it for good, they utilized it for wickedness and Hashem dispersed them.

Avraham recognized Hashem, saved the world from another possible destruction, and started the Jewish nation. Hashem intended to experiment with this small group to see if it could purge itself of evil and choose good. Then it would become a light unto the other nations who would follow its example. Indeed, the avot attained greatness, but the strife between Yosef and the tribes aroused Hashem’s wrath again. The merits of our Avot precluded our destruc-tion and instead Hashem exiled the Jewish people to the smelting pot of Egypt so that the evil that had grown within them would be replaced by goodness. According to the Ari, the souls of the Dor Hamabul, the Dor Haflaga, and the Dor Mitzrayim were all the same souls. Each time, Hashem thought they would accept the Torah, but after failing to choose good their souls were recycled. The Dor Mitzrayim finally received the Torah at Sinai and the Jewish nation was born.

Chassidut teaches that the human soul consists of four levels, guf, the biological soul; nefesh, the emotional soul; sechel, the intellectual soul; and tzelem Elokim, the

spiritual soul, which combines all four aspects. The four gifts correspond to these four levels. Torah is sechel, an intellectual entity, yissurim relate to the guf, korbanot, an emotional experience, refer to the nefesh, and tefila is tzelem Elokim.

Tefila comes from the root word Naftali, meaning connection. Prayer is a means of binding our spiritual selves with Hashem. It serves as a unifying process, by subduing our biological and emotional drives in service of Hashem. Every part of our being is involved in prayer. Our bodies sway, our souls sing in rapture, and our minds contem-plate the greatness of the Almighty.

The Dor Hamabul rejected these four gifts. They sinned with their sechel by worship-ping idols, they corrupted their nefesh with promiscuity, they destroyed their guf by spilling innocent blood, and they violated other people’s tzelem Elokim with chamas. Hashem implanted tremendous potential for greatness within the Dor Hamabul. However, because they rejected the good, evil inevitably rushed in. There is no room for mediocrity in Judaism. When Hashem grants a person opportunity, he must choose good, otherwise evil will overwhelm him. Let us tap into our latent powers, rise and meet our challenges, and accomplish what we are meant to do on this world, so that we can eventually reach the pure state of Adam before the sin.

Parshat Noach: Expanding The EssenceBased on a Naaleh.com shiur by Mrs. Shira Smiles

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Parshat Noach begins, “Noach was righteous in his generation.” Rashi offers two differing interpretations on this verse. One view maintains that Noach was a tzaddik and had he lived in a more righteous generation he would’ve been an even greater tzaddik. The second view maintains that in comparison with his wicked contemporaries, Noach was a tzaddik. Had he lived in the time of Avraham, however, he would have been insignificant. This Rashi seems puzzling and needs elucidation.

The Divrei Yisrael explains that the word “b’dorotav” is in plural form to teach us that the generation of Noach had conflicting opinions about him. Some individuals held him to be a tzaddik while the general

populace viewed him as insignificant. Rav Dessler offers a different explanation. Noach was a tzaddik. He reached the tremendous level of utilizing his entire being to serve Hashem. This defines the level of a righteous person, namely, one who completes his allotted task on this earth.

However, there are levels above this. A tzaddik can add to his portion. In this respect, Noach is compared unfavorably to Avraham. Avraham personified chesed. He revealed the glory of Hashem in such a supreme way that he extended his portion to embrace the portion of all the people in the world for ten generations. Rav Dessler adds that it is a disgrace to the honor of Hashem on a certain level not to achieve more. A tzaddik must constantly reach higher and

use his additional powers to glorify Hashem’s name.

We too must go beyond ourselves. We must take our passion and enthusiasm for Hashem and ignite a spark in others. If our only ambition is to perfect ourselves, we are limited. This was the difference between Noach and Avraham.

In fact, Noach did not even pray to Hashem to save his generation. Why not?

Rav Schwab answers that Noach was influenced by the self interest of the society around him. However, instead of pursuing material pleasure he focused on attaining personal spiritual pleasure. That is why, in Avraham’s generation, where Avraham’s essence was expansion, Noach would’ve been insignificant.

Achieving Balance: Class #9Excerpted from Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller’s Question and Answer series on Naaleh.com

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Rav Miller explains Noach’s conduct as an expression of his tzidkut. Noach personified din, strict judgement. He could not daven for his generation at the level they were at. In this he differed from Avraham, whose kindness and mercy drove him to beseech Hashem to save sin-ridden Sedom.

Rav Baer in Maasei Rokeach offers a different explanation. Noach’s inability to affect others stemmed from his humility. He was afraid that he would not be able to withstand negative influences, so he separated from his generation rather than to be influenced by them. He did not think much of himself and therefore he did not

pray for the others.

In contrast, Avraham mastered the perfect balance between individuality and responsi-bility to the community. First he developed himself and then he went out to influence others. When Lot and Yishmael proved to be a negative influence, he mustered the courage to send them away. However, he still maintained a level of responsibility for them. In the same sense we too must assume the mission of bringing our lost brethren back to Torah, separate ourselves from negativity when necessary, yet still maintain accountability. Noach in his ark was cut off from the rest of the world. Our job

is to be like Avraham’s tent, open on all sides, to draw our brethren closer to Hashem.

Reish Lakish says, “Believe in your inherent greatness and aim for higher levels.” Rav Yochanan counters, “Realize you are nothing and that you have a long way to go.” We need to juggle a balance of both views in our lives. Rav Tatz writes that life is about growth, self development and influencing others. It is maintaining the equilibrium of being an ‘everything’ and a ‘nothing’. May we merit reaching this level of self perfection and ignite spiritual passion within others.

Parshat Noach: Expanding The Essence

If you are a Torah Jew contemplating a career in the sciences, there are three ideas to keep in mind. Truth is essential reality, not reality plus an agenda or will. A person who is tahor is genuinely human with nothing impure inside of him to impede his soul. This divine aspect is what differentiates us from the animal kingdom. The opposite of tahara is tuma which is defined as a blockage. Sin creates a mechitza, a barrier, which blocks us from accessing holiness.

The Ramak explains that every limb and organ requires veins and arteries to feed it blood. If there is a blockage, the limb or organ will die. Similarly, spiritual blockages cause our spiritual selves to die. Because we place such great value on tahara we try to prevent ourselves and our children from being exposed to an environment where lack of tahara, spiritual integrity, and truth is normal.

You may ask, “Why be so intimidated, why not just stand up for the truth?” The Rambam writes that people are naturally influenced by their environment on two levels. They want to feel accepted in the culture they live in and they want their friends to approve of them. Inevitably, they tend to adapt their beliefs and opinions. Therefore, we are unapologetic

about demanding tahara. If you haven’t heard it all before you don’t have a protective armor built up to defend yourself. It’s normal to not quite know what to do with yourself. Do not be ashamed of this. It’s a reflection of your tahara, of not being calloused and damaged.

The second thing to keep in mind is that the Torah warns us, “Do not stray after your eyes and heart.” The heart refers to heresy and the eyes to desire. This tells us that people will naturally stray after their heart and turn to heresy. The difference between a tzaddik and a rasha is that a tzaddik’s mind controls his heart while a rasha’s heart controls his mind. People are drawn to heresy to conveniently justify patterns of behavior.

The third thing to consider is authority. Just because the professor has letters after his name does not mean that he has the full and final picture. Science is continually evolving. Something we thought factual today can turn out not to be so tomorrow. We can see a part of the picture in the present, while more of the picture continuously reveals itself. You have to learn to examine what is true and what is not.

The closer something is to observable physical reality, the more likely it is to be true, rather than something that requires many

assumptions along the way. In every possible dating system no one tries to answer one basic question: “How did something come from nothing?” The focus of science is certainly not the mystery of life. It’s easy, especially when there is an agenda, to see absolute reality when there are only question marks. The important thing is to figure out where factuality begins and ends and where supposition takes over. This is tricky because a hypothesis can turn out to be true but many times it is not.

Judaism has never been afraid of science. Science is the picture of reality as we know it. There’s nothing wrong with taking a snapshot. There is something wrong with saying that the snapshot is everything. The same holds true with liberal theories. Identifying a problem doesn’t mean knowing the solution. Judaism isn’t intimidated by questions. It is afraid of the haphazard tendency to create solutions that solve nothing.

If you will be studying the sciences, learn to master the art of “birur,” taking what is holy and good and rejecting what is evil. May Hashem guide our steps and help us maintain our inner purity and sechel hayashar (straight thinking).

Harmonizing Torah and Science

Question:

What is the most ideal way for a woman to use her strength of expression?

Answer:

If you find yourself constantly talking about your life you are running the risk of losing contact with your inner self. If you only feel validated by talking to other people you are,

in a sense, interrupting the flow of your relationship with Hashem. A woman needs to learn to use her desire to express herself in a way that involves restraint and self discipline.

The purposeful and deep need for women to speak is meant to make other people feel understood. It is a great and meaningful gift. Expressing your thoughts and feelings can

be a way to positively influence others. Women were given bina yeteira in order to build. Indeed, the word bina, which is the source of a women’s ability to understand and her need to be understood, is related to the verb boneh, to build, which is what this strength is meant to do.

Based on a Naaleh.com shiur by Mrs. Shira Smiles

Based on a Naaleh.com shiur by Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller

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