Noach and Menuchas HaNefesh: Finding Contentment Through Living with Hashem

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Shalom Aleichem, bruchim habaim. Parshas Noach, the mabul, the teivah, Noach saves the world. The name of the parsha is Noach. Interestingly, Chassan, Noach, the name of the parsha is the name of the person Noach. Noach gets a parsha. Avram, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Yosef, any of the Shvatim, none get a parsha named after them. Noach gets a parsha. Why does Noach get a parsha? We don't find by the others, the others, that the parshas were named after any of the others. What's the difference? Why? Ha'ara. As they say, s'nish kein bombe kasha. It's not a bomb question, but it's something interesting. I'd like to introduce a mahalach. I would like to be matzia that maybe Noach, the parsha, is not about Noach, the name of the person, but Noach, what Noach represents. The name Noach represents a mahalach. It represents a way of life. It represents a certain approach, and that approach was the antithesis. Of the dor hamabul, and what saved the world at that time, at that juncture of history, during the time of the mabul. If you look at the Daas Zekeinim miBaעלי התוספות, he brings from a Midrash that Noach, the name has tremendous meaning. Noach is noach laelyonim and noach letachtonim. He was easy. He was easygoing, so, couldn't get a better word, noach. He was able to get along, elyonim and tachtonim. So we see already Chazal identify Noach. The name is also who the person was and his mahalach, his way of life. He was noach laelyonim and noach letachtonim. The Torah writes, Noach. Who was Noach? Ish tzaddik tamim haya bedorosav. Rashi learns that why, when we mention Noach, do we start giving him shvachim, praises? Zogt Rashi, hoil v'iskiro, siper bishvacho. That once you mention Noach, like you say, Zecher tzaddik livrachah, you mention him for the positive, for his attributes. Interestingly, we find that when a person passes away, when we mention his name, we say, Zecher tzaddik livrachah. Here Noach is alive. And it's sipur b'shvacho. Maybe the pshat is, sipur b'shvacho at the point when the Torah was given, he was already not here, so it's already taka like Zecher tzaddik in the past, zecher tzaddik livrachah. Al kol panim, this is a halachic note that needs to be addressed, but not for now. This is not the forum for it. But one thing we know, that the hemshech, according to Rashi, why we take a stop, a pause, to give the shvachim of Noach is, hoyo v'hizkiro sipur b'shvacho, zichrono livrachah. The Ramban learns that actually this is essential as an introduction to the continuation of the parsha. The reason why the Torah tells us Noach ish tzaddik tamim hayah b'dorosav is for us to understand the continuation of the parsha, why he was saved. And the answer is he was saved, he was zocheh to be chosen to build the teivah, to get saved and save the world because he was ish tzaddik tamim hayah b'dorosav. The Chizkuni learns the ish tzaddik tamim hayah b'dorosav.

As a continuation of the previous parsha, the hemshich is not to the upcoming, the parsha that's going to follow, but actually it's connected to the previous parsha, where the Torah writes, V'Noach matza chein b'einei Hashem. He finds favor in the eyes of Hashem. Why? It doesn't say, it just says, V'Noach matza chein. Sometimes somebody finds favor in your eyes, there is no why. You just like him. The Torah doesn't tell us why V'Noach matza chein b'einei Hashem. Says the Chizkuni, that's why the Torah in the first pasuk explains why, and the answer is because he was tzaddik, tamim haya b'dorosav, and this caused chein. Why? What is unique about tzaddik, tamim haya b'dorosav, that that specific attributes, those specific attributes bring about chein? Interesting, chein and Noach is the same letters. Noach has the word chein in him. Noach was about chein. What was the chein of Noach? So this is what I think is really Noach, not only the person, but who Noach was, and Noach's hanhaga, Noach's mahalach. This was what saved Noach and saved the world, and especially in a dor hamabul. And because of this. The parsha is named Noach not only because of the person, but because of who the person was and what the person did in his life. What does it mean to be tamim haya b'dorosav, tzaddik tamim haya b'dorosav? Let's understand what it is to be a tzaddik tamim. What is the description? And then maybe we'll understand why that causes chen. And then we can go back even further to understand how that saved Noach in the Dor Hamabul, how this was the antithesis, the tikkun for the Dor Hamabul, and how it saved the whole world. Tzaddik tamim. What is a tzaddik tamim? What is it? What does it mean to be a tzaddik tamim? So pashut, you would say tzaddik tamim is one thing: he was a tzaddik complete, a complete tzaddik. There are tzaddikim, or great tzaddikim, but not fully, completely tzaddik. Noach was tzaddik tamim. But the pasuk and the trop, the ta'amim of the pasuk, implicate that actually it's not one thing. It's not tzaddik tamim, that he was a complete tzaddik, but it's tzaddik and tamim separate. It's two different things. The Targum actually says, Gavar zakoi. Shlim, which means a complete tzaddik. So the Targum translates tzaddik tamim, gavar zakoi shlim, which could be interpreted and translated to mean a complete tzaddik, zakoi shlim. But the trup indicates that it's actually two things: ish tzaddik, tamim haya b'deiroisav, that it's a separate maila, it's a separate attribute. You look at the Rishonim, the Siforno, the Aven Ezra, they also learn that this tamim, the tzaddik tamim, is actually two separate things. So what is tamim? What is the attribute of tamim? The Siforno says tamim b'muskoles, in the mind. He was temimusdik, b'muskoles in the way he thought. Aven Ezra learns tamim b'libo. I was thinking, where do we find tamim in the Torah? Where is the Torah defines for us what a tamim is? And it comes to mind the pasuk, Tamim tihyeh im Hashem Elokecha. Possibly the tamim that Noach is, is the tamim tihyeh.

Im Hashem Elokecha, and it seems like it's the same pasuk, the same idea, because it says, Tamim hayeh b'derosecha, Elokim hishalech Noach, like tamim tihyeh im Hashem Elokecha. So what is the maila of tamim? There's an interesting Rashi brings from Chazal, shelo tachkor achar ha'asidos. What is a tamim? He doesn't search after the future, and he doesn't look to see what the future is. He's not trying to figure out through means of mazalos and whatnot what the future is. Now, the shelo tachkor achar ha'asidos could mean don't look into astronomy, but it could be it's a midah as well, not to search, to be content, to live at the moment, to be content with yourself. You don't need to search in the future. When a person is content, he is im Hashem Elokecha because he lives with the Ribbono Shel Olam. Those that lack the Eibishter in their life are never content, and they're always searching. They're always being choiker for something in the future. To live in the moment and to be happy and to be satisfied is im Hashem Elokecha, a person that lives with the Ribbono Shel Olam. Eilu toldos Noach, Noach ish tzaddik. Tzaddik is a person who lives with the Ribbono Shel Olam, so he was tamim. Haya b'deiroi sof. Sefarim elaborate that those that live with the Ribono Shel Olam have chein. It's called yodei chein. They have a certain hashraas haShechinah. One who has the Ribono Shel Olam in him, one who's not in the humble jumble of the outside world, one who is content, and on his face you see that he is with the Ribono Shel Olam in harmony, he has chein. Possibly the maila of Noach is this maila, that he's content. The word Noach actually comes from the word menuchah. Menuchah means to rest. When a person is content, he has menuchah. He has menuchah. Last week's parsha, we find, Zeh yenachameinu me'itzvon yadeinu. Rashi learns it's a lashon of menuchah. It's a lashon of rest. Maybe that's the pshat, the Targum. When the Targum says, Gvar zakoi, shleim, shleim is a maila for itself. He's complete. He's not missing anything. When someone is satisfied, he's content, he's complete. When you're missing something, then you're not satisfied, and you're not settled, and you're always searching. And that's the pshat, possibly, what Chazal mean, Noach l'Elyonim, and mimeila he was noach l'tachtonim. Why are people Bickering one with the other. There's a jealousy. There's a rivalry. People are fighting. They're trying to get, take. Why? Because they're not content. When a person is noyach l'elyonim, when a person is content, ruchniyus, then he's noyach l'tachtonim. We're starting to see that the noyach, the name, it goes way beyond just his actual name. It's who he was. It speaks to something deeper, to who and what Noach was. Noach was a person who... menucha. Now, if you look at Rashi in the previous parsha, it says clearly, why was he called Noach? Zeh yenachameinu me'itzvon yadeinu, from anger, depression, from conflict. Why? There was a klalah of b'zeias apecha. Rashi says that there's a strife in a daily life to make parnassah, and Noach, when he came, he alleviated itzvon, which means menucha. It's the opposite of itzvon. And what is that? The b'zeias apecha.

What is b'zeas apecha tochal lechem? So Rashi explains that he created a thresher which made the parnassah, the avodah in the field, easier. But it could be it's deeper. It could be, as Rashi seems to allude to, that the klalah of b'zeas apecha somewhat slowed down. It was given a break. The klalah of b'zeas apecha subsided somewhat in the days of Noach. What's the pshat? A part of the klalah of b'zeas apecha tochal lechem is that you're never satisfied. That's part of the klalah. A person could theoretically be happy, like the Rambam says, when you learn and you have—the Ribono Shel Olam gives you what you need. What you need is enough, you'd be happy. Inherently, in the klalah of b'zeas apecha is, Mi sheyesh lo maneh, rotzeh masayim. That unrest for always searching for more is the klalah, is part of the klalah of parnassah. So when Noach comes, and Noach is menuchah, and Noach means that he is content, he is the antithesis to the klalah. He is the tikkun to the klalah. He brings a subsiding of the klalah of b'zeas apecha tochal lechem. Step by step, I'm unwrapping Noach. Not the name, but Noach, the person, the personality, the avodah of Noach. And I'll show you even further. On Shabbos, we don't have the klal of b'zehas hapechah toich halechem. We don't work on Shabbos. Shabbos is mevorach, mekor haparnassah is from Shabbos, it's mekor habrachah. There's no klal of b'zehas hapechah toich halechem. Tikkunei Zohar: Noach, menuchah, like Shabbos menuchah. Noach is connected to Shabbos, as they state in the Zohar. What is the connection of Noach, menuchah, and Shabbos? It's all of the above that we were speaking. The opposite of the klal of b'zehas hapechah is to find menuchah without the outside world. Shabbos, we're disconnected from the outside world and we're content, because Shabbos, the Yid is with the Ribono Shel Olam. He's not in the humble jumble, the tumult of the outside world, the searching for more. He's closed up from the world, and he finds menuchah in that, because he's with the Ribono Shel Olam, connected in harmony, in menuchah, in rest. And mimeila, Noach, Shabbos, menuchah, it's all the same. It's interesting, in the zemiros we say, Yoina matza boi ma Noach. It's about the Shabbos, the yoina, the teivah, Klal Yisrael. Klal Yisrael is the yoina. There's a lot of venology to the Shabbos, the teva. You notice when the teva rests, it says, Vatonach ha-teva al harei Ararat. Menucha. The teva was a certain avodah of menucha, and Noach brought this avodah. Chazal tell us about Shabbos. What is Shabbos? Mah hayah ha'olam chaser? What was the world missing? It was missing menucha. Ba Shabbos, ba menucha, and it made a completion. That itself, that it was missing, causes i menucha. That itself is the reason why ha'olam chaser menucha, because it was chaser and therefore needed menucha. Ba Shabbos, it made a completion to the world, and therefore you had what? Ein ha'olam chaser u'melei menucha. Shleim, complete. Menucha comes when you're not missing anything. Menucha comes when you're content and complete within, and that is the maila, that is the chashivus of Shabbos. Shabbos, we don't look for anything. We're not—

Trying to achieve or gain, or... we don't need the outside world. We're shleim. If you notice, on Shabbos, what do we say? Shabbos shalom. Shalom and Shabbos are very much connected. Why? Because shalom is peace, is harmony. Shabbos is shleimus. The person's not missing. He's with the Ribono Shel Olam, which is what the person really needs. The neshama of a Yid needs to be connected to the Ribono Shel Olam, and therefore it's Shabbos shalom. Noach represents menucha. Noach represents Shabbos. You know, the Dor Hamabul was the opposite of what Noach was. What was the Dor Hamabul? The two great aveiros that stand out in the Dor Hamabul, Chazal tell us, was gezel. They stole. Prutah, prutah, gezel. The other thing that stood out in the Dor Hamabul is arayos min b'she'eino mino. They were searching for other minim, other than their own min. What's the pshat? Gezel — you're not happy with yours, you got to take the other person's. A person who's content doesn't steal. He's happy with what he has. Min b'she'eino mino — today we see it. People are searching for deviance. They're not happy with their own min, so they try to find other minim and other, because they're not content. And therefore the search goes on, and the taiva goes on, and it gets worse and worse, and that's the destruction of the world. The world was created b'shleimus, ish v'isha, Shechinah shruya beineihem. It's a shleimus. It's a completion. And the minute there's a breakdown, and there's a chaser, and you feel that you're missing and you're searching, there's no end, because you search from one taiva to the next, and then you have all min b'she'eino mino. You're searching for things which don't even fit. It can't even work. And Noach, with his avodah, Noach with his machshavah, Noach with his lev, he was the opposite of what the dor hamabul stood for. And this is the tikkun. So Noach is not just the person. If it was just the person, so maybe Avram didn't get a parsha, Yitzchok doesn't get a parsha, Yaakov doesn't get a parsha. Noach, not the name of the person, but Noach, menuchah, chein, that gets a parsha, because that's the opposite of the dor hamabul. People are critical. It's a middah. It's called ragzanus. Why are people critical? Why do people find the always the derogatory? They don't see the positive. And the answer is, is because something's missing from within them. Everybody knows in psychology that people who are negative is because they themselves have a low self-image. They themselves don't feel complete, and therefore they always see. What's not positive? I always thought, what was Noach? Noach was a person who was shlem. He almost didn't understand or believe bad in others, as the famous vortel, there's a very famous Chassidic vort, which is beautiful. Noach miktanei emunah. Noach was from the small believers. Ma'amin v'eino ma'amin. He believed and he didn't believe. He didn't believe that the mabul's gonna come, even though the Ribono Shel Olam told him, and he had to be pushed into the mabul—I'm sorry, into the teivah—mipnei mei hamabul. Rashi quotes it, that he was actually forced by the last minute when the rain started. Why didn't he believe? Yeah, but he just said he was tzaddik tamim haya bedorosav. I never saw a koifer, a person who was a small ma'amin, to be called a tzaddik tamim haya bedorosav. It doesn't really match up. The two descriptions don't match up. You can't be miktanei emunah and tzaddik tamim. It doesn't exactly match up. So there's a beautiful Chassidic pshat.

Ma'amin. He believed in the chesed of the Eibishter, and therefore he believed that the mabul wouldn't come. Ve'eino ma'amin. He didn't believe in the chisaron of people. He had very little belief in evil, that people could be so bad. So between the two, he didn't believe. He believed the Ribono Shel Olam is a baal chesed, and therefore the mabul won't come. And he believed that the people will do teshuva; they're good. So ma'amin, ve'eino ma'amin is Noach's way of looking at things. He saw everything very positive. He didn't see the negativity. Chazal tell us, Lo yispalel al dorai. The Zohar says—we're going to read it in the Haftorah—Mei Noach. The mabul was called the waters of Noach. Why? Says the Zohar, because shelo yispalel Noach al doroi. So therefore we attribute the mabul that it's Noach. Noach, you somehow brought about the mabul. Why did he not daven al doroi? It's a great question. It's a tremendous question. Why not? Many terutzim were given in the mefarshim. Why was Noach not mispalel al doroi? Possibly, we could say that Noach didn't believe fully that there'll be a mabul, like Rashi says. And this is a tremendous lesson. That is tamim tihyeh, yes, positive. A person should believe only good. Im Hashem Elokecha, like the Chofetz Chaim says. But with people, you need to be wary. You need to be more, you know, you gotta think maybe, you know, not everything is always as perfect. Not everything. Tamim, you want to be a tamim, im Hashem Elokecha. But im bnei adam, you better be a little more shrewd, a little more cynical. There's a balance. But the balance can't come from a chisaron, that you're negative. A negativity leads to adras limiyoin sheba'olam. In a world of negativity, there's theft. In a world of negativity, there's min b'she'eino mino, not appreciating the good that you have. Not appreciating things leads to a breakdown in searching for ratzonos that you can't achieve, ratzonos that is not your shleimus. And that leads to adrasla, the destruction of a beautiful world. The world around us is created in a positive perfection for the person. Re'u olami. Ribono Shel Olam gave us a beautiful world. When you're positive, then you'll be able to save the world and see a beautiful world. I always thought to myself, the mistake that Noach made. Chazal tell us, Vayachel Noach ish ha'adamah, that right after he left the teivah, he did something which he fell. And what was it? He turned to wine. The first thing he did was he planted grapes and he drank the wine. What does it mean, Vayachel Noach ish ha'adamah? Noach was supposed to be positive. The reason why he planted the wine, mefarshim tell us, he was depressed. He was broken. Noach's avodah, Noach was chosen because of his avodah, to see positive. Noach should have came out of the teivah and said, There's a positive future ahead. Instead of looking broken about the world that was, look ahead, the opportunity that's going to be. Every morning a person wakes up, there are two roads. He can look about the days past and all the problems, or he could wake up and be positive. There's a world ahead. There's a future ahead. And that's where—

And itzavoin, the opposite of itzavoin. B'zeas apecha toichal lechem. And I was once thinking to myself, an interesting drush: the b'zeas apecha toichal lechem was the past. Noach was mechadesh a way on how to alleviate that. He created something to alleviate, positive, tikkun for the future. You could live in the past with the klalah, or you could do something positive to fix and create good in the future. You know, the Chazon Ish, I heard once that the Chazon Ish said, There's nothing in this world that could bring him unhappiness, because he has the greatest gift in life. He has Torah. When a person feels complete, when a person feels that he has what he needs and what's good for him in his life, then there's nothing that could bring him depression. There's nothing that could cause him. And as I spoke before, the depression in—and the word depression is depression and pressure of parnassah—is because in our mind there's a voice that tells us we don't have what we need, and we need more. And that's the greatest klalah, the biggest klalah, klalah of the chisaron, is when we don't feel that we have what we need, and we're searching for something that we're missing. It's a story from Reb El Yashiv. I read it in a few different sefarim on the life of Reb El Yashiv, so I guess it must be a classic, accepted, and a true story. As all Gedolei Yisrael, they had few people that were anti and were out to make a machah against them and to make a stand against them. So Reb El Yashiv had his people that threw rocks at him in Yerushalayim. They were those that, don't forget, Reb El Yashiv, zecher tzaddik livracha, was part of the Rabbanus of Eretz Yisrael in his early years, and many didn't want to forget that. And therefore there was a group of people that used to throw at him rocks. So the grandchild turns to the zeide, Reb El Yashiv, the Gadol Hador, and he says, Zeide, does it bother you that they're throwing the rocks over here as we're passing by? Reb El Yashiv said, No. What we should do is we should daven they should have parnassah and they won't be throwing rocks. What did he mean to say? If they were happy with themselves and they had money, they wouldn't be derogatory. They wouldn't be busy being angry and being unhappy and making machloikes. Parnassah is a dangerous thing because if we don't understand parnassah properly, it can make a person very depressed. And that depression could lead to gezel, and then from gezel could go to arayos. And the reason for this is, lo mapsut. The person is not content with himself. Noyach menucha. And this is what the Eibishter loves. The Rabbeinu Shlolem loves, as the Chofetz Chaim used to say. You know why Noyach matza chein b'einei Hashem? Because, because he was Noyach. That's—if the Torah doesn't clearly state why, so the pasuk itself, as it reads, is the reason why. Because he was Noyach, and therefore he was Noyach latachtonim. He was able to be easy with people. He wasn't angry. He wasn't jealous. And all this is rooted in a deep, deep satisfaction. And what's the satisfaction? Es haElokim hishalech Noyach, to live with the Rabbeinu Shlolem, to live with the Rabbeinu Shlolem. You know, I'll tell you something interesting. I thought about it. Just came back from Eretz Yisroel, Baruch Hashem.

I was zoche to take a trip there to Yisroel. We went to the Kosel, Har HaSmach Peilah, Cave of Rachel, and to see the Gadol Hador, Reb Chaim Kanievsky. Tremendous experience. On the flight back, I had such an interesting observation. There were a frum Yidden that were learning and whatever they were doing, and they were very happy. They were happy. And then you had people who are not, you know, shomrei Torah u'mitzvos. They were watching all the one after another, film after film, movie after movie, nonstop, right? Today you sit on the plane, every guy gets his own smorgasbord of whatever else, all the taivos olam hazeh on the screen in front of you. And I noticed in the behavior of the people on the plane, those that were bnei Torah were very calm. You moved their seat, you got up one, two times, three times to go to stand, they didn't care. There was a ben Torah sitting in front of me. He turns around to me and he says, Does it bother you if I move the seat back? If not, I won't move it back. The other people on the plane, if you got up right away, What do you have to get up so many times for? You touched their chair. You should be happy. You're sitting and you're watching. You're having a great time. I don't understand. It's us who are sitting there cramped over a Gemara, listening to chveis a niggun from Shwekey or something, I don't know, whatever they're doing on the plane over there. We should be the ones that are completely tense and angry and upset and uptight. And the Torah says, Noach. Eileh toldos Noach. Noach ish tzaddik, tamim hayah b'dorosav; es haElokim hishalech Noach. If you notice, it says Noach a second time. Notice how many times is the word Noach in the pasuk. Eileh toldos Noach. Noach ish tzaddik; es haElokim hishalech Noach. It could have been said, Eileh toldos Noach, ish tzaddik tamim hayah b'dorosav; es haElokim hishalech. Es haElokim hishalech, and therefore he was Noach. It's not only who, it's why. He was Noach because he was ish tzaddik tamim hayah b'dorosav; es haElokim hishalech, and therefore he was Noach. Gedolei Yisroel, they're calm, they're happy, they're content. I want to end with an interesting story, which I think about all the time. Whenever turmoil comes to my door, I think of this thing. When Reb Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zecher tzaddik livrachah, the heilige posek hador, Reb Shlomo Zalman, when he was niftar, there was an article written by Rav Neuwirth, zecher tzaddik livrachah, together with Dr. Avram, Abram, the famous Nishmas Avram, the doctor that wrote on halachah. He was very close to Reb Shlomo Zalman. So together they wrote an article, and in the article they described how Reb Shlomo Zalman was niftar. And they write that Reb Shlomo Zalman was in and out of— Hakarah, like when people pass away, right before they're in and out of consciousness. And they write that all of a sudden, Reb Shlomo Zalman opens his eyes. He sees them and he gives a big smile. And from the smile, right, there's the picture standing here on the wall of the shiur room here, Reb Shlomo Zalman. That smile, right? Yeah, that was the smile. And then he was niftar, v'halach l'olamo. And they brought out how Reb Shlomo Zalman, he was content. His life was shleimus, and therefore he was peaceful, content. Noach l'elyonim, noach l'tachtonim. It's not just a name; it's deep in the essence of the person. When he's content, when he's tzaddik tamim, es Elokim hishalech Noach, the antithesis of the world around him that is so unhappy, that is searching and is stealing and is taking and is robbing, mimbishein eminoi, from one level of taiva to the next level of taiva.

And this becomes the beginning of a new world. The Rabbeinu Shloilam started over the world with Noach. Bom Noach, ha'olam haya shalem, just like by Shabbos. And therefore it was ha'olam haya shalem, ba Noach, which is like Shabbos, Yom HaMotza boi menuchah. And then the world was able to rebuild itself anew and rebuild itself healthy. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.