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Chaverim y'karim ~ Dear friends,
YOU KINDA GOTTA FEEL BAD FOR NOAH
Noah is called righteous in the Torah. But have you ever been complimented only to have someone put a caveat, a distinction, an added something to say effectively: "yes, but..." That's what happens to Noah.
Genesis 6:9 reads, "Noah was a righteous man, wholehearted in his generation." It's that "in his generation" that yields mounds of midrash to come along and compare him to Abraham who was simply, righteous. And of course, all that begs the question - which is it harder to be: righteous in a good generation or a bad generation? I'll leave that answer to be fodder for your conversations around the dinner table this weekend.
The generation of Noah was remarkably wicked - even the animals seem to have been corrupted. And so, (in)famously, God wants to reboot the Creation, save Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives. And the animals.
But the caveat or distinction might not be so bad. I believe the Torah could be telling us ... this guy was righteous and whole-hearted IN HIS GENERATION, which was a remarkable feat. In fact, it was because he was righteous that he gets singled out. How fortunate that Noah did get tapped because were it not for his righteous and whole-heartedness, God might have called it quits on the whole "Let's make humanity in our image" project. Or maybe it is specifically because God has made us in the divine image that God does have compassion on Noah, et al, because God knows who we are.
I don't really feel all that bad for Noah. After all, the guy probably has more songs, swag, movies, and tchotchkes about him, his ark, and all those animals than anyone else in the Hebrew Bible. If you have never seen Evan Almighty (starring Steve Carell as Evan Baxter, i.e., Noah, and Morgan Freeman as God), change your weekend plans and watch it as a "Rabbi Approved" means to study the Torah portion. Here's a teaser.
WHAT'S THE NATURE OF OUR GENERATION?
There are so many reasons to feel down about the woes and tribulations that afflict our generation. At times, I just delete emails from news sources because I can't bear to read any more of what is going on in the world. It is sensory and emotional overload. And yet, I know we don't have the luxury to look away constantly as we are confronted with difficult days and trying times.
Perhaps God has tapped us to build. And perhaps we scoff, much the way Evan Baxter did initially when meeting God. But Evan Baxter rises to the occasion despite himself and despite ridicule. We have countless Jewish teachings which encourage hope and resilience. Further, we know that while we are not obligated to complete the task (of any given project), we are not free to desist from it either. (See Pirkei Avot 2:16).
The rabbis say that Noah was given 120 years to build the ark and during that whole time he pleaded with his neighbors to join him in saving themselves by repenting from wrong-doing. But no one listened. And THAT is why we see only Noah and his family ascend into the ark. It's not that others weren't given the chance. It's just that only Noah saw what was happening and did something to make things right.
Noah wasn't called righteous for nothing but rather because of the deeds he had and would commit. I imagine our ancestors preserved this tale to remind us of the role each of us can play ... in saving ourselves and maybe even, all of humanity and the animal kingdom.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Mark Cohn
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From my screen to yours ...
"Is the Whole World Wrong? Yes. We should stand firm in the conviction of what we know to be true." (9 Oct 2026) by Natan Sharansky in Tablet Magazine. The Nobel Prize Committee has disgraced itself by awarding its peace prize to a perpetrator of lies. Natan Sharansky speaks from his personal experience in framing why this moment in world - and certainly, Jewish - history is one we have seen before and of which we ought to be wary. See also a column "Peace Requires Justice. The Nobel Peace Prize Requires None" (11 Oct 2026) by Guy Hochman in the Times of Israel Blogs.
This week, I found the following podcast very relevant as it addresses how the Israeli Elections reflect and are pivotal for the Israeli Jewish - Diaspora Jewish relationship: "Israel Votes: World Jewry – The Invisible Stakeholders" (15 Oct 2026) by Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi on the Shalom Hartman's For Heaven's Sake Podcast.
On a very different note ... I believe I read this article when it first appeared ... and was reminded of it recently upon hearing its author speak on a Podcast: "Oktoberfest Was Invented by Jews: German beer culture’s surprising origins" (18 Sept 2017) by Yardena Schwartz in Tablet Magazine.
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