Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, Congregation Am Echod in Lindenhurst
In surfing the internet, I recently came
upon a website called “Mentsch-craft”, a site designed to explain and clarify
what it means to be a mentsch. On this
website, a ‘Mentschcraft Manual’ is
available with suggestions and examples of what a mentsch might do or say in
complicated moral or ethical scenarios. What would a mentsch do in such a
situation?
Mentsch is a Yiddish word for a person who
thinks and acts in ways that make the world a little more just, good, and
compassionate. Mentschen aren’t born, they are made—self-made. The philosophy
of the website is that everyone has the ability to be a mentsch.
It asks:
What is the most difficult situation you have faced lately? How did you handle it? What would a mentsch do in that
situation? Were you a mentsch then?
In our Torah portion this week, we are introduced to a character who may
or may not qualify as a mentsch according to the standards of the Mentschcraft
website. We are told,
“This is the line of Noah -- Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his generation” (Genesis
6:9).
The first line of this parsha is setting up a pretty big
expectation. The main character of this
story is blameless? What does it mean to be blameless? What did this
righteous person DO to deserve such a description?
God announces that God will end the world, and Noah is informed that he
and his family will survive, while all other creatures will perish. God
explains that Noah is the last remaining “righteous person”, and he alone
merits survival.
Noah does not argue at all. He
simply begins work building the ark to save himself and his immediate family.
Does this mean that in Noah’s generation, there is truly no Godliness
left on earth?
What must God have told Noah about these people in order to convince him
that he is truly the only one worthy of salvation?
Ironically, God describes these supposedly wicked people with tenderness
and sensitivity. God says to Noah, “for my part, I am about to bring the flood
-- waters upon the earth -- to destroy all flesh in which there is a breath
of life from under the heavens; everything that is in the earth shall
expire” (Gen 6:17).
God is describing these creatures by saying that they have inside them a
“breath of life from under the heavens”. When God tells Noah his plans to
destroy the world, is God giving Noah a decree,
or is God asking Noah a question?
It seems to me that God is asking Noah a fundamental identity question:
what kind of man are you?
Righteous and blameless in your generation?
Will you be interested in your own self-preservation, or will you be
concerned with all life -- all creation?
Will you listen to the orders of others without asking questions or
challenging assumptions, or will you forget that you, too, have “a breath of
life from under the heavens” inside of you?
Noah’s response to the flood is a telling answer to God’s question: “And
Noah did according to everything God commanded him, so he did” (Gen
6:21).
This statement of obedience is repeated a few lines later. Interestingly, the second time this response
appears, it, too, comes immediately following another of God’s threats to wipe
out all creation. God says: “I will blot
out all existence that I have made from upon the face of the earth.” God is
asking telling Noah again, this time in different language, “everyone else
shall die and only you and your family will survive. I will blot out everyone who is not in your
immediate circle of responsibility.”
Although God seems careful to rephrase God’s plan for the flood, Noah
repeats the exact response as his last:
“And Noah did according to everything God commanded him” (Gen
7:5).
We often have a choice between doing what others expect of us and
choosing the path of resistance.
We live in a world where decrees are given to us every day. These decrees may not come directly from
God’s mouth to our ears, but we are bombarded by messages in society, problems
in our world, and other creations of God which need our attention and
concern.
We often dismiss God’s creatures, the other “flesh in which there is a
breath of life from under the heavens” as not our responsibility.
Noah set a precedent for walking past a homeless man without
smiling or making eye contact. Noah was
the first to neglect the environment,
dismissing it as “not his problem”.
Although he took two of each animal into the ark with him, he was not
the first animal rights activist. He was willing to walk away from every
creature in the world, walk away from their pain and struggle without a
backward glance.
As long as his family, his life, his own needs were taken care of, there
was no need for him to worry about saving anyone or anything else.
The first line of the Torah portion is “this is the line of Noah
-- this is the legacy of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his
generation.” What does it mean that we are the offspring of Noah? Are we righteous and blameless in our generation?
It seems the text is pointing out the choice Noah made-- and asking each
of us to give our own answer to God’s question.
What kind of creatures are
we? What does it mean to be human?
My hope and prayer is that we learn from Noah’s example that being
righteous and blameless is the minimum
requirement for our standards of behavior.
Each day, we are given opportunities to answer the question, “what kind
of person are you? How do you compare to
those in your generation?”
I believe that we can set the standard higher than did Noah. I believe that we can, through acts of
kindness, reaching out to others not in our immediate circle of responsibility,
becoming active in our local, national, and religious communities, and working
to repair the world -- we can truly transcend Noah’s limits and not only become
righteous and blameless in our own generation, but become mentsches -- people
who make the world a little more just, good, and compassionate.
Shabbat Shalom!
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