נח - צדיק תמים בדורותיו

These are the generations of Noah. Noah was in his generations a man righteous and wholehearted; Noah walked with God.

And God remembered Noah (Gen. 8:1). May it please our master to teach us the benediction recited upon witnessing a rainbow. Thus did our masters teach us: Upon seeing a rainbow, one should recite the benediction: Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who doth remember His covenant, is faithful in His covenant, and fulfills His word. This blessing is found in the Mishnah.¹²Actually it is found in Berakhot 59b and not in the Mishnah. How do we know that it is also derived from the Torah? Because it is written: I have set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be as a sign of a covenant (Gen. 9:13). God’s way is not man’s way. As long as a man’s friend lives, his friendship for him continues, but after his friend’s death, his concern for him ceases. The Holy One, blessed be He, however, does not act in that manner. When Abraham died, the Holy One, blessed be He, continued to love his son Isaac, as it is said: And it came to pass after the death of Abraham that God blessed Isaac, his son (ibid. 25:11). It may happen that a king bestows gifts of silver, gold, and raiment upon his friend, and the friend then sails away. These possessions may be lost when a storm arises, and the king is powerless to protect him from the sea or from pirates. However, when the Holy One, blessed be He, presents a gift to his beloved one He guards it, as it is said: The Lord bless thee and guard thee (Num. 6:24). He blessed Abraham and guarded him, as it is said: And the Lord blessed Abraham in all things (Gen. 24:1). He acted similarly toward Isaac and Jacob. If a storm should arise after a man boards ship, they hurl the animals and all his possessions into the sea, only the man is saved. Those in charge of the vessel do not have the same concern for the man’s animals and possessions as they have for the man himself, but the Holy One, blessed be He, is as concerned for the beast as for the man, as is said: And His tender mercies are over all His works (Ps. 145:9). Hence, Scripture says: And God remembered Noah and every living thing (Gen. 8:1).

עשה לך תבת MAKE THEE AN ARK — There are numerous ways by which God could have saved Noah; why, then, did he burden him with this construction of the Ark? So that the men of the generation of the Flood might see him employed on it for 120 years and might ask him, “What do you need this for”? and so that he might answer them, “The Holy One, blessed be He, is about to bring a flood upon the world” — perhaps they might repent (Sanhedrin 108b).

It is a natural tendency of man to be influenced in his ideas and conduct by his fellows and associates, and to follow the usage of the people of his state. Because thereof, it is necessary for man to be in the company of the righteous, and to sit near the wise, in order to learn from their conduct, and to distance himself from the evil-doers who follow the path of darkness, in order not to learn from their conduct; for of such Solomon said: "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise; but the companion of fools shall smart for it" (Prov. 13.20); and it is also said: "Happy is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the wicked etc. (Ps. 1.1.). Likewise, if a man be in a state where evil customs prevail and where the people are not following the righteous ways, he should go to a place where the inhabitants are righteous and follow the way of the good. If all the states known to him, or of which intelligence reached him, be followers of a path which is not good, even as it is in our own times, or if he be unable to migrate to a state whose rules of conduct are good, either on account of military operations or on account of sickness, he should isolate himself and live in seclusion, even as it is said on the subject: "Let him sit alone and keep silence" (Lam. 3.28). And, if the inhabitants of his state be evildoers and sinners, who deny him the right of residence in the state unless he become assimilated with them, and follows their evil conduct, he should go forth and dwell in caves, or cliffs, or deserts, but not accustom himself in the way of the sinners, even as it is said on the subject: "Oh that I were in the wilderness,¹See Berakot, 35b. G. in a lodging place of wayfaring men" (Jer. 9.1.).