From the Torah portion of Noah, Genesis 6:11-13: “The earth became corrupt (tishachet) before God; the earth was filled with maliciousness (hamas). When God saw how corrupt (nishchatah) the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted (hishchit) its ways on The Earth (darcho al ha'aretz). God said to Noah, 'I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with maliciousness (hamas) because of them...'”
The story of The Flood in Torah is of particular relevance in light of increasing extreme weather events. Perhaps there are lessons we might draw which could aid us in ameliorating and coping with climate change.
Note the repetition of variations of the word shachat, which may be a clue.There is an ancient Jewish learning referred to as bal tashchit--meaning not being wasteful-- which originates from the same Hebrew root word as shachat. Commentators concluded that wasting of any resources was a Torah prohibition. For example, Maimonides (1135-1204, Spain) explained that a Jew is forbidden to "smash household goods, tear clothes, demolish a building, stop up a spring, or destroy articles of food.Rabeinu Yerucham (1280-1350, Spain) railed against wasting water when others were in need of it. Although climate change was not an issue in 12th-14th century Spain, awareness of waste as a contributor to climate change would have elevated the urgency of these scholars in their message of bal tashchit. Today, there are many opportunities for people to reduce their carbon footprint, including reducing waste. A link to a free online book for further reference is attached to this post.
Leading up to the flood, there are signs of failure in our human duties as stewards of the land. “Flesh” can be read as a demotion of people, perhaps following a failure in our divinely assigned stewardship duties, cf. Midrash, Genesis Rabbah 8:12, "Rabbi Hanina said, 'If humanity merits it, they will have dominion [over the beasts etc.]; while if they do not merit it, they shall descend.'". A reminder that as their stewards, we must treat animals and the land with compassion. To treat them otherwise is to risk harm to them and to ourselves.
The parsha's emphasis on hamas, maliciousness,holds some striking relevance to our earthly situation today. In particular, it connects with Exodus 23:1, "...you shall not join hands with the guilty to act as a malicious (hamas) witness.” There are many contexts in which we might join hands with the guilty. Within the realm of psychology, we might empower our yetzer harah, our evil inclination, to act as a malicious witness. Consider a situation when we might feel anger at a driver on the road who cuts us off. If we were to join hands with this reflexive emotion we might allow it to fuel our road rage and act. An alternative might be to consider the other driver's situation: maybe they are trying to reach a loved one experiencing an emergency. Positive consideration of an initial negative thought or emotion is one way of coping with our yetzer harah, to avoid “joining hands” with it.A second context in which I would like to apply "You shall not join hands with the guilty to act as a malicious witness" is social media, where "likes" and other split second responses are common. Many of these are harmless, however there is a risk of people acting thoughtlessly. When careless comments become viral, the results can be surprising. One cannot measure the damage done by climate change denial, anti-COVID vaccine propagandization, and dissemination of anti-semitism, anti-Israel, or other anti-minority sentiment.
There are solutions to these dilemmas which may be intuited from the parsha. From the original verses, we know that the flood occurred because peoples' paths upon the earth were corrupted, "hishchit darcho al ha'aretz", and because the earth was filled with maliciousness. One might imagine that a few malicious witnesses, overzelous with their newly found freedom to decide right from wrong-- had established the derech, the path of corruption on the land, others walked along the same path, joining hands with the guilty (whether consciously or unconsciously), ultimately culminating in our biblical extreme weather event. Consider next Genesis 7:18 in contrast: "Vateylech hatevah al pnai hamayim", and the ark walked ("walked" is a literal translation, connects with derech as path) upon the face of the water". On the water, where is the way and how is the ark directed upon it? The ark "walked", but there is no derech on water; only the direction of the prevailing forces. This image offers an opportunity for poetic justice: Noah (we were told in Gen. 6:9 that Noah reflexively walked with God [hithaleych]) and the others in the ark were left to walk with no derech, as it was the peoples' previous choice of derech on the land that failed. Noah is identified as an ish tzadik, a righteous man, which distinguished him from others in his generation, and which earned him and his family survival via the ark. Once on the ark, his problems were not over. Bearing the storm required equanimity, menuchat hanefesh. So did striking one's own path without a road to follow. The name Noah shares the Hebrew root with menucha, rest, so we might understand that Noah embodied equanimity during the flood. The final virtue possessed by Noah to complete the success assigned to him was faith. God instructed him on what to do; he had faith in God and he followed.
The prayer I will end with is that we know what corruption looks like; we have the equanimity to be in proper relationship with the land, despite seeming difficult or unpopular at first glance; and we have the faith in Hashem, to support us in the path of righteousness.
The story of The Flood in Torah is of particular relevance in light of increasing extreme weather events. Perhaps there are lessons we might draw which could aid us in ameliorating and coping with climate change.
Note the repetition of variations of the word shachat, which may be a clue.There is an ancient Jewish learning referred to as bal tashchit--meaning not being wasteful-- which originates from the same Hebrew root word as shachat. Commentators concluded that wasting of any resources was a Torah prohibition. For example, Maimonides (1135-1204, Spain) explained that a Jew is forbidden to "smash household goods, tear clothes, demolish a building, stop up a spring, or destroy articles of food.Rabeinu Yerucham (1280-1350, Spain) railed against wasting water when others were in need of it. Although climate change was not an issue in 12th-14th century Spain, awareness of waste as a contributor to climate change would have elevated the urgency of these scholars in their message of bal tashchit. Today, there are many opportunities for people to reduce their carbon footprint, including reducing waste. A link to a free online book for further reference is attached to this post.
Leading up to the flood, there are signs of failure in our human duties as stewards of the land. “Flesh” can be read as a demotion of people, perhaps following a failure in our divinely assigned stewardship duties, cf. Midrash, Genesis Rabbah 8:12, "Rabbi Hanina said, 'If humanity merits it, they will have dominion [over the beasts etc.]; while if they do not merit it, they shall descend.'". A reminder that as their stewards, we must treat animals and the land with compassion. To treat them otherwise is to risk harm to them and to ourselves.
The parsha's emphasis on hamas, maliciousness,holds some striking relevance to our earthly situation today. In particular, it connects with Exodus 23:1, "...you shall not join hands with the guilty to act as a malicious (hamas) witness.” There are many contexts in which we might join hands with the guilty. Within the realm of psychology, we might empower our yetzer harah, our evil inclination, to act as a malicious witness. Consider a situation when we might feel anger at a driver on the road who cuts us off. If we were to join hands with this reflexive emotion we might allow it to fuel our road rage and act. An alternative might be to consider the other driver's situation: maybe they are trying to reach a loved one experiencing an emergency. Positive consideration of an initial negative thought or emotion is one way of coping with our yetzer harah, to avoid “joining hands” with it.A second context in which I would like to apply "You shall not join hands with the guilty to act as a malicious witness" is social media, where "likes" and other split second responses are common. Many of these are harmless, however there is a risk of people acting thoughtlessly. When careless comments become viral, the results can be surprising. One cannot measure the damage done by climate change denial, anti-COVID vaccine propagandization, and dissemination of anti-semitism, anti-Israel, or other anti-minority sentiment.
There are solutions to these dilemmas which may be intuited from the parsha. From the original verses, we know that the flood occurred because peoples' paths upon the earth were corrupted, "hishchit darcho al ha'aretz", and because the earth was filled with maliciousness. One might imagine that a few malicious witnesses, overzelous with their newly found freedom to decide right from wrong-- had established the derech, the path of corruption on the land, others walked along the same path, joining hands with the guilty (whether consciously or unconsciously), ultimately culminating in our biblical extreme weather event. Consider next Genesis 7:18 in contrast: "Vateylech hatevah al pnai hamayim", and the ark walked ("walked" is a literal translation, connects with derech as path) upon the face of the water". On the water, where is the way and how is the ark directed upon it? The ark "walked", but there is no derech on water; only the direction of the prevailing forces. This image offers an opportunity for poetic justice: Noah (we were told in Gen. 6:9 that Noah reflexively walked with God [hithaleych]) and the others in the ark were left to walk with no derech, as it was the peoples' previous choice of derech on the land that failed. Noah is identified as an ish tzadik, a righteous man, which distinguished him from others in his generation, and which earned him and his family survival via the ark. Once on the ark, his problems were not over. Bearing the storm required equanimity, menuchat hanefesh. So did striking one's own path without a road to follow. The name Noah shares the Hebrew root with menucha, rest, so we might understand that Noah embodied equanimity during the flood. The final virtue possessed by Noah to complete the success assigned to him was faith. God instructed him on what to do; he had faith in God and he followed.
The prayer I will end with is that we know what corruption looks like; we have the equanimity to be in proper relationship with the land, despite seeming difficult or unpopular at first glance; and we have the faith in Hashem, to support us in the path of righteousness.