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Parshat Noach by Stuart FischmanIn this week's parsha, Noach, the human adventure starts all over again. Human history commences with the story of Noach rolling around drunk and naked inside his tent. The response of each of Noach's sons to their father 's predicament is told in the Torah's story.When Noach returns to sobriety he discovers how his sons treated him and accordingly curses Cham and blesses Yefet and Shem. The blessings of Yefet and Shem are explained by the Netziv and his comments will be the subject of this d'var Torah. The Netziv, basing himself on the text of the brachot as well as on Rashi's comments, says that the different brachot of Yefet and Shem reflects on their different motives for helping their father. Yefet was pained by Noach's condition because it offended his sensibilities. As opposed to Cham who was crude, Yefet was a person of moral refinement. Yefet's sense of what is right drove him to act. Shem, the Netziv says, was motivated not out of a sense revulsion at his father's state. Shem was moved help Noach because Shem felt that this was what G-d wanted. From Yefet's point of view all that mattered was that Noach's humiliation be stopped. There was no need for him to take an active part in covering his father. Shem who had a sense of "mitzvah" understood the principle of "mitzvah bo yoter mib'shlucho" and wanted to cover Noach himself. That's why (as Rashi notes) the verse emphasizes the act of Shem over that of Yefet. Yefet only took part when he saw that Shem could not do the job by himself. The brothers' different attitudes led to their different blessings. Shem who had a sense of the Divine imperative was blessed that Hashem should single him out. Yefet was blessed that Hashem would favor his action s and that his moral sense would eventually lead him to appreciate Shem. In the Torah's view the level of "religious" awareness possessed by a person is an important subject. The significance of an act is in part dependent on the extent that the person is aware that he is carrying out G-d's will. At one extreme of the "awareness scale" are the people who deny the existence of G-d. Of them and their good deeds the Ramban writes (in the introduction to his commentary to Iyov): "...in their deeds there is no merit even if they should act properly their entire lives..."The Rambam writes something similar (if less blunt) at the end of Chapter nine opf Hilchot M'lachim (I am using the text of the Frankel edition): "Anyone who accepts the seven mitzvot and is careful careful to observe them is among the pious of the Gentiles and has a share in the World to Come; and this is if he accepts the them and performs them because G-d commanded them in the Torah and informed us of them through Moshe Rabbeinu that the descendants of Noach were previously commanded about them. But if he performs them because of an intellectual conclusion he is not a Ger Toshav and is not of the pious o f the Gentiles, but rather one of their wise men."If we can take for granted belief in G-d who commands us to behave in a certain way then we can move to the next, higher level of motivation. The next level (which can very well be the work of a lifetime)is to act solely out of desire to fulfill G-d's will. The Rambam writes at the end of his commentary to Makot: "One of the foundations of the faith in the Torah is that if a person should fulfill one of the six hundred and thirteen mizvot as should be and he did not accompany this act with any worldly motive at all rather he did it for its own sake out of love as I explained to you he will be worthy of the World to Come..."The Rambam goes on to explain the story of the Tannah Rabbi Chaninah ben Tradyon who had real doubts as to whether he was worthy of the World to Come. Rabbeinu Bachay dedicated an entire chapter of his "Chovot Halevavot" to this subject. The title of that chapter (number five) is "Purity of Action" and in it he exposes all sorts of ulterior motives which can taint a mitzvah. Rabbeinu Bachay sums up his attitude in his introduction to "Chovot Halevavot": "...a person who does a mitzvah not for the sake of Heaven receives no reward..."So where does that leave the person whose life is motivated by the Torah but also, to some extent, by societal pressures? Rabbeinu Bachay is very scornful of those who "...serve people but not the One who created people ..."(p.245 in the edition of Rav Kaffach zt"l).And why then did Yefet receive any blessing at all? Well the Rambam holds out a ray of hope. In his commentary to the mishnah at the end of Makot the Rambam explains that Hashem knows how hard it is for us to reach the level of devotion required of us. That's why He gave us so many mitzvot. It's impossible the Rambam says that in the course of a life that someone wouldn't do at least one mitzvah perfectly. Now a person may ask if only that one special mitzvah has value what is the worth of his life? Are we to conclude that all a person's activities are devoid of meaning? A somewhat hopeful answer to that question was developed by Rav Eliyahu Dessler zt"l and it is spelled out in the books "Michtav Mi'Eliyahu. "Indeed, the purpose of Creation is for tzaddikim to inhabit the Earth. But tha t does not mean the rest of us not-yet tzaddikim don't have a role. Rav Dessler uses the word "kli" to refer to those who exist for the tzaddik. There are levels in the ranks of the "kelim" and the more a person climbs in Avodat Hashem the more important hi s role becomes until he too becomes a tzaddik. But nobody lacks a role in this world. I would like to close with this. Our purpose on Earth is to bring about awareness of Hashem's rule, in ourselves and in others. This can be done in many ways and we are only limited by our imaginations. The late Rav Ben- Tziyon Abba Shaul wrote (in his "Or L'Tziyon vol.2 chapter 45-4) that even paying a plumber can be transformed from a nuisance into a mitzvah. Before paying a tradesman if a person has in mind that he is fulfilling the mitzvah of "b'yomo titein s' charo" then he did a mitzvah and climbed in his Avodat Hashem. Noach blessed Yefet that he would leave his perspective that a moral sense only creates burdens. He blessed Yefet that by associating with Shem he would come to realize that running to do mitzvot is not a bother. Rather it graces the person with Hashem's glory.
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