Judgement and Mercy
"And G-d (Elokim) remembered Noach…" (8: 1)
Rashi explains this deviation by saying that in special times it is possible to transform the attribute of "judgement" into "mercy". The power used to make this transformation is "prayer". The prayer of the righteous can transform the Divine justice into Divine mercy.
Matters can also work in the reverse: the wickedness of the wicked transforms mercy to Judgement:
"Hashem saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth… Hashem said, I will destroy man whom I created from upon the face of the earth…" (Chap 6 5-7)
Rashi teaches us that the wickedness of the generation of the flood was so great that "mercy" no longer had any place. The lesson that the residents of the ark learned was that using prayer they would be able to change even a situation such as is described above and turn the anger of judgment into mercy.
A Message For All Time
Placing the shem elokim with those rescued from the flood did not mean simply that a price had been paid, a punishment inflicted, and now life would go on in a world that was somehow less strict. A wondrous lesson had been learned.
Though there would be a Divine promise that the punishment of the flood (or a punishment of similar magnitude) would not be inflicted on creation, it was now known to man that the prayer was able to modify the anger of "judgment" and turn it into "mercy". It was not that Hashem promised to reflect on the use of "judgment"; not even that in Heaven the decision was that man cannot live in a world of judgment. The new reality consisted in this: the righteous would have the opportunity, through prayer, to influence the Divine position, so to speak. This position, adopted by Rashi, is stated generally in the gemara (Sukka 14a).
The gemara asks why the root for intensive prayer (ayin taw reish) is also the root for another Hebrew word which means "shovel". It answers: "Just as the shovel can turn the wheat in the granary from place to place, so the prayer of the righteous turn the opinion of heaven from anger to one of mercy." This idea is similar to that which we find in Rashi, but the gemara does not derive the principle from our verse (instead asking a question about the root ayin taw reish).
Rashi in his comment on the gemara says the following:
It, the use of the verb twice, meaning serious prayer, entreaty, is the source of the new rule. First, about Yizhaq we learn (chap 25:21) "Yizhaq entreated Hashem…" and that "…Hashem allowed Himself to be entreated by (Yizhaq)…" this might indicate that man has the capacity to change a Divine position by the kind of prayer described as 'atar'.
This was certainly true for Yizhaq, but is not obvious with regard to anyone else. We do not know if it is a principle that has wider implications. A close reading of the gemara indicates that, while the idea is similar, there is no reason to think that this statement formed the basis of Rashi's understanding as applied to our verse.
However, Maharsha in his comment to the parallel citing of this passage in (Yevamot, 64a) explains that Yizhaq is singled out because he represented the attribute of judgment in this world (pachad yizhaq). If even Yitzhaq, in whom the attribute of judgement dominated, was able to change judgement to mercy through prayer, others who are not so naturally disadvantaged, should also possess that capacity. Though the gemara attributes this power to all zaddikim, to the righteous, the example is brought from Yizhaq because his nature made such an intervention hardest for him. According to maharsha, the gemara teaches that if it was possible for Yizhaq, it should certainly be possible for others to effect this switch in Heaven through prayer.
[Cf. also breishit rabba, 33:3 for Rashi's direct source.]
Prayer's Power
Perhaps the following makes this all understandable. If Hashem says "I remember…", that is tantamount to saying that Noach (First Man) is now entered into Divine memory. That means that a created man is now assured of continued existence, for the Divine memory has no limits. "G-d remembered Noach…" represents a change in the status of man. Before the flood existence was conditional, and only man's behavior made that existence possible. However once Divine memory was activated (so to speak) then existence of man was assured.
At the same time, man has learned that he has the special capacity to activate "Divine memory" through prayer. At first, prayer was primarily a means of thanksgiving (Kayin and Hevel) and also the means through which man participated in the ongoing creation (veadam ayin laavod et haadama). After the flood, Hashem promises that prayer can also be used to activate "mercy" even in the place of "justice", and that is reflected in the use of the verb "to remember".
Gut shabbos Chaim Brovender
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