The Time for the Redemption Has Arrived
PARSHAS NOACH
Good Shabbos. Yesterday someone asked me if I was scared to be living at a time when the entire world was on the edge of crisis. I admitted that I was concerned - but not fearful.
Yes it is true, that the waters are crashing down across the entire world. Yes it is true, that there is hardly a place which remains safe from the violent economic tsunami which now faces mankind. There is upheaval. There is fear. There is turmoil.
However, there is also a precedent which we can learn from. It happened before - a world drowning in violence and corruption. It is recounted in this week’s portion, (chapters 6-8), where we read of the great flood which covered the earth and brought destruction and devastation in its wake.
Outside the ark, the flood raged. Inside the ark, there was Noah and his family and two of each kind of animal and seeds of every type of food - representing all of humanity. For forty days and nights the rains fell, followed by five months in which the waters swelled and churned, cleansing the earth for a new beginning. Finally, the waters calmed and began to recede.
Noah then opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven “to see if the waters had subsided from the surface of the earth.” The raven, which refused the mission, was followed by three doves: the first returned immediately, indicating that the flood’s waters still engulfed the earth; the second came back in the evening, clutching “a plucked olive leaf” and the promise of a new life for earth. The third did not return at all, informing the ark’s inhabitants that the earth was ready for habitation.
My question is: Why did Noah send out those birds? Obviously, he was eager to rebuild and replace the mayhem of the flood with a new, harmonious world. However, even after Noah was convinced that the flood was over, he could not yet leave the ark. Noah had entered the ark by the explicit command of G-d, and as long as he did not receive further instructions to the contrary, the Divine injunction “Come into the ark” remained in force. Only upon being commanded to “Go out from the ark” which came several weeks after the third dove’s mission, only then could he begin settling and developing the world outside the ark.
Q. So why did Noah dispatch the raven and the doves?
A. Because we cant sit idly by and just wait for G-d. We must do all we can! And when G-d sees us trying, that is when He will provide us with the redemption.
The Baal Shem Tov explains that each of us are called by G-d with the same Divine Instruction as commanded to Noach - Bo El Hataiva - “Come into the ark” . However the word “Taiva”, besides meaning ark, can also mean “word”. “Come into the word”, says the Almighty to each and every one of us; “Enter within the words of prayer and Torah study where you will find a haven of peace and sanctity amid the raging waters of life”.
The word that the Torah uses for the flood is mabul, which means disorder and confusion. Our world is a mabul of moral disarray and distorted priorities. But even as the chaos of a yet unperfected world churns about us, we have the ability to create, as did Noah, an island of tranquility and perfection, sheltered by the protective words of Torah and prayer.
Furthermore, the personal havens we create are not ends in themselves. We must open the window and aim to affect what is outside. We must do all we can to elevate the world around us. We must be an example of one who is living a G-dly life. Our “arks” must also serve as the seeds from which a new and better world will grow.
We each must understand that we are entrusted with a Divine Mission:
- Our mission in life is to create a world free of greed, jealousy and hatred.
- Our mission in life is to create a world filled with the wisdom and goodness of its Creator.
- Our mission in life is to translate the G-dly perfection of our personal holiness into the Divinely perfect world of Moshiach.
As with Noah, we must await G-d’s word. Yet this does not mean we should sit idly by and just wait for the redemption. Well before Noach was commanded to “Go out from the ark,” he opened a window to the outside world. Noah was not satisfied with just thinking about himself, Noach opened the window and looked for ways to be a positive impact on the world around him
41 centuries later, we are faced with a somewhat similar situation. On one hand we see the world is engulfed in turmoil, yet on the other hand we see signs of nations helping one another and people going to great lengths to assist one another.
Moshiach is coming. G-d is in control. We need to just open the window and remain a positive influence on the world around us. We need to care about our neighbor and care about those in need. We need to lookout for others even when we are secure in our own havens or islands.
When we do this, G-d will tell us as He told Noach: “The time for your redemption has arrived. He will send the Moshiach and engulf the world in holiness, goodness and peace for all. We hope and pray that day is soon, and let us say, Amain
