Parshas Noach: Using Opportunities For Avodas Hashem

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The Danger in Too Much Security

What we’re going to discuss today is the sugya of the mabul. Now, if you want to study the mabul, the source of studying the mabul is the gemara in Sanhedrin.

The first thing we’re going to discuss today is what brought about the sin that caused the mabul. We’re going to study this aspect. We want to understand what caused man to fall to the point they did?

The gemara (Sanhedrin 108a) says תנו רבנן – דור המבול, the generation of the flood, לא נתגאו אלא בשביל טובה, they became arrogant only because of the tovah, the good, שהשפיע להם הקב”ה, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu influenced them with.^[i]

Now, we’re going to see that this sugya of the mabul was studied by Iyov (Iyov 31).  Iyov himself was an extremely wealthy man, one of the wealthiest men in the world. He had everything going for him. He had a family, he had assets – and he lost everything. He began to make a study and revisited tzaros in the Torah to see why tzaros befall someone. He studied this parshah and he says, מה כתיב בהם, what is written about this generation? In the description of Iyov, it says (Iyov 31:9) בתיהם שלום מפחד, their homes had shalom from fear (i.e., they felt secure and did not have to fear).

You have to know any security of any type, can have side effects. A person feels financial security. A person feels secure from enemies. You feel secure from robbers. You feel secure from wild animals. You feel secure from floods. You feel secure from fires. You have security from bugs, and snakes. There are many different discomforts that create insecurity in a person. There is also security from paranoia. There are many people who are just afraid. They don’t know why. Their minds don’t allow them to feel at peace.

You can have a guy who lives in a great neighborhood. He’s wealthy. He has good friendships and everything. You have to know he has physical shalom, but you know what happens? When a person has everything, and feels a sense of security, it could bring him to a very high level of existence. But because of bad middos that he has within himself, he could utilize all the shefa to do ra.

Iyov says, “You know why the generation of the mabul did ra? Because they had security from every pachad possible.” They lacked nothing. You know what it says? Their children would be born on the same day they would conceive. The gemara doesn’t say it, but the Medrash Hagadol says it on this parshah. They were walking and talking on the day they were born. People lived long lives. They never got old. They never knew yesurim in their lifetime. The concept of yesurim was not existent. They never had any illnesses, no discomforts. The climate was always spring and summerlike. It was a time of such tovah in the world. People were strong. The gemara over here enumerates some of their comforts. I saw in the medrash it adds a lot more.

The gemara continues and says:

וכתיב, the passuk in Iyov (v. 10) states, שׁוֹרוֹ עִבַּר וְלֹא יַגְעִל, there was no pesoles, no default, nothing wrong in their zera, in their offspring. When the animals gave birth, every time was a bull’s eye. And it says יְשַׁלְּחוּ כַצֹּאן עֲוִילֵיהֶם, avileihem means their children. They would send out their children to roam around like the sheep they let pasture around. There was no chashash, no concern, and no fear whatsoever. That’s one meaning. Another meaning is what it says about their health. It means they were not afraid of their animals getting harmed, or their children getting sick. There was no problem with the weather. There was no problem with any of the climates. There were no health issues.

It says (v. 12-13) יִשְׂאוּ כְּתֹף וְכִנּוֹר, they would always carry around music instruments. They were always having parties. יְכַלּוּ בַטּוֹב יְמֵיהֶם, they spend their days just having a blast. The seder hayom of the bnei hamabul was one of tzahalah v’sameichah. Everybody was carrying a banjo over his shoulder, a harmonica. They would get together to be sameach, to dance.

You might think this is only the lot of the youth, but maybe the old guys were sitting around with headaches. No. It says וּבְרֶגַע שְׁאוֹל יֵחָתּוּ (ibid.). That means they would die in a second. That means to say until the last second, there was 100% health. There were no yesurim. They died without any prior notice. The elders and the older people lived and were mamash part of the chevrah 100%. In one second, they died.

Over-Comfort and Ingratitude

The gemara (Sanhedrin ibid.) says this great tovah that the dor hamabul was living with created in their hearts such a ga’avah and this is what caused them to become kafuyei tovah.

Now, one of the reasons why Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave it to them, say the sefarim, is because Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted to give them the Torah. He was hoping they would be the generation to receive the Torah. He gave them every possibility of tovah shayach.

The gemara says והיא גרמה, this abundance of tovah caused, שאמרו לקל, that they said to Hashem as follows. This is what Iyov says they said: סור ממנו, go away from us. They said to Hashem, turn away from us. ודעת דרכיך לא חפצנו, we do not wish to know Your ways. They didn’t deny the fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world. They didn’t deny the fact that Hashem could do what He wants. They couldn’t deny the fact that Hashem is the one Who brings down geshem.. What did they say? They said to Hashem, סור ממנו. “Right now it’s good. We don’t know why, but we seem to have lucked out. We were born in a phenomenal era.” It wasn’t because of their great tzidkus that Hashem gave them these things, so they felt that they just lucked out, like there was something about the order of the world that demands it. Like Florida. People who live in Florida say in Florida, you have a great life. If you go to California, you have a great life. That’s what life is like over there. People go there and try to beat the system. These people thought that they beat the system, so they said: Right now, we don’t need Hashem. מה ש-די כי נעבדנו, what do we need Hashem for that we should serve Him? We’re not desperate. אמרו, they said, כלום צריכין אנו לו אלא לטיפה של גשמים, all we need him for is for the drop of rain that comes down in a fixed way, that’s dependent upon zechusim, merits, and demerits. But you know what? We can get along without Hashem. You know why? יש לנו נהרות, we have plenty of streams, ומעינות, we have plenty of reservoirs, and we can live without taking Hakadosh Baruch Hu into our lives.

Those reshaim thought that at this moment in time, they didn’t need to listen to Hashem, because they could be mestader without Hashem.

You know what they wanted? They wanted a break. They wanted to take a break from Hashem right now, because right now we’re not dependent on Him. We seem to have enough in the bank right now, so I can go for the next few weeks without davening.

אמר הקב”ה, So, Hakadosh Baruch Hu said: בטובה שהשפעתי להן בה מכעיסין אותי, with the tovah that I’m bestowing on you, that amazing shefa that I gave you, because of that, you’re turning and getting Me angry? You’re using that to turn to ra? You’re using the tov for ra? You’re acknowledging that if you wouldn’t have such a benefit and you would be suffering, you would start davening. Then you should start davening, and you wouldn’t have time to be evil. Because at the end of a good day, a backbreaking day of work, you sit down and you fall asleep. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu says: Because of that, you know what I’m going to do? ובה אני דן אותם, I’m going to judge them with this. שנאמר ואני הנני מביא את המבול מים. In other words after Hashems said, “I’m going to destroy the aretz,” the passuk says, ואני הנני מביא את המבול מים. The onesh, Hashem says, is going to come derech mayim, through water. You know why? Because the abundance of tovah, brought them to do ra, so Hashem says, “I’m going to give them so much tovah, and it’s going to turn into their ra.” You hear that? Hashem said, “I gave them an abundance of tovah,and they usedthat tovah to turn into ra. Now, I’m going to give them an abundance of tovah and turn that into ra. I’m going to show them how the tovah itself can become an abundance and turn into ra also.”

Worries That Yield Dependency on Hashem

This is a very important lesson that every one of us has to learn. All we want is tovah, tovah, tovah, tovah. And all we want tovah for, is to become ra. We should know the only thing we want tovah for, is to do ra and to not be dependent on Hashem.

Ask an average guy, “What would you do with $10 million?” Now, I always think to myself, “Tomorrow, I want to win $10 million.” If I only won $1 million, I wouldn’t do anything. I would just give a yawn (and it wouldn’t go to my head). But if I would get $10 million, then what would I do? The first thing would be taking a trip. Where are you traveling to? Where are you running? Then the next question is, what house are you buying? Then what car are you buying? Then what clothes are you buying for your family? What new things are you buying for your kids? All of a sudden, the tovah becomes a mabul of ra in your life. You wouldn’t know what you are, who you are, or where you are.

A person has to study this because this is human nature. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives you tovah and rov tovah, if you don’t take precautions to utilize that tovah for avodas Hashem, you are setting yourself up for the greatest downfall.

Hashem gave them rabah, plenty, and you know what happened? They became רבה רעת האדם. That’s what the passuk says. The people became ra. This is what a person has to understand, and this what we have to get into our kishkes. Every time Hashem withholds something from you, it brings you closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and it makes you aware that you’re dependent upon Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

Somebody once came to my rebbi‘s father, the Brisker Rav (Rabbi Yitzchok Zev HaLevi Soloveitchik), and offered to put money in the bank for him, so that he should have an endowment fund. He should have some security. He laughed at the guy. He said he wouldn’t even consider it. He said, you think for a few shekels, a few liras it was then, he’s going to sell his mitzvah of bitachon? He couldn’t imagine it. “I’m not going to have bitachon in Hashem? You’re taking an opportunity like that away from me?” You think he didn’t like money? He liked money. Trust me, he needed money more than we need money. But he had bitachon in Hashem. That was an opportunity for him. He understood that made him be boteach in Hashem and be attached to Him.

Therefore, you have to look into your life and every time you have security, check that it’s not causing you ra, a lack of dependency on Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We all have worries. We have worries today – from ganavim, worries from foreign countries, from terrorists. People have all kinds of worries. Competition. Financial worries, ups and downs of markets. A person has to know, these worries are your biggest tovah.

Chessed is the Foundation of Our Existence

The gemara (Sanhedrin 108b) tells us a conversation that took place between Shem Raba – Shem the Great, the son of Noach – and Eliezer, the eved of Avraham.  Listen to this conversation. This is a conversation that you have to learn from. When you meet somebody big, you want to make conversation. How do you make conversation? Do you ask him where he bought his hat? Or I like that long kapote. What kind of conversation do you make? Do you say, “How long have you grown that beard?”

The gemara says: אמר ליה אליעזר לשם רבא, Eliezer said to Shem Raba,^[ii] כתיב, it is written, למשפחותיהם יצאו מן התיבה, by their families, they came out of the teivah. So he asked, אתון היכן הויתון, you, where were you? What was with you? Tell me about you in the teivah, how was it? What was the matzav in the teivah?

אמר לו, he said to him, צער גדול היה לנו בתיבה, we had a lot of tza’ar in the teivah. He told him like this. You should know the teivah was no picnic. It wasn’t a cruise ship. It wasn’t the Queen Mary. It was a boat with צער גדול היה לנו בתיבה. And what did we do there? A creature whose derech it was להאכילה ביום, to feed it by day, we used it to feed it by day. שדרכה להאכילה בלילה, if it’s derech was to eat at night, האכלנוה בלילה, we gave it to eat by night. That means we were feeding animals all day long.

Then he continued and told him, האי זקיתא, there was this animal called a zikita. It’s a type of a sheretz. לא היה ידע אבא, my father did not know, מה אכלה, what it eats. יומא חד, one day, הוה יתיב , he was sitting, וקא פאלי רמונא, he was cutting up a rimon, a pomegranate, נפל תולעתא מינה, a little worm fell out of the rimon onto the floor and this zikus quickly went and ate it. מיכן ואליך, from then on, my father knew how to take care of this animal, הוה גביל לה חיזרא כי מתלע אכלה, he would prepare a certain mixture, and when it became wormy, this creature would eat it.

That is a conversation that Eliezer had with Shem Raba. The gemara doesn’t tell us if he had any other conversations. Was this the only conversation?  The first time I saw this gemara, I got curious. I said, I would have loved to know what else was discussed in this conversation. Is that all he asked him, like what was the matzav there? One thing our gemara tells us is that he asked, “You came out as a mishapachah,so what was it like in the teivah itself?”

The Medrash Shochar Tov, a very reliable medrash on Tehillim (37), says as follows.^[iii] Avraham also met Shem ben Noach. Avraham had a conversation with him, and him, כיצד יצאתם מן התיבה, what zechus did you have to get out of the teivah? That’s what he asked. It’s interesting to see. Eliezer asked him, “What was the matzav in the teivah? What was it like in the teivah?” And Avraham asked him, “What was the zechus you got out of the teivah?”  אמר לו he said to him, “בצדקה שהיינו עושים, because of the tzedakah that we did.” אמר לו אברהם, Avraham said to him, וכי מה צדקה היה לכם, what type of tzadakah did you do? You had poor people there? You had organizations getting letters from people in the teivah? וכי עניים היו שם, were there any aniyim over there? והלא לא היה אלא נח ובניו, it was only you and Noach, ועל מי הייתם עושים צדקה, with who did you do charity? אמר לו, he said to him, על החיה והבהמה והעוף, with the chayos, with the beheimos, with the ofos. לא היינו ישנים כל הלילה, you should know, we didn’t sleep the whole night. אלא היינו נותנין לפני זה ולפני זה, we would give one and then run to the next one. פעם אחת איחרנו את עצמנו, one time we delayed our arrival, ויצא אבי משובר, my father came out from the pen that housed the lion, broken. That it says in the gemara also. He didn’t feed him on time. He came out a cripple.

Now it says, אותה שעה אמר אברהם, at that time Avraham said, מה אלו, these people, אילולא שעשו צדקה עם בהמה חיה ועוף , if not for the tzedakah that they did with the beheimos chayos and ofos, לא היו יוצאין משם, they wouldn’t have gotten out of there. ובשביל שאיחר עצמו, and because of one time that he came little late, קבל שכרו, he received his payment, ונשבר, he got broken, so אני, I, Avraham said, אם אעשה עם בני אדם, if I will do tzedakah with bnei adam, how much more certainly it’s going to be so. באותה שעה, at that time, נטע אשל, he planted, he established an eishel in Be’er Sheva. What’s an eishel? An eishel is an inn; אשל stands for achilah, shetiyah, linah – food, drink, and sleeping accommodation.

The conversation here is amazing. Avraham meets Shem, and says to him, “What zechus did you have to get out of the teivah?” Now, if I were Shem, I would have said, “Avraham, what kind of silly question is that? With all due respect. The mabul was over. There was dry land already. My father made this test to see if things started to grow. He sent out a raven a couple of times. Baruch Hashem! We were saved from the mabul. It’s over now. So, of course, we went out.” It’s memeilah. Avraham didn’t ask him, “What zechus did you have to be saved from the mabul?” That’s not what Avraham asked him. If that’s what he asked, we would understand. Why were you zocheh to get into the teivah? It says, ‘נח מצא חן בעיני ה. But Avraham asked him, “What zechus did you have to get out of the teivah?” What’s peshat in that question?

You have to know the pshat is, that going out of the teivah meant Noach and his children being given a mission to rebuild the entire world. Avraham wanted to know, “What zechus did you have?” You were ‘מצא חן בעיני ה, you didn’t die in the mabul. Fine. You know what? You could live now in your teivah for the rest of your life. The teivah was its own world. The teivah was a self-contained world. What zechus did you have to come out and rebuild the whole world after the flood?

Even Adam Harishon was not zocheh to build a world that was a ben kayamah, that lasted. Adam Harishon, with all his gadlus,was not capable of building a world that would not be destroyed. And Noach and his sons were zocheh to build such a world. That’s what Avraham asked. Avraham said, “What zechus did you have?”

Now, how did Avraham know that Noach’s zechus was bigger than Adam’s? Maybe Noach’s world was also only temporary? How did Avraham know that Noach had a bigger zechus than Adam? Just like when Adam started the world, it took 1500 years for the mabul to come. So maybe Noach’s will also be destroyed?

The answer is, because the passuk (8:21) says that Hashem promised Noach, לא אסף לקלל עוד את האדמה בעבור האדם, “I will not in the future curse the earth because of adam. ולא אסף עוד להכות את כל חי כאשר עשיתי, I will never again destroy all of life like I had done. I will never change the winter, the summer, the spring and the fall.” Hakadosh Baruch Hu swore שלא יביא עוד מבול לעולם. So Avraham wanted to know, “What zechus did you have to go out of the teivah and rebuild such a world?”

Meriting to Build a World

From ‘נח מצא חן בעיני ה you don’t get that zechus. From chein and the similar words, such as chaninah, chinah, he’s a big tzaddik, it’s nice. He gets saved from the flood. But in order to be zocheh to build the world, you’ve got to have zechusim niflaim. Avrahamsaid, “I want to know what that zechus was. You know why? Because I want to tap into that zechus,”Avraham said. “I want to try this in my life, in my neck of the woods, (like they say in English, in my corner of the world), I’m going to try to emulate this in my own life, to have that zechus.” Shem tells Avraham, “You know what gave us that zechus? We did chessed with the chayos v’ofos.”Avrahamsaid, “So, you were working around the clock to do chessed with chayos veofos,24 hours a day for a year’s time, and that gave you the zechus for building the world.” And one time he was late to feed an animal, it’s a very tough order to always be on time, for one time, he went out meshubar. It says הכישו הארי ושברו. That’s what it says. The lion bit him. Unbelievable.

You know, it says that when Noach came out of the teivah,he couldn’t be makriv korbanos because he was a ba’al mum. He was blemished. His son had to bring the korbanos for him. Shem had to bring the korbanos. Noach couldn’t bring them because he was a ba’al mum. If somebody wants to do avodah, he can’t do it if he’s blemished. He walked out with a mum. I would have said, “What kind of chutzpah is this? I’m working 24 hours a day, and just one time I was a little late. I didn’t forget about him. I wasn’t sitting on a hammock watching the waves. I was working around the clock.” It doesn’t make a big difference. One time. Hashem doesn’t protect me from that.

A person has to know, when you have an opportunity to uphold the briah,Hakadosh Baruch Hu demands of you kapdanus yeseirah.Amazing demands Hakadosh Baruch Hu has.

The teivah was a beis medrash to the whole toras hachessed of Avraham Avinu. That’s what comes out. The teivah was the beis medrash – from which went out  the teaching of toras chessed, that chessed is mekayem the olam. That’s what Avraham’s whole life’s work was. It’s an amazing shtickel.

It was a beis Hashem. You have to know that. We say שתולים בבית ה’. My rebbi (Rav Meir Halevi Soloveichik) always used to say over: שתולים בבית ה’  it says, בחצרות אלקנו יפריחו. The medrash says, שתולים בבית ה’ – זה נח ששתל לו הקב”ה בתיבה. You have to know the teivah wasn’t just a teivah. It was the Beis Hashem. What did they learn in this Beis Hashem? Chessed. That’s it. That’s what we have to know.

Our Obligation and Zechus to Help People

What I always learned from this is – and we have to constantly get this into our kishkes — that our role in the world, our zechus to build worlds, our zechus to accomplish things in this world, is only to the degree that we commit ourselves to the support, to helping and assisting others to the degree of our capability. If a person has chachmah, a person has an ability to give psak for others, and he only has certain hours that he is available, he’s not mekayem the olam. If a person has an ability to help people with eitzos,you’re on call 24 hours. Whatever you are capable of doing, you have to see that as opportunities that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is presenting you with to help you be mekayem the olam. That’s the chessed that’s mekayem the olam. That’s the foundation of Avraham Avinu. Avraham learned this from Noach, from chessed that went on in the teivah. That’s what we have to understand.

Now, you have to know Noach was not just given this opportunity as a preparation. Noach was given this opportunity as a means of doing teshuvah. This was a teshuvah for Noach. It was a tikun for Noach. You have to know that. The teivah was not simply an opportunity for Noach to rebuild the new world. It was the opportunity for Noach to purify himself and fix up what needed correction.

What We Should Learn From Noach’s Teshuvah

What tikkun did Noach need? There’s a famous Chazal that says: Come and see מה בין משה לשאר בני עלמא, what’s the difference between Moshe and the rest of the people in the world? When Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Moshe, “Leave Me alone. I’m going to destroy the Jews, and I’m going to start a new nation from you,” מיד אמר משה, Moshe immediately said, “Am I going to forsake the Jews for my benefit? You think Hashem I’m going to trade myself for the Jews? Absolutely not! Erase me from the sefer Torah.”What did Noach do? כיון דאמר ליה הקב”ה, Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, “You’re going to be saved from the mabul,” לא בעי רחמי על עלמא, he didn’t daven for the world, ואובידו, and the world was lost. Because of that בגין כן מי נח כתיב, the mabul is called on his name. In the passuk it says, in Yeshayah, כי מי נח זאת לי אשר נשבעתי מעבר מי נח עוד על הארץ, I promise the mei Noach won’t repeat itself on the world.

So you have to know the mabul has another name. It’s called mei Noach. That tells you that Noach bears responsibility for the mabul. It’s called Noach’s mabul. The mabul that he brought about. Noach was held responsible because he didn’t save his dor like Moshe Rabeinu did besha’ato. Moshe davened for Klal Yisroel after they sinned by the eigel and saved them. Avraham davened for Sedom. Noach should have also davened for his generation, but he didn’t.

There’s a famous Seforno at the end of Parshas Bereishis on the passuk ‘ונח מצא חן בעיני ה. He says Noach was ‘מצא חן בעיני ה to save his children, his sons, and his daughters, לא מפני שהיה ראוי לכך, not because they were deserving of this. אלא על צד חנינה זכהו הא-ל יתברך לזה. Hashem gave him grace, chaninah, a free pass. You know why? כי לא למדו את דורם לדעת את ה’, Noach never taught his generation to know about Hashem, like Avraham, Moshe, Shmuel, and others did.The Seforno explains that even though he rebuked the people of the generation, he never taught them about Hashem, he never told them to follow the ways of Hashem. He was a tzaddik be’iyun ubema’aseh, but he didn’t teach others to follow in those ways And a tzaddik that’s mashlim himself, only saves himself. Someone who saves someone else is fit that someone else should be saved because of him too. Because when you try to save someone else, you create a tikvah, a hope for that person – there’s a hope that person will do teshuvah. If I’m not being mekarev somebody, there’s no hope that person will do teshuvah. That’s what the Seforno says. An amazing Seforno.

We have to realize, if we want to be players in this world, if we want to be mekaymei haolam, if we don’t want to be people who suck up air, who are just taking all the good, precious air out of the world, we need to think, “What can I do to be selfless? What can I do for others?” And that becomes my piece of the action. That becomes my piece in anything. You have one person who is a noradige machnis orech. That’s his thing. That’s what his lesson is. He’s a machnis orech. He opens his home to people. There’s another person who teaches Torah to others. There’s another person who is available for psak for others.

So here’s somebody who needs a psak. You want to know how dangerous it is? Now I understand it clearly. It says, when they issued the decree to kill the asarah harugei malchus, those ten giants we read about on Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av, it says, , they said, “Let’s go up to shamayim and find out if it’s min Hashem or not.” R’ Yishmael Kohen Gadol went up and returned and said, “It’s from Hashem.” So they said, “What did we do wrong?” So the other one said, “Is it possible that somebody, a woman, once came to ask you a shaylah and you kept her waiting for a few minutes?”[1]  So he said, “Thank you. Now you explained to me why I deserve to die.” Hello! It doesn’t say that he didn’t answer her. It doesn’t say he threw her out. He kept her waiting a little bit. That’s Adam Harishon. That’s Noach[2] . “What do you want from my life?” Noach said to Hashem. “I’m feeding the animals around the clock. I’m a little late. That’s the end of me?” That’s the end of you. That’s the end.

When you’re capable of assisting others, when you have capabilities, and you don’t use those capabilities, they’re worth gornisht. That’s why a person has to make plans: What am I going to do to contribute to the world?

My grandfather (Rav Avigdor Miller) used to always make this cheshbon, “What am I doing for the world?” He used to have all kinds of plans. He felt that his sefarim were assisting the world. He felt that Hashem gave him a koach to articulate things, commit them to writing, and transmit them. He felt he had to do that, to be melamed da’as to the world. He knew he wasn’t popular. He wasn’t a kiruv Rabbi. He was a European rav. He was learning all day long, shas and poskim. He wasn’t interestedin writing English books. He didn’t speak one word of English.[3]  On the side, when he ate, he scratched out these books. He didn’t work on them. He didn’t take time. He didn’t re-edit it. He never had an editor. It’s unheard of. There are no books written like that. Nowadays, it’s unheard of that a guy should write a book without editors. But he proofread it himself. He printed it himself. This is what he felt he had to do for Hashem.

That’s what a person has to ask himself, “What am I doing for Hashem?” So one guy says, “Well, I’m learning. I’m taking it easy. Don’t push me.” If you have opportunities, why not push yourself? The mabul is called Mei Noach. Avharam understood that all creation was chesed, but the outcome of human chesed he learned from Hashem.

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^[i] תנו רבנן דור המבול לא נתגאו אלא בשביל טובה שהשפיע להם הקדוש ברוך הוא ומה כתיב בהם ׳בתיהם שלום מפחד ולא שבט אלוה עליהם׳, וכו’. והיא גרמה שאמרו לאל ׳סור ממנו ודעת דרכיך לא חפצנו מה שדי כי נעבדנו ומה נועיל כי נפגע בו׳ אמרו ׳כלום צריכין אנו לו אלא לטיפה של גשמים יש לנו נהרות ומעינות שאנו מסתפקין מהן׳ אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא ׳בטובה שהשפעתי להן בה מכעיסין אותי ובה אני דן אותם׳ שנאמר ׳ואני הנני מביא את המבול מים׳.

^[ii] אמר רב חנא בר ביזנא אמר ליה אליעזר לשם רבא כתיב למשפחותיהם יצאו מן התיבה אתון היכן הויתון א”ל צער גדול היה לנו בתיבה בריה שדרכה להאכילה ביום האכלנוה ביום שדרכה להאכילה בלילה האכלנוה בלילה האי זקיתא לא הוה ידע אבא מה אכלה יומא חד הוה יתיב וקא פאלי רמונא נפל תולעתא מינה אכלה מיכן ואילך הוה גביל לה חיזרא כי מתלע אכלה אריא אישתא זינתיה דאמר רב לא בציר משיתא ולא טפי מתריסר זינא אישתא אורשינה אשכחיניה אבא דגני בספנא דתיבותא א”ל לא בעית מזוני א”ל חזיתיך דהות טרידא אמינא לא אצערך א”ל יהא רעוא דלא תמות שנאמר (איוב כט, יח) ואומר עם קני אגוע וכחול ארבה ימים.

^[iii] וכו’, אמר הקב”ה קנא לי שאילולי הקנאה אין העולם מתקיים. לפי שאין אדם נושא אשה ובונה בית שאלמלא הקנאה שקינא אברהם להקב”ה לא היה קונה שמים וארץ. ואימתי קינא. כשאמר למלכי צדק כיצד יצאתם מן התיבה. אמר לו בצדקה שהיינו עושים. אמר לו וכי מה צדקה היה לכם לעשות וכי עניים היו שם והלא לא היה אלא נח ובניו ועל מי הייתם עושים צדקה. אמר לו על החיה והבהמה והעוף. לא היינו ישנים כל הלילה אלא היינו נותנין לפני זה ולפני זה. פעם אחת איחרנו את עצמנו ויצא אבי משובר. אותה שעה אמר אברהם מה אלו אלולא שעשו צדקה עם בהמה חיה ועוף לא היו יוצאין משם ובשביל שאיחר עצמו כמעט קיבל שכרו ונשבר. אני אם אעשה עם בני אדם שהם בדמות וצלם של המלאכים על אחת כמה וכמה שאנצל מן הפגעים. מיד (בראשית כא לג) ויטע אש”ל. אכילה שתיה לויה. וכן שלמה אמר (קהלת ד ד) וראיתי את כל עמל ואת כל כשרון המעשה כי היא קנאת איש מרעהו. לכך אל יקנא לבך בחטאים.