Miller's Musings Parshas Noach: It's Time!

 

One well-known Medrash relates an incident that took place inside the Ark during the miraculous voyage that shielded the last remnants of creation from annihilation, when Noach, a little late for feeding time, was met by an angry lion who sunk his teeth into him, wounding him and leaving him limping.  The Medrash suggests Noach had performed a wrongdoing in his tardiness, a fact that seems astonishing given the situation in which Noach found himself as the one responsible for maintaining order in the most trying of conditions.  The Medrash tells us that each animal had to be fed to their specific requirements in terms of diet and timing and that Noach did not taste sleep for the entire twelve months confined in the ark.  Surely he cannot be reproached for one time that he was slightly less than punctual!

The solution to this difficulty is in understanding that the way we are judged is dependent on the time that we commit the offense.  Reb Elyashiv zt’l explains that although at other times, Noach would have indeed been blameless for an act of such minute and almost imperceptible negativity, at a moment when the entire world was undergoing destruction and rebirth, the level he was held accountable to was of a far higher degree of precision.  Perhaps as a reaction to a world destroyed due to its flagrant displays of greed and disregard for others, any act, however subtle, of selfishness, warranted some form of expiation.

If we consider our own lives, there are perhaps times in which we must look for a higher degree of perfection in our acts and performance of mitzvos.  Not all times are equal, and even if we cannot maintain a particular standard forever, this does not negate the necessity and power of deeds done even temporarily when the need arises.  When the Jewish people find themselves once again in incredibly perilous and grave times, do we not have to look to ourselves and ask if there is something more we can do?  We may lack the means and ability to do something physical for our brethren, but there is none of us who are unable to improve on our spiritual living in some way in order to gain merit for the Jewish people as a whole.  How can we not give at least this when there is so much at stake and so much we can do?

May Shabbos bring enduring peace and solace to all.

L’ilui Nishmas Leah bas Avrohom