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Friday, October 28, 2011

noach

The posuk says, ויבא נח ובניו ואשתו ונשי בניו אתו אל התבה מפני מי המבול : Noach, and his sons,and his wife,and his sons' wives with him,went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.
Rashi explains why it says מפני מי המבול : because of the waters of the flood. It should have said that he went in because 'ה told him to. He says that even Noach was מקטני אמנה; he believed, and he didn't believe that the flood would come, so only when he was forced in by the waters, did he enter the תבה.
Asks the באר יוסף, how can we say Noach was lacking in his trust of 'ה after we said that Noach was completely righteous and was told straight from 'ה that he was going to bring the flood, & then he worked for 120 years building the תבה. Could it be that he lacked trust in 'ה?
There's another posuk that says ואתה קח לך מכל מאכל אשר יאכל ואספת אליך והיה לך ולהם לאכלה : take for yourself from every food that is eaten and gather it for yourself that it shall be for you and them as food.
There are a couple of questions on this posuk. First, why does it say take for yourself from every food...? It should have just said take from every food. Also, why does it start with "take for yourself" & then end with "it shall be for you and them as food"? Shouldn't it have said take for yourself and them?
The ש"ך & תפארת יהונתן answer, that if Noach had to bring along food to feed all the animals for an entire year, even one hundred arks wouldn't have sufficed to carry all the food. So 'ה made an enormous miracle and told him to prepare food just for himself, and with that little bit of food there was enough for him and everyone in the תבה for the full year.
That's why the posuk says take for yourself, for he only took food for himself, & then it says for yourself & them, for that food will be enough for you & them.
We see from here how much trust Noach had, that he went into the תבה with thousands of animals and almost no food, completely trusting 'ה. So again, how does Rashi say he was מקטני אמנה?
The באר יוסף says, in truth, Noach knew and believed that if the people wouldn't do teshuva the flood would come. There was no doubt in his mind. However, he thought that since 'ה had given an extra seven days as a last attempt for the people to do teshuva, 'ה, in his infinite mercy, would keep pushing it off until they actually did teshuva, & wouldn't have to bring the flood. Therefore, he waited as long as he could to go into the תבה.
Now if that's the case, why does Rashi call him מקטני אמנה? He had complete faith, he just thought 'ה would give more time.
Answers ר יצחק ווארקא, that the way to read the Rashi is not that Noach was מקטני אמנה, but rather that Noach believed in the קטני אמנה & thought that they would do teshuva. Therefore, he didn't believe that the flood would come. He waited until the last second, hoping the people would repent, showing us that it's never too late to do teshuva & even if we wait until the last second we can always come back!

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