Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bereshit
- Noach
Buy a new computer or hit "restart"?
In Parshat Noach the world was destroyed and everyone (except Noah and family) was killed as a punishment for their immorality and bad deeds. It would seem that this flood and destruction is analogous to doing a "restart" to a computer and trying to renew the world all over again, as if nothing happened. In actuality, if one looks closer, the world before and after the 'Mabul' (flood) is not the same place at all. It had changed and has a new format.
Before and After
Before the Deluge, the Mabul, man was not allowed to eat animal meat. After the Mabul, he was promised that he could. Human beings and animals were somewhat equal before the Mabul occurred because animals and all creations were on a higher level. After the Mabul, the world became more spiritual for humanity and the level of the wildlife declined.
Before the Mabul, the land was punished for not obeying Hashem's commandment to the letter (Rashi Bereshit 1: 12). Hashem commanded the land to grow "fruit trees" and the land created instead "trees that only grow fruit". After the Mabul, the land became part of the permanent nature of the four seasons and thus no range of free will (Bereshit 8: 22).
The world had too many forces which eventually got out of control, therefore G-d needed to change the character and nature of the world.
A "Nature Reserve" of an Ancient World
Rabbi Yochanan relates in the Talmud that the Mabul didn't occur in Eretz Yisrael (Zvachim 113).
Maybe what he is trying to teach us is that we have a chance to fix the world. We have a remaining "nature reserve" of an ancient and unique world that has already been extinct (Jurassic Park?). The Talmud states that in the future the barren trees will give fruit (Ketubot 112). This can be understood as a tikkun (fixing) of the natural law during the time of the creation of the world.
In summary, we are surely heading towards a better world. As the world changes, we must decide what to salvage and what we need to give up on. What's for sure, though, is that there is great hope to the world.
Rabbis in Midrash
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
