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Make for
yourself an Ark... three hundred cubits its length, fifty
cubits its width, and thirty cubits its height (Genesis
6:14-15)
Rashi
(6:14) asks, G-d has many ways to offer salvation and
relief, why did he make Noach build an Ark? The magnitude
of work was unprecedented for that time - it took Noach one
hundred and twenty years of hard labor to build the Ark.
Furthermore, during construction, people ridiculed Noach and
accused him of being old and mentally deranged. (Talmud
Sanhedrin 108B)
Rashi
states the purpose of the Ark was for people to see Noach
and ask him what he was doing. Noach would answer, “In the
future, G-d will bring a flood upon the world.” The answer
was intended to inspire the world to repent.
If
everyone despised Noach, how would it help to build an ark?
As the
Torah explains, humanity was completely corrupted of all
values. The world was deserving of punishment. However,
without sufficient warning it would have been an injustice.
G-d gave the world proper notice but the people were too
focused on Noach’s craziness to realize “perhaps we are
corrupt and vacant of morality.”
G-d was
ready to spare the world and provided a one hundred and
twenty year opportunity to repent. But the people preferred
to preoccupy themselves with ways to denigrate Noach.
Shabbat
Shalom
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