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Based on Mussar Avicha, Chapter 2
And the Flood blotted out all beings upon the face of the earth… only Noach and those with him in the ark survived…And G-d remembered Noach and all the animals that were with him in the ark, and G-d caused a spirit to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided….And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noach opened the window of the ark that he had made, and sent forth the raven, and it went out, back and forth until the waters dried up off the earth…. And he sent forth the dove to see whether the waters had abated…
Every story in the Torah has eternal relevance and contains lessons for future generations. Sometimes, these lessons are relatively easy to find. At other times, it is challenging to extract them. One solution is to read certain stories allegorically, to insist that they aren’t intended to be taken literally. According to this approach, the straightforward meaning of the Torah isn’t always factually correct, and sometimes conceals a true, deeper meaning. Many great Torah figures (such as Maimonides) made use of allegory, but others of equal stature were uncomfortable with sacrificing the literal meaning of the Torah to uncover deeper truths.
It seems that these two approaches are polar opposites. Either the ‘inner’ meaning or the literal meaning of the Torah is true, but they cannot both be true simultaneously. However, Kabbalah offers a way out of this apparent contradiction. According to Kabbalah, G-d’s supervision of the world is structured and mediated through certain channels. These channels shape the path of the spiritual development of all humanity (much of which is described in Sefer Bereishit), but they also apply to the development of each individual soul. Understood in this light, the central narratives of Bereishit are not allegories, but expressions of a profound spiritual architecture – one that, once understood, can guide every individual to develop a deeper relationship with G-d.
According to R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (a.k.a. the Ramchal), Noach’s time in the ark contains many lessons in this regard. In the Ramchal’s commentary on a section of the Zohar known as Idra Rabba, he writes that Noach had to be sequestered away while the floodwaters destroyed the world. During this time of seclusion, the inner goodness of the world was re-established under Noach’s direction. As Noach fed and looked after the animals in his care, he renewed the world on a basis of kindness and purity. However, Noach was not meant to stay in the ark forever. G-d wanted the fullness of his spiritual talents to be applied to a post-mabul world as well.[1]Even so, Noach did not simply run out as soon as the earth looked dry, but used the raven and the dove as scouts. He did not disembark until it was clear to him that the world was safe for him to re-enter.[2]
A similar process applies to moral and spiritual growth. Although G-d created us yashar, with an innate yearning for holiness and a desire to live rightly, we can unthinkingly drift into self-centeredness and pursuit of pleasure. But simply deciding to change is not enough. Once the will and intellect become subjugated to the desires of the body, they lose their vigor and cannot be immediately rehabilitated. Thus, after going astray, a person must withdraw the various powers of his soul, his strengths and talents, and gather them in like lines radiating outward that are pulled back to their focal point. There is a pain that comes from this period of constraint, while the “furious waters” (lit. מים הזידונים) rage outside. The soul, which yearns for freedom and independence, must instead bear a delicate pain of inwardness and limitation.
But the period of retreat from the world is not meant as an ideal. G-d wants a person to express himself vigorously in the world of action, to allow his G-d-given talents to flower forth in holiness. G-d wants our powers to eventually leave ‘confinement,’ just as Noach eventually had to leave the ark. Eventually, one succeeds in rehabilitating his will, purifying his desires and refining his character. Now, all aspects of his personality can be allowed to express themselves in a healthy, natural way. Physical life is now more than just a challenge or a temptation. It is an opportunity to infuse everything with G-dliness, an invitation to shape the raw material of worldly living according to the Divine plan.
But in bringing this period of retreat to an end, we must proceed gradually. It is not prudent to throw oneself back into the world of action. We must be confident that our powers are truly ready to be set free. We need to ‘test the waters,’ like Noach did when he sent the raven and the dove to check whether the earth was dry. He did not send creatures that could be endangered by the floodwaters. Similarly, we must find opportunities to re-engage our powers in a calibrated and cautious way.
Like Noach, we may find that when we try to leave, matters are not yet rectified. We may have to draw our powers back inward and defer setting them free to some later time, like Noach did when he gathered the raven back into the ark. But eventually, the “land” will be completely dry. At that time, G-d will command each of us serve Him with the fulness of our talents and abilities, with an unfettered soul full of strength, courage and healthy vigor. Eventually, G-d will tell each of us, like he told Noach – “Leave the ark!”
[1]It seems that this did not go as intended. Noach appears to fall apart after the mabul, and we aren’t told about any of his accomplishments after leaving the ark.
[2]Ramchal writes that the same process happened many generations later with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, when he spent thirteen years hiding in a cave from the Romans. Ostensibly, this was just a pragmatic choice that he made to save his life (see Gemara Shabbat דף לג). However, Ramchal writes that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai needed this period of seclusion to purify and prepare himself for the inner light of kabbalistic teaching that would eventually be revealed to him.
Food for Thought
Rav Kook (as reported by Rabbi Dr. Benjamin Levin, Hamizrach 1903): Literature, painting, and sculpting are able to bring to fruition all the spiritual concepts engraved in the depths of the human spirit, and so long as one brush is missing, which is stored away in the depths of the spirit – which ponders and feels – but has not been realized, there is still an obligation on the purposeful worker to realize it. The matter is self-evident, that only regarding those treasuries, that when they are opened will sweeten the air of all existence, is it good and beautiful to open them. ‘From every utterance which came out of G-d’s mouth, the entire world was filled with fragrance’ (Gemara Shabbat 88b).
Zohar (Beha’alotkha 152a): Woe to the person who says that the Torah comes to give instructions and tell descriptive stories or simple tales. If this were true, even in our own time we would be able to make our own ‘Torah’ out of simple stories, and embellish them even better than the Torah’s stories… Of course this is not the case. Every word in the Torah reflects higher wisdom and higher secrets… The narratives of the Torah are only the ‘outer garments’ of the Torah. Whoever thinks that this outer clothing is in fact the Torah and there is nothing underneath is spiritually backward and has no portion in the World to Come. So it was that King David begged, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things in Your Torah.” (Tehillim 119:18)
This ‘body’ of Torah is dressed in stories from this world. The fools of this world only look at this outer clothing of stories. They don’t delve into what is contained beneath the outer shell. Those who know better gaze upon the body beneath the outer shell. The wise ones, servants of the Highest King, those who stood at Mount Sinai, see through to the soul of the Torah that is truly her essence…
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch (The Nineteen Letters, Letter 4):From the slightest mental faculty… to the strength of your hand, with which you are able to bring about changes in Creation and to which the entire realm of nature and every being within your reach are subject – all of your capabilities are but tools lent to you, which will one day appear before the throne of G-d as witnesses for or against you, testifying whether you neglected them or used them well, whether you wrought blessing with them or curse.
Dr. Gregg Stern (TheTorah.com): Philosophic allegory is essential, according to Maimonides and his followers… who believe, for example, that no biblical reference to G-d’s body or G-d’s emotions may be understood literally. In such a case, the goal of the allegorist is to vitiate the surface meaning of the biblical text and allow its deeper philosophic meaning to shine forth. More frequently, however, the philosophic interpreter uses allegory to reveal, ever so carefully and selectively, the text’s inner meaning, without harming its superficial meaning. In this context, Maimonides refers to the biblical text as “an apple of gold, encased within a silver filigree.” This suggests that the text’s external meaning is only slightly less precious and should be preserved in the process of peering through its lattices.
Questions for Discussion
- Is there a special talent or aptitude you have that could make the world a more G-dly place? What can you do to bring out the potential you have in that area?
- Based on what happens later in the parshah, does it seem like Noach succeeds in re-entering the world in a proper way? Why or why not?
- Does the dynamic Rav Kook describes apply only to individuals, or to the Jewish people as well? If the latter, do you think we’re living in a time of retreat from worldly concerns or re-engagement with them? Why?
- How often does the cycle that Rav Kook describes occur? Is there a constant process of retreating and re-engaging?
- What are the spiritual dangers presented by being overly engaged in the broader world? In being overly withdrawn from the broader world?
- Based on the piece above, what do you think Rav Kook would say about young people in the Orthodox community feeling constrained in their career choices to law, medicine, finance, etc.?
- How do Rav Kook’s insights apply to the process of someone becoming a ba’al teshuvah?
