Torah Portion - October 23, 2009
D’var Torah Parashat Noach: Genesis 6:9 - 11:32
Rabbi Mark Kram, Temple Beth Or, Miami , FL
I was at Publix one day and gave the cashier a $20 bill for the groceries (I know, when did your groceries cost less than $20?!). She gave me back some change, but actually miscounted, and returned to me MORE than I was due. Ethical dilemma: What do I do? Ignore it? After all it was only a few dimes worth, and Publix makes a good living from my family. Pretend that I didn’t notice? After all, it’s “found money.” What should I do?
You could say that it depends on your mood. IF your day has consisted of driving up and down US 1 and been cut off by innumerable rude and aggressive drivers. You didn’t sleep well the night before. Your child called and said, “It was just a fender-bump,” on her car. You argued with your partner at work; and lost what you thought was a new lead to a lucrative business.
You basically had a bad day.
And then Publix – extra change returned. Somehow, the universe may be saying that it will be all right.
Our Torah portion this week asks the same question, but more directly about Noah. It asks, “How good WAS Noah really?” The portion says that, “Noah was a righteous man in his generation – ish tamim bedorotav.” What does that mean? Was he a righteous man; or a righteous man in his generation (that is, compared to others of his generation)?
Was Noah better than the others who were a part of that evil generation, making him just “OK” compared to other ages? OR was he exemplary because to be good in THAT generation had to be a real leap! To act in commendable ways in spite of everyone else who was bad, is even MORE difficult!
It depends on your perspective. Sometimes you just don’t feel like “being good.” Sometimes we’re angry or hurt or pushed too many times. But on the other hand, when we do what is wrong, we live with that – a blemish on our soul. Even a small one. When we do what is right – return the change, for example – we live with that too. AND with the satisfaction that somehow we contributed to the good in our world. That perhaps the scales tilted to the right and the just, rather than to the corrupt or ignoble.
Yes, I returned the change, if you wanted to know. And for that moment, and for the surprised look on the cashiers’ face, it was right with the world.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Mark Kram