In this weeks parasha we read about the big flood that wiped out and destroyed everything and everyone except for noach, his family the animals he was commanded to bring on the ark. This parasha also mentions the Tower of Babel which is followed by the scattering and separation of the people. While there is an abundance of interesting aspects we can learn from, like humanity’s relationship to the creator and the symbolism of the flood, I would like to write about an aspect that is very relevant to my life right now.
I am dedicating this year to learn about and refine myself, that’s why I came to zfat, surrounding myself with Torah. It has been two months since I arrived and all I am feeling is the bliss of learning and being with pure people, thank g-d. Recently though, I have come to ask myself how my character change will occur; the painful awareness has struck me that growth always comes with challenge and pain. Thus, I am looking for ways to dig inside myself and work on my deficiencies. Let us try to learn how we can achieve that by taking a deeper look at the parasha.
The following idea is based on the Baal Shem tovs teachings and the rebbes sicha (Likkutei Sichos Vol. 10 2nd Sicha).
After the land had dried , noach planted a vineyard and got drunk from the wine, after which he uncovered himself in his tent. When noachs sons Shem and yefes realized that their father is in his tent, naked and drunk, they did not want to cause more shame to him so “they walked backwards, facing backwards, and did not see their father’s nakedness.” This conduct was rewarded by noach blessing his sons.
Why did the verse emphasize that they didn’t see their fathers nakedness if that is obvious because they were walking backwards, even repeating this twice?
We can try to understand this through the teaching of the Baal Shem tov; „When a person sees a matter of evil in another, this is a proof that a replica of that evil is actually found within him.“ – meaning that seemingly other peoples deficiencies are actually a reflection of something that is inside of us if it causes us to feel negative emotions. There are a few things that need to further be clarified.
Why can’t we just accept the fact that we do not carry the evil inside of us that we find in this other person, that we just have the clarity to see this within someone else? Does it always have to be a reflection of ourselves?
To answer this, we first have to become aware of the fact that no evil that we witness is coincidence – it in fact is brought to us with a specific purpose. Ask yourself: how do you internally handle witnessing this form of evil? This is the point where we truly need to reflect and delve deeply into ourselves. Are we guilty of similar behavior?
If we feel disgust or some form of rejection, it means we bear a resemblance of this evil inside of us, the purpose of this experience being the opportunity for recognition and fixing. One might ask why we need to come to the conclusion that we need to work on ourselves through other people? Often, our self love covers our ability to reflect and brings us to live in delusion – only the negative emotions when seeing evil within another have the power to bring us to the awareness that there is actually something lacking within our very selves, triggering contemplation.
But what if after honest reflection we can say that there are no such feelings awakened inside of us? This can be a sign that we have the power to help this person resolve their negative traits and that being why this person is crossing our path.
It is all dependent on our perspective – we can either learn about ourselves and become a better person through the new things we have come to learn or help another person through the gifts and good traits we have. All it needs is us looking deeper.
Just as we would not further judge or contemplate on another persons negative traits, so did the sons of noach make sure to not look at their father and talk about his state (thus the emphasis on them entering his tent backwards) but rather focused on how to help him and bring the shameful situation to a closure. Shem and Yefes were not guilty of holding this deficiency in their own soul, and it was completely negated from them on a personal level.
This inspires me to not gossip or judge but rather reflect and help.
Even if we can’t change another person, we have the power to change ourselves and that means changing the world.