#592: Noah Phases and Abraham Phases
#592: Noah Phases and Abraham Phases
Rashi on Parashat Noaḥ, Bereshit/Genesis 6:14
Gimme Some Torah #592
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The Jewish story begins with Abraham. That being the case, why doesn’t the Torah begin with Abraham? Why do we first have to read the story of Noah and the ark? I think the major reason is that we are supposed to compare Noah with Abraham and learn something from their differences.
Both Noah and Abraham were righteous men. Both are described as people who “walked with God.” But Rashi says their righteousness differed in one important sense:
NOAH WALKED WITH GOD — In the case of Abraham, Scripture says, (Genesis 24:40) ‘‘[God] before whom I walked”; Noah needed God’s support to uphold him in righteousness, Abraham drew his moral strength from himself and walked in his righteousness by his own effort (Gen. Rabbah 30:10).
Noah, Rashi tells us, needed God’s assistance to be a righteous person. Abraham, however, generated righteousness all by himself.
We all go through Noah phases and Abraham phases of life. When we’re in a Noah phase, we don’t know what the right thing to do is and we need someone to guide us. When we’re in an Abraham phase, we can confidently identify the right path and walk it independently.
There is no question that Abraham was spiritually superior to Noah; it was he who created the spark that would one day become the Jewish people. But even so, we have to give Noah his due. Noah survived a trauma unlike anything Abraham had to face.
Abraham moved a mere 250 miles from Mesopotamia to Canaan. Noah, by way of contrast, endured the watery equivalent of a nuclear war. His world was utterly destroyed, and he was tasked with the job of rebuilding human society. So if he made some bad decisions (such as blacking out from wine consumption), we have to cut him some slack.
If you see someone mired in a Noah phase of life, help that person find the right path. And if you find yourself stuck in a Noah phase, look for the Abrahams around you who might be able to pull you out.
Discussion Questions:
If you had to rebuild human society, what is the first thing you would reintroduce apart from absolute necessities like food and shelter? Storytelling? Music? Art?
Do you feel you spend more time in a Noah phase or an Abraham phase of life? Explain your answer.
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Rabbi Eli Garfinkel is the spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Somerset, New Jersey. He is the author of The JPS Jewish Heritage Torah Commentary.
This framework is a useful metaphor for trust in society. The ultra-technological solution is to never rely on trust, so there's this idea of the "trustless transaction", especially in crypto (but just as relevant to traditional finance). Meanwhile, you have decent human beings trying to do business with one another, following their Abraham protocols.