“אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת
נֹחַ נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק .../These are the offspring
of No’ach; No’ach was a righteous man …” (Breishis 6:9) The strange construct of this first pasuk of
our parsha requires an explanation.
Rashi cites the Midrash which explains that the offspring of the
righteous are their good deeds. What
does this mean? What are Chazal teaching
us? After all, not only the righteous
perform mitzvos. What is special about
the mitzvos that the righteous perform and what does it mean when Chazal say
that those mitzvos are their “offspring”?
In order to understand this Midrash we need to understand
that actions are imbued with meaning by the intent of the one who performs
them. Two people can fulfill the exact
same mitzvah, perform the same action, and yet the results of their actions can
differ. Certainly every mitzvah,
regardless of who performs it, has spiritual ramifications. God structured the world so that effects in
spiritual realms are dependent upon our physical actions in the material
world. A tzadik, though, can lay claim
to the spiritual effects of his mitzvos.
They affect him directly. The
reason, the Sfas Emes explains, is that the tzadik identifies so strongly with
the mitzvos he does. The tzadik puts his
life energy into the mitzvah that he performs.
In Iyov we find, “... וּמִבְּשָׂרִי אֶחֱזֶה אֱ-לוֹהַּ/… and from my flesh I will perceive God.” (Iyov 19:26) To the extent we put our life energy towards
the fulfillment of a mitzvah, we perceive its effects.
To the extent we do a mitzvah with all our strength and for
the moment of the mitzvah, are totally dedicated to it, we will experience the
spiritual effect of the mitzvah.
The Sfas Emes, therefore, understands this first pasuk of the
parsha literally. Because No’ach united with his wife as a
tzadik, for the purpose of fulfilling a mitzvah, the result of the union were
offspring who were worthy as they reflected his intent.
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