These Are The Voyages - Parshat Noach

One of the most famous introductions in American culture starts with the words, "Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, whose 5 year mission is to….boldly go where no man has gone before."1 In introducing this starship, we do not repeat its name rather we go into an explanation of its significance. This would seem the correct and appropriate way to introduce anyone. 

Yet, in this week's parsha, Parshat Noach, we open up saying, "these are the generations of Noach, Noach was righteous…"2 The Torah repeats his name, and this actually seems more like another famous cinematic introduction, "My name is Bond. James Bond."3 But at least in this intro, Mr. Bond is adding more info about his name as well. In our case we just repeat his name - Noach, Noach. Why the repetition? The Midrash picks up on this repetition and explains: "Noach (translated literally as pleasant) to God and Noach, pleasant, to Man." The Torah teaches us that Noach was able to be pleasant to both God and Man without one overshadowing the other. He was able to strike a balance which set him apart from others and ultimately allowed him to be saved.

It is not always easy to keep that balance. There are even differing opinions about Noach's behavior and whether one or the other should even take preference.4 How do we decide? In general how do we balance differing outlooks that we might have? How do we prioritize?

Throughout this balancing act, are we still pleasant with God and Man? Does the discussion with a spouse get out of control while we are balancing? Do our kids suffer because of this? Do our religious practices create situations where we are impatient with people? Or do our religious practices suffer because we are trying to appease man? Can we really be Noach (pleasant) to all? Is being pleasant always the correct path? Is there a price that we pay in our physical or mental health? Does it create too much pressure to always be pleasant?

The answer is clear though not simple. Each situation demands its own individual and appropriate response. This makes it harder. It also makes it easier. We need not be tied down to a specific way of behavior no matter the situation. We can allow ourselves flexibility and creativity. Chazal also stressed the need for these complementary skills.5 Our ability to be resilient while staying true to ourselves is one of the greatest skills we have to leading a successful, balanced, and healthy life. As leading logotherapist, Dr. Steven Southwick quotes a leading CEO: "A person’s level of resilience will determine who succeeds and who fails. That’s true in the cancer ward, it’s true in the Olympics, and it’s true in the boardroom.”6 How resilient we are in our struggles and challenges will determine how successful we are at life as well.

Whether we view Noach's goal - being pleasant, Noach, to all - as positive or negative, the struggle to find balance and be resilient in facing our challenges will in itself give us strength to succeed.

Notes

  1. Captain Kirk, Star Trek Introduction; Star Trek, The Original Series, Paramount Pictures. Every show started with these words.
  2. Bereishit 6:9
  3. James Bond, almost every film/book about James Bond by Ian Fleming
  4. The Baal Hassulam expresses the view that mitzvot wich are between man and his fellow man should take preference and will lead to pleasantness with God while the writer of the Man D'Amar blog believes that our pleasantness with God should be our top priority. https://orhachaim.co.il/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9F-%D7%93%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8-%D7%A0%D7%97-%D7%9C%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%97-%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA/
  5. Sanhedrin 17a
  6. Southwick, Steven M.; Charney, Dennis S.. Resilience (p. 12). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition

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