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FLOODS AND ARKS
The Torah’s recitation of the events of the great flood and of Noach’s ark is well known to all of us, no matter our position on the religious spectrum of Jewish life. In reviewing human history since that time, it seems pretty accurate that we are always somehow perched on the precipice of a great cataclysmic event of horrendous consequences, whether man made, natural, or of climatic making.
In our time we are faced with recurring natural disasters that have taken hundreds of thousands of lives. We are faced with the threat of nuclear wars and untold destruction and with economic crises that sap the vitality of societies, nations and individuals.
The motto of King Louis of France après moi deluge – after me comes the flood – is an apt assessment of how the majority of humankind thinks today. There is very little optimism to go around. The messengers of hope and change are not very convincing in their words and certainly not in their deeds and policies. So, there is an overall malaise that besets us.
There are no big dreams or bold policies broadcast, little acceptance of risk and few visions of what can and should be accomplished. The great ideals and movements that marked the beginning of the twentieth century are now all shattered idols. Political rhetoric has lost all believability and the “kabbalist” soothsayers and human rights activists are, in the main, imposters. We pray for rain but are fearful of the flood.
Enter the ark. The ark symbolizes not only the salvation of one person and his family from the ravages of the flood but, more importantly, it symbolizes the ability to rise above our fears and innate pessimism and to salvage the purpose of our lives from negativism and nihilism.
As a reinforcement of this idea of an ark of salvation, there is also the natural phenomenon of the rainbow which represents an eternal covenant between humankind and the Creator that the flood will not recur. This rainbow is not to be misinterpreted or its impact to be exaggerated.
We have no guarantees against recurring disasters, natural and man made, of wars and strife, but we do have a promise that somehow human life will continue. It is incumbent upon us to make that life productive, meaningful and, in a true sense, eternal as well. The ark was and is the will of humankind to not only survive the omnipresent threat of the flood, but to somehow overcome its dangers. It is an attempt to reinforce the rainbow and not be distracted by the false messages of unrealistic hopes and, conversely, the prophets of impending doom.
Every generation is charged with the task of building an ark for itself. It is also instructed to teach the message of the rainbow to the next generation and to implant belief, tradition, values and a concern for others into the lives of those that will follow us here on earth.
All of this is true for humankind generally. And, it certainly is true for the Jewish people particularly. Israel, world Jewry generally, finds itself hemmed in by enemies and beset by great problems. We are the only people targeted openly by others and constantly threatened with ‘the great flood’. The world apparently is unaware that the fate of all is tied inextricably to the fate of the Jews.
One would have thought that the story of the twentieth century and its horrendous events would have made this lesson crystal clear. Obviously this is not the case. But we Jews have to continue building our ark. This little, seemingly flimsy ark has withstood all of the floods that time has thrown against us. We should revitalize ourselves, dream great dreams again, and see the great picture. We must not concentrate so much on the picayune details which so blind us to our accomplishments and goals.
We have to rebuild ourselves anew without discarding the treasures of our past. God promised the Jewish people a new heart and the ability to rise to all challenges. And, above all, we must educate our generation and future generations to observe the rainbow reflected in the Torah, and to pass on our teachings and our traditions.
Jewish ignorance, hedonism and the worshipping of false idols, all of which mask themselves as being the greater good, are the real floods that threaten our future existence and success. The rainbow teaches us that our ark is waterproof - and those generations and individuals wise enough to enter that ark will surely succeed in avoiding all future disasters.
