Parshas Noach - The Flood as Preparation for the Days of Moshiach

00:00 There was a great chossid and rabbi in the time of the Rebbe Maharash named Reb Zalman Neimark, Reb Zalman of Starodub. He was the rabbi of Starodub, a chassidic Jew and a great Torah scholar. In his journal, published in Reshimos, the Rebbe relates what he heard from his father-in-law, the Frierdiker Rebbe, about this chossid, Rabbi Reb Zalman Neimark: In the time of the Rebbe Maharash, there was once an entire blood libel. It’s a story with many details. They wanted to accuse the Rebbe Maharash of helping young men obtain exemptions from the Russian army. Rabbi Reb Zalman Neimark then took the whole matter upon himself—all the blame and all the responsibility—and spent some time in prison. He said, “When I realized how precious the Rebbe Maharash’s hours were to me”—meaning that he did not want the Rebbe Maharash drawn into the matter and his holy time taken up. For the Rebbe Maharash, every hour, every minute, was immensely valuable. So he took the whole matter upon himself. It seems this was something the rabbis [unclear]. Later, after he had been released from prison, in 5652, several years

01:45 after the passing of the Rebbe Maharash, he came to a wedding in Lubavitch. It was the wedding of the Rebbe Maharash’s daughter, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, who married Reb Moshe Horenstein. Her brother arranged the wedding; her father was no longer alive, as the Rebbe Maharash had passed away at a young age. The Rebbe Rashab handled all the wedding arrangements as well. The wedding was in Lubavitch, and there was great joy. At that wedding, the Rebbe Rashab delivered Chassidus at great length. They farbrenged all night. That night, the Rebbe Rashab, of blessed memory, delivered a maamar of Chassidus on the teaching of our Sages: “Anyone who enjoys the wedding feast of a groom and does not bring him joy transgresses with regard to five voices.” He explained this teaching according to Chassidus and spoke about it throughout the night. It was a very profound maamar, one of the first revelations through which the chassidim came to know the Rebbe Rashab’s depth, the depth and richness of his thought, and his distinctive way of delivering Chassidus. There are several stories about that wedding, but we’re telling this one in connection with that chossid, who sat through the entire farbrengen and listened to the maamar of Chassidus. Dawn had already broken; it was early morning, at the end of the night, when the Rebbe Rashab finished delivering the Chassidus. Reb Zalman Neimark emerged so deeply moved that he exclaimed, “And Moshiach doesn’t matter to me.”

03:26 There was no longer any need for Moshiach. What he meant was: Moshiach is already here. He said that all he wanted was to be included in the Divine Essence. After hearing Chassidus like that, a person is ready and wants to become one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. And for me and for him, [unclear], to be included in the Divine Essence—that was the goal, the entire goal that emerged from that maamar of Chassidus. Afterward, they prepared to go to the mikveh. It was already morning, and everyone was getting ready to go. The Rebbe Rashab, of blessed memory, got up and went himself, while the chassidim waited outside. Reb Zalman Neimark then said, still so overwhelmed by the teachings of Chassidus and by the revelation: “What does he need the mikveh for? Far more than he needs the mikveh, the mikveh needs him.” He used the language of the Rambam, who says at the end of the Laws of Mikvaos that tumah and taharah are decrees of Scripture. With all these words, he wanted to express the tremendous wonder and excitement that had seized him after that maamar. Years later, the Rebbe wrote the details of the story in a letter to Reb Zalman Neimark’s grandson, who was then living in Jerusalem, in the Land of Israel. He wrote down the story, the things

05:00 he had heard from his father-in-law, the Frierdiker Rebbe, and added that the basis of the story rests on what the Rambam writes. At the end of the Laws of Kings, the Rambam says that “the Sages did not long for the days of Moshiach” in order to become great rulers, or so that they could do this or that. The only reason the Sages longed for the days of Moshiach was to be free to study Torah and its wisdom, and to know Hashem alone. As the Rambam says in the well-known conclusion of the Laws of Kings and Their Wars, the whole desire for Moshiach to come is so that people can study Torah and serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know Hashem.” And “the Jewish people will be great sages and will know hidden matters,” as it says: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.” So that was the point of his words: through studying Chassidus, we already have Moshiach, because the whole point of Moshiach is that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem,” and we have that through studying Chassidus. By contrast, in today’s study, Parshas Noach, we speak about the Flood—the opposite of “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem.” When we learn the parsha according to its plain meaning, the story of the Flood is a story of punishment that came because “all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu said that He was going to destroy the earth: “And behold, I am destroying them with the earth”—that He was going to lay waste,

06:31 as it were, to the world, bring the Flood and wipe out all living things. Noach and his sons survived in the ark and began a new world. When we learn the story of the Flood according to its plain meaning, it appears to be a punishment. But as is well known, the Alter Rebbe comes along in Torah Or, in the maamar “Mayim Rabbim,” and the works of Chassidus explain that the whole purpose of the Flood was just the opposite. It was not a matter of punishment—or at least, not only punishment—but of purifying the earth. After all, if Hakadosh Boruch Hu had wanted to bring punishment, He could have done it in an entirely different way. This went on for a whole year, with forty days of flooding, with water, with [unclear], and all these details. Seemingly, that was unnecessary. If Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants to do away with the world, He can do it in a moment—one, two, three—by ceasing to create it. There’s no need for a whole story. There must have been something deeper here. Chassidus explains that the Flood is connected to the mikveh; it is analogous to a mikveh. A mikveh contains forty se’ah, and it purifies. In the same way, the forty days of the Flood correspond to the forty se’ah of a mikveh, and the Flood came to purify the earth. Because the world was full of corruption, because the world

07:58 was soiled by the sins and transgressions of that time, it needed to be purified and refined, so that it would become a more delicate, more refined world, one that could be worked with and refined further. That is why Hakadosh Boruch Hu brought water—a mikveh—to purify it all. But here a question arises: Why is it called “the waters of Noach”? Seemingly, Noach’s experience was exactly the opposite: he was saved from the Flood; he was not part of it. Why is the Flood called “the waters of Noach”? Here we come to the inner meaning: the Flood was specifically a matter of tranquility, a matter of rest. As we said, the Flood brought purification to the earth, refined the world, and created a new, refreshed world—“a new world,” as the Midrash says: “Noach saw a new world.” It renewed and refreshed the world and made it a refined world, more delicate and better suited to be worked with afterward and made into a dwelling place for Hashem. As explained in Chassidus, the whole story of the Flood was so that afterward people could work on and refine the world and prepare it for the Giving of the Torah, along with everything that followed in the Torah’s accounts after Parshas Noach—Lech Lecha and onward, Avraham and the Jewish people, with all the details of the history

09:20 of the Jewish people. This is one reason that when we pray Mussaf on Rosh Hashanah, at one of the first moments of the prayer, an auspicious time, we mention Noach in the Mussaf prayer: “You also remembered Noach with love and attended to him with a promise of deliverance and mercy.” How does the story of Noach enter the Mussaf prayer, when we are speaking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King? The whole matter is alluded to here: what the Flood accomplished, how it set the world in order and prepared it so that the Jewish people could later be “chosen by You from every people and tongue.” And the entire process of purification came through Noach’s ark. So, as we said, when we speak about Noach’s ark, it is analogous to a mikveh. We find two aspects to a mikveh. Here we come to a wonderful explanation the Rebbe gave in Tishrei—if I remember correctly, it was in Tishrei 5746. The Rebbe then delivered a very interesting sicha and brought new depth and richness to the whole subject of Noach’s ark. When we compare Noach’s ark to a mikveh, we find two aspects to a mikveh: a mikveh serves to purify a person from tumah, but it is well known that a mikveh also has

10:47 A matter of added purity. We do not go to the mikveh only to become purified from impurity. A person who is already pure also goes to the mikveh to attain an added measure of purity. The Kohen Gadol is given as an example: on Yom Kippur, he went to the mikveh not once but several times—five times. Each time he went, he attained a new level of purity. Of course, this was not purification from impurity; it was an added measure of purity. This is the deeper meaning, the whole significance of the mikveh, as explained even in halachah, in the laws of Yom Kippur. Similarly, when we say that the mikveh has these two aspects—the removal of impurity and an added measure of purity—then, since the Flood is compared to a mikveh, both aspects are present there too. We find a remarkable Midrash. The Midrash on our parsha says the following about Noach’s ark: at the beginning of creation, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world, it says, “And the spirit of G-d hovered over the face of the waters.” The world was full of water; it was water within water. The Midrash on our parsha asks: When Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world, before the creation of man, what was His praise?

12:12 The Midrash says: “The praise of Hakadosh Boruch Hu rose from the waters.” In other words, everything was full of water, water within water, and through that, “the praise of Hakadosh Boruch Hu rose from the waters.” That was how things were at first. Then, on the third day, “Let the waters beneath the heavens gather into one place, and let the dry land appear,” so that man could be created. Dry land appeared on the third day so that man could be created, live in the world, and serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When the Flood came, Hakadosh Boruch Hu saw that the state of humanity needed to change. He saw that there needed to be a reversal: once again, “His praise would rise from the waters.” So when we look at this Midrash, we see something remarkable about the Flood. Not only was it not merely a punishment; more than that, it was not even merely a purification from impurity. The Midrash speaks here of holiness: just as at the beginning of creation, “the praise of Hakadosh Boruch Hu rose from the waters.” One could say about this [unclear]. There was only water, and that was “the praise of Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” When we say that in the Flood everything turned back into water, it means that once again there was “the praise of Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” That is what the Flood was about. It was the praise

13:52 of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is also, in a sense, what the mikveh is about. The Flood came [unclear], and similarly it will be in the future, in the days of Moshiach. Indeed, it says: “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.” That is the image in the verse, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea”; it will be “as the waters cover the sea.” Just as there was water at the beginning of creation, and “the praise of Hakadosh Boruch Hu rose from the waters,” so it was with Noach: during the Flood, once again “His praise rose from the waters.” And similarly, in the future there will again be “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.” [unclear] This explains the significance of Noach’s ark. It is exactly what will be in the future. The verses tell us how a Jew is to conduct himself in the future. In the future, “the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid”; “They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.” There will be no conflict or war—not only among people, not only among Jews, but even among animals and wild creatures. All will live in peace and tranquility; “they will neither harm nor destroy,” because the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem. [unclear]

15:38 That is exactly how it was in Noach’s ark. In the ark, everyone lived together: the lion and all the other animals were together. Although a lion is a dangerous animal, when they were brought into the ark, it was like a Garden of Eden there, with peace and rest. This is the state King Shlomo describes, a state of peace and tranquility, like what will be in the days of Moshiach. So already in Noach’s ark, one could see a place where Moshiach’s revelation was manifest: “They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.” When there is knowledge of Hashem, there is no need for conflict, anger, jealousy, hatred, or killing. Why will the wolf be able to live with the lamb? Because “the earth will be filled with knowledge.” The same applies, quite simply, among people. Conflict, politics, war, anger, hatred, killing, and cravings—all these come from a lack of understanding. When each person is closed up within himself, understanding is lacking. Even a small child gets angry when he lacks understanding. Without it, people get angry at everything, and jealousy, hatred, cravings, killing, and all these things follow. But when “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem,” there is understanding, and people can act

17:11 with a shared understanding, find solutions, live together, and understand how to live with the entire world. That is how “they will neither harm nor destroy” will come about. And that is what happened in Noach’s ark. The ark was surrounded by water. The Flood has several levels of meaning. On the physical level, it came to destroy the wicked people who had corrupted the earth. But on a deeper level, it came to cleanse and purify the earth, to refine the world and prepare it so that a dwelling place for the Creator could be made through the service of Torah and mitzvos. And the inner meaning of the whole story of Noach’s ark is preparation for the revelation of Moshiach. Because the world returned to being “water within water,” it could afterward be refined. That is the work being done in the world, which is now drawing closer to the revelation of “they will neither harm nor destroy,” of “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem.” One might ask: There was already “water within water” at the beginning of creation. Why was there a need for a world of water again in Noach’s time? The answer is simple. At creation, “water within water” meant that a world in its own right had not yet begun to exist. The world did not yet have an existence of its own. But in Noach’s time, the world already had its own existence, and together with that there was “water within water.” That made it possible to bring knowledge of Hashem into the world, to make the world a vessel for “they will neither harm nor destroy.” It is not that the world should come to an end, so to speak, or that this should not enter this world. Rather, it must happen within the world, as

18:49 the world exists in its own right. Within the world’s existence, the truth of “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem” must be revealed—the truth of Hashem’s oneness, of “there is nothing besides Him.” This must take place within the world, within the world’s own existence; there, the truth and the reality of Hakadosh Boruch Hu must be revealed. The Rebbe once said at a farbrengen that this is what we find in Rashi: after the days of the Flood had passed, Hakadosh Boruch Hu swore that there would never again be a Flood that would destroy the world. And when the earth dried, Rashi says, “It was dry as it should be.” It was properly dry, on the second day. What does “as it should be” mean? On the simple level, it means that it was dry enough for Noach to leave the ark. This was in the month of Cheshvan, on the seventeenth day. But the Rebbe noted that the words and expressions of the Torah contain allusions; Rashi, too, alludes to this in his wording in the holy tongue. According to the inner dimension of Torah, “dry as it should be” uses the word “halachah” specifically. “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea” refers to the revelation of the inner dimension of Torah, the revelation of Hashem’s oneness. Yet at the same time, Rashi says, “dry in accordance with halachah.” The Torah is not meant to erase the world, but to enter the world of halachah, the world as it exists in its own right. That is the whole purpose of halachah: there is a world, and in that world we need to know how to conduct ourselves. That is “dry in accordance with halachah.” The ultimate intent is not to remain in a state of “water within water,” with no world at all. There must indeed be a world. And that is the oath Hakadosh Boruch Hu swore: that there would never again be a Flood.

20:27 And after the world has been nullified to G-dliness—“the earth will be filled with knowledge of Hashem”—the ultimate purpose is for that “knowledge of Hashem” to shine within the world’s reality, within the vessels of the world, so that the truth of “there is nothing besides Him” is visible in the physical world. This is the true revelation of the days of Moshiach. When we are at the time of Noach, in the month of Tishrei, and entering the month of Cheshvan—as the Rebbe once said, the month of Tishrei is [unclear], “water in water”; Tishrei is entirely holy, entirely G-dliness, entirely Yom Tov, entirely sanctity—when we leave Tishrei and enter Cheshvan, the month of weekdays, we must take all that bittul, the entire approach, all the G-dliness revealed in “knowledge of Hashem,” and bring it into the world, into life, in a way of “[unclear] as it should be.” We must fill the world with G-dliness, so that “the earth will be filled with knowledge of Hashem” is visible in the world’s reality. Not that there will be no earth, but that within the earth itself, “as the waters cover the sea” will be visible. This is the preparation for the revelation of the days of Moshiach. We can see this, too, in what Hakadosh Boruch Hu said: “Then the offering of Yehudah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Hashem, as in days of old and ancient years.” The Midrash says this refers to the days of Noach. This is the revelation of “They will neither harm nor destroy,” the revelation

21:43 of our righteous Moshiach. May it indeed be very soon, in our days, when “the earth will be filled with knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.”