Personal Traits Are Offspring
This week’s Torah portion is about Noach, or as many know it, Noah. In this portion, G-d instructs Noach to bring much more than 2 of each animal, but all animals are to be brought on board an ark that is being built, in pairs. This is because the future depends on the entire bio-system and each species is entitled/needed for its contribution and right to exist. The balance in the parts speaks to the need to bring scorpions, rats, cats, etc - things that will be natural enemies on board.
How can they co-exist for the time on the ark? Some will be born and some will die. And what about the vegetarian animals? Noach is a story that challenges the logistic expert - how do we plan for the immediate future with a keen eye on the long term needs.
The Torah portion also has a peculiar beginning. It starts off by saying, “These are the offspring of Noah." But instead of listing his sons and daughters right after that, the Torah tells us, "Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generation." Seems odd that offspring of Noach are personal traits. Why is that? According to Torah sages, more important than Noah’s children, or what he leaves behind for the future, is his mitzvoth; why he is so revered.
As members of our community, the members of this board have taken upon themselves the work of the congregation, by volunteering their time, sacrificing the precious commodity from our families. In some form, we do this to make a better future for our community. But the Torah teaches that as important as it is to sacrifice our time with our loved ones, it is more important to do the good deeds and worthwhile things, like mitzvah observance and character refinement that we accomplish in our own lifetimes.
So as we prepare for our current and future needs, and learn from our past, we move forward in time to accomplish the needs of our congregation with a good heart and mitzvoth for the community.
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