The Waters Around Our Feet
A plumber arrived at a newly built house to finish installing the radiators. Opening the front door, he was met by a waterfall cascading down the staircase.
He rushed inside, turned off the mains and hurried upstairs. He had left a pipe fitted with a thermostatic valve, awaiting a radiator. When the temperature dropped overnight, the valve opened, flooding the house.
The plumber was experienced. What he had failed to foresee was the consequence.
Noach’s situation was different.
He did not fail to foresee what was coming. Hashem had warned him of the approaching Flood. He had spent years building the teivah, knowing precisely why he was building it.
Yet when the moment finally arrived, the Torah tells us:
וַיָּבֹא נֹחַ וּבָנָיו וְאִשְׁתּוֹ וּנְשֵׁי־בָנָיו אִתּוֹ אֶל־הַתֵּבָה מִפְּנֵי מֵי הַמַּבּוּל
Noach, his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives came with him into the Ark because of the waters of the Flood.
Bereishit 7:7
Why does the Torah say that Noach entered because of the waters?
Rashi explains:
מַאֲמִין וְאֵינוֹ מַאֲמִין שֶׁיָּבֹא הַמַּבּוּל
He believed, and yet did not believe, that the Flood would come.
Rashi on Bereishit 7:7
How can someone believe and not believe at the same time?
Rabbi Abraham Twerski brings an explanation in the name of the Steipler Gaon. A person might enter an area containing dangerous radiation to retrieve something he desperately wants, but would not enter a burning building for the same object.
The danger is real in both cases. But radiation is invisible, while flames make the threat impossible to ignore.
Noach believed that the Flood would come. The teivah itself was evidence of that belief. But the danger remained somewhere in the future.
Then the rain began to fall.
The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 32:6) tells us that Noach did not enter until the water reached his ankles.
What he knew was no longer somewhere in the future.
It was around his feet.
We recognise something of that hesitation in ourselves. A warning can remain with us for so long that we grow accustomed to living with it.
There are times when we must act before the consequence makes the choice for us.
Noach waited until the waters were around his feet.
We do not have to.
שבת שלום
שמואל
