I remember, decades ago, when I was learning how to type on an actual typewriter as part of our middle school required curriculum, making so many mistakes on a particular typing assignment that—out of frustration—I would tear the error-ridden paper from the typewriter, crumple it into a ball, and toss it in the garbage. Then, I would carefully feed a fresh piece of paper into the typewriter and on that perfectly blank page, begin again.
This is exactly what the Torah tells us God does in our Torah portion for the week, Parashat Noach. Frustrated with how creation has turned out, God—in the form of a terrible flood—tears the paper out, crumples it into a ball, and tosses it away.
Interestingly, other ancient near-eastern cultures had their own versions of the flood story. In the most famous one, the gods are so annoyed with how noisy human beings are that they decide to get rid of us and flood the earth.
In our story, though, it’s not the noise.
וַתִּשָּׁחֵ֥ת הָאָ֖רֶץ לִפְנֵ֣י הָֽאֱלֹהִ֑ים וַתִּמָּלֵ֥א הָאָ֖רֶץ חָמָס׃
“The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:11)
It’s an important, meaningful change and distinction. What frustrates and annoys God in our story is the way we treat one another. Instead of building communities of respect, law and order, and love, we devolved into lawlessness, corruption, and violence.
What’s powerful and meaningful to me about this verse, and its interpretation, is that it imagines a God who cares about the way we treat one another and the way we treat the world. It is not a trivial idea to imagine that in this vast universe, God cares about the way in which we infinitely small human beings act. It’s astonishing. In a universe with an estimated 300 billion trillion stars, how could what we petty little mortals do possibly matter to God?
But in our story, it matters deeply. God notices our behavior and has a rather strong opinion about it. As it turns out, how we behave is so important to God that when we get it—as we often do—terribly wrong, God is so disappointed that God decides to rip out the paper and start over.
I find this idea quite inspiring. Choosing to see the world this way, as our ancestors did, ennobles our existence and gives meaning to our lives. We believe that our actions matter on a cosmic level.
May this kavanah, this intention, this way of thinking, inspire us to be better in 5785 and beyond.
— Rabbi Yoshi