Noble Noach and Nobel Al
Bereishit 6:9
To change yourself, judge before you love. To change others, love before you judge!
Environmentalism and Morality
He was concerned about the future of the planet. He foresaw ever-worsening climatic conditions that could result in an environmental catastrophe capable of eliminating all life on earth. He tirelessly warned people, he pleaded with people. His name was Noach. He was not heard, nor was he awarded a Nobel Prize.
Noach and Al Gore are both communicators of inconvenient truths. Why was the one mocked while the other received a Nobel Prize today? Gore’s call to action is primarily around man’s use of technology. Our mindless use of technology is destroying the very environment that nourishes us and protects us. By modifying the way we harness the forces of technology, we can save the planet, argues Gore. Noach’s message was a different one. He asked people to change their conduct, their moral standards, and their ethics. People understand the causal relationship between carbon emissions and global warming, but they do not understand the causal relationships between immoral behavior and environmental chaos. Al Gore presents his case with scientific data. In the world of spirituality there is no scientific data, only the intuitive knowledge of what is right. Prophets can rant and rave about the ill effects of people’s behavioral choices on society, but unless people feel the truth of that message in their guts, they will not respond. A case for the linear cause and effect of carbon emissions on global warming presented as brilliantly as Al Gore’s, will convince people of the need for change far more easily than Noach’s sermons calling for Teshuva, change and increased moral consciousness.
Noach vs. Avraham
Interestingly, although Noach’s message was by its nature and its content an unpopular one, he is still criticized by Chazal for having been ineffective in bringing about any change at all in his society. He saved no one but his own family. Twice in the first verse of theParsha, Rashi brings Noach’s character flaws to our attention. Once by quoting the view[1] that although Noach stood out for his righteousness in his own generation, he would have been insignificant in Avraham’s generation. The second by alluding to Avraham’s capacity for independent righteous thought and action compared to Noach’s need for moral support.
The comparison with Avraham is an important one. Avraham too lived in an immoral age. He too stood for a different belief than anything accepted in his time. But, unlike Noach he motivated vast social change: lasting and universal. Avraham teaches us a different methodology for influencing others to change their conduct. Unlike Al Gore who uses data, and unlike Noach who used the threat of impending calamity, Avraham used chessed (warmth, empathy and kindness). Avraham showed the people of his time an alternative lifestyle founded on a different set of values and beliefs. He didn’t lecture and preach to them. He allowed them to experience the power of monotheism intuitively and emotionally as recipients of his authentic hospitality and kindness. People could not help comparing the richness, dignity and spiritual depth of Avraham’s home with the relative superficiality of their own lives. They drew their own conclusions and did not need a derosho (sermon) from Avraham. For Avraham, chessed was not an activity but a character trait that permeated every aspect of each of his interactions with everyone. His sincerity, passion for G-d, and love were compellingly seductive. Noach used mussar (self-discipline), Avraham used chessed.
Mussar is a tool for self-improvement, not the improvement of others
Mussar is appropriate for self-development, the more appropriate way to inspire others to improvement is not mussar but chessed. Mussar, when applied to others, is judgmental and in most cases causes the other person to become defensive and to resist the message and any desire to change. Treating another with respect and chessed challenges them to greatness without judging them. The chances of change are greater. We should constantly judge ourselves, but reserve our judgments of others whose deepest motivations and subconscious drivers of behavior, we will never truly understand[2]. To change yourself, judge yourself don’t love your self. To change others, love them don’t judge them!
Noach did not change mankind but he did save it. He did not get a Nobel Prize for that, but he is commended for his righteousness inhis time and is recorded for all time in G-d’s Torah, for having been noble.
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