This week a friend shared with me the following story. His tefillin were unavailable and he had to catch a flight. It wasn’t a very long flight, so he figured he could borrow someone else’s tefillin upon landing. He would be back the next day, so it would just be a one-off situation.
However, life doesn’t always go as planned. His flight kept getting delayed. Soon he realized that if the flight got delayed any further, he’d miss the window of opportunity to pray with tefillin.
So, he did something bold. He asked the flight attendant to disembark. “If you get off the plane, you won’t be allowed back on.” He had no other way to get to his destination that day. If he deplaned to go home and pray, he would miss his entire trip altogether. And, it was an important trip.
But, tefillin is a daily requirement. “I’m getting off,” he replied. Some things require sacrifice – and this is one of them.
As soon as he got off the plane, he saw another Jewish person with tefillin – right there in the waiting area! He immediately asked to borrow his tefillin, with his newfound friend readily obliging. He prayed in tefillin right there at the gate.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the flight was further delayed and still at the gate when he finished. He asked the gate agent if he could get back on the plane. Amazingly, without debate, they said yes.
Moments after he reboarded the plane, it finally took off to his destination!
As I heard this amazing story of Divine Providence, I was reminded of a teaching from this week’s parsha.
In Parshat Noach we are taught that Noach was, arguably, a negligible Tzaddik. He was a great guy but paled in comparison to Avraham and Moshe. Noach saved his own skin – by virtue of his righteousness. But, he did not bother praying for the salvation of others.
Conversely, Avraham argued with G-d to forgive the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Moshe was even greater because he didn’t merely argue with Hashem and accept Hashem’s answer. Instead, He gave G-d an ultimatum. If you don’t forgive the Jews for the sin of the Golden Calf, erase me from the Torah! That’s the epitome of devotion and leadership.
The truth is that Noach had a valid excuse. He didn’t pray for the people because they had no merits. Avraham and Moshe were able to use their own or their ancestor’s credits to crusade on behalf of others. But, Noach lived in such a dark time that there was no way Hashem would respond affirmatively.
Nonetheless, Noach is not chosen as the Founder of the Jewish people or the Deliverer of the Torah. He remains a plain old good guy. As a human being he was fabulous. And, that’s why the universal Seven Laws of Noach are named after him. But, he doesn’t stand up to the cause of Judaism.
To be uniquely Jewish is to go beyond the letter of the law. In situations where you have a valid excuse, you won’t be liable for failure. But, the Torah teaches us that’s not enough. Saving your own skin is still selfish. Going above and beyond is the way of Avraham and Moshe.
When faced with the dilemma on the airplane, my friend chose to be an Avraham and a Moshe instead of a Noach.
And, this is not a discredit to Noach. In fact, it’s not disparaging. He had a valid excuse.
At the end of the day, Noach himself would prefer that the Torah not accord him status as a perfect Tzaddik. He would not want to be the poster child of virtue. If Noach were mistaken for the penultimate righteousness, subsequent generations of humanity would learn from him and mimic his ways. And, stop right there. Many would be oblivious that he had a valid excuse.
Then, it would be on his watch that people are not persevering further.
Noach would rather play second fiddle, absolving him of inadvertently misleading others.
Noach taught us a lot – by what he accomplished and by what he whiffed on.
With this lesson in mind, it wasn’t a complete whiff after all.