R' Bachyei 8:14 writes:
ואעפ״כ לא יצא עד שהורשה לצאת ואמר לו הקב״ה צא מן התיבה כי מפני שבא לתוכה מפני מצות ה׳ יתעלה לא רצה לצאת משם כי אם במצותו.
ואמרו במדרש כי מכאן למדו חנניה מישאל ועזריה שלא רצו לצאת מתוך כבשן האש עד שצוה להם המלך,
Noach did not leave the teivah until he was ordered to by G-d. Chananya Mishael and Azarya did not leave the burning furnace they were throw in until ordered by G-d.
You would think someone trapped in a boat for a year, or someone tossed in a burning furnace would leave as soon as the opportunity presented itself. But no -- Noach waited, Ch"M"v'Az waited until they were ordered out before leaving.
No matter how difficult the condition, people become acclimated to it and will refuse to deviate, even to return to what once the status quo.
Look what has happened to our own society in less than 2 years. Will we ever return to normal? Do people even remember what normal is anymore?
Yes, we will return to normal. In your lifetime did anyone ever mention the 1918 pandemic? Or the big outbreaks of polio in the 1950's? Did we have any medical precautions in place to prevent the spread of cholera?
ReplyDeletePeople are slow but stubborn. Within a few years and with a successful vaccination campaign this will all end and we'll find something new to worry about.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen Noach is commanded to bring the animals out of the teivah, we find a kri u’chesiv, a word that is written one way but read differently. The word is read הַיְצֵא, meaning that the living things should come out on their own, but written הוֹצֵא, implying that they should be taken out. Rashi explains that Hashem commanded Noach, “Tell them that they should come out; if they do not wish to come out, you take them out.”
ReplyDeleteA couple of questions present themselves. First, while the animals were kept safe in the teivah, they were still trapped there for an entire year, and on the outside was a fresh new world. Why would the animals want to remain inside, requiring HaKadosh Baruch Hu to issue Noach specific instructions regarding what to do if they chose to remain? Second, even if they would not want to leave, Noach would have understood on his own to take them out. Why did Hashem have to tell him the obvious?
Living things have the ability to adapt and conform to all types of difficult situations. You can coop up a person in deplorable conditions, feed him meager rations, and he will get used to it, making the best of what is clearly an imperfect situation. That is the positive side of the ability to adapt to difficult situations. Yet there is a negative side. Although given the opportunity to leave their current deplorable situation, some people would rather hold onto the slight good to be found in that situation and will therefore choose not to leave. Once having gotten used to a certain way of life, change becomes difficult to achieve.
This was the situation with the animals in Noach’s care, where all their needs were provided and they may have been “thinking” to themselves, I may be cooped up in cage, but I get fed every day and I do not have to fend for myself. As such, perhaps some animals would be dismissive of roaming free and living a normal life, and would instead choose to stay in the teivah. They would be willing to opt for the terrible conditions, with their slight benefit, rather than risking re-entering the world and normal life.
This is a lesson for all of us, and especially Noach, who was at the threshold of rebuilding. A person must think to himself, Is this the best situation for me, or is there a great wide world of better opportunity out there? Am I just staying in a prison of my own making, my personal teivah, because of fear of change?
The Torah is teaching us to constantly say, “I can do better! I can achieve more! I should not stay in my cramped quarters. I can have better relationships. I can have greater spiritual growth.”