Wednesday, October 22, 2014

mabul - will hashem really never bring another one

We are familiar with the story of the mabul.  This question sometimes gets a bad rap, but it must be asked.  Everything in the Torah teaches us some halacha, hashkafa, or mussar. What does the mabul  teach us?

The Rambam explains that the mabul is fundamental to Judaism - in fact - it is the basis for one of the thirteen cardinal principles of faith:

והיסוד העשירי שהוא יתעלה יודע מעשה בני אדם ולא הזניחם, ולא כדעת האומר עזב ה' את הארץ, אלא כמו שאמר גדול העצה ורב העליליה אשר עיניך פקוחות על כל דרכי בני האדם, ואמר וירא ה' כי רבה רעת האדם בארץ, ואמר זעקת סדום ועמורה כי רבה, הרי אלו מורים על היסוד העשירי הזה.

The tenth principle of faith, commonly misunderstood to be that Hashem knows what goes on in this world, is actually much more than that.  (Hashem's knowledge of what goes on is really assumed by the first few ikkarim of G-d's existence and ultimate perfection.)  The tenth ikkar is that Hashem cares about, and therefore reacts to what we do.  Hashem is not, as per the deistic conception, a watchmaker who leaves his creations to do as they please - rather, he cares that we behave in certain ways, and will react to encourage obedience and discourage rebellion.

The proof is the mabul - Hashem saw the evil of man in the time preceding the mabul - and he didn't just shrug it off.  To the contrary, Hashem destroyed the entire world because of it.

How ironic, then, that the force of this ikkar seems to be blunted by Hashem's subsequent promise to never destroy the world, (seemingly) even if we were to deserve it.  Are we then back to the watchmaker model, where Hashem is no longer mashgiach in the happenings of the world, or at least, only to a much lesser extent?

The question is really stronger than that, though, because the rambam takes the lesson of the mabul further in his yad hachazaka (teshuva 3:1):

אדם שעונותיו מרובין על זכיותיו מיד הוא מת ברשעו שנאמר על רוב עונך. וכן מדינה שעונותיה מרובין מיד היא אובדת שנאמר זעקת סדום ועמורה כי רבה וגו'. וכן כל העולם כולו אם היו עונותיהם מרובין מזכיותיהן מיד הן נשחתין שנאמר וירא ה' כי רבה רעת האדם. ושקול זה אינו לפי מנין הזכיות והעונות אלא לפי גודלם. יש זכות שהיא כנגד כמה עונות שנאמר יען נמצא בו דבר טוב. ויש עון שהוא כנגד כמה זכיות שנאמר וחוטא אחד יאבד טובה הרבה. ואין שוקלין אלא בדעתו של אל דעות והוא היודע היאך עורכין הזכיות כנגד העונות:

The Rambam writes that an individual who sins will inevitably die from his sins.  (The hebrew is miyad -- see here where they explain that as inevitably.  Its the best explanation I've seen so far, though I'm certainly open to other possibilities.)  Similarly, a wicked province will inevitably be destroyed, and if the world were to become more bad than good, the world would inevitably be destroyed.  Proof: the mabul - but Hashem promised to never destroy the world again?

Its important to understand where the Rambam is coming from, and why the question is more on the havtacha of the keshes than on the rambam himself.  Sevara is squarely with the rambam:  If we believe in hashgacha, and we believe in din, how can Hashem promise to not destroy the world even if it deserves it?  That violates the Rambam's ikkarim of hashgacha and tzedek!

In the back of the frankel rambam they ask this question, and suggest that perhaps Hashem's havtacha was only to not destroy the world through water - but he could still destroy it through other means.  This is certainly a possible answer, but it makes G-d's havatcha and seeming consolation to Noach a farce -- who cares that Hashem won't bring a mabul if he will instead just bring a giant volcano?

I'm still looking for answers, and I'm open to suggestions.  But I think the following might be the answer.

The Chayei Adam brings that because the keshes is a siman that Hashem really wants to destroy the world, it is a siman ra and one who sees it shouldn't point it out to his friend.  Its not obvious that the keshes is a siman ra; even if it is, I still believe the chayei adam is incorrect.

The Seforno writes:  והיתה לאות ברית. בהיות הקשת כפולה כי אמנם נלאו חכמי המחקר לתת טעם לסדר צבעי הקשת השנית, אשר הוא על הפך סדר צבעי הקשת הראשונה המורגלת, והיא תהיה אות לצדיקי הדור שדורם חייב, כאמרם "כלום נראתה הקשת בימיך" (כתובות עז ב), ויתפללו ויוכיחו וילמדו דעת את העם:

The whole point of the keshes is to inspire teshuva - because of that, it davka is important to spread the news of a rainbow so that people know that Hashem is angry and we need to do teshuva.

The seforno goes a step further in his understanding of the keshes, and this I think will answer for the rambam:   וראיתיה לזכור ברית עולם. אשגיח במסובב ממנה, והוא תפלת הצדיקים ועמדם בפרץ למען אשיב חימה מהשחית, כמו זוכר "ברית עולם":

Hashem didn't make any blanket promise to not destroy the world.  The keshes inspires teshuva - Hashem will see that teshuva, and because of that teshuva, he won't destroy the world.  If c''v that teshuva would not materialize, then it is scary to think about what could happen.  Because as the Rambam told us: וכן כל העולם כולו אם היו עונותיהם מרובין מזכיותיהן מיד הן נשחתין שנאמר וירא ה' כי רבה רעת האדם.

Whats the moral of the story?  The next halacha in rambam:

לפיכך צריך כל אדם שיראה עצמו כל השנה כולה כאילו חציו זכאי וחציו חייב. וכן כל העולם חציו זכאי וחציו חייב. חטא חטא אחד הרי הכריע את עצמו ואת כל העולם כולו לכף חובה וגרם לו השחתה. עשה מצוה אחת הרי הכריע את עצמו ואת כל העולם כולו לכף זכות וגרם לו ולהם תשועה והצלה שנאמר וצדיק יסוד עולם זה שצדק הכריע את כל העולם לזכות והצילו. ומפני ענין זה נהגו כל בית ישראל להרבות בצדקה ובמעשים טובים ולעסוק במצות מראש השנה ועד יום הכפורים יתר מכל השנה. ונהגו כולם לקום בלילה בעשרה ימים אלו ולהתפלל בבתי כנסיות בדברי תחנונים ובכיבושין עד שיאור היום

(parenthetically, this rambam answers a question people always ask:  why do we act differently during aseres yemei hateshuva - isn't it just a game?  The answer is that we're trying to chap one more mitzvah, one more zechus, to save the world.  Do we appreciate that?  We should --  its not a joke).

This is hard to internalize - its quite harsh.  But with G-d's help, we should all merit to be a tzaddik yesod olam.


8 comments:

  1. See http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/10065/rainbow-as-a-bad-omen

    "The Midrash (Bereshit Rabba 35:2) tells us that there were two generations that did not see a rainbow. Rashi (Ketuvot 77B) explains that when the generation has leaders who are perfectly righteous, the generation does not need a rainbow so that G-d can remind himself not to destroy the world."

    Why isn't the answer that the expectations have changed since the mabul, like the pasuk says 8:21 - "And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done."

    It is true that the verses describing the rainbow comes later, but maybe this is along the same lines. So there is definitely the same hashgacha, but punishments need expectations and when the expectations change, so do the applications of punishment.

    The Rambam that you've quoted is a very difficult Rambam to understand. I heard shiurim from Rav Matis Weinberg where he explained in a very complex way, but the Rambam is saying "Darsheini".

    Baal Hachalomos

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  2. I very much enjoyed the piece, Your call for an awakening from spiritual somnolence is both neccesary and inspiring. As an aside, as the biblical flood story is clearly an adaptation from the more famous one in the Epic of Gilgamesh, it may prove intellectually rewarding to study the lessons the epic supposed to convey. Contrasting the variations between the two tales may also shed light on the specific messages the author of the bible was attempting to teach.
    Tzafnas Paneach

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    1. Re: Baal hachalomos.

      I saw that site actually. The Midrash and Rashi don't actually say anything about whether a keshes is a siman ra. Rashi simply says that a tzaddik, like a keshes is an os that Hashem will not destroy the world. This has no bearing on the question concerning the keshes as a siman ra.

      I don't understand your answer to the q. Tachlis, can Hashem bring a mabul if we deserve one or not?

      Re: Mr. Paneach.

      I appreciate your approval, although it does make me a little nervous when we both agree. Luckily, I became calmer when I read your epic of gilgamesh nonsense on which we can thankfully disagree. I wrote a paper on the epic of gilgamesh in ninth grade. I await your evidence that the bible is an adaptation of the epic; it seems more likely to me that both recount a true historical event (the mabul).

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  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. But maybe the similarities stem because both are based off a historical event?

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    2. From a literary perspective it seems quite clear that the author of the bible was influenced by the epic of gilgamesh's style; read the links.
      Tzafnas

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    3. enough with your kefirah. the author of the bible was moshe rabbeinu and he wrote the word of g-d. i wont have links to atheist websites on my blog, so i will have to take down your previous post. you can post a new set of links minus the atheist ones.

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    4. http://www.religioustolerance.org/noah_com.htm
      http://www.magickalshadow.com/gilgamesh.html
      For an interesting alternative: http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/stable/10.2307/20840003?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=The&searchText=Bible&searchText=and&searchText=the&searchText=Epic&searchText=of&searchText=Gilgamesh&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DThe%2BBible%2Band%2Bthe%2BEpic%2Bof%2BGilgamesh%26amp%3Bprq%3DBiblical%2Badaptation%2Bof%2BEpic%2Bof%2BGilgamesh%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bso%3Drel
      Tzafnas Paneach

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