Stand your ground and stay dry

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 Imagine you are Noach.  The strong rule.  Robbery is a way of life.  Adultery is normal.   Hashem is non-existent in people’s consciousness.  People believe in the power of idols and the power of the Elites.  


What kind of inner strength would it take for one person, or even an entire family, to decide that this is not the way to live?  Now you may say that if Hashem appeared to you, you would also follow His instructions.  Maybe or maybe not, as we have seen throughout history. But more importantly, Hashem appeared to Noach because he was “completely righteous.” He and his wife chose to live a moral life even before Hashem spoke to him.


Now imagine the derision and harassment you would receive while building the Ark by hand and telling people there will be a flood.  


The people of his generation made fun of this one 500-year-old man with the fantastic claim that the whole world would be destroyed for its robbery and immorality.  They even threatened that if a flood did come, they would destroy the Ark and not let Noach get in.  Noach and his family - the only people in the world following the path of righteousness -  tolerated all this opposition.  Every day he cut down trees, made planks and logs, and built a huge building the size of two football fields, all because he believed that he was right and the whole world was wrong.  


He did it, and because of him we are here to tell the tale.


People talk about the great Noach and the flood, the Ark, the raven and the dove.  The animal sacrifices and the rainbow, and Hashem’s covenant never to allow the entire world to be destroyed or the seasons to cease.  But do we ever stop to think about Noach’s continuous determination??  That is truly inspiring!


When there is an opportunity to bring goodness, light, and purpose to the world by fulfilling the mission Hashem has laid out for us, it doesn’t matter what the rest of society says.  


Politicians, pundits, the press -  “the authorities”-  all have an opinion.  And those opinions are often contrary to morality and righteousness.  Doing the right thing is hard, sometimes leading to being ostracized, because the establishment speaks with a concerted voice.  


Noach is our inspiration.  We have the Torah and we have our path.  We may not be able to change everyone’s opinion, but we can definitely continue to do what Hashem wants of us.  And in the long run, that is what will save the world.

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