Where there's a Will... - Noach 5786
The Great Flood had happened. Noach and his family were back on dry land, and in appreciation, Noach offered sacrifices to Hashem. The Torah tells us Hashem’s reaction (Bereshit 8:21): “G-d [figuratively] smelled the appeasing fragrance (i.e., He acknowledged Noah’s appreciation), and in response, G-d said to Himself, “[I hereby swear that] I will never again curse the soil because of humanity, for the inclination of a person’s heart is [challenged by his] evil [inclination] from his [earliest] youth. Never again will I strike down all life as I have done.” Because the evil inclination challenges us from our youth, Hashem will be merciful and never again destroy all life. Now, let’s take a look at a remarkably similar statement in last week’s Parsha, and the end of Bereshit (Bereshit 6:5): “And the L-rd saw that the evil of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of his heart was only evil all the time.” Therefore, "I will blot out man, whom I created, ...