RABBI WEIN ON PARSHAS NOACH

The opening parshiyot of the Torah portray a rather dismal picture of the human race and of our world generally. Everything noble and worthwhile seems to have spun away in a flood of vice, avarice, and murder. And this type of human behavior seems to have filtered down to the other forms of life on the planet as well. The great flood described in this week’s parsha can therefore be seen, so to speak, as a do-over, by God, of the time of creation. We all know the feeling that comes upon us when after working on a project for a period of time, when we become convinced of the project’s failure and are aware of the need to start all over again from the beginning, we must discard all that had previously been invested in the endeavor.