On the subject of י״ז Cheshvan, the 17th day of the month of Cheshvan, because we find in Chumash in פרשת נח, קפיטל ז׳, פסוק י״א, it says: בשנת שש מאות שנה לחיי נח בחדש השני בשבעה עשר יום לחדש ביום הזה נבקעו כל מעינות תהום רבה וארבות השמים נפתחו, which means in the second month, the 17th day of the month, that's the day when the mabul, the flood, started. And in Chazal we find two opinions when this was, as Rashi brings down straight on the pasuk. Rabbi Eliezer says this was Cheshvan, and Rabbi Yehoshua says it was Iyar. So according to Rabbi Eliezer, the mabul started on the 17th day of Cheshvan. So therefore we're going to discuss the meaning, the inner meaning of what happened during the mabul. In pashut pshat, it seems as if the mabul was a punishment for the aveirot, as it seems from Chumash, that since מלאה הארץ חמס, the world was full of robbery, the people of the world at that time were all בעלי עבירה and they did all the aveirot, therefore, Hashem punished them and He brought the mabul. And not only did the people do aveirot, but also the animals, etc. And therefore Hashem brought the mabul to wipe out the people and the animals, to destroy the world. But b'emet, if this was the only reason why Hashem brought the mabul, in order just to punish the people and the animals, to destroy the world, then Hashem would have just done it that the people and the animals would have died. Why did Hashem have to make it so that there should be a mabul which lasted for 40 days, and then also there was a cheshbon of 150 days, and till it was all over it lasted for a year? Why didn't Hashem just make that all the people who were bad should die? And the fact that He made this all happen in the form of a mabul is a re'iyah that there was much more to it.

And it's explained in sefarim that the mabul was not just to destroy the people, to destroy the animals, which means to bring destruction to the world, but the mabul was also a form of taharah. Because the people were so low, because the world was so low, therefore Hashem wanted to purify the world. And therefore He brought a mabul of water, because water is a remez of purification. Just like bagashmiyut, water cleans, and also beruchniyut we know that when a person is tamei, he is unclean, the way to become tahor is by going to the mikveh, which is water, so too, did Hashem want to be metaher the world, He did it by bringing a mabul of water. And that is the reason the mabul lasted for 40 days, this is a remez of the 40 seah of a mikveh. We know that a mikveh must have enough water that כל גופו עולה בהן, that the person's body could completely be covered with the water, and the שיעור חכמים said was 40 seah. So since the mabul was similar to a mikveh, the mabul also lasted for 40 days, which is the same number of 40 as the shiur of a mikveh. And after the mabul, the world was purified, and then the world was able to start all over again in a good way. But be'emet, we have to say even more than that, because according to this it comes out that even though we say the mabul was not only just as a punishment, but also as a purification, but it means it was a purification for the aveirot that they did, being that the people did aveirot, therefore the world lowered itself in a lower level, so Hashem had to purify it from the tumah, from the ירידה, and therefore Hashem brought the mabul.

But from the Midrash it comes out that the mabul was not only because of certain bad things that happened, but the Midrash says that by the time of the mabul, it was even more than that. It says in Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit Rabbah פרשה ה׳, in the beginning, it says: מתחילת ברייתו של עולם לא היה קילוסו של הקב״ה עולה אלא מן המים. In the beginning of the creation of the world, the praise of Hashem came only from water, because it says that the world was full of water in the beginning, so the praise of Hashem came only from water. And then it says that when the דור המבול came later, ומרו בו, they they revolted against השם, אמר הקב״ה, השם said: יפנו אלו, let these go away, ויעמדו ויבואו אותם שישבו בהם מקודם, let those that were there before come back. הדא הוא דכתיב, this is the pshat the Midrash says where it says: ויהי הגשם על הארץ ארבעים יום וארבעים לילה, that the rain was on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. Which means, as the Midrash says, that Hashem brought back the water as it was in the beginning of the creation. Just like in the beginning of the creation there was only water, and the praise of Hashem, so to speak, came from the water, so now Hashem said let that מצב come back, and again we should have the water, and the praise of Hashem should only come from the water. So from this Midrash it comes out that not only Not only was the mabul as a punishment, not only was the mabul to purify the world from the tumah it got, but at the time of the mabul it was similar to the way it was in the beginning of the creation. Just like in the beginning of the creation, when קילוסו של הקדוש ברוך הוא עולה מן המים, when the praise of Hashem came from water, it wasn't an ענין שלילי, a negative thing, meaning that it was in order to get rid of something else, to get rid of tumah or to get rid of dirt, etc., but it was in itself a positive thing that the world was at a מצב that the קילוס of הקדוש ברוך הוא, the praise of Hashem came from the water. So when the Midrash compares the water of the mabul to the praise of Hashem that came from the water in the beginning of the creation, it has to be the same way, that not only is it to get rid of something, whether it's a punishment or even to be metaher the world from its tumah, but it in itself is a positive thing that at that time it was similar to the beginning of the creation that the praise of Hashem came from the water. Now what does that mean? What is the peshat that at the time of the mabul the praise of Hashem came from the water similar to the way it was in the beginning of the creation? Lichorah, it seems that the mabul didn't come for that. The mabul came or to punish the people, or, as we said before, even more than that, to be metaher the world, but in itself there is nothing positive in the mabul. If the people wouldn't have sinned and the world wouldn't become tamei, then there would be no reason for the water of the mabul. Now here it comes out that even though it came because of the דור המבול, but nevertheless when the mabul was there, it was similar to the way it was in the beginning of the creation, which means that it's not only a punishment or a taharah from the tumah, but in itself it has a positive thing, that this is a form of קילוס of Hashem, of praise of Hashem.

In order to understand that, we have to explain that we know that everything that's written in the Torah comes from Hashem, that's obvious. And not only the halachot that are written in the Torah come from Hashem, but also the sipurim, the stories that are written in the Torah come from Hashem. And every word of Torah has the same kedushah as the most important inyan. As the Rambam writes in Perush HaMishnayot in Sanhedrin Perek Chelek in the יסוד הח', in the eighth יסוד, he says that there is no difference between the words of the תורה, ותמנע היתה פילגש, to the words of אנכי ה' אלקיך and שמע ישראל. Because everything, he says, came מפי הגבורה, והכל תורת ה' תמימה טהורה קדושה אמת, everything came from Hashem, so everything has the same kedushah. Just like it's understood that the deepest inyanim of Torah have a source למעלה, they come from Hashem and therefore they have very, very deep explanations, so too the סיפורים, the stories of the Torah also have deep explanations. As it's self-understood from the מאמר חז\"ל in the Gemara שבת דף פ\"ח עמוד ב' and Pesachim דף נ\"ד עמוד א' and the Midrashim, that it says that תורה קדמה לעולם, the Torah came before the world. So m'meila there must be inyanim in the Torah, in every word of the Torah, even in the stories of the Torah, the way they are higher than the world. Which means that even though it's a clear thing that אין מקרא יוצא מידי פשוטו, and the peshat of the Torah is the way we learn it down here, nevertheless being that תורה קדמה לעולם, so we must say that in every word of the Torah there is a deeper peshat, a רוחניותדיקע פשט, the way it's learned in the higher spiritual worlds, which are higher than עניני גשמיות. Now that we understand that there must be a spiritual peshat in every word of the Torah, even in the stories of the Torah, now we know that by Hashem there is no such thing as רע. לא יגורך רע, it says, that Hashem has nothing to do with evil. The inyan of רע, the inyan of evil is only down here. So therefore we must say that even those inyanim in the Torah which seem to be talking about inyanim, things which are bad, nevertheless the same inyan the way it's learned by Hashem, the way it's learned in higher worlds, it is only good. But the way the same inyan came down into this world, it is in a form that a part of it is רע. As we have a physical mashal to that: a father loves his son and loves him very much. If chas veshalom the son doesn't act properly, then the father will punish his son. Now this punishment is an expression of the father's love to the son. So the way it is נשתלשל, the way it came down as actually it affected the child, it was something which is not good, because it was a punishment and a punishment is not a good thing. But that same punishment the way it is within the father, that is definitely a good thing. That is the love the father has for the child. So when we look at the same maaseh, the father punishing the child, we will say that the way it came down into action it is a punishment, but the way it is in the source, which means in the place in the of the father where it came from, it is love that the father has to the child, which is נשתלשל to a concept of a punishment. The same thing with those inyanim in the Torah which seem to be talking about inyanim which are רע, that is the way the Torah was given to us and נשתלשל to us. But the source of it has to be good, and therefore everything that's written in the Torah is good. Even when the Torah mentions punishments, when the Torah talks about curses, chas veshalom, that the Yidden will have, the תוכחה, so it says in sefarim that באמיתיות, in truth, they are all good. They come down into this world in the form of bad, but the way the same inyanim are למעלה, they are all good. And the same thing must be concerning the מבול, that even though the way the מבול came down here, the way it affected this physical world in the form of peshat, it takeh was in order to punish the people or in order to מטהר the world, purify the world from its tumah, but in essence, the מבול, the way it is learned in higher worlds, in the source, there even the מבול is something good. And that is what the Midrash means, that in essence, what the מבול was, that at the time when the world was covered with the water, it is similar to the time the way it was in the beginning of the creation, where the קילוסא של הקדוש ברוך הוא אינו עולה אלא מן המים, the praise of Hashem came from the water. But how can we see that the מבול should be in essence a good thing and not as a punishment or a purification? Which way can we explain this, that the מבול should have a concept in it which is a good thing?

So this will be understood based on what the Rambam writes in the end of Hilchot Mikvaot, that the water of the mikveh are merumaz to מי הדעת הטהורה. It is merumaz for water of wisdom, pure wisdom. And the Rambam explains that just like when a person goes to the mikvah, he immerses himself completely in the water, this is a remez that a person is supposed to immerse himself completely in the water of דעת הטהורה, the water of the pure wisdom. And we could go a step further, that just like when you go to the mikvah, you are covered completely that you can't see the person, all you see is the water of the mikvah, which means that the person is completely batel, so to speak, within the water, the remez of the mikvah is that a person is supposed to be completely covered with the מי הדעת הטהורה that he is no metziut for himself. And therefore it says in sefarim that the word tevillah, which means to immerse in the mikvah, are the same letters as the word bitul. Tevillah is ט׳ ב׳ י׳ ל׳ ה׳, הביטול is ה׳ ב׳ י׳ ט׳ ל׳. The same letters, just in a different צירוף, in a different form, in a different combination. Because the remez of mikvah is the concept of bitul. Not only that you do a lot of learning, but it means that you put yourself in it so much that the person loses, so to speak, himself, he is not his own metziut anymore, his whole metziut, his whole being becomes the metziut of the מי הדעת הטהורה, which is the Torah. Just like when you go into the mikvah, you lose your metziut, if someone will look at the water, he will not see the person, he will only see the water, and the person becomes, so to speak, part of the water, so too is the remez of the mikvah that he's supposed to be batel completely b'metziut. And this is what happened at the time of the Mabul. At the time of the Mabul, the world was full of water, and the water represent the מי הדעת הטהורה, which is the Torah, which represents kedushah. That means that at that time, the world was batel b'metziut, there was no metziut of the world, it was in a level where it felt completely batel to Hashem. Just like it was in the beginning of the creation, where the whole world was full, as it says, מים במים, and the praise of Hashem came from the water, which means that at that time, the world did not feel itself as a metziut for itself. At that time, there was nobody and nothing in the world that should feel that it's a separate metzius other than Hashem. At that time, it was clear that אין עוד מלבדו, there is nothing but Hashem. And the way it expressed itself in a physical way was that the whole world was full of water, the world was immersed in the water and you couldn't see anything else but the water. So that expressed the fact that אין עוד מלבדו. At the time of the מבול, the same thing happened: the whole world was covered with water, and at that time it was felt that אין עוד מלבדו, there is nothing but Hashem, and the whole world is batel to Hashem. Really, this is similar to the way it's going to be לעתיד לבוא when Mashiach will come. Because the Rambam writes at the end of his sefer that באותו הזמן, at that time when משיח will come, לא יהיה עסק כל העולם אלא לדעת את ה׳ בלבד. The whole world will be involved just in knowing Hashem, and they will be full, דעה את ה׳, in the wisdom of השם, כמים לים מכסים, just like the water covers the yam. Which means that just like when you look at a yam, you don't see what's under it, it's covered completely by the water, which means that there is nothing here to the eyes of the person, there's only Hashem, that the whole world was immersed in the waters which came From Hashem, there was nothing there except Hashem, and even the תיבה with Noach inside, at that time they felt that their whole being and their whole existence is only because of Hashem, the reason they were saved is because of Hashem, so at that time the world felt the truth as it felt in the beginning of the creation, and as it will feel לעתיד לבוא when Mashiach will come. This will explain what it says in the Midrash, in Vayikra Rabbah פרשה ז, ד, there it says on the פסוק וערבה להשם מנחת יהודה וירושלים כימי עולם וכשנים קדמוניות, that Hashem is going to love the מנחה of Yehuda and Yerushalayim like it he did in כימי עולם, like days before, וכשנים קדמוניות, so the Midrash says, what does כימי עולם mean? כימי נח, like in the time of Noach, like it was in the waters of Noach, which refers to the מבול. But lichora, this pasuk refers to le'atid lavo, when the world will be בתכלית השלמות, it'll be to its highest level. How can we say at that time it will be like in the time of מי נח? But the answer is, as we explained, just like in מי נח, the waters of Noach brought out into the world this recognition that there is nothing but Hashem because the whole world was immersed in the מי הדעת התורה, so too will be le'atid lavo, that the whole world will be immersed, as the Rambam says, כמים לים מכסים, in the inyan of דעת את השם בלבד, only knowing Hashem. And since every year when a certain date that's mentioned in the Torah comes around, we have to think about what happened at that time and relive it, and take a lesson from what happened at that time, this is the lesson we're supposed to take for י״ז חשון, the time when the mabul started. That means that it was a time when Hashem brought into the world this recognition of אין עוד מלבדו, that there is nothing but Hashem, so we too, when this time of the year comes around, have to take some time to think about this inyan, that שמע ישראל השם אלוקינו השם אחד, there is nothing but Hashem, and אין עוד מלבדו. Because even though everyone knows that, but after all we do see other things in the world, and it's hard to get this feeling that there's nothing but Hashem, but when we think about it and we learn about it, it gives us the feeling and the understanding that this is true, and this is what we're supposed to do on י״ז חשון.