A Vort From the Rebbe: Noach
The tzohar Noach was told to build into the teivah, read as two levels of seeing Hashem through, and beyond, nature.
Part of Bereishit · 4:55
Unpacking Rashi's two opinions on the mysterious tzohar Noach was commanded to build โ a window, or a glowing gem โ the vort reads both as spiritual instructions: first, learning to see Godliness through the seeming concealment of teva, the way a businessman often notices hashgacha pratis more than someone who just learns all day. Then a higher level, where nature itself is recognized immediately as Hashem's doing without needing to look โthroughโ anything at all, which is what protects a person from the flood of the world's confusion.
Audio Transcript
A vort of the Rebbe for this week's parshah, Parshas Noach. In Noach we learn that Hashem told Noach to make a ืชืืื, an ark, and He described to him how to do it, what to do. One of the things He told him is, ืฆืืืจ ืชืขืฉื ืืชืืื, make a ืฆืืืจ to the ืชืืื. What's a ืฆืืืจ? The word ืฆืืืจ means comes has a a meaning of light. But what kind of light did He tell him to make? So Rashi says two pshatim. One is ืฆืืืจ, ืืฉ ืืืืจืื ืืืื, it means He told him to make a window, is to make a window in the ืชืืื so the light should be able to come in from the outside. ืืฉ ืืืืจืื, others say, ืืื ืืืื ืืืืจื ืืื. He told them to bring in a jewel, a gem, there are certain gems that give off light, bring in an ืืื ืืืื like that, which will bring in light. That's a simple pshat in Rashi. Now we know that the Alter Rebbe said that in Rashi we have ืืื ื ืฉื ืชืืจื, we have deeper meanings, there is lessons in ruchniyus that we learn in Rashi. So the Rebbe explains what's the ruchniyusdike lesson here. And he says like this: The inyan of light represents, means seeing the truth. Light doesn't accomplish anything, it doesn't make anything. Just when you're someplace and you can't see, you don't know what's there. You might make a mistake, you think something this, really something else, you don't know. But when there is light, light makes to see the truth. B'ruchniyus it means that the world itself doesn't show the truth. The truth is that everything comes from the Eibershter, everything is Godliness. But the world is made in such a way that we don't see that light. Godliness is hidden in the world. That's why it's called teva, the nature of the world. Teva has another meaning besides nature, it also means drowned, sunken. Godliness is hidden in the world. The inyan of bringing light into the world means to show to that you you'll realize the truth. So there is two ways that you could do it, two levels. Number one, the world is a blockade on the truth. It doesn't allow normally just regularly that you should see the truth of Hashem. And what you have to do is you have to make a window, that in spite of the fact that this is nature, this is teva, you could see through it and you could see Godliness in it. As we know the vort that is brought down in a Hayom Yom, that business people are able to see in their business more hashgachah pratis than somebody who sits and learn Torah all day. The way the business goes, even though it's business and he does things in derech hateva, he invests, he does things, he goes to work, but he could see many times hashgachah pratis. So there is a window that you could have through the nature that you see the inyan of the light of the truth of Hashem. So that's a first level. So there's a way that you should make a window to allow the light that's there to come through, you should be able to see it.
But then there is a higher level. Not only you still see the teva, but in the teva you can recognize that it all comes from Hashem, but like the stone, the stone is not bringing in light from someplace else, the stone itself shines. That's a remez to this inyan that it's possible to reach a level that when you see teva, you don't see teva, this is nature, but nevertheless, you recognize that this is from Hashem. Lechatchilah, when you see the teva, you realize that this is Hashem's work. That's a higher teva, higher a level of recognizing the truth of Hashem within the world. And those are the two things that we said that the pasuk says and what Rashi explains. That He said make a ืฆืืืจ, first make a window, that you have the teva, you have the blockade of Godliness, of the truth of Godliness, and nevertheless, you should make a window that you should see through it to see that in the teva there is Godliness. And then Yesh omrim, the second level, higher level, that you have an ืืื ืืืื, the stone itself, you have this stone represents also the gashmiyut, that the gashmiyut itself shines. If you reach a higher level, you could see when you look at teva, right away you recognize if you're on a higher level of understanding the truth of Hashem, seeing the light, you will right away the teva not see as a natural thing that happened, but you see this is a way that Hashem is doing His His things, and you see Hashem in the teva itself. And that's the way to get protected from the Mabul. The Mabul represents the floods of the velt that could flood and it could ruin things and it could take a person, mevalbel a person, disturbs a person from seeing the truth. So the etzah is you have to work on it, make sure that you're able to have the window to see the truth of Hashem in through the teva, and then also that lechatchilah should reach a higher level that lechatchilah when you see teva you see it in a way that it's so clear to you that everything's from Hashem that lechatchilah you see only the work of Hashem.