English translation — נח ג

Sicha 3<pg>31</pg>

A.

"And God said, This is the sign of the covenant etc. for everlasting generations"<sup>1</sup>,

And it is brought in Midrash Rabbah<sup>2</sup>

: "לדרת is written,

excluding two generations

[in which the sign of the rainbow was not seen in the world],

the generation of Chizkiyah and the generation of the Men of the Great Assembly,

Rabbi Chizkiyah excludes the generation of the Men of the Great Assembly and brings the generation of R. Shimon<sup>3</sup>

ben Yochai".

And in Rashi's commentary on the verse this teaching is brought,

And his language: "For an eternal generation — it is written deficient,

that there are generations that did not need the sign because they were completely righteous like the generation of Hezekiah king of Judah and the generation of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai."

And already the commentators have noted<sup>4</sup>

about this,

that in the Midrash only these two generations are excluded,

"except for two generations",

that only in them there was no need for the sign of the rainbow

[and it is also understood from this that "Rabbi Chizkiyah excludes the generation of the Men of the Great Assembly and brings the generation of Rashbi"<sup>5</sup>,

that simply,

the reason that Rabbi Chizkiyah needed to exclude the generation of the Men of the Great Assembly

(and not only to add also the generation of Rashbi),

is because then they are more than two generations<sup>6</sup>]

; but Rashi writes "that there are generations that did not need etc.'"

(and did not write "two generations"),

because according to the simple meaning — the way of Rashi — it is not proven how many generations did not need the sign<sup>7</sup>

[And what Rashi wrote afterwards "the generation of Hezekiah etc. Rashbi"

(that he brings only two generations)

— he took as an example,

but one can say according to the simple meaning that there were more,

and according to the precision of his language<sup>8</sup>

"like<sup>9</sup>

the generation of Hezekiah etc. Rashbi"].

And they explained,

that this change depends on the manner of study from "ledorot": the midrash expounds the lack of the two vavs¹⁰,

and therefore it writes "except for two generations",

while according to Rashi this is learned from that "it is written deficiently",

namely that the overall deficiency in the word comes to teach us¹¹

that there is a "deficiency" in "ledorot olam"¹²,

that not all generations are included,

for several generations were omitted that were not needed for the sign of the rainbow.

And superficially it is logical to say,

that in addition to<pg>32</pg>

Their dispute regarding the manner of the midrash of the verses — if from "ledorot" only two generations were excluded,

or an unspecified number of generations

("there are generations")

— there is a difference between these two manners also in the content of the matter,

and as follows.

2.

And it can be said,

that the midrash and Rashi differ on the reason for the matter that these generations did not need a sign,

which can be explained in two manners: a)

that this is because of the merit of the righteous in the generation,

which protects the world.

b)

Because of the state of all the people of the generation,

that because of their righteousness etc. they do not need the sign of the rainbow,

that from the outset they are not deserving of punishment.

In Rashi it is explained "that there were generations that did not need a sign because they were completely righteous",

that the word "were" refers to the word "generations" before it,

that the generations themselves were completely righteous.

And from this it is understood,

that the examples that Rashi brings later,

"like the generation of Hezekiah king of Judah and the generation of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai",

his intention in this is not to emphasize the greatness of the righteousness of these two righteous ones&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;,

but rather that the people of the generation of Hezekiah and the people of the generation of Rashbi were completely righteous.

And as we find explicitly in Chazal&lt;sup&gt;14&lt;/sup&gt;

regarding the generation of Hezekiah,

that in his days "they searched from Dan to Beersheba and did not find an ignoramus etc. and did not find a boy or girl, man or woman who were not expert in the laws of impurity and purity, and about that generation it says etc." — and this is the reason that they did not need a sign.

[And even though this came about through King Hezekiah

(as related in Chazal there&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;),

nevertheless,

what is relevant here

(in the reason that they did not need a sign)

is not the greatness of the merit of Hezekiah in this,

but rather that in actuality the people of his generation were completely righteous].

But the midrash holds that the reason that these two generations were diminished from the rainbow is due to the greatness of the righteousness of Chizkiyahu and of

(the Men of the Great Assembly,

or)

Rashbi themselves.

And as is also understood from the continuation of the words of the midrash¹⁶,

which relates there about the words of Rashbi to Eliyahu the prophet regarding R' Yehoshua ben Levi¹⁷,

that since the rainbow was seen in his days he is not worthy to see his face,

from this it is understood,

that the virtue of not seeing the rainbow that was in the days of Rashbi is attributed to Rashbi himself

(and not to the people of his generation),

that from the greatness of the righteousness of Rashbi a rainbow was not seen in his days.

And so it is understood from what the midrash continues and explains further several virtues and praises of Rashbi,

for these praises add explanation in the reason that a rainbow was not seen in his days¹⁸.

[And it is also precise that one of the virtues of Rashbi that was brought in the midrash there is — the words of Rashbi that his merit is so great that he can bear¹⁹

all the generations "until King Moshiach"

(and as the language of Rashbi brought in the Gemara²⁰

"I can exempt the entire world from judgment")

— this is in accordance with that in his generation a rainbow was not seen,

for even if there were<pg>33</pg>

They are deserving of punishment,

but the merit of Rashbi protects them and exempts them from judgment,

and consequently they do not need the sign of the rainbow&lt;sup&gt;21&lt;/sup&gt;].

3.

And based on this it can be said,

that this is also the content of the difference between the opinion of the Midrash and the opinion of Rashi on the Torah, whether only two generations were diminished,

or more than that:

According to the midrash that only two generations were diminished,

this is according to his view that the diminution of the rainbow's colors comes from the side of the greatness of the righteousness of the tzaddik of the generation,

that in his ability he can protect the entire world,

that a tzaddik of such a level is not generally found²²,

and as is understood from this very thing that only Rashbi said about himself "I am able to exempt the entire world from judgment",

meaning that this is a novel matter even regarding other Tannaim and tzaddikim.

And similarly is the intent of the midrash regarding Chizkiyahu,

that also by him we find a special wonder,

as the saying of our Sages²³

that the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to make Chizkiyahu the Mashiach,

and since he was worthy to be the redeemer of Israel, it is understood that his merit was great to protect the entire world.

But not according to Rashi's approach,

that the intention is that the entirety of the generation were complete righteous ones

(because they were not liable to the punishment of the flood,

as will be explained below),

behold, this is not something unique only to the generation of Hezekiah and the generation of Rashbi,

for there were other such generations

(in the manner that is also brought in Chazal on the verse²⁴

"Grace is deceitful etc. a woman who fears God, she shall be praised" regarding the generation of Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai,

and others).

4.

And one must explain the foundation of the dispute between the Midrash and Rashi

(whether that these generations did not need a sign is due to the merit of the righteous one or because of the virtue of the people of the generation)

— that this depends on the definition of the need for the sign of the rainbow.

And with an introduction of a tremendous difficulty, seemingly, in this teaching of our Sages,

that only in certain generations they did not need the sign of the rainbow: The "sign" of the rainbow is,

as explained in the verse,

to recall the covenant that "there will no longer be waters of a flood to destroy all flesh"²⁵,

and simply,

the need for the sign is only when there is room for the punishment of a flood

(from the side of the evil of the conduct etc.)²⁶,

except that nevertheless there will not be a flood — because of the promise of the Holy One, blessed be He.

And it is perplexing: How can it be said that only when there are "completely righteous"

(according to Rashi's wording)

then they do not need the sign of the rainbow?

Behold, even if they are not completely righteous,

and even if they are wicked,

behold, as long as they are not in the state of the people of the generation of the flood — when the world was then at the lowest state,

"great is the evil of man<pg>34</pg>

In the land of G‑d…

And until “and the earth became corrupt…”

“all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth”

— there is no place for the punishment of the Flood

[As we see,

that before the Flood,

even though all the generations before this “were provoking and coming”

and already in the generation of Enosh

(the son of Seth)

they worshipped idolatry

nevertheless there was not such a punishment of the destruction of the entire world]

— and if so,

how can it be said,

that only in generations where “there were completely righteous people” they did not need the sign of the rainbow?

5.

And now, according to the homiletic interpretation, it can be resolved,

that the meaning is not that every time one sees a rainbow this is a sign that the world is in a state deserving the punishment of the Flood and the world is saved only by virtue of the promise of the Holy One, blessed be He

(mentioned through the sign of the rainbow)

— but rather that the Holy One, blessed be He, established the sign of the rainbow in the nature of creation

in a permanent manner,

as an eternal remembrance,

that even if the world should be in such a lowly state that it would be deserving of the punishment of the Flood,

we are assured

(by an oath

“I will not add” “and I will not add”)

that “no

longer will there be a Flood to destroy the earth.”

And therefore the rainbow is seen also in generations that are not deserving of the punishment of the Flood.

And this is also the foundation for the opinion of the midrash,

generations in which the rainbow was not seen&lt;sup&gt;35&lt;/sup&gt;,

this was because of the merit of the righteous of the generation

(the merit of King Hezekiah and the merit of Rashbi)

— and not because of the greatness of the righteousness of the people of the generation:

The reason for the absence of seeing a rainbow in these generations is not because only these generations were not in a situation that they are not deserving of the punishment of the flood — for certainly it is not so,

And on the contrary,

the majority of them, all of the generations, are not deserving of the punishment of a flood, heaven forbid; rather, this that the rainbow was not seen in their days comes to indicate the greatness of the merit of the righteous person who is in that generation&lt;sup&gt;36&lt;/sup&gt;,

that even if it were imagined that his generation was at the low point of the situation like the situation of the generation of the flood,

and also there was not the promise that "there will no longer be a flood",

nevertheless, in his merit they would not be punished

(as the aforementioned statement of Rashbi "I am able to exempt the entire world from judgment").

But in Rashi on the Torah it is impossible to explain thus,

for on the verse³⁷

"And it shall be when I bring a cloud over the earth, and the bow shall be seen in the cloud",

he explains "when I bring a cloud — when it arises in My thought to bring darkness and destruction to the world"³⁸.

From this it is understood,

that according to the plain meaning of Scripture,

this that "the bow shall be seen in the cloud"³⁵

is a result of that which arose in thought "to bring darkness and destruction to the world".

[For it is understandable in what is written later³⁹

"And the b-<pg>35</pg>

"I will see the bow in the cloud to remember the everlasting covenant"

it is possible to explain,

that the bow in the cloud is a constant matter,

but when it arises in thought before Him to bring darkness and destruction to the world,

then the sight of the bow will help

("and I will see it"),

that the Holy One, blessed be He, will remember, as it were⁴⁰

the everlasting covenant.

but not so in the verse "And it shall come to pass when I bring clouds etc.",

where it is said "and the bow shall be seen in the cloud"

(and not "and I will see it etc.")].

And the question returns to its place — how is it possible to say,

that throughout all the generations

(except for the few generations in whose days the bow was not seen)

the world was in a state such that there is a thought before Him, blessed be He, "to bring darkness and destruction to the world"

(like the generation of the flood)?

!

6.

And it seems to say regarding this — that according to the simple meaning of the verse,

the definition of the punishment of the flood that was negated by the promise of the Holy One, blessed be He,

is not only the negation of bringing a flood upon the entire earth,

but even upon a part of the earth⁴¹

[and the explanation of "and all flesh shall not be cut off"³⁴,

"and there shall no more be waters of a flood to destroy all flesh"⁴²

— its meaning is not all flesh together⁴³

("all" in the sense of the generality of things),

but "all flesh" means even one of the "flesh"^*43

("all" in the sense of "any",

like "you shall not do any work"⁴⁴,

"and any man shall not be in the Tent of Meeting"⁴⁵,

and more)].

Behold

(event,

'_dyn_edn_1')

"&gt;* the punishment of the flood is different from the other punishments recounted in the Torah,

that regarding the flood it is said⁴⁶

"and He blotted out all existence that was upon the face of the earth",

which indicates a matter of absolute annihilation,

and the reason for this is explained in the verse,

for the flood came not only to punish the people of the generation of the flood,

but because "and the Lord regretted⁴⁷

that He had made man etc. and the Lord said I will blot out man etc. for I regret that I made them",

that is,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, regretted, so to speak, the very creation of man

(and the other creatures),

and therefore He came to blot out and destroy the creation that He had made.

This punishment is a punishment of a special type.

For there are severe punishments,

up to punishments in a manner of annihilation,

and also in a manner that is lost not only the speaking being but also the animals

(like the punishment of the apostate city⁴⁸),

and up to that the land itself was corrupted,

in the manner of the overturning of Sodom and Gomorrah⁴⁹.

But nevertheless all this is only in a way of punishment,

that the people of the place sinned so much in the eyes of G-d,

until they became liable for annihilation to the place

(and up to that there is a need to destroy their place of residence).

But in all this there was not said regarding them an expression of "and He wiped out"⁵⁰

and Noach

(regret)

about their very creation,

in the manner that we find in the flood.

And this is also the reason for the primary difference between the flood and the overturning of Sodom,

that regarding the overturning of Sodom<pg>36</pg>

We find that if there were righteous people in it, they would be saved,

as Abraham argued⁵¹

"Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked..

Far be it from You etc. to slay the righteous with the wicked",

but in practice all the men of Sodom^*51

were "evil and sinners against the Lord exceedingly"⁵²

unlike regarding the flood there was not this limitation,

for the entire world

(except for Noah and his family)

was destroyed,

and certainly one cannot say that all the people of the generation of the flood, even the very small children included,

(except for Noah and his family)

were so evil that they deserved destruction⁵³

:

And this is because the flood was not in the manner of punishment

(a death sentence etc.),

but regret over the very creation of man,

and therefore there was no difference between a complete wicked person and a wicked person who is not complete

(who also has good deeds)

etc.,

for when the will for the creation of man was not fulfilled, automatically everything was destroyed⁵⁴

[And the saving of Noah and his family was in order⁵⁵

to build from them "a world⁵⁶

new"^*56].

And from this it is understood,

that the difference between the category of the Flood and other punishments also applies when it is about one nation and one country or one city and the like.

That it is possible for there to be a situation where their conduct is so bad that according to the line of justice the Holy One, blessed be He, would regret their creation etc. and it would have to be said about them "And He wiped out"⁵⁷.

And this is the innovation of the promise of the Holy One, blessed be He³⁴

"And I will establish My covenant with you, and never again will all flesh be cut off etc., and there will no longer be a flood to destroy the earth",

which negates even the possibility⁵⁸

of the destruction of part of the world⁵⁹

—<pg>37</pg>

Similar to the corruption of the world by the flood,

namely with the intention to wipe out and utterly destroy this part of the world.

7.

And with this is explained Rashi on the verse "בענני ענן" — "when it arises in thought before Me to bring darkness and destruction upon the world",

from which it implies that every time a rainbow is seen it is because there was a thought before Him to bring darkness and destruction upon the world:

Rashi's precision is "darkness and destruction forever",

that is,

not the destruction of the entire world,

but "darkness and destruction forever",

namely "darkness and destruction" in a specific part of the world⁶⁰,

that if a thought should arise before Him to bring destruction and devastation

(not by way of punishment,

but)

as "darkness and destruction",

to blot out the universe which He created

(regret over the very act of its creation)

— even if it be in a specific part of the world — then through the sight of the rainbow this thought is negated.

And this matter applies throughout all generations,

that even if the state of the entire world is as it should be,

nevertheless there may be places in the world where the conduct there is at the lowest state,

similar to the conduct of the people of the generation of the Flood,

and therefore they see a rainbow there,

in order to negate "darkness and destruction" in that place where the conduct is in an undesirable manner.

8.

And according to all the above, the foundation of Rashi is understood to explain that the generations in which the rainbow was not seen, this was because "they were completely righteous"

(the entirety of the generation)

— because the absence of seeing the rainbow indicates,

that there is not even one place in the world

(namely among the Jewish people,

for whose sake the world was created,

as Rashi explains at the beginning of Parshat Bereishit⁶¹)

where there exists an undesirable conduct

(in a manner that they are worthy of "darkness and destruction").

And this is Rashi's reason to explain that the entirety of the generation "were completely righteous",

that only because of this is it possible to say "that they did not need a sign"⁶².

And this matter we find in the explanation regarding King Hezekiah,

and as above that in his days "they searched from Dan to Beersheba and did not find an ignoramus etc. and did not find a male child or female child, a man or woman who were not expert in the laws of impurity and purity, and about that generation it says etc.",

namely that in all places of residence of the Jewish people it was proper etc.,

and from this it is understood that such was also the state of the generation of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai

(and as explained in Rashi here that "they were completely righteous")⁶³.

And based on this it will be understood even more what Rashi said "that there are generations etc. like the generation of Hezekiah etc.",

from which it is implied,

that there were more than two generations

(as above in section 1)

— because as long as the conduct of the children of Israel is not like the conduct of the people of the generation of the flood,

they do not need the sign of the rainbow.

And certainly there were several generations,

in which the conduct of all Israel,

in all their settlements,

was as it should be,

at least much better than the conduct of the generation of the flood,

in such a way that there was not even one place in the world

(among the children of Israel)

that were worthy, heaven forbid, of the punishment of the flood⁶⁴.

<pg>38</pg>

9.

And behold, the inner reason that according to the Midrash only in the two generations of King Hezekiah and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was the rainbow not seen

[and also Rashi mentioned specifically these two generations

(even though according to Rashi's view there were additional such generations)]

— it can be said:

It is explained in many places⁶⁵

that the flood came "to purify the earth",

that this is also the intention of Chazal⁶⁶

that Noach "saw a new world",

because through the flood a renewal was made in the work of creation,

that the world was purified and elevated to a new level,

until it was called "a new world".

And this is the matter of the sign of the rainbow that "there will no longer be a flood to destroy the earth" — to indicate,

that through the flood the earth was purified in a way that it is no longer possible for the world to be in such a low state that it would be worthy of a flood⁶⁷.

And behold, such a renewal in creation will be at the coming of Mashiach our righteous one,

for then there will be "the new heavens and the new earth"⁶⁸.

And this is also the hint that specifically by King Chizkiyahu and Rashbi we find that they did not need the sign of the rainbow,

because both of them are connected to the coming of Mashiach: Regarding Chizkiyahu it is said that the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to make him Mashiach

(as above),

and likewise Rashbi authored the book of the Zohar,

which "will bring them out of exile with mercy"⁶⁹.

And it is found that through their service they were worthy to effect renewal in creation,

and therefore "they did not need the sign" of the rainbow,

because they were able to effect renewal of creation

(in the manner of the renewal that was effected through the flood)

through their own service.

(From the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Noach 5745)