(ח) וְנֹ֕חַ מָ֥צָא חֵ֖ן בְּעֵינֵ֥י ה'׃
(ט) אֵ֚לֶּה תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת נֹ֔חַ נֹ֗חַ אִ֥ישׁ צַדִּ֛יק תָּמִ֥ים הָיָ֖ה בְּדֹֽרֹתָ֑יו אֶת־הָֽאֱלֹקִ֖ים הִֽתְהַלֶּךְ־נֹֽחַ׃
(8) But Noah found favor with Hashem.
(9) These are the traits of Noah. Noah was a righteous man; he was perfect in his generations; Noah walked with God.
וטעם ונח מצא חן בעיני ה' שהיו כל מעשיו לפניו נאים ונעימים וכן כי מצאת חן בעיני ואדעך בשם (שמות לג יז) כדרך ויתן חנו בעיני שר בית הסוהר (בראשית ל״ט:כ״א) ותהי אסתר נושאת חן בעיני כל רואיה (אסתר ב טו) והזכיר זה כנגד מה שאמר בדורו שהיו כל מעשיהם לעצבון לפניו יתברך ואמר בו שהיה לחן בעיניו ואחר כן סיפר מדוע היה טוב לפני האלקים כי היה צדיק תמים חסלת פרשת בראשית:
But Noah found grace in the eyes of Hashem. The meaning thereof is that all his deeds were pleasing and sweet before Him. Similarly: For you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name. This is like the verses: And He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison, And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all of them that looked upon her. Scripture mentions this in contrast to what it said concerning Noah’s generation, namely, that all their deeds brought grief before Him, blessed be He. But of Noah, it says that he found grace in His eyes, and afterward it tells why he was pleasing before God: because he was a perfectly righteous man.
בדרותיו. יֵשׁ מֵרַבּוֹתֵינוּ דּוֹרְשִׁים אוֹתוֹ לְשֶׁבַח, כָּל שֶׁכֵּן אִלּוּ הָיָה בְדוֹר צַדִּיקִים הָיָה צַדִּיק יוֹתֵר.
וְיֵשׁ שֶׁדּוֹרְשִׁים אוֹתוֹ לִגְנַאי, לְפִי דוֹרוֹ הָיָה צַדִּיק וְאִלּוּ הָיָה בְדוֹרוֹ שֶׁל אַבְרָהָם לֹא הָיָה נֶחְשָׁב לִכְלוּם.
In his generations — Some of our Rabbis explain it to his credit: he was righteous even in his generation; it follows that had he lived in a generation of righteous people he would have been even more righteous owing to the force of a good example.
Others, however, explain it to his discredit: in comparison with his own generation, he was accounted righteous but had he lived in the generation of Abraham he would have been accounted as of no importance.
אלה תולדות נח נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדורותיו. א"ר יוחנן בדורותיו ולא בדורות אחרים. וריש לקיש אמר בדורותיו כ"ש בדורות אחרים.
“These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a righteous man, and wholehearted in his generations,” Rabbi Yoḥanan says: in his generation but not of other generations. And Reish Lakish says: In his generation, all the more so in other generations.
א"ר חנינא משל דרבי יוחנן למה הדבר דומה לחבית של יין שהיתה מונחת במרתף של חומץ במקומה ריחה נודף שלא במקומה אין ריחה נודף א"ר אושעיא משל דריש לקיש למה הדבר דומה לצלוחית של פלייטון שהיתה מונחת במקום הטנופת במקומה ריחה נודף וכ"ש במקום הבוסם
Rabbi Ḥanina says: There is a parable for the statement of Rabbi Yoḥanan; to what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to a barrel of wine that was placed in a cellar where vinegar is stored; in its place, its fragrance diffuses, i.e., is noticeable, relative to the odor of the vinegar. When it is not in its place surrounded by vinegar, its fragrance does not diffuse, and its pleasant odor is not sensed. Rabbi Oshaya says: There is a parable for the statement of Reish Lakish; to what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to a flask of perfume that was placed in a location of filth. In its place its fragrance diffuses despite the ambient odor, and all the more so is its fragrance noticeable if it is placed in a location where there is perfume.
את האלקים התהלך נח. וּבְאַבְרָהָם הוּא אוֹמֵר אֲשֶׁר הִתְהַלַּכְתִּי לְפָנָיו? נֹחַ הָיָה צָרִיךְ סַעַד לְתָמְכוֹ, אֲבָל אַבְרָהָם הָיָה מִתְחַזֵּק וּמְהַלֵּךְ בְצִדְקוֹ מֵאֵלָיו:
Noah walked with God — Regarding Avraham, it says, ‘‘I walked before Him”; Noah needed God’s support to uphold him in righteousness, Avraham drew his moral strength from himself and walked in his righteousness by his own effort.
For this is as the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be get angry at you...
Once God told Noah that he and his family will be saved, he did not pray for the rest of the world, and it was destroyed. That is why the flood is named after him, as it is written
in Isaiah 54:9.
Rabbi Yehuda said: What could Noah have done better? ... Noach was scared for himself that he should not perish among the guilty of the world.
Noah was a “ah tzaddik in peltz,” a righteous man in a fur coat. When it is winter and it's freezing cold, there are two things one can do. One can build a fire, or one can wrap oneself in a fur coat. In both cases, the person is warm. But when one builds a fire, all who gather round will also be warmed. With the fur coat, the only one who is warmed is the one who wears the coat.
Yet what exactly was Noah supposed to do? How could he have been an influence for good in a society bent on evil? Was he really meant to speak in an age when no one would listen? Sometimes people do not listen even to the voice of God Himself. We had an example of this just two chapters earlier, when God warned Cain of the danger of his violent feelings toward Abel – “’Why are you so furious? Why are you depressed? … sin is crouching at the door. It lusts after you, but you can dominate it” (Gen. 4: 6-7). Yet Cain did not listen, and instead went on to murder his brother. If God speaks and people do not listen, how can we criticise Noah for not speaking when all the evidence suggests that they would not have listened to him anyway?
Why didn’t Noah pray to avert the decree? Because, there is a certain type of righteous person who serves the Creator but is meek and worthless in his own eyes, and he thinks, from the depths of his heart: ‘Who am I to pray that a decree by averted?’ So, he doesn’t even pray to avert the decree. And Noah, even though he was righteous and whole-hearted (Gen 6:9), he was tiny and insignificant in his own eyes. He didn’t believe in himself, that he was a powerful holy person and he could actually avert the decree against the people. On the contrary, he saw himself just like everyone else in his generation, so he told himself: ‘I am no better than anyone else in my generation, so if I am going to be saved, so too will they.’ As a result, he did nothing to fight to save them.