13 Oct PARSHAS NOACH: BEING AMONG GOOD INFLUENCES

Chazal (Sanhedrin
108a) tell us that the
fish in the sea didn’t
die in the mabul. The
animals on dry land
died, as it states (7:22)
“All that were on the
dry land, died,” but,
as Chazal say, the fish
at sea didn’t die. Why
didn’t the fish die?
The Rom (Mizrachi)
explains that the fish
didn’t sin, like the
animals on dry land

did.
This explains why the fish didn’t die in the
flood, but we still must understand why the
fish didn’t sin, while the rest of the animals
did.
The Maharal (Gur Aryeh) explains this with
a Rashi (Bereishis 6:6) Hashem was consoled
that He created man in this world, because if
he were created in heaven, he would cause
heaven to rebel against Hashem. The Maharal
writes, “We learn from this that when a person
sins, he causes all those who are in his vicinity
to rebel. If man were in heaven, he would
cause the malachim in heaven to rebel and
to go against Hashem’s will, chas v’shalom.

This explains the reason the fish didn’t sin.
They weren’t with man; instead, they are
at sea, in their own world, and in their own
environment; therefore, they weren’t affected
by man’s sins, like the animals were.
Let us learn from this the importance of living
in a good neighborhood, where there are
righteous Yidden with yiras Shamayim. How
much good can come from this, b’ruchniyus
and b’gashmiyus! L’havdil, when one is
among resha’im, their evil ways influence the
people in their vicinity.
It states (8:11)” The dove came back to him in
the evening, and behold an olive leave it had
plucked with its bill.” The Midrash (Bereishis
Rabba 33:6) states that the leaf came from
Gan Eden. The gates of Gan Eden opened for
her, and she brought the leaf from there.
The Ramban asks how, according to this
explanation, did Noach know from the olive
leaf that the flood subsided? There was no
flood in Gan Eden! He answers, “Perhaps the
gates of Gan Eden were closed [throughout
the duration of the mabul] so that the water
of the mabul shouldn’t enter. When the mabul
waters subsided, the doors of Gan Eden
opened.” We learn from this that when there
is a mabul in the world, even Gan Eden is in
danger of being affected. The only counsel is
to close the gates of heaven from the mighty
waters.
On a practical level, this means that when the
yetzer hara is burning on the streets, these
powerful waters threaten to flood the entire
world. They have the ability chas v’shalom to
penetrate the houses of the Jewish people, and
even their batei knesiyos and midrashos, and
to cause destruction. At these times, there is
an obligation to keep the doors of the home
and of the batei medrashim sealed shut. This
means to not allow foreign material, ideas,
and influences inside. Or, more precisely, this
means to guard the home from the internet.
The Gemara (Zevachim 113b) states that there
is a huge animal called urzila. Even when this
animal is just born, it is as large as Mount
Tavur. How did this animal, survive the
flood? The Gemara says that we can’t answer
that it placed its head in the teivah because
even its head was a parsah and a half long!
Its large head wouldn’t fit into the teivah.
The Gemara answers that this animal placed
its nose into the teivah. Rashi writes, “So it
could breathe.” In this manner, the animal
survived and later had children. Reb Chaim
Kreisworth zt’l said that there is a great lesson
here: Even if a person fell to very low places,
and he is drowning in the waters of the mabul
(which means he is drowning in the tumah and
debased culture of the non-Jewish world), if

he will at least place his nose into the teivah,
into kedushah, this will save him, and it will
save the generations after him…
This lesson is particularly important for our
generation. We are living in a very trying
time. The tumah around us is powerful, and
it tries to capture everything into its “flood.”
A person should place his nose into kedushah.
This means he should have experiences of
kedushah. He should go to a beis medresh
to daven, and he should have set times for
Torah. He has to “breathe” healthy, spiritual
air. This will help him survive the mabul, the
flood of tumah of our times. These moments
of kedushah will be his oxygen, and like the
urzila animal, he will be able to survive these
difficult times.