Parashat Noach
„Man's sin corrupted his morality as a whole, until the earth was filled with violence; he ruined his way, made evil the inclination of the thoughts of his heart. The world rises up against him, a flood descends and wipes out all existence.”From Shemonah Kevatzim 1:499
The world is destroyed in this week's parashah because the earth was filled with "chamas" (violence — echoing the name "Hamas"). The flood comes because the world cannot bear the corruption and evil and rose up against them, and the earth was destroyed.
This week's parashah teaches us that we have a responsibility, as human beings and as forces of good, over the world and over its salvation from the evildoers and the violent.
Further in the passage the Rav gives an opening of good for the future: "The root of man that remains strengthens itself in its uprightness; the uprightness exerts itself in its bond with God, stands and offers up burnt-offerings to the Lord. The world is established, and the covenant is sealed upon its existence — as long as the days of the earth." The good person is the one who builds the earth anew. He is the one who seals a covenant with the Creator. He is the one who understands his nothingness on one hand and his might on the other, and in humility builds a new world. "And there shall no longer be a flood to destroy the earth."
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From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.