In His Generations: Rising from Stage to Stage
The Torah calls Noach “whole in his generations,” in the plural. A man lives in one generation; what are the “generations” of a single tzaddik? And what do eating and drinking, and Koheles’s “a generation goes and a generation comes,” have to do with Noach’s wholeness?
Bereishis 6:9
אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת נֹחַ נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדֹרֹתָיו אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים הִתְהַלֶּךְ־נֹחַ
These are the offspring of Noach: Noach was a righteous man, whole in his generations; Noach walked with God.
1a“These are the offspring of Noach: Noach was a righteous man, whole in his generations.” It seems to me that each dor, “generation,” in the verse is a stage of a person's avodah. Take a person who is occupied with the service of the Creator, blessed be He, in all his deeds, even in physical things such as eating and drinking: he eats and drinks in holiness, or at the least with the intent of pushing away the waste in what he eats and raising the spiritual element within it. Each time such a person rises and comes to another, higher stage, that stage is called a dor. The first stage by which he conducted himself, for as long as he lived by it, is like one generation; when he passes from that stage into another, it is as though he has come into another generation.
אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדוֹת נֹחַ נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדוֹרוֹתָיו. נ"ל דְּהִנֵּה הָאָדָם הָעוֹסֵק בַּעֲבוֹדַת הַבּוֹרֵא יִתְבָּרֵךְ וְיִתְעַלֶּה בְּכָל מַעֲשָׂיו, דְּהַיְינוּ אֲפִילּוּ בִּדְבָרִים הַגַּשְׁמִיִּים כְּמוֹ אֲכִילָה וּשְׁתִיָּה, שֶׁאוֹכֵל וְשׁוֹתֶה בִּקְדוּשָּׁה, עכ"פ בְּכַוָּונָה לִדְחוֹת אֶת הַפְּסוֹלֶת וּלְהַעֲלוֹת אֶת הָרוּחָנִיּוּת שֶׁבּוֹ, אֲזַי בְּכָל פַּעַם שֶׁעוֹלֶה וּבָא בִּבְחִינָה אַחֶרֶת יְתֵירָה זֶה נִקְרָא בְּשֵׁם 'דּוֹר', דְּהַבְּחִינָה הָרִאשׁוֹנָה שֶׁהָיָה מִתְנַהֵג בָּהּ, כָּל יְמֵי נְהוּגוֹ בָּהּ הִיא כְּמוֹ 'דּוֹר', וְאַחַר שֶׁנּוֹפֵל מִבְּחִינָה זֹאת וְנוֹפֵל לִבְחִינָה אַחֶרֶת, הֲרֵי הוּא כְּמוֹ שֶׁבָּא בְּדוֹר אַחֵר.
In shortEach time a person who serves Hashem even in eating and drinking rises to a higher stage, he enters, as it were, a new “generation.”
1bThis is “A generation goes and a generation comes”:1 the first stage, by which he has conducted himself until now, passes from him, and that is “a generation goes”; “and a generation comes” as he arrives at another stage. Yet the verse says it must happen in such a way that “the earth stands forever.” The earthly in him, that is, the physical, must be made to stand: he must conduct himself in it with holiness. That is “stands le'olam,” read not as “forever” but as “to the world,” the upper world. A person who conducts himself this way comes each time to another stage. But none of this applies to one who does not conduct himself in holiness, for he does not rise to another stage at all.
וְזֶה הוּא "דּוֹר הוֹלֵךְ וְדוֹר בָּא", פֵּירוּשׁוֹ כנ"ל, שֶׁזֶּה נוֹפֵל מִבְּחִינָה רִאשׁוֹנָה שֶׁהָיָה מִתְנַהֵג עַד הֵנָּה, הַבְּחִינָה הַזֹּאת הוֹלֶכֶת מִמֶּנּוּ זֶה "דּוֹר הוֹלֵךְ", "וְדוֹר בָּא", ג"כ כנ"ל שֶׁבָּא לִבְחִינָה אַחֶרֶת, וְאָמַר הַכָּתוּב אַךְ צָרִיךְ שֶׁיִּהְיֶה בְּאוֹפֶן "וְהָאָרֶץ לְעוֹלָם עוֹמֶדֶת", פֵּירוּשׁ שֶׁהָאַרְצִיּוּת, דְּהַיְינוּ הַגַּשְׁמִיּוּת, צָרִיךְ לְהַעֲמִידָהּ שֶׁיְּהֵא מִתְנַהֵג בָּהֶם בִּקְדוּשָּׁה כנ"ל, וְהַיְינוּ "לְעוֹלָם עוֹמֶדֶת", ר"ל לָעוֹלָם הָעֶלְיוֹן. וְהָאָדָם הַמִּתְנַהֵג כנ"ל, בָּא בְּכָל פַּעַם בִּבְחִינָה אַחֶרֶת, אֲבָל מִי שֶׁאֵינוֹ מִתְנַהֵג בִּקְדוּשָּׁה לֹא שַׁיָּיךְ בּוֹ כָּל זֹאת, שֶׁאֵין עוֹלֶה כְּלָל לִבְחִינָה אַחֶרֶת.
- Koheles 1:4. ↩
In short“A generation goes and a generation comes” as he moves from stage to stage, provided the earthly in him stands in holiness, raised to the upper world.
2So too “Generation to generation yeshabach ma'asecha,” read as “your deeds will praise”:2 a person who wants to go out of one generation and come into the next, that is, from stage to stage, must sanctify himself so thoroughly, even in physical things, that his physical deeds too praise Hashem, blessed be He.
וְזֶהוּ "דּוֹר לְדוֹר", פֵּירוּשׁ אָדָם הָרוֹצֶה לָצֵאת וְלָבוֹא מִדּוֹר לְדוֹר, דְּהַיְינוּ מִבְּחִינָה לִבְחִינָה כנ"ל, "יְשַׁבַּח מַעֲשֶׂיךָ", פֵּירוּשׁ צָרִיךְ לְקַדֵּשׁ עַצְמוֹ אַף בַּגַּשְׁמִיּוּת כ"כ, עַד שֶׁגַּם מַעֲשָׂיו הַגַּשְׁמִיִּים יְשַׁבְּחוּ להשי"ת ב"ה.
- Tehillim 145:4, where the plain sense is “One generation to the next will praise Your works.” ↩
In shortTo move from generation to generation, from stage to stage, a person must sanctify himself until even his physical deeds praise Hashem.
3That is what the verse means by “Noach was a righteous man, whole in his generations”: in every stage he passed through, each time, he was a whole tzaddik. All this came to him because “Noach walked with God”: all his deeds were only for the sake of Hashem's great Name, blessed be He, and so each time he went on from stage to stage.
וְזֶהוּ "נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדוֹרוֹתָיו", פֵּירוּשׁ בְּכָל בְּחִינוֹתָיו שֶׁהָיָה בּוֹ, בְּכָל פַּעַם הָיָה צַדִּיק תָּמִים בָּהֶם, וְכָל זֶה הָיָה לוֹ מֵחֲמַת שֶׁ"אֶת הָאֱלֹקִים הִתְהַלֶּךְ נֹחַ", ר"ל שֶׁכָּל מַעֲשָׂיו לֹא הָיוּ רַק לִשְׁמוֹ הַגָּדוֹל יִתְבָּרֵךְ, לָכֵן הָלַךְ בְּכָל פַּעַם מִבְּחִינָה לִבְחִינָה.
In shortNoach was whole in every stage he passed through, each of “his generations,” because he walked with God, doing everything for Hashem's Name.
R’ Elimelech asks what “his generations” can mean for one man. He reads each dor as a stage of avodah: a person who serves Hashem in all he does, even eating and drinking in holiness, leaves one stage and enters a higher one, as though he had come into a new generation. Koheles’s “a generation goes and a generation comes” describes that passage, on one condition, that “the earth stands”: the physical in him must be raised in holiness to the upper world, and without that he does not rise at all. “Generation to generation” asks the same, that his very physical deeds praise Hashem. Noach was whole in each of his stages because he walked with God, doing everything only for Hashem’s Name, and so he kept going on from stage to stage.
Takeaway
Eating and drinking can be part of the climb. When we bring holiness even to our meals and do everything for Hashem's Name, as Noach did, each stage of our avodah can open onto the next.
Learn this in the merit of Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk. His yahrzeit and life ›
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English translation, notes and summaries © Zechusam.