D’var Torah Noach
Since (God) informed Noah that he and his sons will be saved, but he did not ask for mercy on behalf of the world, and it was lost, therefore the flood waters are named for him, as the verse says "For this is to Me (as) the waters of Noah, as I swore that the waters of Noah shall never again pass over the earth …" [Isaiah 54:9] [Zohar, Noaḥ 67b]
In his commentary on Parashat Noaḥ, Rabbi Yehonatan Eybschutz notes the statement of Zohar [Breishit 67b] that Noah did not seek mercy for his generation; in Rabbi Yehonatan's words: "Noah sinned in not praying on behalf of his generation," and "he did not rebuke them."
Rabbi Yehonatan sees a hint of this statement in the wording of the parasha's verses. The opening verse states "These are the descendants (toledot, alternately translated as "generations") of Noah …" Rabbi Yehonatan comments that the initial word "these' is limiting, stressing that Noah's only descendants were his biological children. In contrast, Abraham "had descendants other than his children, namely those whom he converted." (Rashi comments on the verse's statement "the souls they [Abraham and Sarah] had acquired in Haran" [12:5] that Abraham converted the men and Sarah converted the women.) Unlike Abraham, who sought to teach his generation that there is a single God, to rebuke them for their sinful behavior and to bring under the wings of the Shechina, Noah did not attempt to influence the members of his generation. Thus, in contrast to Abraham, Noah's descendants were only his biological children, for he had no spiritual descendants.
Based upon Zohar's comment, Rabbi Yehonatan offers an interesting elucidation of the verse's statement [7:23] "there remained only Noah …" Rabbi Yehonatan cites the Talmudic story, [Makkot 11a] whose lesson is that "it is a mitzva for a righteous person to pray on behalf of the people of his generation … and one who does not pray cannot be considered righteous." Thus, after the flood, during which Noah had not prayed on behalf of the members of his generation, he "remained only Noah;" he no longer deserved the appellation "righteous" with which he was described at the commencement of the parasha.
We may add that according to Zohar, the reason that Isaiah refers to the flood as "the waters of Noah" in the haftara of the parasha is that Noah did not ask for mercy on behalf of his generation. For this reason, Noah bears a measure of responsibility for the flood, and it is named for him. (David Magence)
Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov
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