The Last Lion (8:18)
Who is responsible for Noach walking in to the
ark and limping out? Was it the lion or Noach himself?
The Last Lion (8:18)
It’s a wonderful
Midrash; fanciful, interesting, insightful and relevant. Noach briskly walks in to the ark at
the outset of the Great Flood and one year later he slowly limps
out. The reason for the change is that
one day Noach was late in delivering lunch.
The lion, not appreciating the fact, took a swipe at his benefactor and
hence the unsightly disfigurement.
A question that has
been raised in regard to this Midrash is why should G-d, who thrust this
enormous responsibility upon Noach, have allowed this mishap to occur? Imagine trying to feed every animal the exact
type of food they require, day in and day out.
And then figure, Noach was late one afternoon. What’s the big deal?
The truth is that had
there been other lions, this faux-pax
would have been deemed inconsequential.
However, because this was the last lion in the world, what affected this
particular animal would impact the entire species. If this lion died, there would have been no
more lions- ever! That being the
scenario, we can now understand why Noach was held so accountable.
A very powerful lesson
can be gleaned from this episode. Each
and every child in our care is the last link in the chain that connects their
generation of Jewish children back to Sinai.
If we do not save this young boy or girl, it is not just a question of
what will happen to this individual youngster, but rather will there be another
Jewish generation from this family ever again?
This is not only a
concern that each Mom and Dad must deal with at home, but an issue that the united
Jewish community must address. One response, also borrowed from the story of
Noach, is the building of an Ark. Ark
No comments:
Post a Comment