One of the annoyances of living in the New York area is the reality of everyday traffic. At certain times of the day, you know to include extra time for traffic. But perhaps the most frustrating traffic occurrence is after sitting in a particularly long traffic jam, you find out that the traffic was unjustified. Studies have shown that close to 30% of accidents and breakdowns are caused slowdowns in the uninvolved opposite lanes. Rubbernecking, the term for the tendency to slow down, see what’s going on, is a major cause of traffic and even of accidents themselves.
While Noach obviously did not have traffic, he certainly had potential for rubbernecking.
My childhood images of the parsha are all positive: a happy long bearded Noach, an enormous boat, and an exciting flood. These images could not be further from the truth: Life on the teiva was physically and emotionally draining. The entire world is being destroyed. In fact, one of the commentaries suggests that living on the teiva served as a punishment for Noach. The teiva served as a jail. No books, no television. An indefinite sentence of hard work, loneliness, and boredom.
But the Torah tells us of one accessory that the teiva had.
“Tzohar taase lateiva” – You shall make a tzohar for the ark
What is a “tzohar”? The word tzohar is related to tzaharayim, afternoon, and was a source of light. Rashi offers two interpretations as to what the source of light was: either a window, or a stone which shined.
I saw an interesting suggestion by Rav Yosef of Slotzk who draws a comparison of Noach on the teiva to Avraham at Sedom. The pesukim explain that while Avraham could see the demise of Sedom, lot and his wife were forbidden from looking back. Rav Yosef of Slotzk explains that these two opinions of tzohar relate to the well-known Rashi at the beginning of the parsha.
Tamim haya b’dorotav- Noach was righteous in his generation. The word “bdorotav,” in his generation, is either a critique. He was righteous ONLY in his (terrible) generation, or he was righteous DESPITE his (terrible) generation.
If Noach was not as righteous as Avraham, but was merely a big fish in a small pond, he had no right to a window: like Lot, he had no right to witness demise of the world. Only if he was a tzaddik like Avraham could he be trusted with a window.
As I discussed this idea during the week with some of my contemporaries, I heard different suggestions as to why the righteous would want the window. Maybe he would see the wicked perish and appreciate G’d’s justice. Maybe tragedy serves as a source of inspiration to pray. But an unrighteous Lot or a simple Noach are not trusted with that window. Let’s face it, if we had that window, we would feel tempted to watch the storm.
Rubbernecking is not only dangerous and annoying, but it can be spiritually damaging. When we G-d forbid turn to see that car accident, or we stare at images of destruction on the news or in the paper, more often than not we are not looking for inspiration. We are giving in to our curiosity, and we become jaded and accustomed to violence and destruction, slowly chipping away at our sensitivities.
We cannot live without windows. In our world, dark images are occasionally unavoidable, and at times we are challenged to develop an Avraham level of sensitivity. But the next time we ae stuck in traffic, perhaps we can overcome our desire to look at the wreckage, helping traffic, preserving our sensitivities, and using our windows to not only see the darkness of the world, but to bring in its light.
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