Changing Generations

The שפת אמת gives a brilliant answer as to how it was possible for Noach to get drunk shortly after leaving the ark. After all, he was over 600 years old and he should have known his limits as to how much wine he could handle.

The world after the flood was not the same as the world before. The natural order of things had changed to such an extent that the same amount of wine Noach drank before the flood that had no effect on him, now got him totally drunk.

Rabbi Twerski commented that we also need to make the realization that this generation is nothing like the previous one. While today, for example, a “time out” might work as a form of discipline, it would have been laughed at in earlier generations.

This realization is especially important for parents in educating their children. The decline of morality in society, presents challenges that did not exist before.

It is essential that parents receive training and advice in dealing with these challenges. The fact that there are so many choices of lifestyles out there, makes it that much more difficult to keep children religious. Parents need to work extra hard at חינוך, education, so that we do not lose our youth.

There is no better way to educate than to become role models for the younger generation. That is by far the superior method of teaching. Even as early as Noach’s time, adjustments needed to be made, to adapt to the challenges of the next generation.