Man’s Weakness

Rav Asher Weiss noted a small discrepancy in the description of man’s weakness as mentioned before the flood and after.

Before the flood, the Torah tells us that the reason Hashem chose to wipe out that generation was because יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו, that “the inclination of man was evil from his youth.”

After the flood, Hashem vowed not to destroy the world again because יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו. Now, the same reason for causing the flood is the reason why there will never be a flood.

Before the flood, man had no barriers and was driven by his lust for physical pleasured. After the flood, the barriers were created to offset man’s inclinations.

The Seven Noachide Laws were given when they left the Ark. Now there would be accountability and consequences for man’s behavior. There would be basic rules forbidding murder, theft, and immorality. People could not act in a barbaric manner by tearing the limb off of a live animal.

It was as if Hashem’s trial had failed. When He left man on his own where he was free to make up his own rules, he could not do it. He gave in to rationalizing so that he could satisfy his every desire. The end result was a world of chaos where everything was justified.

Without rules and consequences, man will self destruct. Rabbi Twerski wrote that we have witnessed this in the last century. Since there were no boundaries, society managed to legalize everything from drugs to abortions to euthanasia to living together to same sex marriages. No boundaries and everything is allowed.

This was the message given to Noach after the flood. What a shame it is that this message continues to be ignored.