Page "Noah" Paragraph 14

The righteousness of Noah is the subject of much discussion among the rabbis.

The description of Noah as " righteous in his generation " implied to some that his perfection was only relative: In his generation of wicked people, he could be considered righteous, but in the generation of a tzadik like Abraham, he would not be considered so righteous.

They point out that Noah did not pray to God on behalf of those about to be destroyed, as Abraham prayed for the wicked of Sodom and Gomorrah.

In fact, Noah is never seen to speak ; he simply listens to God and acts on his orders.

This led such commentators to offer the figure of Noah as " the man in a fur coat ," who ensured his own comfort while ignoring his neighbour.

Others, such as the medieval commentator Rashi, held on the contrary that the building of the Ark was stretched over 120 years, deliberately in order to give sinners time to repent.

Rashi interprets his father's statement of the naming of Noah ( in Hebrew נ ֹ ח ַ) “ This one will comfort ( in Hebrew – yeNaHamainu י ְ נ ַ ח ֲ מ ֵ נו ) from our work and our hands sore from the land that the Lord had cursed ”, by saying Noah heralded a new era of prosperity, when there was easing ( in Hebrew – nahah – נחה ) from the curse from the time of Adam when the Earth produced thorns and thistles even where men sowed wheat and that Noah then introduced the plow.