Rabbi Daniel: Thoughts on Torah

Dear Friends,

In 5786 we are reading the first triennial each week, which means starting each parsha at the beginning.  The third verse of our first aliyah is:      

וַתִּשָּׁחֵ֥ת הָאָ֖רֶץ לִפְנֵ֣י הָֽאֱלֹהִ֑ים וַתִּמָּלֵ֥א הָאָ֖רֶץ חָמָֽס׃
The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with lawlessness. - Gen. 6:11

Now the Torah wants us to know that the earth and the people who lived on it were in a bad state before God brought the flood but we don't know exactly what the people were doing (or how they were doing it).  Have no fear for the rabbis come in to fill in between the lines, or even to try and explain the lines themselves.  Ibn Ezra attempts to clarify things by explaining that, "Before God

God," could mean either out in public where everyone could see, or in private where only God would notice.  A comment like this serves two purposes.  One, it corrects you lest you think the Torah is using unnecessary words or phrases (the phrase "Before God" seems unnecessary), and two, it reminds us that as Jews we believe that God knows about our misbehavior even if done while no one is watching.  Ibn Ezra concludes with the idea that the people acted brazenly, without fear of God, like a slave not trying to hide the inappropriate things he/she does in his/her master's house.  Another explanation from the commentator Abarbanel says that the phrase "Before God" refers to sins between people and God, and the, "the earth was filled with lawlessness," refers to sins between a person and his/her neighbor.  In this

this way the seeming redundancy is explained away and we are reminded of these two types of sins which come up around Yom Kippur and teshuvah. 

I think the phrase, "before God," is meant to remind us that what God had to be witnessing was the poor behavior of God's own creations.  Sometimes things that we do with the best of intentions don't turn out well.  Mistakes happen but hopefully we can fix our mistakes without having to destroy everything and start over.  Let us remember that being made or choosing to be the creator of anything is a huge responsibility and oftentimes that which is created can end up with a mind of its own.      
   
Rabbi Daniel