Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

23
Noach
Your Own Food
Rav Natanel Lebowitz
W hen Noach enters the teiva, Hashem instructs him to bring food:
.)6:21) ”לכאמ לכמ ךל חק התאו“
The Kli Yakar notes that instead of just telling Noach to take food into the teiva,
Hashem adds “and you should take for yourself…” The Kli Yakar suggests that the
extra word ךל, “for yourself,” means that Hashem was directing Noach to make sure
that the food he brought into the teiva belonged to him. Hashem was trying to prevent
Noach from making the following assumption: since everyone is going to die soon
and he will be the only one left in the world, everything is already essentially his. He
should therefore be allowed to take anyone’s food with him on the teiva. Hashem
therefore instructs him to make sure all the food that he will take belongs to him.
There are a number of reasons why Noach would have never made the assumption
that the Kli Yakar suggests, which would thereby deem Hashem’s directive of bringing
his own food on the teiva superfluous.
First, the Torah calls Noach a tzaddik tamim. Even according those who argue that
Noach was only a tzaddik compared to others in his generation, we must assume
that Noach would not commit the sin of stealing. Had Noach been prone to theft,
there would not have been a distinction between him and the rest of his generation.
He would have then perished in the flood as well. Taking food from someone on the
assumption that he will soon die is genuine theft.