Was he really so righteous? – No’ach
In his commentaries Rabbi Judah Henkin reminds that Kohelet says (7:20), “There is no tzaddik on earth who does only good and never sins”. The sages criticise Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Aaron – all occasionally lapsed. Even a tzaddik makes mistakes. But what does a tzaddik do after a sin?
Contrast No’ach with Lot (Gen. 19). He too committed a sin. But No’ach was drunk. In the morning he knew what he had done: the tzaddik has the courage to recognise what he has done and to face the consequences of his act. Lot did not know what he had done. Perhaps he did not want to know. So the next night he sinned again.
Rabbi Henkin says that in a sense all sin is like drunkenness; your judgment is clouded. But a tzaddik like No’ach does not pretend that nothing has happened. He knows, and he has to find a way of making amends.
