R' Assaf Harnoy
Half an Aircraft Carrier
For 120 years, Noach builds his large ark, which will serve to rescue him, his family, and living animals from the Deluge. The size of the ark, as listed in the Torah, was about half the size of a modern aircraft carrier, which has room for about 5,000 sailors.
Just think about how much labor is necessary to build an ark of this size, especially if you are doing it alone, without the use of modern-day cranes and electrical motors. How many trees Noach had to chop down, how much work it was to connect them together. There can be no doubt that Noach worked very hard to make his ark, accompanied all the time by mockery and hatrew d of all the people around him.
These thoughts can be added to the great question asked by the Ramban in this week's Torah portion (Bereishit 6:19). He asks why Noach made such an effort to build the ark. He knew that without a substantial miracle it would not be possible to bring inside all the living types of animals, and there would certainly not be enough room for the food that they would need:
"It is known that there are a very large number of animals, and some of them are very large, such as the elephants... There are very many crawling animals, and when you gather enough food for all of them... it will not be possible to contain everything in this ark, not even in ten arks of this size..."
Do What you Can
The Ramban gives two reasons for the huge effort that Noach put into the project. First, he wanted to wake up the people of his generation to repent - When they saw the huge ark with their own eyes perhaps they would mend their ways.
The second answer of the Ramban can teach us a very important priniciple:
"He also made it very big in order to diminish the size of the miracle. That is the way of all the miracles in the Torah or in the Prophets – the people do whatever they can and leave the rest for G-d."
At first glance this seems to be an application of the well-known principle, "Do not depend on a miracle." That is, a person should not base his actions on anticipating a miracle because of G-d's kindness, since we can never be sure if and when it will come. To depend on the occurrence of a miracle is considered irresponsible, since it seems to ignore the verse, "It is not in heaven" [Devarim 30:12]. Who are we to take Divine reckoning into account?
However, it seems that the Ramban is hinting at a more profound idea.
The Ramban writes, "That is the way... the people do whatever they can." This is the very foundation that gives meaning to our lives on earth, as servants of the Holy One, Blessed be He. A person of Yisrael has been placed on the earth in order to be a partner in the labor of the Holy One, Blessed be He, in the creation here in the world. Our purpose here is not merely to "sit here and get along," but rather to rise up and act together with G-d. And that is the real meaning of Noach's labor.
Noach knew full well that there was no possibility of having enough room for all the animals even in the large ark that he built, and certainly not to supply their needs. It was clear that he would need a miracle to accomplish his task. However, he was required to rise up and act as a partner to the Holy One, Blessed be He. He understood that even if the Holy One, Blessed be He, would perform a miracle and rescue His creatures it was up to Noach to do whatever he could, and that for this purpose he had been sent to the world – to act, to work, and to perform the labor, in order to participate in the project of maintaining and continuing the existence of the world.
It would seem that for this reason the source of the Talmud Yerushalmi that one should not depend on a miracle is based on occurrences from the Temple (Shekalim 17:2). For example, the Table in the Temple was not made from silver, so that the Holy Bread would not become moldy, even though a miracle was needed in any case, since the Bread stood for an entire week out in the open. The fact that the source of the Yerushalmi is the Temple shows us that even in the holiest place, where the Shechina was always present, man must understand his position and his role within the world. Even in the Temple, he must be aware that he must do whatever he can, and in this way he will continue to be an active participant in the actions of the Shechina.
