From Noah to Abraham

Throughout hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, a question has been asked, “Would Noah have been a better person had he lived in the time of Avraham?” Some commentators say, “Yes, definitely! In his generation, he had no support system. Think of what he could have accomplished, had he counted Avraham as a friend.” Others said, “No! In his unworthy generation, he alone was found worthy, but he could not have compared to our Father Abraham.”

I guess we’ve got to wait for Eliyahu HaNavi (Elijah the Prophet) to come to answer that question.

Avraham Saved Noah

I also found another interesting connection between Noah, the second father of mankind, and Avraham, father of the Jewish people.

On Rosh Hashana, we read, “G-d remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and G-d caused a spirit to pass over the earth and the water subsided. And it is said: G-d heard their groaning, and G-d remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.”

Can you imagine? G-d saved Noah, his family and all the animals of the ark, because of Avraham and his children.

Avraham wasn’t even born yet. He hadn’t passed one trial yet. Yitzchak wasn't yet a dream in his father's eye. But G-d’s time is a continuum – past and future are the same to the Almighty. G-d saved Noah in the ark, because one day a great man named Avraham would be born and repair the wrongs that Noah could not fix. Noah was rescued from a world of violence and robbery, by Avraham who would build a world of kindness and caring.

The Signs of Noah and Avraham

A beautiful fall day, right after the rain. We look up in amazement and see a magnificent rainbow. Whether it is a warning or a wonder, we see the rainbow and remember Hashem’s words, “I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.” (Bereishit 9:13)

Pirkei Avot teaches us that ten things were created on the eve of Shabbat, and one of them was the rainbow. G-d created Noah’s rainbow at the beginning of creation, and then waited ten generations to use it as a sign that He would no longer destroy the world.

Two days before that, Hashem created the luminaries and the stars. The stars filled the skies, spreading over the expanse of the universe. Twenty generations later, Avraham was born, and began to change the world for the better. 
Hashem took him outside and said, “Look up high toward the Heavens, and count the stars if you are able to count them!...So shall your seed be!” The stars became a sign, not of punishment or non-destruction, but of countless children, of building a nation, of expanding a people. The stars were Hashem’s sign to Avraham that his children would reach the highest heights and be a Light to the world.

May it be so.