Everything Is Amazing and Nobody is Happy
This week’s Torah portion is easily one of the most famous. Everyone knows the general outline – God tells Noah that he’s going to destroy the world which has become corrupted beyond redemption, and Noah needs to build an ark to save himself, his family, and all of the animals of the world. When learning this story, from a young age on, we’re taught to identify with Noah, the most righteous of his generation. So what was so wrong with this generation that a guy like Noah, who didn’t even bother to warn his fellow humans of the impending doom, was the most righteous?
One of the explanations our ancient sages gave us in the Talmud was that this generation had become haughty because of the goodness that God showered upon them (Sanhedrin, 108b). Citing the book of Job to describe these wicked people the Talmudic baraita goes on to say that they enjoyed so much abundance and such great wealth that they came to believe that they didn’t need God for anything at all. This wicked generation enjoyed extremely long lives in which they were never lacking in food or pleasures, music was always readily at hand, and their children danced.
A few years ago, one of my favorite comedians, Louis C.K., was on Conan O’Brien’s talk show and pointed out some pretty clear truths about today’s generation. The general theme of his interview was that, today, everything is amazing and nobody is happy. His most clear elucidation of this theme is the fact that people complain about their cellphone reception not being strong enough to surf the internet, without considering the fact that the signal has to go all the way up to outer space and back. Similarly, a few generations ago, it would have been inconceivable to have a piece of equipment like a modern day smartphone be available for nearly everyone.
I’ll be the first to admit that I complain about these things; with modern conveniences come modern inconveniences. I also must admit that in comparison to the early rabbis of around 1800 years ago who wrote the baraita quoted above, my life has so far matched their description of the generation of the flood to a tee. I have certainly been quite lucky in my life, but I would also say that the majority of my friends in the Jewish world have had similar luck. If we are like Louis C.K. says and absurdly taking the wonders of our world for granted, are we then mirroring the generation of the flood? Are we similarly devoid of thanks to God, losing our ability to see the wonders in what is now our everyday life? In short, should someone start building an ark?
Well, I think an ark might be a bit much, but there’s another clear alternative: Let’s be more thankful. But thankful to whom? The second problem of the generation of the Flood according to the baraita, that of casting God off, is another struggle that we face today. One of the greatest issues in Modern Judaism is with the conception of God. We are so often confronted with ideas and conceptions of God that are inherently contradictory to a modern, scientific mindset that it is sometimes quite difficult to conceive of fully believing in a God. It is especially difficult to believe in one that has the power to flood the entire earth, but needs a human being to build an ark to save a remnant of inhabitants. This is not a reason to dismiss the whole concept of a higher power, though, but instead a challenge to the conception we have of our rational sensibilities to fully understand our reality. The critique of thanklessness found in both the Talmud and Louis C.K. is a similar challenge. Although we may have cast aside the idea of a man in the sky pulling strings and deciding upon punishment and reward, at the very least we can marvel at the wonders of nature, human ingenuity, and sheer beauty in the world around us. If just that spark of wonder can be fanned, thankfulness for these phenomena will surely follow. Luckily our tradition has a built in mechanism for reminding us of the wonders of our life. The Jewish practice of reciting blessings is designed specifically to orient us towards acknowledgment of the wondrous goings on around us. The morning prayer sequence in particular (shaharit) is designed to start our day by thanking God for returning our souls to a working body, along with giving us all of the things we need, from sight to physical flexibility to consciousness, to go about our day.
It seems unlikely that we are heading towards another great destruction akin to that of the story of Noah. Even if we don’t actually face a doom that necessitates an ark, we can certainly take something away from the commentary of our rabbinic tradition. If mere haughty thanklessness in a time of great plenty was thought of as enough to warrant utter destruction, we ought to take this into account. In fact, if we read Noah’s collection of all of the creatures of creation as an acknowledgment of the many various wonders of the world, instead of as a literal gathering of the species onto a boat, we even find the answer to the problem right in the story. Acknowledging the wonders of our daily life, and our lack of control or full understanding of these wonders, is something we can all benefit from. It brings a sense of awe to the everyday that can enrich even the most banal of moments when utilized correctly. If this is the way that Noah became the most righteous in his generation, let us all strive for such righteousness!
