“…Noach was a righteous man…” (Bereishis 6:9)

The gemora (Sanhedrin 108a) tells us about a disagreement regarding Noach’s righteousness. If he had lived in the generation of Avraham, would he have been considered insignificant compared to the giants of Avraham’s time, or would he have been considered even more righteous than those around him?

Chazal are definitely telling us that the environment in which a person lives can affect him, and when we say the word “righteous” it could be subjective, objective, or perhaps even a mix of both. When I was young, I don’t ever recall hearing a child being called a “tzaddik”. That term was used with reverence for what was understood at that time as true tzaddikim. In fact, when I first heard people say, “That kid is a tzaddik”, I was at a loss as to what they really meant. Perhaps today when people call a child a “tzaddik”, they only mean that he doesn’t disturb those people who call him a tzaddik!

There is a story told about the Binyon Shlomo (Shlomo HaKohen, Vilna 1828-1905), who had a vast library of valuable seforim which he used extensively. In preparation for the marriage of one of his children he had a significant sum of money set aside. One day, while out of the house, he was told that there was a large robbery in his home, so he quickly returned to assess the damage. But when he looked at his bookcase he was baffled – all the seforim were still in place. “What was the great loss?” he asked? He was told, “Your money that you had set aside for the wedding was stolen!”

In a similar vein, Rabbi Nosson Meir Wachtfogel (1910-1998), the mashgiach in Lakewood, was well-known for following in the footsteps of the Chofetz Chaim regarding his yearning for Moshiach (The Chofetz Chaim allegedly had a suitcase packed for when Moshiach comes). One day there was a loud noise in the Beis Medrash. The Mashgiach grabbed his “Moshiach suitcase” and got ready to go.

These kinds of stories about great people leave us wondering if we even have a basic level of Torah values. Do we wait for Moshiach? Nowadays it is common to hear that after speaking about someone, and then that person walks into the room, the comment is made, “It is a shame we weren’t talking about Moshiach!” This is truly far removed from having a suitcase packed with anxious readiness, but at least “Moshiach” exists in one’s mind to some extent.

Regarding Yeshiva learning, it seems to me that in the previous generations, once a bochur was in yeshiva, there were few distractions. There were no phones, no emails, no internet news, no cheap air flights, and the only connections with family were sporadic letters in the post. This lack of distraction enabled the bochur to be completely focused on learning all day without interruption. The Chazon Ish (Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz 1878-1953) writes extensively about the advantage of learning without interruption, which brings one to great heights of learning. (While some might say that such an environment would be treacherous for one suffering from ADHD, perhaps a child living such a life would never suffer from ADHD to begin with!)

Regarding the boy nowadays who is struggling, one wonders, “Would he succeed in the Yeshivas of yesteryear?” Perhaps he would shine like a star. But perhaps he wouldn’t, and thank goodness he is in our generation, for in our level of Torah study he is doing an admirable job, considering the distractions which he must overcome. The discipline that it now takes just to sit in one’s seat is a real accomplishment! In fact, perhaps fighting the temptation of looking everywhere except where one is supposed to look, is harder to do today than learning 12 hours straight 80 years ago. So even when Chazal tell us that Noach wouldn’t have been exceptional in the generation of Avraham, which seems to be pejorative, it is actually a back-handed compliment. This is because who he was in his generation, was worth more in the eyes of Hashem than had he been a “greater” person in the generation of Avraham.

Yes, it may very well be that that little boy is a tzaddik and there is actually nothing wrong with giving him the credit that is due him. The challenge, though, is to know that there is the other side of the coin, too. As good as we are in our generation and its challenges, we don’t hold a candle to the tzaddikim of the previous generation. It is our obligation to strive to become a true tzaddik. Chazal say that one is obligated to say: “When will my deeds reach those of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov?”