Reply To: Short & Sweet

Noach: Filled with Wickedness

The Torah tells us two things about what the world was like before the Mabul. First we are told ותשחת הארץ, the world was destroyed. Rashi explains that this refers to עבודה זרה and גילוי עריות. Next the Torah tells us ותמלאה הארץ חמס, the land was filled with wickedness. Rashi explains that this refers to theft.

First of all, it is puzzling that the Passuk seems to treat theft as severely as two of the aveiros that are יהרוג ועל יעבור. This is especially true in light of the fact that Chazal tell us that they stole less than שוה פרוטה, only a minuscule amount at a time.

Secondly, why is the theft referred to as “filling the world”, while the other aveiros are labeled “destruction”?

R’ Aaron Lopiansky explains that a person has a natural need to have something to live for. If a person only aim as they go through their day is to satisfy their immediate desires, they will feel a gnawing emptiness eating away at them. This feeling of emptiness will push them to find something meaningful to fill their lives.

However, the דור המבול couldn’t be saved this way. They didn’t steal out of a sense of material desire. They filled their lives with the enjoyment of trying to take from others, and they actually felt fulfilled by it. They stole small amounts from each other because stealing was what they lived for. Once a people view wickedness as the very reason that they live, the appeal to do good can no longer save them.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכנן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום