Parshas Bereishis: 5786

“But Noach found favor in the eyes of Hashem.” (Bereishis 6:8)

The verses preceding this pasuk declare Hashem’s regret that He created mankind and His decision to “blot out from the earth the men whom I created.” But then it says that only Noach was spared as he found favor in Hashem’s eyes.

What does this mean? Does Hashem favor us even if we haven’t earned it? Does he “play favorites”? (Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, OU Parshah)

I’ve graduated to a new stage in life. Whereas I used to attend all school performances as a proud mama, now I’m there as the shepping Savta. Not much has changed in these performances over the last 20 years. They’re still (too) long filled with (too many) speeches, and performed by (too many) kids on the stage.

Yet to my surprise something else has stayed the same. Sitting on mini kindergarten chairs watching the story of Yosef Makir Shabbos, I’m riveted to one small person in the crowd gathering around Yosef. One of those little people is my granddaughter and I have eyes only for her. Isn’t she glowing? Isn’t she the cutest? Don’t her eyes shine the brightest, her smile the widest? I know in my head there are probably other cute children on that stage. But I don’t see them. Mine dominates the stage of my eyes.

Did Noach deserve chein? In Shemos (33:19) Hashem says, “I will favor those whom I pleased to favor and show compassion to those to whom I am pleased to show compassion.” This is interpreted by Chazal (Berachos 7a) to mean, “I will favor those whom I choose to favor, even if they are not fit to deserve My favor!”

Chein, then, is favor which is bestowed, even when it’s not fully deserved. Thus, for example, when the Kohanim bless us in the synagogue, they recite these words: “May Hashem show you chein (vichuneka). The Sifri translates chein in this verse as matnas chinam, an undeserved gift. So too does the Talmud (Sanhedrin 108a) comment on our verse at the very end of this week’s parshah: “The Heavenly decree to deluge the earth initially included Noach, but although he was undeserving, he found chein in the eyes of the L-rd.”

Do others feel the same as they look at their daughter or granddaughter? Most probably. Still, I don’t notice those spectators either. I have tunnel vision with only my einekel as the light at its end.

This idea never ceases to amaze me. We love our children (and grandchildren) so much, they occupy a disproportionate place of pride in our hearts. Someone else’s kid may have the main part but mine has the main part in my participation.

Noach was an individual who seemed quite ordinary in the eyes of others, but Hashem viewed his ordinary deeds with Divine Eyes, and in His view, Noach deserved to be spared. All of us can be comforted, then, that although we often judge ourselves to be undeserving, we are unduly harsh in our self-judgment. For surely there’s much that we’ve done in praiseworthy deeds that we have underrated, but that merited inclusion in the Divine list of deeds deserving chein. We pray that the Al-mighty “plays favorites” with us and judges us less harshly than we sometimes judge ourselves, and grants us a good and sweet beginning of the year.

I find this concept so inspiring, I’ve worked to apply this to the spiritual realm of my life as well.

Looking around me there are so many who dominate the stage of life, with talents that aren’t mine, energies I wish were mine, and connections with so many people that make my little place in this world feel very puny.

Yet I know that Hashem is looking down at this huge globe, and His gaze can center on me, can light me up in a halo of glow, outshining the light I shine on my own children. Shakespeare said: All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”

I may be “merely” a player but I’m Hashem’s daughter and deserving or not, I can be the main player in Hashem’s eyes. And you can, too. A standing ovation for all of us.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 964)