Naomi Reed
Most people think of the story of Noah's Ark as a simple children's tale. The world was full of corrupt and evil people except for Noah. Noah and his family and all the animals floated away safely, while all the bad people drowned in the flood. But when you think about it, it's not a very happy story after all. All those men, women and children were killed. Wasn't there something that Noah could have done? And if he really was such a righteous person, why didn't he help anybody else to survive?
There are those commentators on the Torah who say that Noah just followed everything G-d told him to do, and that made him a righteous person. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra taught that Noah was righteous in his actions. Nachmanides makes this idea more specific by saying that Noah was righteous because he didn't cheat or lie or worship idols like the rest of the people.
However, in the Talmud, Rabbi Berechia asks why Noah did not pray for everybody else to repent so that some could be saved. Noah didn't warn people what was going to happen and convince them to change their evil ways. He seemed more concerned about his own safety and survival.
The eighteenth-century chasidic Rabbi Elimelech of Lizemsk said that there are two kinds of righteous people. There is the truly righteous person, and there are others who dress like a righteous person in a fur coat. The genuinely "righteous" person goes out to collect wood, lights a fire, and invites others to join him. The one who only looks righteous in his fur coat feels secure in his own self and doesn't care if anybody around him freezes. According to Rabbi Elimelech, Noah wasn't truly righteous because he didn't share and didn't worry about others. Some commentators are aware of this criticism and come to Noah's defense.
The author of Toledot Yitzhak defends Noah by saying that he couldn't believe that G-d would destroy the world and that's why he didn't warn anybody.
I personally don't think that Noah was a righteous enough person for two reasons. First, Noah didn't try to stop his neighbors from committing evil acts. Second, Noah should have tried harder to change G-d's mind about flooding the earth. If we see evil behavior like bullying or racism, we should speak up and try to stop it. We shouldn't obey G-d without question. We should question everything, especially if in our hearts we feel something isn't right. On the other hand, imagine how isolated and solitary Noah must have felt. He alone tried to follow his conscience and was unswayed by the temptations of his neighbors. Though he might have done more to warn others, he remained courageously alone, following the right path.
Now that I am a Bat Mitzvah I will try harder not only to resist evil or create it, and if I see Injustice being done I will speak up or try to stop it. I will always stand up for what I believe in and If someone tells me to do something that in my heart I feel is wrong, I will simply not do it. But I will also encourage my friends to do the right thing; otherwise I'll be stranded alone without a community, like Noah.