"Everyone knows...." That's the way Reb Shlomo used to introduce some esoteric Chassidic teaching before giving it his unique twist through which it was revealed that the inner core was indeed to be found within the hearts of every person. I'm using the term in a different, but ultimately, not-so-different manner: Everyone knows that there's a dispute regarding the righteousness of Noach. Rashi made that the case, when he chose to present in his opening comments to Parashat Noach this dispute between Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Nechemia as to whether Noach was righteous only in comparison to the rotten state of people in his generation, or whether he would have flourished also in some other, better generation.
What many people DON'T know is that this famous dispute is not an isolated instance, but rather one of some one hundred disputes in Aggadic matters between Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Nechemia strewn across the entire Tanach, and concentrated especially in Chumash Bereshit (almost fifty). A phenomenon such as this begs us to ask: what's going on here? Do Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Nechemia have profoundly differing theological stances which leads them to clash repeatedly on the interpretation of Torah verses, or are they simply among the most prominent of Midrashic/Aggadic interpreters who happened to live in the same generation and proximity and thus their many disputes were immortalized, but without any implications regarding "systematic theology"?
I'll make no secret of my leanings: It's hard to accept the idea that two of the most prominent Tannaim would not give expression to the unique insights afforded their unique neshamot in exploring the deeper meanings of the verses of the Torah in accordance with Hashem's explicit directive to mine His words for the multiple levels of His messages. In line with my prejudices, I'll present the Rabbi Yehudah/Rabbi Nehemia disputes rgarding the person of Noach and attempt to show how a clear distinction in theology emerges from these disputes. You be the judge if I've fudged!
1. Bereshit Rabbah 26:1
Verse: (Bereshit 5:22) "And Noach was 500 years old" – to which the Midrash associates the verse: (Tehillim 1:1) "Happy is the man who did not walk in the advice of evildoers, nor stood in the way of transgressors, nor sat in a council of scoffers"
Rabbi Yehudah: This is Noach, who lived through those three generations (Dor Enosh, Dor Hamabul, Dor Haflagah) and was not impacted by them
Rabbi Nechemiah: (The verse cannot refer to Noach, since he was but a child in the generation of Enosh)
2. Bereshit Rabbah 26:4
Verse: (Bereshit 6:6) " Vayinachem Hashem that he made man upon the earth"
Rabbi Yehudah: Hashem regretted that He had made man below, for if he had made him above (in the heavens), he would not have gone bad.
Rabbi Nechemiah: Hashem was relieved that He had made man below, for if he had man above, he would have fomented rebellion amongst the heavenly minions!
3. Bereshit Rabbah 30:9
Verse: (Bereshit 6:9) "Perfect was he in his generations"
Rabbi Yehudah: In his generations he was righteous; had he been in the generation of Moshe or Shmuel, he would not have been counted righteous.
This can be compared to one who opens cask after cask of wine, and they've all turned sour; when he opens one and it's just borderline, they say, "Well, are there any better than this one"?
Rabbi Nechemiah: If he could be righteous in a generation like his, all the more so in the generation of Moshe or Shmuel!
This can be compared to a flask of fragrant persimmon oil, the odor of which wafts lovely despite its being in the midst of a graveyard. Imagine how lovely it would smell in a difference ambiance.
4. Bereshit Rabbah 30:10
Verse: (Bereshit 6:9) "Noach walked with G-d" (while regarding Avraham, Hashem speaks to him and says: "Walk before Me and be perfect"
(Implicit problem: Noach walks with G-d, and is therefore closer to Him; Avraham walks before G-d, and therefore is not as intimate)
Rabbi Yehudah: Compare this to a man who has two sons – a younger one and an older one – the younger one, who is weak/immature, he keeps right next to him; the older one, who is strong/mature, he allows/encourages to go on ahead.
Rabbi Nechemiah: Noach's situation is comparable to a fellow plodding along a muddy road. The king looks out and, seeing him, says, instead of sinking into the mud, come walk beside Me! Avraham's situation is comparable to a King walking in dark alleys, the king's friend looks out, sees Him, and shines a light for Him. The King then says, instead of shining your light from over there, come walk before Me and illuminate the way.
5. Bereshit Rabbah 35:1
Verse: (Bereshit 9:8-9) "And G-d said to Noach and to his sons with him: And I, behold I am establishing My covenant)
Rabbi Yehudah: Since Noach violated the commandment (Hashem told Noach – come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives – implying a resumption of procreative activity from which they had refrained while on the ark, but when Noach emerged, it is stated, "And Noach and his sons and Noach's wife and his son's wives emerged" – indicated they did not resume relations – Rabbi Yehudah sees this as a violation of a commandment), he was denigrated (by being equated with his sons – the only time this is done in a divine address to Noach)
Rabbi Nechemiah: Noach added onto the commandment (i.e., the initial commandment to refrain from procreative activity upon entering the ark) and acted in holiness, thus he was rewarded (by an added Divine address - there is no real need for a re-addressing of Noach and his sons at this point in the text, since Hashem had in any case been speaking with Noach in the preceding verses
6. Bereshit Rabbah 36:7
Verse: (Bereshit 9:25) "Cursed is Kena'an, he shall be a slave of slaves to his brothers"
Ham sins and Kena'an is cursed!?
Rabbi Yehudah: Since it is written "G-d blessed Noach and his sons", and a curse cannot fall upon someone previously blessed (by G-d), thus, Noach cursed Ham's son.
Rabbi Nechemiah: Kena'an saw (Noach's nakedness) and told them, thus Noach cursed the one already cursed (i.e., the one who initiated the sinful chain of events).
What emerges, to my mind, from this series of disputes on the character of Noach between Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Nehemia, is the dispute as to whether the snapshot we get of Noach is of a stable, static personality, or merely one frame in a motion picture of a dynamic and changing being. Rabbi Yehudah goes with stasis, Rabbi Nechemia sees dynamism there. Underlying this, perhaps, is the question of ultimate perfection (Noach, of couse, is called tamim - perfect) - does it need to be seen as unchanging, or is perhaps movement and transformation the hallmark of perfection. Let's go through the arguments one by one to see how each reflects this underlying tension:
1) Rabbi Yehudah - Noach was Noach in the face of all three sinful generations, unmoved and unaffected by them.
Rabbi Nechemiah - Noach was but a youth, still developing, in the time of the first generation listed (that of Enosh). His stances are derived from his forebears, and are not the result of his own conviction, so they don't yet indicate a mult-generational righteousness.
2) Rabbi Yehudah - man is passive, critically affected by his environment - if he had been created in the heavens instead of on the earth, he would have been righteous.
Rabbi Nechemiah - man is active and dynamic - he affects his environment - he might have transformed the entire metaphysical underpinnings of existence for the worse if he had been created as a denizen of the heavens.
3) Rabbi Yehudah - Noach is who he is - he's achieved what he's achieved and maximized his potential, there's no where to go (but down!)
Rabbi Nechemiah - Noach's potential is unknown; we only see his achievement relative to his environment, but set him in another setting, and he might have become the Gadol Hador!
4) Rabbi Yehudah: The ways in which Noach and Avraham relate to Hashem are quantitatively different, but not qualitatively different - i.e., Avraham is a, "older", more mature and more developed spiritual person, but he and Noach exist on the same plane, In either case, nothing changes for either Noach or Avraham.
Rabbi Nechemiah: The way Avraham relates to Hashem is different in kind from the way Noach does. Noach passively affords Hashem an opportunity to shine His light into the world; Avraham actively initiates what constitutes a kind of a "redemption" for Hashem vis a vis the possibility of His Presence in the world. Both Noach and Avraham undergo a dynamic change in their lives and relationship to Hashem.
5) Rabbi Yehudah: One can only do what Hashem says - any initiative on one's own part is by definition a violation of His will, and the sharing of the Divine address is a diminution of His Presence in one's life.
Rabbi Nechemiah: One can indeed "take Hashem's lead and run with in", adding kedushah by one's own insight and initiative; Hashem's response will be added holiness by widening the circle of the revelation, including more of one's world in His Presence.
6) Rabbi Yehudah: Once blessed by Hashem, one's status cannot be impeached by mere human means, thus, though Ham deserved to be cursed, for "technical" reasons he cannot be, so the curse "rolls over" to his issue, his son.
Rabbi Nechemiah: Of course Ham could have been cursed by Noach had he been guilty - blessing and curse are not static, mutually exclusive status, but interact in a complex dynamic where one can overlay the other - thus, we must assume that if Kena'an was cursed, it is because he deserved it, by his initially mocking revelation of his father's "revelation"!
It is difficult to give precise expression in philosophic language to the difference in world view between Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Nechemiah, but I believe that the above partial survey demonstrates without a doubt that they are of very different caste of mind regarding human potentiality and its spiritual dimensionalities. What we can say is that biography is never insignificant, as Hashem reveals himself through the lens of particular people in particular situations. The gemara helps us in this regard, when it tells us that, while Rabbi Yehudah is the son of Rabbi Ilai, a prominent Tanna in his own right, and transmitted of a stable tradition, Rabbi Nechemia is better know in Tannaitic literation by his epithet, Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Meir, father unknown, husband of Beruria, son-in-law of Rabbi Hananiah ben Tradion, talmid muvhak of of Rabbi Akiva, as well as of Acher (Elisha ben Abuyah), both of whom entered the Garden of Mystical Speculation but met such different fates. Rabbi Meir, whose transcendent brilliance led to the halachah not following his opinions when he disputed with others, since they could not follow his line of thought and voted against him - Rabbi Meir, whose two young sons died of fever one Shabbat. Rabbi Meir's inner turbulence illuminates us by modeling a path which, in some other generation, would have led him to be revered as the greatest sage, the greatest tzaddik of his generation.
Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Meir each have their own Noach, and we are the richer for the holographic image of both of those takes superimposed into a figure who carries within him the seed of all successive human foibles and human triumphs we strive to do the bidding of the One who speaks in our deepest core.
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