Parshat Noah - It Is Never Too Late
by Rabbi Lobel

“G-d said to Noah: ‘Enter the Ark, you and your entire household, because you I have seen righteous before me in this generation.'” (Genesis 7:1)

Rashi (1040 – 1105; Genesis 6:14) explains that building the Ark took 120 years of hard labor; the idea was for the world to see Noah and ask him what he was doing. Noah would answer, “In the future, G-d will bring a flood upon the world.” The answer was intended to prompt people to repent. Yet, all the while during construction, people ridiculed Noah and called him insane. (500 CE; Talmud Sanhedrin 108B)

“Enter the ark . . .” The Kli Yakar notes that G-d waited until the last moment before singling Noah as the only righteous person of his generation. In truth, there was another righteous person living in that generation by the name of Methushelach. On the day Noah completed building the Ark, Methushelach completed living his life. G-d then postponed the flood for an additional seven days to allow people the opportunity to mourn. (See also Midrsah Bereshis Rabba 32:7)

 “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it in their heart.” (Ecclesiastes 7:2) Following the Kli Yakar, the week of mourning was a final opportunity for somebody to repent – perhaps mourning the death of a righteous person would inspire someone to change his ways.

The Kli Yakar reaches an amazing conclusion. G-d did not single Noah as the only righteous person until Noah entered the Ark, not because Methushelach was still alive, but because others still had a chance to repent, even up to the last moment before the flood, and be considered “righteous” equal to Noah's righteousness. 

Even after waiting 120 years for people to repent of their corruption and immorality, G-d waited one more week. And, during that final week right up to the very end, those same people who had been corrupt and immoral for 120 years still had the opportunity to repent and be called “righteous”. With G-d, we must always remember, it's never too late.