A Thought on Parshas Noach

"...u'mi'kol ha'chai..." "...and from all that lives..." (6:19) Noach is instructed to round up representatives from all living creatures and bring them into the Ark. The verse prefaces, though, that this order also includes "all that lives." This would seem like a redundant clause, in that Noach is told with great specificity which animals and what amounts of each type to bring in. What is added by the words "all that lives"? The Gan offers a midrash. He notes that our sages teach that beyond animals, beasts and people, HaShem also created anima, pulsating forces which are present within the creation and have an energy which is manifest in our internal struggles and challenges. These "living" forces were also contained within the Ark, and were meant to endure as part of human reality within the psychosocial world that would emerge after the flood. The midrash cited by the Gan says that the "Sar of Sheker" - the force of dishonest or deceptive energy, sought entrance into the Ark. Noach resisted this, pointing out that only creatures who have mates were to remain as part of the eventual world. Nothing pairs up with Falsehood. It stands alone and cannot exist with anything that is stable, essential or meant to be part of human ascendancy. So then, the "Sar of Sheker" courted the "Sar of Pachas", the force of misfortune, claiming that those two entities can coexist. They agreed to be mates and partners. The "force of misfortune" partnered with the "force of dishonesty", with the stipulation that anything that dishonesty gains will eventually become the domain of misfortune. The fortune earned by dishonest dealings was melded with ultimate misfortune, and a shiduch was made in the Ark. The Gan then offers that this is the equivalent of (as we would say in English) "cheaters never prosper." Those two energies, the temptation to sway from the truth and the consequence of eventual disappointment, survived the flood. They are a part of life. My question: are they from the "pure" or the "impure" creations?! The Gan continues: "...l'chayos zera..." "...to bring live descendants..." (7:3) If the objective of bringing animals into the Ark was to keep the world populated with living creatures, why did the pure animals need 7 of each gender? One of each would have allowed for procreation, as it sufficed for the unclean animals! The Gan, quoting the Bechor Shor, explains that this was Noach's clue that HaShem meant for him to deduce that the pure animals need to brought as offerings. We need to relinquish some of our goods, some of our fortune, in order to be selfless and to recognize that HaShem is the Highest Power. That is why the pure animals came in more amounts than necessary for procreation. We make use of good things, and do so in the service of HaShem. Impure things can come in pairs, but pure things should be abundant. Thus, we learn from this that the two living forces of Falsehood and Misfortune, since they are only a pair, are regarded as impure entities. There is no way that one can deign to serve HaShem under the pretense of using dishonesty, falsehood, deceit, crime and mis-appropriated fortune. Those will always be part of the "impure" parts of our world. Our mortal challenge, our existential struggle, is to determine if we will choose a life of purity, namely, one of being - at times - selfless in the pursuit of drawing close to HaShem, or if we content ourselves with life's impurities, which do not lead to goodness that endures. The Gan draws on verses 10:4, 11, and 12 to illustrate this but I will save those astounding insights for those who contact me and ask for them. For now, however, I will allow this to suffice as we begin acclimating to this exciting Rishon. Good Shabbos. D Fox