The parsha begins with Noach ish tzaddik and ends with Avraham ha’chasid.
Two righteous men. Two ways of serving Hashem. One preserved the world; the other began to redeem it.

“Noach was a tzaddik, perfect in his generation.” Rashi teaches that some praise him for staying righteous amid corruption, while others say that beside Avraham, he wouldn’t have stood out. For 120 years, Noach built the teiva exactly as Hashem commanded. He obeyed, believed, and endured mockery. Yet the Zohar notes that while Noach saved himself, he never prayed for his generation. His avodah was inward.

Ten generations later, Avraham and Sarah followed Hashem with “the souls they made in Charan” (Bereishit 12:5). Rashi explains they brought people close to Hashem. Avraham didn’t only serve Hashem—he spread the love. The Rambam teaches that a tzaddik serves from fear, but a chasid from love. Noach feared Hashem and obeyed Him; Avraham loved Hashem so deeply he wanted the world to know Him.

When you love someone, you don’t just do what they ask—you go above and beyond.
That is the difference between surviving and saving, between doing right and transforming the world.

The Gemara (Berachot 10a) tells of Rabbi Meir, who prayed that bandits tormenting him should die. His wife Bruriah corrected him: the pasuk says, “May sins cease from the earth,” not sinners. Pray for their teshuva. The heart of a chasid seeks redemption, not destruction.

The Chafetz Chaim told a mashal of a town whose governor decreed that all water be filtered for purity. The people obeyed faithfully until a fire broke out. They ran to fetch water but insisted on filtering it first. By the time they finished, the city burned down. The governor cried, “Fools! The law was for peace, not for fire! When the city burns, use whatever water you have!”

Our world burns with confusion and distance.
This is not the time to wait for perfect tools or people.
It’s time to act—with whatever Torah, warmth, words, and tefillah we have—to bring Hashem’s children home.

In Noach’s time, the world was destroyed and he was preserved.
In Avraham’s, the world was uplifted and he became the father of our nation. Pirkei Avot teaches that there were ten generations from Noach to Avraham that angered Hashem until Avraham, who received the reward of them all. Noach kept faith alive; Avraham spread it.

Now it’s our turn.
To love Hashem and His people enough to go beyond ourselves and bring the Geulah, one act of light at a time.
The world feels flooded again—not with water, but with noise, pain, and distraction.

This is the moment to rise like Avraham: to serve Hashem with love, to care, to pray, and to act.
Noach built a teiva. Avraham built a nation.

When we love Hashem enough to share His light with others, we won’t just survive the storm—we’ll bring the Geulah.