Parshas Noach 5783
As Oren Segal of the ADL put it, Kanye West has more followers on social media than there are Jews on the planet. We should, then, be rather amazed by the publicity and financial tailspin that Kanye’s recent anti-semitic remarks have sent him into. With his relationship with Adidas terminated, his net worth has been slashed to a quarter of what it was just a few days ago, and he is now on the outside of the Forbes’ billionaires list looking in. It is no small societal achievement in favor of tolerance and decency. And we should pause to consider and applaud it.
It’s impossible to read Parshas Noach without pondering the question, “How might Avraham have acted differently?” And this is not mere cynicism or an unfair devaluation of Noach’s righteousness. The commentaries, going all the way back to the Midrash, make the Noach-Avraham comparison, highlighting that much of the language the Torah uses in describing the two invites this assessment.
To be sure, Noach’s spiritual achievements are jaw-dropping. To emerge from an utterly debased society as the head of the lone family on the planet worthy of salvation is really saying something. But one cannot help but wonder if, had Avraham been there instead, would more people have perhaps ended up on the boat, beyond just his immediate family members?
In the Torah’s initial description of Noach, it is described that, “את האלקים התהלך נח—Noach walked with G-d.” High praise, indeed. Yet, as Rashi points out, a description later on of Avraham notes that, “ה׳ אשר התהלכתי לפניו—Hashem, before Whom I have walked.” Rashi explains that while Noach needed G-d by his side to support him in his journey toward morality, Avraham could walk independently and of his own strength.
The comparison between walking next to G-d and walking before G-d suggests another point as well. Namely, that Avraham saw himself as G-d’s ambassador. It is the ambassador who takes leave of the physical presence of the country or administration he works for in order to promote their values and ideals to others who may not be immediately at hand. Avraham promotes G-d from the soapbox and acts as G-d would in every interaction with others. Avraham teaches people, feeds people, and prays for people.
Avraham’s influence is impressive in his own lifetime, but his influence on the full gamut of human history is simply unparalleled. Many billions of people alive today can directly trace their own values back to those first propounded by Avraham, not to mention the many billions more who have lived between his generation and ours. People who believe in ethical monotheism, in equality before the law, in the value of human life, in social responsibility, may all use different titles and names to best describe their religious and social affiliations, but it would be quite fair to refer to them all as “Abrahamites.”
We, especially in the frum world, often lose sight of this. We lose sight of the degree to which Avraham was effective. We spend so much time pointing to the many ways in which society has slipped into a moral backslide over the past number of generations, that we don’t adequately consider the many moral victories. We take note of immodesty, but not of tolerance. We recoil from indecency, but don’t appreciate equality. We bemoan a diminishing family ethic, but can become oblivious to institutionalized kindness and charity. There are moral failings, but also moral victories. They are part of the legacy of Avraham and his shaping of the world around him, and we’d do well to appreciate them.
Adidas cutting ties with Kanye West is a moral victory. Not because Adidas’ motives were necessarily so pure. One can only imagine that a calculation was made—will we lose more money by retaining Kanye and his brand, or by cutting them? But that such a question would even need to be explored is impressive in of itself. That the public backlash to Kanye’s remarks could be so fierce as to force all the Adidas brass into the room is remarkable. That just a few generations after the Holocaust, a German company could be all but forced to part ways with an otherwise immensely popular celebrity due to public outcry over his antisemitism is an extraordinary feat. And it is one we should stop to acknowledge.
Progress never moves in a straight line, and anti-semitism is not over. But the downfall of Kanye West is an impressive point along the trajectory that Avraham Avinu first launched. Had their historical positions been reversed, Avraham would likely have brought far more people on his boat than Noach. Avraham didn’t walk next to G-d, he walked in front of Him, broadcasting His values to all who would listen. His influence truly has shaped the world for the better. Kanye West’s story is a reminder that we’re still feeling that influence today.