How can a verse praise Noach yet also denigrate him?
Noach being called righteous "in his generations" prompts two readings—lishevach (for praise), that his righteousness would have been even greater in Avraham's generation, or ligenai (for denigration), that he would have been considered nothing in Avraham's generation—yet since the Torah itself explicitly testifies that Noach was a tzaddik tamim (perfect righteous man), the denigrating interpretation remains a genuine difficulty that must be reconciled.AI summary · anthropic/claude-sonnet-5
"These are the generations of Noach; Noach was a righteous, perfect man in his generations; Noach walked with God." Rashi explains on "these are the generations of Noach" that the primary "generations" of tzaddikim (righteous ones) are good deeds. This is true, and it resolves [the question of] why the verse did not mention immediately after "the generations of Noach" the words "and Noach begot." But the word "Noach" [itself] is not resolved by this.
And Rashi also explains on "he was a righteous man in his generations" that some interpret this lishevach (for praise) and some interpret it ligenai (for denigration). Lishevach: kal vachomer (all the more so) — had he been in the generation of Avraham Avinu, peace be upon him, he would have been even more righteous. Ligenai: had he been in the generation of Avraham Avinu, peace be upon him, he would not have been considered anything.
This is a temiha (wonder/difficulty) regarding the one who interprets it ligenai — for the holy Torah testifies concerning him that he was a tzaddik tamim (perfect righteous man), so how can one interpret him for denigration?
אלה תולדות נח נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדורותיו את האלהים התהלך נח. פירש רש"י על אלה תולדות נח עיקר תולדותיהם של צדיקים מעשים טובים. אמת מתורץ על מה שלא הזכיר תיכף אחר תולדות נח ויולד נח. אבל תיבת נח אינו מתורץ בזה. וגם פירש"י על איש צדיק היה בדורותיו יש דורשין לשבח ויש דורשין לגנאי לשבח כש"כ שאלו היה בדורו של אברהם אבינו ע"ה היה צדיק ביותר ולגנאי שאלו היה בדורו של אברהם אבינו ע"ה לא היה נחשב לכלום. היא תמיה על הדורש לגנאי שהתורה הקדושה מעידה עליו שהיה צדיק תמים ואיך יכולין לדרוש עליו לגנאי:
Translation: translated by AI (anthropic/claude-sonnet-5)