Why does the Torah call Noach 'a man, righteous, perfect'?
Tzaddik (righteous) and tamim (perfect) can never be absolute descriptions of a person's service of Hashem, since relative to His infinite greatness no human effort could ever measure up; rather, "ish" (a man) teaches that Noach was deemed righteous and perfect only in relation to his own human capacity, and this is why even Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov could not be vindicated if judged by the standard of Hashem's own greatness rather than by their own human measure.AI summary · anthropic/claude-sonnet-5
Noach was a righteous man, perfect (Bereishit 6:9). Now, at first glance, it would have sufficed to say "Noach was righteous, perfect" — why does it say "a man"? The explanation is based on what is written (Tehillim 7:9): "Judge me, Hashem, according to my righteousness, and according to my perfection that is upon me." The gist of the matter is this: in relation to His greatness and honor, there is no measure to how one ought to serve Him; but in relation to the one serving, according to his own power and wisdom, there is a measure. If so, the term "tamim" (perfect/complete) cannot apply to the servant in relation to the One served, who is without end; rather, the term "tamim" can only be conceived in relation to the servant himself. Therefore, one could not say "a righteous man, perfect" to mean that the service was complete in an absolute sense — only "a man, righteous, perfect," meaning: according to his own personhood, inasmuch as he was a man, he was righteous and perfect.
On this basis is explained what they said (Erchin 17a): If the Holy One, blessed be He, were to come into judgment with Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, they would not be able to be vindicated. That is to say: if the Holy One, blessed be He, were to come specifically according to the measure of His own greatness in judgment, then they would not be able to be vindicated. And understand this well.
נח איש צדיק תמים היה (בראשית ו ט). והנה לכאורה היה די לומר נח צדיק תמים היה, ואיש למה. והנ"ל על פי מ"ש בפסוק (תהלים ז ט) שפטני ה' כצדקי וכתומי עלי, ותורף הדברים דבערך גדולתו וכבודו איך שראוי לעבדו אין לו שיעור, אך בערך העובד כפי כחו וחכמתו יש שיעור, ואם כן לא יתכן שם תמים להעובד בערך הנעבד דאין לו סוף, רק בערך העובד יצוייר שם תמים. ואם כן לא יתכן לומר צדיק תמים דמשמע שהעבדות בשלמות, רק איש צדיק תמים, דהיינו לפי אישיתו שהוא איש, היה צדיק תמים. ועל פי זה מבואר אמרם (ערכין י"ז ע"א) אם יבא הקב"ה בדין עם אברהם יצחק ויעקב, אינם יכולין לזכות. דר"ל אם יבא הקב"ה דייקא כפי ערך גדולתו במשפט, אז אינם יכולין לזכות, ודו"ק.
Translation: translated by AI (anthropic/claude-sonnet-5)