Musar sobre Gênesis 6:9

We find that his service was out of love and not out of fear and this is the highest service. The Creator, blessed be He, did not praise him for fearing Him, nor did he say, “The seed of Abraham who fears me or is terrified,” but he said (Isaiah 41:8), “The seed of Abraham, My friend.” We have already said that fear is contained in love. Know that the service of the Creator, blessed be He, out of fear is not the service of the truly pious, but it is the service of the wicked or the nations of the world, as He has said to the wicked (Jeremiah 5:22), “Fear ye not Me?”, and He says concerning the Egyptians (Exodus 9:20), “He that feared the word of the Lord,” for they were not doing His command out of love, but out of fear. But to the pious he says (Deuteronomy 6:5), “And thou shalt love the Lord, thy God,” and (ibid., 11:13), “To love the Lord your God.” But he says in Job (Job 1:8), “A wholehearted and an upright man, one that feareth God, and shunneth evil,” and He did not say concerning him, “a lover of God.” And similarly it is said (Psalms 34:10), “O fear the Lord, by His holy ones,” and this is said of the wicked. For when the wicked cleave to the service of God and sanctify and cleanse themselves from their uncleanliness, they are called “holy ones” as it is said (Numbers 11:18), “Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow.” Whereas of the pious ones, whose heart is pure from the first day of their existence, it is said (Psalms 31:24), “O love the Lord all ye His godly ones; the Lord preserveth the faithful.” And of Enoch, it is said (Genesis 5:22), “And Enoch walked with God,” and it is not said, “And Enoch feared God.” And concerning Noah it is said (Genesis 6:9), “Noah was in his generations a man righteous and whole-hearted.”¹⁷Job was regarded by Jewish tradition as a gentile, as were Enoch and Noah. The latter two lived prior to the time of Abraham, the founder of Judaism. Thus the service of God through fear is not like the service of God through love.

And we find in Midrash Tehillim 49:2: "'To the chief musician, to the sons of Korach, a psalm.' This is as Scripture says (Koheleth 11:7): 'And sweet is the light, and good for the eyes.' How sweet is the light of the world to come. Happy is the man who has the good deeds to see that light, as it is written (Judges 5:31): 'And His lovers [will be] as the rising of the sun in his might.'" R. Abba said: "How sweet are those things which are compared to light. As it is written (Mishlei 6:23): 'For a mitzvah is a lamp, and Torah, light, etc.' Happy is the man who sees the Torah white as snow, for there is no end to its reward. When the Holy One Blessed be He will come to pay Israel the reward of the toilers in Torah and will bestow upon them of the secreted light in its merit — at that time they will say to the peoples of the world: 'We merited [this] because we occupied ourselves with Torah. And you used to say to us: "You are wearying yourselves for nothing." — See its reward!' As it is written (Psalms 49:2): 'Hear this [zoth] all you people.' And 'zoth' is the Torah.' (Psalms, Ibid.): 'Hear, all you dwellers of the earth [chaled]' — these are the men who raise rust [chaludah] in Gehinnom. And who are they? (Ibid. 3): 'Both the sons of "Adam" and the sons of "Ish."' "Adam" — this is Abraham, viz. (Joshua 14:15): 'the great man [Adam] among the giants.' Also the sons of Adam' — Yishmael and the sons of Ketura. 'Also the sons of Ish' — the sons of Noach, who was called ish tzaddik (Bereshith 6:9). Another interpretation: These are the idolators, who descend to Gehinnom. (Ibid.): "rich and poor together" — rich in Torah and poor in Torah. "rich" — Doeg and Achitophel. Even though they were heads of sanhedrin, they descended to Gehinnom. "and poor in Torah" — one who can learn but does not learn. Therefore, the sons of Korach said (Ibid. 4): 'My mouth shall speak wisdom' — the wisdom of Torah; 'and my heart shall meditate understanding' — the understanding of Torah. (Ibid. 5) 'I will incline my ear to a parable' — the parable of Torah." And this is the language of the holy Zohar, Parshath Vayeshev:"

Adam ruined this state of affairs by interfering with the סוד היין, the mystical properties of the grapes. [I suppose that this is based on the tree of knowledge having been a grape bearing tree. Ed.] He followed an evil path by squeezing a cluster of grapes (and consuming its juice). Had he not done so, that "wine" would have remained in the state of what our sages call the יין המשומר בענביו, "the wine that remained preserved within its grapes (compare Berachot 34).” In that event he would have been like "the cistern that does not lose a single drop” [hyperbole for total recall, see Avot 2,11. Ed.]. He would have retained all the holiness that had been his when he was created. When Adam sinned, he did not only lose some of his former glory, fall from a "high roof" (to the ground), but he fell into a "very deep pit" (below the ground). This was a בור רק, an empty pit [allusion to the pit Joseph had been thrown in. Genesis 37,24], since it did not even contain the ingredients for the survival of the species. The species was wiped out at the time of the deluge as a direct consequence of Adam having polluted that "drop of sacred semen," and made it "evil smelling." Due to G–d's personal intervention, Noach was saved seeing he was righteous, and the righteous are the foundation of the universe. The present universe was founded by him as a result.