Surely one of the most well known of the Torah鈥檚 stories involves Noah and the flood. A righteous man living in a lawless and violent age, Noah is commanded to build an ark and to gather representatives of all the species of animals into the ark so they can survive a flood that will wipe out errant humanity and allow mankind to begin anew through Noah. As the rain waters fall and the floodwaters storm, Noah, his family, and his herds are safe inside. For weeks and weeks, they float across the undifferentiated surface of the water, and then, says the Torah: 鈥淕od remembered Noah and every living thing, and all the beasts that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters subsided.鈥
Rabbinic Judaism wasn't troubled by the philosophical issues raised by the claim that God remembered (as though God had previously forgotten!). The sages of Talmud and Midrash weren't even bothered by the claim that God remembered Noah. After all, it was commonplace to assert that God heard the prayers of the righteous. Indeed, Rashi summarizes both sides of this assertion when he explains that God remembering implies that God transformed his virtue of judgment (middat ha-din) into the virtue of mercy (middat ha-rachamim) through the prayer of the righteous. And the wickedness of the wicked turns the virtue of mercy into the virtue of judgment.鈥
Okay, so God listens to the prayers of a tzaddik like Noah and stops the rain out of compassion for his chosen servant. But what drew the attention of the ancient rabbis was the Torah鈥檚 insistence that it was not only Noah, but also every living thing that was the object of God鈥檚 recollection. God remembers cows?!?
In exploring this daring assertion, the ancient Midrash Bereshit Rabbah quotes the book of Psalms: 鈥淭he Lord is good to all, and God鈥檚 tender mercies are over all (145:9).鈥 Yes, indeed, say the ancient rabbis, there is biblical precedent to support that God does care for all living things, not only for humans! But then the rabbis take an interesting, and paradigmatically Jewish twist: 鈥淩abbi Joshua said in the name of Rabbi Levi: The Lord is good to all, and God inspires mankind with his compassion.鈥 In other words, what matters most is not God鈥檚 objective traits, not God鈥檚 essence, but how God鈥檚 essence takes form in human behavior. God鈥檚 goodness channels through human hands. We perceive a religious obligation to model God鈥檚 virtues in the world. Human beings are the ones who must make manifest God鈥檚 compassion. When we allow ourselves to be inspired and directed by God鈥檚 mercy, then 鈥 and only then 鈥 is it true that God鈥檚 mercies are over all.
What is it, then, that God 鈥渞emembered?鈥 According to the Midrash, God didn't remember Noah (the person) or even the living things (the animals). God remembers ethical action: 鈥淲hat did God remember in Noah鈥檚 favor? That he provided for the animals the whole 12 months in the Ark.鈥 鈥楪od remembered Noah鈥 and the spirit of justice approved it.鈥
One of the distortions of human mortality is that our eyes see things but do not see deeds. God鈥檚 鈥渆yes,鈥 as it were, don't suffer from our blindness. Instead, God鈥檚 vision focuses not on status but on doing 鈥 acts of care, acts of kindness, acts of justice 鈥 these are the data that fill the divine vision and stimulate divine memory.
If you want to be recalled before God鈥檚 memory, then lift up your hands and do. Reach out to heal the sick, to feed the hungry, to clothe the homeless. By caring for each other, for humanity, and for all of God鈥檚 creatures, we make ourselves worthy to come to God鈥檚 attention and we give substance and form to the claim that God is, after all, merciful.
Shabbat Shalom.