Have you ever gotten into major trouble as a kid? Maybe you colored all over the living room walls, and the furniture too while you were at it, and your parents were furious. Now imagine showing up the next day with your parents’ favorite cake, baked to perfection. One smell fills the house and suddenly all is forgiven. Or maybe as an adult you majorly messed up at work and your boss let you have it. The next morning you show up with a perfectly cooked ribeye steak. Your boss takes one bite and says, “You know what? Yesterday never happened!”
Wouldn’t that be something? If only we could “undo” our biggest mistakes simply by offering a gift or kind gesture. It sounds almost too easy. Yet, we see something very similar play out on a cosmic scale in this week’s perasha, Noah, which is also my bar misva perasha. G-d looks down at the world and is deeply disappointed. He immediately regrets creating the world and its inhabitants. Violence is rampant, theft is widespread and morality has collapsed entirely. The world has become unrecognizable from what G-d intended. So G-d decides to bring a flood that wipes out humanity along with all living creatures except for one man and his family. Noah is spared from global devastation and rides out the flood safely in the ark.
Once the rain stops and the land dries, Noah exits the ark and is overcome with gratitude that G-d spared him and his family. His first act is to bring a sacrifice from the kosher animals he had taken into the ark. The Torah tells us (Beresheet 8:21) that G-d smelled the fragrance of the offering and declared that He would never again destroy the world due to the corruption of man. Wait, what? How could Noah’s personal sacrifice trigger such a dramatic change? Humanity had just been wiped out because of its corruption, yet now G-d promises never to destroy the world again?! Was G-d simply bribed by a good smell?
Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Goldvicht a”h, the founding rosh yeshiva of Kerem B’Yavneh in Israel, addresses this very question. He explains that Noah’s sacrifice was significant not because of the aroma itself, but because of what it represented. The generation of the flood was marked by selfishness, corruption, and violence. People lived only for themselves. Noah, however, spent an entire year aboard the ark, caring for the animals day and night, performing countless acts of hesed (selfless kindness). By the time he emerged from the ark, he had become a person focused on giving rather than taking.
A korban (sacrifice) reflects this very idea. It is an act in which a person gives of himself to become closer to G-d. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks a’h explains (Why Do we Sacrifice, Vayiqra) that the word korban comes from the Hebrew root meaning “to draw near.” Its purpose is not to simply give something away, but to draw closer to G-d by giving something of ourselves. The offering on the altar, he adds, expresses an inner willingness to place our desires, our energies and our lives in G-d’s service. When Noah offered his sacrifice, he was demonstrating that mankind was indeed capable of selflessness after all. Even after the corruption that had led to the flood, humanity still possessed the potential for kindness, sacrifice, and devotion. All hope was not lost.
Based on this, G-d’s response to Noah’s sacrifice becomes easier to understand. Noah was only one man but he represented what humanity would become. The “pleasing aroma” was not merely the smell of an animal being brought on the altar; it was the “fragrance” of selflessness and dedication. Noah showed that people are capable of rising above their own interests and living for something greater than themselves.
Rabbi Goldvicht adds that this idea extends far beyond Noah. Citing Beresheet Rabbah (34:9), he notes that the “pleasing aroma” alludes to future generations as well. Abraham, who chose to enter a fiery furnace rather than bow to an idol, demonstrated extraordinary devotion to G-d. Countless Jews throughout history who refused to bend to the will of man, and instead chose G-d, also revealed this same devotion. In that light, G-d was not only looking at one man’s sacrificial offering, but at what the future would hold, a future where selflessness and kindness would persist, even when darkness and corruption seemed to prevail.
Every act of hesed we perform today, every time we choose to give rather than to take, adds its own “pleasing aroma” to the world. It reminds us that beneath all the selfishness and noise, the world is still filled with people capable of extraordinary goodness. Perhaps this is the fragrance that G-d took note of in Noah’s sacrifice and continues to recognize today through our actions.
Think about how many opportunities for hesed present themselves each day. A kind word to a spouse, showing a teacher appreciation for teaching your child, a favor for a friend and even allowing someone to move ahead of you on the road instead of moving up mere inches simply to make sure that they don’t. Yes, it is often easier to criticize, to withhold warmth, and to be stingy, than to encourage and to give. Yet sometimes all it takes is a moment to ask ourselves: “How can I make someone’s day a little better?” Trust me, the feeling and warmth you experience after doing so, after being kind to your fellow Jew, knows no bounds.
Sure, baking a cake or cooking a ribeye steak may be appreciated, but it is not really the cake or steak that matters. What matters is someone cared enough to go above and beyond for another person. The act says out loud, “You matter to me.”
The Ramak, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero writes in his sefer Tomer Deborah (1:6) that although people may be undeserving in other respects, G-d desires kindness and shows them mercy when they themselves show mercy to others. When we care for others, we invite G-d to care for us. Noah stepped outside of what was sadly considered the norm of his generation to offer a sacrifice, to step up, show up, and selflessly give. G-d took notice of what Noah’s sacrifice represented.
We cannot change the world but we can choose to be selfless instead of selfish, to make people feel included rather than excluded. Be the person who takes that first step, maybe by making a difficult phone call to connect, offering a car ride, lending a hand or simply saying a kind word. The opportunities are endless. Noah was only one man, yet G-d saw infinite possibilities and promised to never destroy the world again. Every act of kindness we add to the world brings us one step closer to the day when G-d will bestow the ultimate kindness upon us and bring the Mashiach and rebuild the Bet HaMikdash, speedily in our days.