41. “These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a righteous man, complete.” Who deserves being in these joy and rest and tranquility? He who is righteous and complete. This is the rest above; it is as it is written, “God walked with Noah,” above, not below.
42. “These are the generations of Noah.” It is written, “There shall be no foreign god among you, nor shall you bow to any foreign god.” “There shall be no foreign god among you” is the evil inclination. “Nor shall you bow to any foreign god” means do not have intercourse with an Aramean woman.
43. “There shall be no foreign god among you” means do not be quick to anger, for anyone who is angry, it is as though he commits idol-worship. This is the way of the evil inclination: Today, it tells you “Do this,” and tomorrow, it tells you “commit idol-worship,” and he goes and commits.
44. The anger of a disciple of the wise is the greatest of all in matters that are against the Creator, for the Torah said, “There is no wisdom and no understanding and no counsel before the Lord.” But regarding other things, he is forbidden to be angry.
And the rav [spiritual teacher] with the disciple, it is permitted to be angry in order to have respect and fear of him. And toward the rest of the people, in order for the fear of him to be for the sake of heaven, it is permitted. But the rest of the people are forbidden, for their anger is not for the sake of heaven.
45. The attribute of the righteous is being slow to anger and quick to appease. This is the greatest attribute of all. And the text comes to indicate, “These are the generations of Noah,” Noah [easy going] in his mind, Noah in his speech, Noah in his walk. And who does it? A righteous man. When he dies, they say about him whether he is humble and whether he is a Hassid [has the quality of Hesed]. “Complete in his generations,” what is he rewarded with? It is written, “God walked with Noah,” above all the merits.
46. “And Noah begot three sons.” These are three manners of guidance in a person: the guidance of the soul, to be his aid in the work of his master, who is called Shem. The guidance of lust and the evil inclination, who leads and heats up the body regarding transgression, is called Ham. The guidance of the good inclination, which leads a person in abundance, and to adorn his deeds with Torah and fear of the Creator, is called Yefet. This is the guidance that one should establish so as to lead him on the path of life.
47. Who detains and corrupts him, as it is written, “and the earth was corrupt before God”? It is the Golem, who corrupts and destroys everything. Solomon said about it in his wisdom, “He who does so destroys his own soul,” the Golem will make her corrupt.
48. “These are the generations of Noah.” It is written, “And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and was saddened in His heart.” The quality of flesh and blood is not as the qualities of the Creator. The quality of flesh and blood does what it does, and then regrets and is saddened by it. Can the Creator too?
49. It is written, “Behold, I have set before you today life and good, and evil and bad.” He warned the man and said, “And you shall choose life so you may live.” But if he walks on the bad path, he will die for his iniquity, as it is written, “The iniquities of the wicked shall capture him.” It is also written, “And the Lord saw that man’s evil was plentiful.” The Creator said, “I see that everyone is wicked, and if they are destroyed for their wickedness, My world will be lost.” When He saw Noah and his sons, that they were righteous and a remnant would remain in the world, he was comforted and was glad.
50. “He was comforted” means comfort [or consolation]. He sees the bad and sees the good, and is comforted with the good. “And He was saddened in His heart,” the quality of mercy of the Creator. Although He was comforted, He took sadness for the loss of the wicked. Although they were wicked, He does not desire their death, and there was no joy before Him.
51. It is written, “And Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord,” since Noah, in reverse, is Chen [grace]. And the verse begins with “his generations,” in order to show the world how righteous he was, his generations were also righteous and worthy of the world being settled from them.
52. How do we know that they were righteous? When they went into the ark, they saw the affliction of the world and they were sorry, and abstained from multiplication. Even when they came out, they came out like that, until the Creator saw what they were doing and said, “I did not create My world in chaos, and you, multiply and be fruitful, mate with your wives and be fruitful and multiply. At that time, He blessed them, as it is written, “And God blessed Noah and his sons.
53. “These are the generations of Noah.” Rabbi Pinhas opened, “And the sons of the gods saw the daughters of men, that they were good.” The sons of the gods are the sons of the greatest of the generation. It teaches that the daughters of men were beautiful, for it is written here, ‘that they were good,’ and it is written there, ‘very good looking.’ They were walking naked, and the men were walking naked, and both saw their pudenda, and they were committing adultery with one another. Why were they called ‘sons of the gods? Because they were very mighty, giants.”
54. Rabbi Yehoshua said, “Once, I met in the mountain of the Rock of Etam, I found on the two sides of the rock two people who were controlling two mouths, one above the other. They were speaking about me, “Let us remove him from the world.” That great man from the demons of Igeret Bat Mahalat, whose name was Joseph the Demon, called them.
He said to them about Rabbi Yehoshua, “He is a great rav, the highest of the generation, who, by the decree of his mouth I was forced to move from the settled earth to the desert, and he is the one who is declared in the firmament.
55. While I was walking, I found the mother of those people. She said about us to her little daughter, “These are tiny grasshoppers whose strength is in their mouths. Bring them to me, and I will make of them a delicious concoction for your brothers.” Before she came to us, a miracle happened to us, and a river with many waters was made before us. I heard her saying, “My mother! My mother, the delicacies of daily food have passed from us, and I ran away from them and was saved.”