Noah's Ark...and Ours.

The work 'ark' is translated as 'teiva' in our holy Torah.

The Baal Shem Tov teaches us that the 'teivah' also means WORD.

So when Hashem/G-d says, "bo el hateiva'-"come with Me into the ‘teivah’ it's like he says ” enter with Me into the words of ‘our’ prayers.

Although considered righteous, Noah is criticized for not really helping his fellow men in his generation to repent. Hashem says over and over again that He is going to destroy the world.

I always remember the words of one of my teachers, Rabbi Edward Hoffman, that tzaddikim show us where the dead ends are, so we don't make the same mistakes.

Noah was a tzaddik, and he 'allows' his story to be told so that we can learn from it.

It is our responsibility to use our 'teivot'/words pray for each other and the entire world. Certainly we will pray for our own needs, and even that should be done in truth.

If something hurts, tell Hashem, "it hurts!"

He wants us to be real.

He also wants our gratitude and acts of loving kindness. We can thank G-d for the big things and also for the 'little' things. And learning from Noah's story, let us remember to not just gape at others we deem as wayward, etc. Instead, we can raise our teivot/our words and sincerely pray for the world.

There's LOTS to pray for...

G-d bless!