What is a righteous person?

‘And G-d said to Noah, come with all of your household into the ark, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation’. (Bereishit 7,1)

 Our sidra opens with a more expansive depiction of Noah, ‘these are the generations of Noah, Noah a wholly righteous man in his generation’ (6,9). Why does the description of Noah change?

Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, 1040-1105) the premier Torah commentator, quotes the Talmudic sage Rabbi Yirmiyaha ben Elazar (BT Eruvin 18b) who explains that we only partially praise a person in their presence, restricting more fulsome praise for when they are not present. Since G-d is talking to Noah in the verse first quoted (7,1), and Noah is therefore present, G-d omits the word ‘tamim’, wholly. Contrastingly, the second verse quoted (6,9), is narrative.

Rabbi Shlomo Efraim, in his 16^th century work ‘Keli Yakar’, takes an alternative view.

Noah built the Ark over a period of 120 years. At the end of that time, there was a younger generation than his. Noah had remained righteous throughout the generations, primarily through his abstention - as the commentators on chapter 6 and the Talmud in the last chapter of Masechet Sanhedrin explain - from theft (the sin which sealed the fate of the generation of the flood), promiscuity and cheating. Noah’s continual righteousness, whatever the sins of each generation in which he lived, entitled him to salvation from the flood.

Noah’s righteousness was also expressed positively, through persevering with his construction of the Ark. As Keli Yakar explains, G-d gave the people this time to do ‘teshuva’, repent, which, if they had done so, would have obviated the flood and the Ark. Noah, nonetheless, stuck to his task, despite the jibes and attacks of others, maintaining his belief and religious standards. This commitment is a salutary lesson to all of us.