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By Donald H. Harrison
 SAN DIEGO—The story of Noah’s Ark has captivated people all over the globe. Just ask real estate maven Sanford Goodkin of our county, who has assembled a beautiful collection of Noah’s Arks made in various kinds of materials and with varying degrees of whimsy from the world over.
But, as we know, this biblical account raises serious ethical issues, as was pointed out by two b’nai mitzvah last weekend in speeches I had the privilege of subsequently reading.
Up in Tarzana, at Temple Judea, Sara Schiff, daughter of Scott and Tamara Schiff – and granddaughter of San Diego Jewish World columnist Eileen Wingard—wrestled with the idea that Noah accepted God's orders without a word of protest.
“Sure he was just following what G-d told him, but didn’t he think that there might be someone else in the world that wasn’t evil?” she asked in her d’var Torah. “I mean, for every robbery isn’t someone robbed; for every fraud isn’t someone defrauded? Aren’t the victims innocent and shouldn’t they be saved?”
Perhaps, suggested Schiff, Noah knew there were others who were deserving of being saved, but “was too afraid to speak against God for fear of being punished.”
The question of why didn’t Noah speak up and plead for others has been the source of rabbinical consternation generation after generation. In a later chapter of Genesis, Abraham bargained with God, urging Him not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if He could find ten worthy people. Rabbis have credited Abraham with being more of a mensch than Noah.
Sara Schiff commented “it says that Noah was a good person for his time. This may mean that compared to people today he would be a horrible person in our society. … (M)aybe G-d should not have put Noah on the ark. You would think that G-d would have the power to create an ark for just animals…” and then later create humanity anew.
Schiff’s love for animals also was manifested in a request she made of those attending her bat mitzvah celebration. She asked that they bring stuffed animals that might be donated to
children living in shelters.
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As Schiff was speaking, Terren Brin was also having a bar mitzvah at Temple Solel in Cardiff-by-the Sea, in which he addressed the Noah story from a different perspective.
The son of David and Cheryl Brin – and grandson of the late publisher of the Jewish Heritage chain of newspapers, Herb Brin--Terren noted that Noah’s Ark “was the first mention of technology being used to solve a problem.”
Developing that theme, young Brin suggested that with Noah, humanity started “down a long road of trying to use our wits and hands to solve problems…”
“Since then, human beings—not just Jews—have continued to reinvent themselves after setbacks" he said. "When atomic bombs devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese rebuilt with a changed society. When 9/11 punched a hole in New York City we pulled together patriotically in support;
likewise citizens picked up the pieces after Hurricane Katrina and the California wildfires. People still rebuild, learning from past mistakes.”
Brin pointed out that “after the terrible tragedy of the Holocaust, Jews from around the world united to create the state of Israel. Throughout history, Jews, in particular have shown great courage after many tragedies and disasters, coming together as a people to start life anew.”
From history, Brin moved to applying the lesson to today: “Just as Noah used technology to save humans and animals from destruction we will have to use science to solve issues such as global warming as well as the problems of poverty and hunger.”
I know that many adults are tempted to believe that the 13-year-olds who become bat mitzvah and bar mitzvah
are too new to their studies, too inexperienced in the world, and simply too young to have that much to offer. Clearly such adults need to reexamine such dismissiveness in the light of Sara and Terren and their many thoughtful peers.
Whenever I hear – or read—speeches like theirs, I feel renewed, and I have great optimism not only for the Jewish people but for the world at large. The questions they ask—the issues they tackle—gives me a great sense of intellectual and ethical security. I’d like to wish them and their deservedly proud families a great big mazal tov.
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