In Parashat Noach, Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk redefines what it means to be a righteous person. The Torah says Noah was "a righteous person, complete in his generations" (Genesis 6:9). Most commentators debate whether this is praise or criticism. Rebbe Elimelech takes it somewhere else entirely.
A person who serves God in every aspect of life—even in physical acts like eating and drinking, sanctifying them by separating the spiritual from the material—that person moves through distinct spiritual stages. Each stage is like a "generation." When the person rises to a new level, the previous stage passes away ("a generation goes") and a new one begins ("a generation comes"). This is the deeper meaning of (Ecclesiastes 1:4).
The key, though, is that the body—the artziut, the earthiness—must not be abandoned. It must be sanctified. "The land stands forever" means that physical reality endures precisely so it can be elevated. A person who does not engage the physical world in holiness never progresses through these stages at all. They remain spiritually static.
This is what the Torah means by "Noah was righteous and perfect in his generations"—plural. In every stage, in every spiritual iteration, Noah maintained his righteousness. And the reason? "Noah walked with God." Every single one of his actions, physical and spiritual, served a single purpose.
Rebbe Elimelech adds a practical insight. The verse "the ark rested in the seventh month" (Genesis 8:4) hints that a person should repair their deeds during Tishrei, the seventh month. During the Ten Days of Repentance, holiness is more accessible than at any other time of year—as the sages taught, "Seek God where He can be found" (Tanchuma, Ha'azinu 4:10).
These are the generations of Noach, Noach was a righteous person, complete in his time (Genesis 6:9) It appears to me that the person who deals with serving the Blessed and Exalted Creator in all their deeds, meaning, even in physical things such as eating and drinking, that that person eats and drinks in holiness, in any instance trying to distance from the dross and to raise the spirituality in themselves, then in every time that they raise up and get to a different, more complete, level, this is called "generation". This is because the first aspect that they were acting on, all the days they are acting on that aspect, that aspect is called "generation". And after they fall into a different aspect, behold, that person is like one who came into a different generation. And this is the meaning of "a generation goes and a generation comes", as just explained, that the one who falls from one's first aspect in which they were acting until now, that aspect is gone from them, like "a generation goes". "And a generation comes" it is also as explained, that they came to a different aspect, and the text says that nevertheless the person needs to get through the method "and the land [eretz] stands forever", meaning, that the corporeality [artziut], that is, physicality, needs to be maintained so that one will act in it with holiness, as explained, and "stands forever [le'olam]" really means to the Upper World [olam]. And a person that acts as described come to a different aspect every moment, but to one who does not act with holiness, none of this applies, since they do not go to any other aspect at all. And this is "from generation to generation", meaning, a person who wants to go out and enter from a generation to another generation, that is, from one aspect to another, as explained, "Your deed will be praised", meaning, one needs to make even oneself holy even in their corporeality, to the point that even one's physical deeds will be praise to the Holy Exalted Name, Blessed be. And this is "Noach was a righteous man, perfect in his generations" - the explanation is that in all his aspects, all that was in him, in every moment he was righteous and perfect, and all that was due to "Noach walked with E-lohim", meaning, all his deeds were only for the Great Blessed Name, and so he always went from one aspect to another aspect. And the ark rested on the seventh month etc (Genesis 8:4) - this is a hint that a person should fix their deeds on the seventh month, that it, Tishrei, and then one's prayer is more accepted than the rest of the days of the year, just as our sages explained "seek God where He can be found - these are the ten days of repentance" (Tanchuma, Haazinu 4:10). This is because then holiness abides with a stronger force, and this is "and the ark rested... on the seventeenth day of the month" (Genesis 8:4) - this is, after one has also passed the two first days of the Holiday (of Sukkot), and did the mitzvot of sukkah and lulav, and then there is strength in the sovereignty of holiness. "On the Mount of Ararat" is a hint to the impure externalities, and that one can break them with holiness. And the waters continued to diminish until the tenth month (Gen. 8:4) - the explanation for the word "waters": the holy Torah is called water, as in "all those who are thirsty go to the waters" (Isaiah 55:1) - this is the [impulses to] holiness and the clinging that are inside a person, ["continued to diminish"] is that it is impossible to go on [that level] forever, only at certain points does a person lacks, that is, interrupts their clinging, as in "he wanted to reach but did not reach" (Yerushalmi Chagigah 2:2:6). "Until the tenth month" - meaning until a person renews within the tenth level, which is the upper holiness, as in "the tenth will be holy"(Leviticus 27:32). "On the first of the month the tops of the mountains were seen" (Gen. 8:5) - meaning, even though that person reaches this level, gets to complete unification, that person has but seen the tops of the mountains, meaning, that person just got to the tip of holiness, since serving the Holy One of Blessing is something that is endless. "And it was, at the end of forty days" (Gen. 8:6) - the explanation is that after a person merits to come to the inner side of the holy Torah, that what given after forty days to our teacher Moshe, PBUH, then, "and Noach opened the window of the ark that he had made", meaning, then the Holy Blessed One, called as "Noach", since God rests (nach) and dwells in His world to protect and look after His creations, He opens the gate of holiness for the tzadik, so the tzadik will go and grow towards a great holiness. "And he sent the crow" (Gen. 8:7) meaning, the Text counts and thinks the level of the tzadikim that the Holy One created in His world, and the explanation of "he sent etc" means, God sent the tzadik to the world. "The crow" is a symbol that there are people whom the Holy One of Blessing created who are good in dealing with buying and selling, and are honest, and feed their children and their children's children, and they are called "crows", as the gemara tells, about those people who would not support their children, that the rabbis would make a public announcement like this "the crow feeds its children but this person does not want to feed his/her own children!" (Ketubot 49b). Also, "crow [עורב]" is an expression of sweetening, as in "pleasant [עָרֵב]" and sweet in the eyes of the Holy Blessed Name, Blessed Be, and in the eyes of humans, when one is dealing honestly in buying and selling, and this is "and he sent a crow", meaning, the tzadikim, as we explained above, that are called "crows". "And it went to and fro" meaning, such a person, that has gone out, needs to return immediately, that is, to understand that one's intention should be always towards Heaven, and return his/her intention to the Holy Blessed Name, Blessed Be, "until the waters dried up"- meaning, that person should behave this way until the arrival of messianic times. And the second level, which is "and he sent the dove from himself" (Gen. 8:8) - this is a hint for the complete tzadik, called "dove". "To see whether the waters dried up from the earth", meaning, one needs to break the forces of the externalities and separate them from holiness, which is called waters, as explained. And then such a person will raise holiness ever higher, with ease, since once the externalities are separated from holiness there is strength for holiness to rise. "And the dove did not find a resting place for her foot" - meaning, the tzadik cannot find a resting place for themselves, in the regular physical things of this world, and the tzadik's orientation and desire are only to raise towards holiness. "And she returned to him" meaning, to the Holy Blessed Name". "To the ark" that is, to holiness. "Because the waters were on all the land" meaning, that the tzadik sees that holiness is above the land, and the tzadik's soul desires greatly to raise holiness, and what does the Holy Blessed One do? "Sent his hand and took her", meaning, the Holy One does the will of the tzadikim and sends His hand as the tzadik's soul desires. About a different subject. "And he sent the crow and it went back and forth etc" (Gen. 8:7) - they said that a person needs to hold fast to Torah, being as cruel as the crow towards his children so that the person would not have any thoughts towards physicality. And we see the tzadik as symbolized by the crow, and the service of the tzadik should always be in "back and forth", as the holy creatures [chayot], about which it is written "and the creatures [chayyot] were going back and forth" (Ezekiel 1:14). And this is "and he sent the crow", meaning, one should hold oneself closely to the level of the crow, "and go back and forth", as explained. And he sent again etc and the dove came back to him at nightfall (Gen. 8:11) - the explanation is that at the time when darkness is falling on the world, which is when all need mercy and sustenance, then the complete tzadik arouses Compassion towards them, and brings in front of the Holy One of Blessing "an olive leaf" which is the symbol of light, since light is also called 'oil', which comes from olives. "Held on its mouth" meaning, "hold" is sustenance, which happens to them through the prayers of the tzadik, held on his/her mouth. "And Noach knew that the waters etc" - the explanation is that "And Noach knew" is applied to the Holy Blessed One, Who, as it were, wanted to separate between the externalities and holiness, as above. "And he waited more etc and she did not come back etc" (Gen. 8:12) the explanation comes from the verse "a great voice that did not add" (Deut. 5:19) and the explanation of Rashi: 'did not interrupt', meaning, that there are other levels in human beings in which one does not stop thinking ever, seeing that one's deeds are never good enough to their own eyes, and one is always seeing defects on them, and is always trying to go back and do teshuvah, and this is "she returned to him again" - a person should always be a ba'al teshuvah.
