“Noah was a righteous man, wholehearted in his generations; Noah walked together with God” (Genesis 6:9) If, indeed, Noah was a righteous, wholehearted partner of God, why is he not the first Hebrew? He seems to have had all of the necessary qualifications.

Furthermore, the classical biblical commentary Rashi generally follows the midrash in praising every one of the biblical personalities, even those who do not come off so well in a simple reading of the biblical text. In the case of Noah, however, Rashi cites a midrash that turns great praise into shameful degradation.
While the Bible states unambiguously that Noah was “a righteous man, wholehearted in his generations,” Rashi comments, “And there are those who explicate this phrase to Noah’s detriment: In accordance with his generation, he was righteous; had he lived in the generation of Abraham, he would not have been considered anything at all” (Rashi, citing Sanhedrin B.T. 108). Why this denigration when the Bible itself is so complimentary? Rashi and the midrash even take the next phrase, “He [Noah] walked together with God,” to indicate that Noah was lacking: “In the case of Abraham, the Bible says, ‘Walk before Me and be wholehearted’ (Genesis 17: 1). Noah required Divine support to uphold him, whereas Abraham was strong and progressed with his righteousness on his own [without any need of external support]” (Genesis Raba 30:10). What could possibly cause these commentaries to overlook the positive and seek out the negative? The Maharal of Prague magnificently explains that Abraham and Noah each faced a similar challenge, but they reacted in radically different ways.
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