Shabbat shalom!

The ten generations from Abraham to Noah had ended in failure; mankind had stumbled into a downward spiral until God resolved that when all the inhabitants of the earth would be wiped out, with the exception of Noah and his family, and enough animals to replenish the earth after the destruction. Like Adam the father of the entire human race, Noah would become the father of mankind after the flood. Therefore, although the Torah had listed him previously as the last in the genealogy of his predecessors, it mentions him again now, since he and his children were to become the new ancestors of mankind.

"Noah was a righteous man" the verse began to introduce of Noah's offspring, but once he was mentioned, scripture praised him as a righteous man. According to the sages, the Torah means to teach that the primary "offspring" of the righteous are their good deeds, for the worthwhile things that a person does are his primary legacy.Rabbi Ressler asks in his "Dvar", has God proclaiming Noah as being both a "Tzaddik" (righteous), and "Tamim" (perfect). What's tricky about that is that the term "Tzaddik" denotes a person that has been accused of something and has been proclaimed righteous, while the term "Tamim" describes a person that required no defense or exoneration. So which one was Noah?Rabbi Moshe Feinstein explains that if you're an individual, working on yourself and no one else, your goal should be to perfect your actions and in using the guidelines of the Torah to achieve that perfection. However, if you're a leader, or in a position to influence others, many times that involves saying or doing things that evoke allegations and accusations. For this reason, many people would rather stay away from communal affairs, and lead a quiet life. However, God told Noah and us that although Noah could have kept to himself and become perfect, He prefers that we stand up for the Torah even if it means facing opponents because of it. The biggest scholars of our past weren't known as Tamim, but as Tzaddikim (righteous people), because they stood for something! And the best way for us to achieve this goal is to find ONE good deed that we're willing to embrace and stand up for. By becoming a "mini-Tzaddik" in this one aspect, may we grow in rank, and one day become Tamim (perfect) human beings!