Venue: YU Torah MiTzion Beit Midrash Zichron Dov YU Torah MiTzion Beit Midrash Zichron Dov

Machshava:

Reward and Punishment 

Midrash:

Midrash Rabbah - Torah 

Parsha:

Noach 

Collections: Rabbi Torczyner Living Midrash

Description

Part of a series on the midrashim of Bereishit Rabbah related to Noach. This week we learned Bereishit Rabbah 31:5a, which seeks to explain the phrase ketz kol basar ba lefanai (Bereishit 6:13), not accepting "the end of all flesh has come before Me". Our midrash seems uncomfortable both with the meaning of "the end of all flesh" and the idea that the end could "come before" Gd. Rather, ketz refers to the punishment itself, and the punishment, embodied, lobbies Gd.