Crimes of the Cultured

"And the earth was corrupted before God and the earth was filled with violence." (Bereshit 6.11)

"Before God" refers to the judges, for the people would steal less than a penny's value, too little to be claimed before the judges, so that even while the judge looks on, he can do nothing to protect the tearful downtrodden... For this reason the earth was filled with violence." (K'li Yakar)

Our Rabbis teach us that stealing, promiscuity, and idol worship were the elements of corruption of which the Torah speaks in this verse. Rashi emphasizes that robbery was the source of the violence that filled the earth. The Talmud too, states (Sanhedrin 108a): "Their fate was sealed on account of robbery."

The question arises, why would robbery be considered the most severe of these corrupt acts, when other sins such as bloodshed, adultery, and idolatry pose a seemingly more immediate threat to man's physical, social and spiritual being? Why was the fate of Noah's generation sealed on account of robbery?

The criminal magnitude of robbery is best explained by the K'li Yakar: "And the earth was corrupted before God" refers to the judges, for the people would steal less than a penny's value, too little to be claimed before the judges, so that even while the judge looks on, he can do nothing to protect the tearful downtrodden... For this reason the earth was filled with violence."

We are well aware of culturally sanctioned, and even legally protected, forms of deception and robbery, which even our judges are unable to eradicate. It is the type of robbery that leaves widows and orphans helpless. It is the deceptive art of finding the loophole that evades justice, even under the scrutiny of the judges. Whereas other forms of corruption are more primitive, the masters of this art are often found among society's brightest and most cultured. Hence, the danger of mistaking society's decay for its apparent culture and enlightenment. The most corrupt society is one that by commission or by omission fails to protect its innocent, thereby promoting its own moral erosion.

For this reason, the fate of Noah's generation was sealed. Although we have been assured that we will never face a similarly fateful flood, we must take care that we never become corrupt before God, and that our own mechanisms for ensuring justice and protecting the innocent remain intact.