Dear Friend,
When I think of Noah, I picture him building his ark, plank by plank, day after day, for decades. Despite the scoffing and jeering of passersby, certain that Noah was delusional and no mass destruction would befall them, he persevered.
As difficult and demoralizing as that must have been, he had hope. Hope that someone, anyone, would take him seriously, and adjust their behavior accordingly.
After witnessing the destruction of the entire known world and almost all its inhabitants, most people would have felt hopeless and downtrodden, ready to give up. Noah and his family, however, did what is virtually impossible—they started afresh. They drummed up enough hope and belief in the future—a better future—to begin rebuilding, day by day, person by person.
Our world can be a chaotic and scary place. Natural disasters are striking with increased frequency and ferocity, wars rage across multiple regions, the US faces an uncertain political future, and that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.
It’s easy to feel hopeless. It’s normal. Expected. But if Noah could rebuild after seeing his entire world wiped out, surely we can keep working, minute by minute, day by day, to make the world a better, safer, holier place.
Miriam Szokovski
on behalf of the Chabad.org
Editorial Team
