"וגם את נח באהבה זכרת בהביאך את מי המבול...מפני רוע מעלליהם"
“You also remembered Noach with love when You brought the waters of the flood...because of the wickedness of their deeds.”

QUESTION: Why do we base our plea on Noach; can’t we find any other Jewish tzaddikim?

ANSWER: The Torah describes Noach as a “tzaddik bedorotav” — “righteous in his generation.” Some explain that this means, in comparison to his contemporaries he was righteous, but had he lived in Avraham’s generation he would be naught (Bereishit 6:9, Rashi).

In our prayer we are saying, “You remembered Noach with love when You brought the flood.” Though he, too, should have drowned, You separated him because You took into consideration the “wickedness of their deeds” and when he is measured against them, he is a tzaddik. Likewise, measure us against the people of the world we live amongst, and regardless how we may have failed You, in comparison to them we are tzaddikim and are worthy to be lovingly remembered by You.

(סידור דובר שלום)

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Alternatively, Noach and the teivah — ark — have a connection to Rosh Hashanah (see Zohar, Bamidbar, 149). The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 11a) says that on Rosh Hashanah the Matriarchs, Sarah and Rachel, and the prophetess Chanah were remembered by Hashem, and it was decreed that they bear children. Their Hebrew names each consist of three letters (שרה, רחל, חנה). Two of the letters of each name are also present in each of the other two names and each contains a letter which is unique in her name (שרה, רחל, חנה).

The letters ש,ל,נ have the numerical value of 300, 30, and 50 respectively. These numbers are alluded to in the dimensions of the teivah — ark — Hashem instructed Noach to make, as the pasuk says, “This is how you should make it — 300 cubits the height of the ark, 50 cubits its width, and 30 cubits its height (Bereishit, 6:15).”

(לקוטי לוי יצחק ע' שפ"ב במכתב לבנו כ"ק אדמו"ר ה' תשרי תרצ"ז)

* * *

Perhaps the reason Hashem hinted to Noach about these three women is to indicate that though he would witness the destruction of the world, he should not fear because there would be a rebirth of the world in general and the Jewish people in particular, and these three women can be credited for the past, present and future of Jewry.

Sarah gave birth to Yitzchak, the first Jewish child. Rachel gave birth to Yosef, who was the trailblazer and the source of strength for Jewry to endure and survive throughout the long galut — exile. Chanah gave birth to Shmuel, who anointed David, the ancestor of Mashiach — the redeemer of our people who will speedily lead us out of galut to our Holy Land.