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Noah was perfectly righteous and he distinguished himself from the rest of his generation, whose sins destroyed the world, by staying honest and working hard. Yet, Noah did not expend any effort to help the people of his generation repent. He was satisfied with knowing that he was behaving properly and productively. Perhaps Noah realized there was no chance the people would repent, so he preferred to preserve his integrity and serve as an example of a life properly lived. As a result, Noah’s legacy reflects good deeds, and honest living and being careful not to cause harm. But it lacks the grand divine vision of continuously striving to perfect the world.
By contrast, Abraham, born 10 generations after Noah, used his very being to make the world a better place. He saw the good in humanity and tried to improve their lives. If people were sinful, Abraham sought to help them repent, guiding them on the path of truth and virtue. His essence was a strong protest against idol worship and human exploitation. That is the legacy of the Jewish nation: not satisfied with just a partial improvement, but always striving to bring the world to complete perfection. This begins with the soul that God gave the Israelites, Abraham’s heirs, a soul that strives to cling to God using divine ideals and values to perfect the world.
