What Goes Around Comes Around

Hashem brought the flood upon the world – י מלאה הארץ חמס because the land was filled with theft. The Gemara in Sanhedrin (108a) cites further validation that the verdict of the flood was sealed because of theft.

What is so severe about stealing that this was the sin which caused the destruction of the world through the flood? The generation of the flood was guilty of countless other aveiros, none of which seemed to tip the balance resulting in such a severe punishment.

Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson, in Sefer Sho’el u’Meishiv, answers with a mashal. There was once a large bird that would frequently sweep down into the waters in order to catch his prey. One day he swept down as usual and, as he was about to swallow the fish, he heard a faint voice. He listened closely and noticed that the fish was begging for its life. The fish he was about to eat claimed that it still wanted to serve Hashem and asked the bird to have mercy on it. The bird dropped the fish back into the water, honoring the fish’s wishes. Moments later he watched as the fish spat out several other little fish that it had just eaten. The bird was amazed at this open display of hypocrisy. How can you beg for mercy when you yourself show none?

When the generation of the flood begged for mercy to be saved from the mass destruction, Hashem looked to see if they behaved mercifully towards one another. Hashem saw their repeated acts of theft which proved that they had virtually no mercy on their fellow members of mankind. When one steals from another person he is saying that he has no regard for the other person’s possessions or, for that matter, the other person himself. This is what sealed the verdict and brought about the ultimate destruction.

A Neighbor's Difficult Request

There was a family living in Yerushalayim who unfortunately had not yet merited to celebrate any simchos. Their children were growing older and they had not managed to make even a single shidduch. They watched as their upstairs neighbor married off one child after the other, one engagement followed by a wedding, followed by another engagement, and so on. The downstairs family was distraught and often wondered what the cause was for their seeming lack of mazal.

One day, the upstairs neighbor approached his downstairs neighbor and requested permission to allow his family to build an extension to their apartment. The upstairs neighbor explained how his family was growing so fast, bli ayin ha’ra, and had outgrown their current living space. The downstairs neighbor was incredulous at his neighbor’s insensitivity but remained quiet and told his neighbor that he would think about his request.

As soon as the neighbor left, the man went over to his wife and repeated the conversation, pointing out how inconsiderate this man was in light of the fact that they had not even made one simchah. His wife listened carefully, and then she suggested that perhaps they should overlook the slight to their honor in the zechus that they merit to find a shidduch for one of their children. The father acquiesced and told the neighbor that he could go ahead with his building plans.

The upstairs neighbor added that in order for the builders to start work they would need to knock through the outer wall of the downstairs apartment, and he asked his neighbor permission to do so. The downstairs neighbor was reluctant, but remembered what his wife had said, and he gave his consent.

For the next six weeks, a group of nine Arab construction workers trampled through their apartment, bringing in dust and dirt and noise, while the family lived with the mess until the construction was complete.

The Long-Awaited Blessing

Two weeks following the completion of the construction, the downstairs family made their first shidduch! The process went so quickly and smoothly that the father realized that he had not yet asked his future mechutan how the shidduch came to be, so he asked him at the engagement party.

The mechutan replied, “My neighbor is a building contractor who recently told me of an unbelievable family that allowed his workers to go through their apartment in order to facilitate an extension for their upstairs neighbor. I was so astounded by this act of selflessness that I wanted my child to marry into such a family.”

We live in a world with other people, and Hashem wants to see how we think of the other and whether we act kindly towards one another. When He sees us behaving in this way He will shower upon us tremendous berachah. This Parshah teaches us that inconsideration brings about destruction, and, conversely, giving to another eventually comes back to us in very positive ways.