(יא) וַתִּשָּׁחֵ֥ת הָאָ֖רֶץ לִפְנֵ֣י הָֽאֱלֹקִ֑ים וַתִּמָּלֵ֥א הָאָ֖רֶץ חָמָֽס׃
The generation of the flood became haughty and sinned due only to the excessive goodness that the Holy One, Blessed be He, bestowed upon them. And what is written concerning them, indicating that goodness? “Their houses are safe without fear, nor is the rod of God upon them” (Job 21:9). And it is written: “Their bull sires, and will not fall; their cow calves, and does not cast her calf” (Job 21:10). And it is written: “They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance” (Job 21:11). And it is written: “They sing to the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe” (Job 21:12). And it is written: “They shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures” (Job 36:11). And it is written: “And peacefully they go down to the grave” (Job 21:13).
והיא גרמה שאמרו לאל: סור ממנו ודעת דרכיך לא חפצנו מה שדי כי נעבדנו ומה נועיל כי נפגע בו...
אמר הקב"ה בטובה: ואני הנני מביא את המבול מים
And that success caused them to say to God: “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Your ways. What is the שדי, that we should serve Him, and what profit should we have if we pray unto Him”...
The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: With the goodness that I bestowed upon them, with that they infuriate Me and with it I will sentence them, as it is stated: “And behold I will bring the flood of water”
Rav Hutner, Pachad Yitzchak:
We have two central concepts in Judaism, אהבה and ירא, and each of these Middot (traits) are expressed in very different ways. אהבה, love, is expressed through expansion. When we love someone, all we want to do is expand ourselves for them, give to them, opening ourselves up to them as much as we can. When we use the trait of love, we expand ourselves. On the other hand, ירא is expressed through constriction and restrain of oneself. ירא doesn’t mean fear as we mistakenly translate it, says Rav Hutner, rather it means to hold ourselves back, to restrain ourselves.
כִּי מַה הוּא שַׁדַּי – שֶׁאָמַר לְעוֹלָמוֹ דַּי (חגיגה יב ב"ר פ' מו). וּבְחִינוֹת שַׁבָּת גַּם כֵּן כָּךְ, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב (בראשית ב׳:ב׳): וַיִּשְׁבֹּת בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מִכָּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ, וְאָמַר דַּי.
What is the meaning of Shadai?—that He said to His world, “Dai! (Enough!)” (Chagigah 12a). This relates to Shabbat as well, as it is written (Genesis 2:2), “He ceased on the seventh day from all His work” and said “Dai!”
Rav Wolbe, Alei Shur:
יראת שמים is is not fearing God, but ראה שמים, seeing God. Because true Chessed is seeing someone else for who they are and recognizing them as their own being with their very own set of inner workings and potential.
Rav Soloveichik, Confrontation:
To recognize a person is not just to identify him physically. It is more than that: it is an act of identifying him existentially, as a person who has a job to do, that only he can do properly. To recognize a person means to affirm that he is irreplaceable. To hurt a person means to tell him that he is expendable, that there is no need for him.
ת"ר דור המבול לא נתגאו אלא בשביל טובה שהשפיע להם הקב"ה...אמרו כלום צריכין אנו לו אלא לטיפה של גשמים יש לנו נהרות ומעינות שאנו מסתפקין מהן אמר הקב"ה בטובה שהשפעתי להן בה מכעיסין אותי ובה אני דן אותם שנאמר (בראשית ו, יז) "ואני הנני מביא את המבול מים"
The generation of the flood became haughty and sinned due only to the excessive goodness that the Holy One, Blessed be He, bestowed upon them.... The members of the generation of the flood said: Do we need Him for anything, even for the drop of rain that He causes to fall? We have rivers and springs from which we take our supply of water; we do not fear Him. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: With the goodness that I bestowed upon them, with that they infuriate Me and with it I will sentence them, as it is stated: “And behold I will bring the flood of water” (Genesis 6:17).