Parshas Noach 5785

The Mishna in Avos (5:2) divides the first two millennia of humanity into a double feature of societal dysfunction: ten generations from Adam until Noach, followed by ten more from Noach to Avraham. Both groups seemed to have a special talent for testing, so to speak, Hashem’s patience.
The Mishna reads:
“There were ten generations from Adam to Noach, in order to make known what long-suffering is His; for all those generations kept on provoking Him, until He brought upon them the waters of the flood.
There were ten generations from Noach to Abraham, in order to make known what long-suffering is His; for all those generations kept on provoking Him, until Abraham, came and received the reward of all of them.”
The commentaries raise two fascinating questions:
First, why does the Mishna say “He brought the flood waters” after Noach's ten generations, but "he [Avraham] received the reward of all of them" after Avraham’s ten generations?
Second, what does it mean that Avraham “received the reward of all of them”; if the people of those generations were wicked, what “reward” is there to even speak of?
The Vayagel Yaakov, quoting Rashi's second explanation says this "reward" was the merit one receives when one brings people to teshuva and the subsequent mitzvos they observe.
The Mishna is teaching that Avraham's spiritual influence was so profound that it not only changed his own generation - it generated the equivalent merit of all ten generations before him!
Noach, for all his righteousness, wasn’t as successful in his teshuva efforts and couldn't catalyze this level of transformation, and therefore the Mishna specifically attributes "receiving the reward of all of them" to Avraham but not to Noach.
To understand why their results may have differed, let’s look at their contrasting methods of outreach.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin (108a-b) paints a striking portrait of Noach's approach to inspiring teshuva:
“Noach the righteous would rebuke and say to them: Repent! And if you do not, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will bring a flood upon you and float your corpses on the water like wineskins filled with air that float on water! …If He wishes He will bring hot and viscous water between your feet and you won’t be able to do anything to prevent it!”
To distills Noach's approach into a single, telling phrase, the Gemara says "his words were harsh as torches."
No gentle nudges here - just raw, searing truth.
Meanwhile, the Gemara in Sotah (10b) describes Avraham's style of outreach: He would Invite people in for a delicious meal and, slip in some theology between the appetizer and main course.
At the end of the meal, when they try to thank him, he'd say, "Oh, don't thank me - thank the One who actually created all this food!" They’d come to the startling realization that such bounty and goodness must have indeed come from a Greater Entity, and they would be on their way to cling to Hashem.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
But before we all jump on Noach, let’s take a step back and see the moral landscape Noach found himself in.
These weren't people who occasionally downloaded movies illegally - they were hardened miscreants who turned brazen theft and unthinkably disgusting acts into a way of life - a lifestyle they embraced whole heartedly.
After Hashem revealed to Noach that humanity stood on the brink of destruction, Noach desperately tried to pull people back from an imminent catastrophe. His harsh words weren't born of cruelty, but of urgent necessity. When you know a flood is coming, you don't have time for subtle persuasion.
Avraham's generation, though still deeply flawed, operated under a fundamentally changed world. The Deluge had taught that there were boundaries they dare not cross; no one was going to live a lifestyle that ended up in a (literal) hot mess. This altered reality afforded Avraham the space to employ a gentler approach, one focused on the path to spiritual growth rather than desperately trying to prevent imminent destruction.
Both Avraham and Noach tried their hardest according to the way they thought would be most effective, but in the end Avraham was successful and Noach was not.
This contrast between Avraham and Noach can also explain the oft-quoted Rashi in the beginning of the Parsha, that had Noach been in the generation of Avraham he would have been even a bigger righteous person.
Noach’s hardball approach to promote change definitely had merit and continues to have merit in certain situations; indeed there are countless people who commit to change their ways as a result of a fire-and-brimstone speech and scare tactics.
Perhaps the particular makeup of the generation Noach was up against just wasn’t ready to change, no matter who the preacher was, and had Noach worked in tandem with “uplifting” speakers, his approach could have been more effective.
Two takeaways here:
First and foremost, let’s keep our eyes and ears open to both kinds of inspiration. Sometimes, a heartwarming shiur is just the cozy blanket we need to wrap ourselves in. Other times, though, we could use a spiritual cold shower.
Second, if you’re ever trying to inspire change in others, you can be either a Noach or an Avraham… just read the room first.
Good Shabbos and a Gut Choidesh!

See Divrei Agadah (Parshas Lech Lecha, p. 38 s.v. V'es HaNefesh) where Reb Eliashev explains that the schar that Avraham had that eclipsed Noach was the fact that Avraham's influence began an entirely new tekufa in the world, his influence was truly seismic, in constrast to Noach's.

I mentioned that there still is a place for Noach's "fire and brimstone" / scare tactic approach.
See U'Piryo Matuk (beginning Parshas Noach) of the story where a fiery speaker roused one to teshuva.
Also see Mishna in Bava Metzia 44a where a "scare tactic" is used to caution people from doing underhanded things in business.