The reason the Torah gives for the flood was that society was corrupt. They had no respect for private property. When that happens then society will collapse.

A Quick Dvar Torah: Corruption and the Generation of the Flood

Parshat Noach

One of the great sins of the generation of the Flood was corruption. There was immorality, certainly, but what ultimately sealed the fate of that generation was corruption.

The Torah tells us, “Vatímalei ha’aretz chamas” — “The earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11). Our Sages explain that this included gezel, theft.

Now, what was so terrible about the theft taking place in that generation?

The Midrash tells us something fascinating. People would steal amounts worth less than a perutah, the smallest unit of monetary value. They knew exactly what they were doing. They understood that stealing such a small amount would make it difficult for the victim to recover the property through the courts.

Imagine that you own a store. One person comes in and steals something worth less than a perutah. Then another person does the same thing, and another, and another. Eventually, your entire inventory is gone, but no individual theft is large enough to pursue through the normal legal process.

These people weren’t simply stealing. They were deliberately exploiting the law to destroy the property rights of others.

And that’s a very serious matter.

The Torah recognizes the importance of private property. If you own a business, you have a right to that business. You work to support yourself and your family. And for an economy to function, people have to respect one another’s property.

Interestingly, the great economist Adam Smith made a similar observation in The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776.

Smith pointed out that we don’t get our dinner because the butcher, the brewer, or the baker is especially concerned about our welfare. We get it because they’re concerned about their own interests. They want to earn a living and support their families. And in order to do that, they have to provide something that other people want.

In other words, economic cooperation depends on people being able to deal with one another.

Another great economist, Friedrich Hayek, who wrote The Road to Serfdom, emphasized the importance of moral traditions and established rules of conduct in maintaining a functioning society. Hayek himself was an agnostic, but he recognized that institutions such as religion could help sustain the moral traditions on which civilization depends.

And what’s at the heart of all of this?

Trust.

Without honesty, without trust, you cannot have a successful economy.

Think about the diamond business in New York’s Diamond District. Traditionally, transactions involving hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of dollars have been conducted on a handshake. Why? Because the people involved trust one another. They believe that when someone gives his word, he will honor it.

But imagine a society in which nobody trusts anybody else. Every business transaction becomes a struggle. Everybody assumes that everybody else is trying to cheat him.

Eventually, the entire system collapses.

And that’s exactly what happened in the generation of the Flood.

Now, here’s something very interesting.

Compare the generation of the Flood with the generation of the Tower of Babel.

The generation of the Tower of Babel rebelled against God. They wanted to build a tower reaching into heaven. Yet God did not destroy them. Instead, He confused their languages and scattered them throughout the world.

Why?

Our Sages explain that although they rebelled against God, they had one important quality: they were united. They got along with one another.

The generation of the Flood, on the other hand, was filled with theft, corruption, and mistreatment of others.

And so God destroyed that generation.

There’s a remarkable lesson here.

God seems to be telling us that He can tolerate offenses against Himself more readily than He tolerates people mistreating one another.

It’s almost like something my mother used to tell me when I was growing up. She could tolerate all sorts of misbehavior, but there was one thing she absolutely could not stand: my siblings and me fighting with one another.

She would say, “You’re a family. You have to get along with one another.”

And in a sense, that’s what God is telling humanity.

You’re all one family. You have to respect one another.

This isn’t just a religious principle. It’s also an economic principle.

Look at countries where corruption is widespread. In parts of Africa, South America, and Asia, corruption has been a major obstacle to economic development.

I was recently in Kenya, where poverty remains a serious problem. And one of the major challenges facing that country is corruption. When people cannot trust public officials, when businesses must pay bribes, and when the rules are not applied fairly, economic development becomes much more difficult.

Corruption doesn’t simply hurt the person who is being cheated. It damages the entire society.

And that brings us back to Parshat Noach.

The generation of the Flood was destroyed not simply because people committed individual sins, but because corruption had become the foundation of their society. People no longer respected one another. They no longer respected private property. They no longer trusted one another.

And when that happens, society begins to destroy itself from within.

The message of the Torah is that honesty is not merely a nice personal quality. It is the foundation upon which civilization rests.

We must be honest in business. We must respect other people’s property. We must keep our word. And above all, we must treat one another with dignity and respect.

Because ultimately, God is reminding us of something very simple:

We’re all part of the same human family. And a society that loses its honesty and its trust cannot survive.

Something to think about.