Parshat Noach

On the passuk, And Noach and his sons and his wife entered with him into the ark
because of the waters of the flood, Rashi brings from Chazal that Noach had little
faith and he didnt really believe [literally he believed but didnt believe] that the
flood would come and he only entered the ark when the waters forced him to do so.

The Steipler in Bircat Peretz explains that Noach believed intellectually but didnt
sense and feel what he believed, and so even though he believed intellectually that a
flood would come to the world, this knowledge didnt frighten him enough to make
him enter into the ark. Rather he waited until he clearly saw that the rain would be
harmful and only then entered into the ark. However if he had felt and sensed that a
flood would come he would have rushed into the ark and not leave it until the last
minute. The Steipler explains that this is the intention of Chazal in what they said
that Noach believed and didnt believe; he believed intellectually but not sensually.

The Steipler explains through this the Gemara in Brochas (28b) that before Rabban
Yochanan Ben Zakkai died he blessed his students that you should fear heaven just
as you fear mankind. Now even though the fear of heaven is much more important
than the fear of man, (like his students actually asked him), this however is only
intellectually and at the time a person sins he doesnt feel the fear of heaven, rather he
fears what people will say about him, to the extent that if he observed a person
watching him he would abstain from sinning, since he feels more the fear of man
more than the fear of heaven.

Similarly in the Gemara in Nedarim (22a) R Yochanan says that anyone who
becomes angry will be ruled by all kinds of Gehinnom and not only that but he will
suffer abdominal pains. The Steipler points out that the second punishment of
abdominal pains is less severe than the first, for as the Ramban writes, even all the
sufferings of Iyov are preferable to Gehinnom, but even so the Gemara still
emphasizes the second punishment more than he first. The Steipler explains that even
though the punishment of Gehinnom is more severe, nevertheless a person only
believes in abdominal pains that he can imagine and sense, whereas Gehinnom is
much more abstract, and therefore the Gemara placed it first.

We can learn from these words of the Steipler the importance of recognizing sensually
and trying to feel the idea of reward and punishment and that it should be more than
an intellectual belief. In Ohr Yisrael, R Yisrael Salanter writes in several places
(Letters 2, 9) that through mere knowledge of reward an punishment a person will not
change his ways, only through becoming inspired through developing ones thoughts
with images which can be felt can a person correct himself. And in Letter 7, which
deals with the Yomim HaNoraim, he writes that a person should imagine himself as
the Cohen Gadol entering into the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur how frightened he
would be of not coming out alive.

So too Rav Dessler in Michtav mEliyahu (volume 4 page 252) brings from the Alter of
Kelm that the forefathers and anyone who achieved high levels of spirituality only did
so through imagery. For the Yetzer HaRa entices us through images of falsehood and
in order to battle against it we need to use images of holiness of Gan Eden etc.
This, says Rav Dessler, is the way to internalize in our hearts what we know with our
intellect. The Gemara in Brochas (61) recounts that the Romans killed R Akiva and
he sanctified Hashems name by reading the Shema as they combed his flesh with iron
combs. His students asked him how he could endure the suffering the Romans
inflicted upon him and be able to read the Shema. He answered them that throughout
his life he wished to fulfill the passuk of [You should love Hashem] with all your
soul, on which Chazal say even if He takes your soul. The intention is that every
time R Akiva would read the Shema and come to this passuk, he would imagine
through images how he would die in sanctification of Hashems name and when he
finally had the chance to do so, it was not a new thing for him. Similarly, says R
Dessler, if we come to a test and we have already imagined such a test and the
enticements of the Yetzer HaRa and the strategies we would use in order to defeat it
and how happy we would then be, then the test will be much easier for us.

R Dessler in conclusion (ibid. page 255) says that this is the point of the night of the
Seder, to feel the miracles that happened in Mitzrayim through live imagery not just
through remembering the exodus as we do during the rest of the year but through
telling the story on the very night we left Mitzrayim when Pesach, Matzah and Maror
are placed in front of us. All this makes an impression on us to create an image of us
leaving Mitzrayim that will penetrate the heart and fulfill the command to view
oneself as if he left Mitzrayim.