There is a well-worn naval expression in pirate films: , “batten down the hatches, maty ”. The hatch was an opening on the deck that needed closing when a storm arose and waves would wash across the deck. In the troubled world of today, there is a tendency by western leaders to ‘batten down the hatches’ and adopt an isolationist fortress mentality and leave the troubled world to its own devices – not realizing that the world consists of one boat and we are all in it.
• Noah too built a boat. But his was not an isolationist policy. It was one of the survival of the whole world. Without his Ark, there would be no humanity. But he too had to batten down the hatches during the 40 day tsunami wave that drowned all life on planet earth.
• There is a fine line between a head-in-the-sand approach and being wise and selective when to enter the fray. Judaism is an activist religion. That does not mean it is evangelically proselytizing. It is not. But never isolationist. Every Jew has a duty of care and duty to care. When we witness an inequity it is our moral duty to initiate steps to assist and help alleviate the problem. We don’t simply ‘batten down the hatches’.
• The state of society at large is our business. And despite what appears to be a flood of world troubles economically and politically, we have to bring everyone into our Ark of common. ethics and morality.
• You are the Noah of our generation. Build your Ark