Parshas Noach! The parsha begins, Eila toldos Noach Noach ish Tzaddik, tamim haya b’dorosov. Noach was the greatest Tzaddik in his generation, therefore it was only him and his immediate family that survived the great mabul.

The Chasam Sofer asks, was he really the greatest Tzaddik that lived in that time period?

We read in the end of Parshas Bereshis about Chanoch. The Torah tells us that Chanoch was a great Tzaddik that was not able to withstand the evil of his generation. He is from the few individuals that actually didn’t die. He was taken by Hashem and was transformed into a malach. If Chanoch became an angel surely he was on a similar level of tzidkus to Noach, why is it that Noach and his family were saved from the mabul and all mankind are Noach’s offspring, while Chanoch was simply taken away and removed from this world?

The Chasam Sofer answers that Noach’s uniqueness lies in the words ish tzadik. Why did the torah add the word ish a person?

He explains there are many individuals who can work on themselves to abstain from all worldly ta’avos and pleasures, additionally they distance themselves from any person or place that will have a negative influence on them and they create for themselves a bubble of kedusha. Although that is an extremely high level of avodas Hashem, it is not the ultimate of what Hashem wants from a person.

Hashem created a person with physical needs and wants, who lives amongst others and is exposed to many different distractions throughout his lifetime. True tzidkus is when someone can elevate himself to interact with his society, blend into his surroundings, have a healthy relationship with his friends and still maintain a standard of kedusha. This is the ultimate tzadik.

Noach was not just a Tzadik, he was an ish Tzadik, he was an ish, a regular person yet he was a tzadik. He did not live like a malach who completely cut himself off from society, rather he had a healthy interaction with his friends and neighbors, yet maintained his level of kedusha, this is the greatest level one can achieve.