The owner of one of the largest kosher American confectioners was also a major supporter of the famed Bais Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, NJ. On one occasion, at a large function, he had the privilege to introduce Rav Shneur Kotler zt”l, the then Rosh Yeshiva.
The industrialist began by explaining that he and the Rosh Yeshiva had a great deal in common. “Both of us went to cheder in Europe, survived the war, and now run major institutions. Both of us provide the public with an excellent product that is sweet and enjoyable. Many people stand in line to speak with me, and many people stand in line to speak with the Rosh Yeshiva. We are both well-known and try to help others.”
Then he paused and smiled, “However, there is one fundamental difference between us. You see, I produce lollipops; the Rosh Yeshiva produces men!”
“And all the days of Noach were nine hundred fifty years.” [1]
Rav Shlomo Wolbe zt”l [2] notes: In our day and age, one who lives to the age of one hundred has been blessed with longevity. In fact, the Mishna [3] states, “At one hundred years old one is as if a person has died, passed on, and become irrelevant to the world.” Yet during the first twenty generations from Creation, people lived many hundreds of years. Before the flood, most of the personages mentioned in the Torah lived past the age of 900. After the flood their life expectancy was “reduced” to 200-400 years, with the exception of Noach.
The great Rambam, with all of his writings and the incredible legacy he left behind, lived a mere seventy years. We can only imagine how much more he could have accomplished if he lived as long as Noach. In fact, he would still be alive today and we would be able to personally ask him the myriad questions that have been asked about his teachings throughout the centuries.
What were the original generations doing throughout their elongated lives?
The Ramchal[4] explains that the generations before the flood (and the first few generations after the flood as well) possessed tremendous wisdom and insight into the esoteric secrets of creation and the workings of G-d, as it were. The older they became the more privy they were to deeper and more penetrating secrets of the world. G-d granted them added years to allow them that wisdom so they could utilize it to raise the world to its ultimate rectification and sanctification.
Ironically, however, the more wisdom they attained the more corrupt and morally depraved they became. The sardonic truth is that their greatness in wisdom was in direct proportion to their spiritual decline.
After the flood, as each generation continued in the iniquitous path of its forbearers, G-d began to shorten their years so they would not have the opportunity to cause as much wrongdoing. After twenty generations, with the birth of Avraham and a far shorter life expectancy, there was a tremendous shift in the “content of life.” From that point onwards, no one was privy to the secrets of life and of the Ways of G-d – unless one toiled and invested unyielding effort to achieve it. The first to utilize that approach to life was Avraham Avinu, and that is why he was worthy to become the first patriarch. The later patriarchs, and consequently all of their descendants, followed his precedent and searched for G-d in every facet of life and creation.
The lesson that emerges from the discrepancy between the life of Avraham and his predecessors is that it does not matter how much one knows, but rather what one does with that knowledge. What truly counts is how much a person internalizes the wisdom he attains and consequently seeks to inculcate that knowledge into his soul and essence.