What is being described are men of the first creation. They are conquering and reproducing – but they lack any connection to true divinity. And the women are the same. They are good, but only like a flower or tree. Their children are worse. They are men of might and men of name – just like the allies of Korach. These men worship power and fame. But not everyone can be powerful and famous. To acquire power and fame, they must take from others, and so every thought is turned towards destruction and loss, not creation and connection.
It is at this point that Hashem’s soul cannot yadun us. The word never appears elsewhere. I would translate it as ‘trying to encourage us through limitless forgiveness.’ It is at this point that the days of protecting Cain and coddling those worship human might are over.
With this, and the coming flood, we have a third form of evil: evil which occurs in order to discourage our own acts of destruction and alienation from the divine.
The flood is long passed, but how far are we from a society where the sons of those who take power through iron or copper can have their choice of the daughters of men? How far are we from a society where people merely seeking fame and power? How far are we from a society that is losing its ability to connect with G-d through the act of creation?
The risk of this sort of society is every present. But we can avoid it. We can structure our societies to encourage creation and connection to the divine. We can teach our children to value and recognize those creative and connective lives. And when we protect and coddle, as individuals or as nations, we can be sure we do not do so in ways that undermine our human potential.
After all, this Torah portion not only describes our human separation from G-d and our growing relationship with evil; it also describes our relationships to those over whom we have power. Parents of children who create a garden without evil, or who actually reward destructive acts, will end up with sons and daughters unable to relate to G-d. And powerful nations that coddle evil-doers in their midst or outside their borders will find themselves facing those who seek only power and recognition. Finally, a civilization which makes pretty flowers of women – and whose women delight in that role, seeking to be chosen by the sons of the powerful – will produce sons with no ability to connect to the divine.
But we, in our positions of power, can reverse this; family by family.
Every year, we start the Torah anew, and every year we have the opportunity to become the men infused with a divine soul – creating and connecting to our own creator.
Every year, we have the opportunity to eliminate evil.