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Toward the end of this week’s parsha, the Torah relates that upon his departure from the ark, Noach plants a vineyard and becomes drunk in his tent, shedding all his clothing in the process.
While Noach’s son, Cham, disrespected his father by spreading word of his vulnerable state, Noach’s other sons, Shem and Yefet, protect and honor their father. They famously enter their father’s tent backward with a garment over their shoulders and cover their father without looking at him (Bereishit 9:20-23). The pasuk reads:
וּפְנֵיהֶם֙ אֲחֹ֣רַנִּ֔ית וְעֶרְוַ֥ת אֲבִיהֶ֖ם לֹ֥א רָאֽוּ. And their faces were turned backwards, and they did not see their father’s ervah.
The pasuk, however, appears redundant. Why the need to say that they walked in backward, and they didn’t see; isn’t this already self-evident from the very fact they walked in backward?
The Lubavitcher Rebbe suggests that there are indeed two reasons why one might bear witness to a negative quality of his fellow. The first is based on a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, who explains that whenever a person sees bad in another it is an indication that the beholder possesses that very negative quality.
In other words, one’s observation of someone telling lashon hara is like looking into a mirror and sending the observer a message that he himself must work on refraining from such ill-speech. The second is more straightforward – Hashem is showing this negativity as a hint that you should take action and help.
Let’s return to the repetition in the pasuk. The verse emphasizes that Shem and Yefet didn’t see their father’s ervah. This is to say not only did they avoid glancing at their quite literally unclothed father, but they didn’t even see any spiritual ervah that would negatively affect the way they relate to their father. Passing the initial reaction litmus test, they helped Noach in his time of vulnerability.
Cham, on the other hand, saw Noach’s shortcomings and didn’t help his father, indicating that he possessed an inner flaw he had to correct.
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