In this week’s Parsha, Hashem brought the Mabul, the Great Flood in which all life was terminated except those that had refuge in the Teivah, the Ark. That included Noach and his family as well as some animals from each species. The sins being commited were so severe such as immorality and robbery that humanity was beyond repair! However, why were the animals destroyed? Our Sages explain because even the animals mated out of their species!
This is puzzling. Animals don’t have a Yeitzer Hara, an evil inclination and they don’t have free choice. What incited the animals to this corruption?!
The Baalei Mussar explain that every action that a person does, whether good or evil, does not only affect him. It has an eternal and universal effect on all of Creation. In essence, by performing a Mitzvah, one brings an energy to the world and to his fellow man which uplifts them. He in fact makes it easier for someone else to perform that very Mitzvah. The converse is also true. When someone sins, he brings a bad influence in to the world and increases other people’s possibility of sinning (although that person will also be held accountable for his actions).
The corruption and sins of that generation were so severe that they polluted the atmosphere and caused even wildlife to deviate from their natural tendencies. For the same reason, our Sages tell us that 3 handbreadths on the surface of the entire Earth were also destroyed by the Flood because the land itself was corrupted.
When we come to realize this great power and responsibility that each of us have that with our actions we affect the entire universe, we will come to be more scrupulous about our every action, word and thought that we do!

By Rabbi Sharaga Thav
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