דור המבול Today

Since we have been zooming through Bereshit, it has been easy to pick up on some themes that can also apply to other areas of the Torah and to all areas of life. We learned about the features that set apart the different sins that we have learned so far, and how that feature corresponds to the consequences of the actions. Door Ha'mabol committed a moral sin by a community while Cain committed a moral sin by an individual. On the other side, we have religious sins committed by Adam and Chava and Door Ha'flaga (sorry for the spelling!)

It is difficult for me to understand the magnitude of the punishments or consequences that these people faced. We today have no sense of a consequence of our actions. When we speak lashon hara, Hashem does not come down to us immediately and deliver our punishment. Instead, we are left in a state of unknowing and, in my opinion, injustice. We have no sense of immediate consequences as the people in the beginning of Bereshit had. When Adam and Chava sinned, Hashem immediately came to them and gave their consequence. When Cain killed his brother, the same thing happened. And on and on. What if today we had the same kind of system where Hashem appeared to us with our punishment right after we sinned? How would our behavior change as a result of this immediate consequence?

Even more so, if we had the same system of punishments, would our behavior today result in Hashem's destroying of the world? Is our morality just as low as Door Ha'mabol and would we therefore deserve the destruction of the world? It is hard to correct our behavior, but it is relatively easy to speculate.