According to the Noam Elimelech on the beginning of
parashat Noah.
Noah was a tzaddik of
level 2 Meaning that he was always connecting his actions (via his intentions) to Godliness. He goes on to say that only through this kind of lifestyle does one get to the
challenges/levels that we discussed in a previous post. This is the meaning of the verse "he was perfect in his
dorot,"
dorot, he explains, are the different challenges placed before us. Why? because when we are faced with a new challenge and surmount it, we are new and different than we were before. (I suspect the implication is that we are considered a different
generation of ourselves because we are still products of our former self.)
The chidush of the Noam Elimelech here is that the only way to arrive at a new challenge and thence to a new level is first to perfect our current level by wholly devoting it to the service of HaShem. Only through this cleaving to God do you reach a plateau from whence you are required to leap with pure Emunah--which ultimately leads you to the next plateau add infinitum. As it is said, אין מנוחה לצדיקים
-- tzaddikim know no rest, even in death they are forever ascending higher and higher throughout the upper worlds. ילכו מחיל א ל חיל
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