מתושלח

Methuselah is the man who lived longer than all human beings, nine hundred sixty-nine years, and whose death marked the end of the old generation. The son of Enoch, a link in the chain of generations before the flood, a name that became in every language a synonym for extreme old age.

Tradition tells that Methuselah was righteous, and that all his days he warned the people of his generation of the approaching calamity. The Sages relate that the flood was delayed seven days after his death, the seven days of his mourning, for as long as the righteous man lived, the calamity did not come. His death was the sign that the generation had exhausted itself.

In his name lies, by homily, a hint: 'met' (died) and 'shalach' (sent), that at his death the waters of the flood were sent. His long life was almost like a dam: as long as he stood, the decree was held back. The great elder held in his body the last generation before the destruction, and when he departed, the windows of heaven opened.

What do we learn from him? That the merit of a single righteous person can hold back calamity over an entire generation. Methuselah teaches that length of days is not only a number but a mission, that as long as an upright person stands in the world he protects it in some measure, and that the death of a righteous one is not only a private loss but a sign of an hour that has changed.