Then his son Ham, the father of Canaan,, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers Shem and Japheth. The difference between Ham and his other two brothers is that Ham went to look and debased his father, on the other hand Shem and Japheth walked backwards so they wouldn’t humiliate Noah and covered him with a blanket.
This Pasuk has a tremendous teaching for us. The Holy Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chassidic movement, taught: “when you see ill in someone else, it is your own ill that you are observing.” Every interaction in life is like a mirror which simply reflects what is in front of it.
The basis of Divine Providence says that not only is ones every encounter with someone else orchestrated by H”S, but every encounter is designed to benefit the one who experiences it. Otherwise why would G-d show it to you?
So if you see a fault in someone else it’s either G-d’s gentle way that it’s time to look inward to fix something I have to fix within myself or it can also be that you are there to help. In the case of Ham, he was being shown his own failings in his father’s behavior. Shem and Japheth where there to help because they were not focused on Noah’s mishap but on covering him up and not allowing him to fall further down. They didn’t judge, they didn’t see.
Live a little higher
