You shall make a skylight for the ark, and to a cubit you shall finish it to the top, and the entrance of the ark you shall place in its side; you shall make it with bottom, second story, and third story. (Breishis 6:16)

bottom [compartments], second-story, and third-story. three stories, one above the other; the upper compartments were for people, the middle ones for [animal] dwellings, and the bottom ones for waste matter. — Rashi

That Noach’s Ark had three floors, one for people, and one for animals, and another for garbage is pretty generic and banal information that every child is aware of. Yet, there lurks a wondrous question within that probably most of us have never considered.

I was desperately looking for a way to motivate a certain class of 7th grade boys to keep their class neat and clean. It’s no secret that students think and learn better in a tidy workspace. I tried straight talk and appointing monitors, but one went nowhere and the other spilled over to a new kind of chaos. I called on a young Rabbi, a colleague, a principal who is a master in educational matters to help me solve this chronic problem. He said he would come into the class and we could work it out together. He entered that class, and he started a dialogue with me whereby the boys were able to eavesdrop on our conversation.

He asked if I remember a certain unfortunate incident that happened in another school where we worked together. It’s hard to even say it out loud, because it was so below the dignity of the institution, or any standards of normalcy. I cannot even spell out the details here. Suffice it to say that it had to do with garbage and a window. Yes, there was a victim below who was upset and rightfully so. My colleague asked me if I remember what we did. I remember being too disturbed to talk to him at the time.

He told me in front of the class, that he spoke with that boy. “I asked him how many floors were on Noach’s Teva and he told me three. I asked him what the levels were for and he said the people, the animals, the garbage.

I asked him why there was a necessity for a floor just for garbage. It’s one entire floor out of three. After a year of holding onto garbage it must have been smelly and uncomfortable. Why did they not just throw everything into the waters outside. It certainly would not have disturbed or damaged the world. It was a big ocean outside and everything would be swallowed up and disappeared in time. Why not just throw everything out and make it much more comfortable for the people and the animals!?”

The boy did not have an answer. I told him all of humanity was on that Ark. All future peoples would come from whoever exited that place. There’s a chance that if that became the habit, the widespread custom to throw garbage out the window, then what would the world around look like today?! So, they suffered with the garbage, just so as not to become people who throw junk all about them whenever and wherever they please.” That little anecdote made a profound impression and the class neatened up from then on. It was a powerful lesson.

I have a sign in my office that says “How do I know if I’m doing the right thing? Simply ask yourself if everybody would do like I am doing would it be a better class, a better school, a better world? If the answer is yes, keep up the great work, but if the answer is no then stop and make a better choice. I tell kids “You don’t have to answer me. You have to answer for yourself.” I can see young boys shaking their head no as they reflect on each of these questions.

Years back we went on a picnic with my family and the family of a close friend of mine. Afterwards we asked the kids to pick up some of the trash that blew away from our spot and he sent his children on a wider circuit. I told him that the stuff over there is not from us. He responded that Rabbi Avigdor Miller said, “We should leave a place even better.” That is what he was teaching his children. Not only should we not soil or spoil the world around us, or even just keep it as clean, we should rather try wherever we are to make the world a better place