Today we will share an Ahavat Yisrael thought related to Parashat Noah. The Torah describes Noah as a Sadik and a Tamim / righteous and perfect . The Gemara in Masechet Zevachim 116A says the word Tamim refers to his character traits and the word Sadik refers to his deeds. So he was perfect in his character traits and righteous in his deeds. That means he keeps the seven Mitzvot of Noah, and he had good character traits. Rashi, in Zavachim, when describing his good character traits (Tamim means Shalem/Perfect in his character), says Noah was Anav / humble , and he was a Savlan , and we will soon see exactly what that means. Sovel is the root of a few words in Hebrew. One is Savlanut, which we translate as patience . Another is the term Sovel Tsarot, which refers to a person who is tolerant of pain . So the word Sovel means to tolerate . Finally, a Sabal is a porter , which means to carry. So three English concepts: patience , tolerant of pain and carrying a load all have the same Hebrew root. How so? Rav Wolbe explains in his sefer Alei Shor vol 2, page 214, that having patience with somebody else means carrying a load a nd continuing to move on without getting tired of that load. When I'm dealing with my friends or siblings, or spouse or coworkers, quite often things happen that are not according to my taste, that are not comfortable for me, that don't fit with my nature. Or even worse, I might get insulted. Someone might tease me or taunt me or have a unjustified complaint. And rather than reacting or exploding I can be Sovel , and carry the load. When a person has an anger explosion, what's happening is that he's basically dropping the load. He can't carry the load of that difficulty- whether it’s friend that's bothering him or whatever the situation. The Elder of Kelm says in his sefer Hochma U’Mussar (vol 1 pg 433), “ How wonderful would it be if we would train ourselves in the trait of Sevel / tolerance, patience, carrying the load. He continues, This is the source of all good character traits. It's the source of menucha/serenity, and it's the source of all good qualities . All good middot come from this, because what happens is, in most situations when I react in the wrong way, what am I reacting to? An uncomfortable feeling (for example a person is bothering me) and I can't tolerate it. I can't hold it. When I'm standing online feeling impatient, stuck in traffic, or feeling road rage… it’s so difficult to carry that feeling that you just explode. And therefore, this Middah of Sevel , of tolerating is the source of all good middot. To the extent that in the Rambam’s letter to his son Rabbi Abraham, when writing about the negativity of machloket/argument , he says, Rather than argue “ Hitpa’aru B’Sevel/pride yourself in tolerating” because that is true strength and that's true victory. Rav Wolbe ends by saying a person should have a training session every day: Set aside 15 minutes a day to just tolerate. Just hold. Be patient with whatever the situation is and until you reach the point that you can delight in Sevel . That would be a wonderful thing to work on. Have a wonderful day in the Shabbat Shalom.