Noach's חן

The last possuk in parshat Berashis is וְנֹ֕חַ מָ֥צָא חֵ֖ן בְּעֵינֵ֥י י״יֽ.  What is the Torah telling us that Noach found חן before Hashem?  The Sforno says the Torah is teaching us why Noach's family was saved.  Noach himself was fit to be saved because he was a tzaddik.  However, one who is a tzaddik is only fitting for himself to be saved.  The reason others can be saved in his merit is because he can have an effect on them to change them for the better.  But Noach who did not engage in rebuking and teaching others was not going to have an effect on anyone else and it was only fitting that he should be saved.  Therefore, he needed a special חן for his family to be saved.  

We see from this Sforno that the tzaddik can only save others if he will affect them.  The Sforno contrasts Noach in this light with Avraham and Shmuel that spent their lives teaching and admonishing others.  This is a slight in Noach that he did not teach those around him and was underserving of having even his family spared. 

We also learn that there is another idea called מצא חן which can help save people even if they are not deserving.  Rav Chayim Shmulevetz in Sichos Mussar brings from Chazal (Midrash 29:1) that even Noach didn't deserve to be saved if not for the fact that he was 'מצא חן בעיני ה.  

What is this חן that enables salvation?  The Gemorah in Sotah (47b) says אמר רבי יוחנן שלוש חינות יש: חן המקום על יושביו, חן אשה על בעלה וחן המקח על מקחו.  The Maharal there explains because all of these things help give a person something they are lacking.  When one forms a deep connection with something else the blemishes are covered over and ignored.  When one is focused on the deep connection, peripheral problems fall by the wayside.  The Sfas Emes (Noach 5662) says that Noach being born mahul is because his internal kedusha shown through his body.  That is what his חן was because people sensed in him his inner kedusha.  Rav Hisrch says that חן is not a free pass that one gets but it is when one has an ability that can be cultivated and developed that is worth saving because there is hope for the future.  That ability stemmed because of the kedusha that Noach had imbedded in him.  Even if he was not righteous enough to save others (or even himself,) the raw potential that he had was enough to be able to reset the world on a better trajectory.  When the potential is there a bond can be formed and the details can come in place later.