The generations of the righteous are good deeds.
"Father and son," "Fathers and offspring are cause and consequence, exertion and reward. Benefit itself is the cause and the fear is the consequence. Fear of punishment in this world and in the next world. The primary aspect of fear - of the Creator, for He is great and dominant, the primary aspect and the root of all the worlds.
A person exerts for 3 consequences - reward: Reward in this world, reward in the next world, and reward in being able to bestow contentment upon the Creator, who is great and dominant.
Consequences are called good deeds, and good is called bestowing to the Creator, not desiring any reward for self-benefit. For his reward is in that, that he can do deeds only to the benefit of the Creator, hence he engages in Torah and Mitzvot, as it is written "I created the evil inclination and I created Torah as a spice for it."
It turns out that among the righteous, the consequences are only good deeds. The cause in it is Torah and Mitzvot. Among the rest of the people, the consequences are reward in this world and reward in the next world. However, the righteous, their only aspired reward is to be able to give contentment to the Creator, good deeds.
There are deeds, understanding and knowing. Whatever is in the intellect is called understanding and knowing, for the body also agrees that we should engage in Torah and Mitzvot. That is because after a person attains the degree of "for Her name," he merits the Light of life, found in Torah and Mitzvot. That is the understanding, that the body also understands the value of working the Creator.
For one who engages "for Her name," is rewarded with many, for the whole world is worthwhile for him and he is told all the secrets of Torah. But that is not considered the main thing, rather their main goal was good deeds. Meaning bestowing contentment unto the Creator, rather than understanding and knowing.
In the work, each state is called generation. A generation of the wicked - advice to overcome with the force of faith above reason. That is called "deed," meaning with no reason. It is called "Do one Mitzva, happy is he who subjugates himself and the entire world to the scale of merit," for only with a deed can he overcome the claim of the wicked, rather than with his intellect and reason.
The generation of Noah was wicked. In praise, because the work was difficult and in reproach because of the alien thoughts of the wicked generation. In the generation of Abraham, the righteous had good thoughts, one desire to bring contentment to the Creator. In praise of the righteous' state, if Noah were there, meaning if he had equivalence of the forces of overcoming as he had in generation of the wicked, then what would he have felt, compared to the feeling he has now, which is the aspect of pleasantness and sweetness of Torah. Surely during the time of Noah's generation, called the generation of the wicked, that period would have been considered as nothing, since he would not yet feel the goodness and the pleasure which he felt in the generation of the righteous.
It turns out that in the generation of the wicked - that is the place of the work. It turns out that the generation of Noah is more important, since there are deeds and the main consequence of the righteous are good deeds.
There are two types of forces in a person, called the vessels of reception and the vessels of bestowal. The vessels of bestowal are ascribed to the Creator, for the Creator is the Bestower, and the vessels of reception are ascribed to the creature, the recipient. The vessels of receiving, referring to the recipient, come before the vessels of bestowal. The vessels of bestowal are called Keter, Hochma, GAR de Bina. Whereas the vessels of receiving are ZAT de Bina, Z"A and Malchut.
It turns out that the vessels of bestowal are attributed to the Creator. Hence, "Noah needed His assistance and support," since the Upper One gives the vessels of bestowal.
The Upper One awakens to work, called "awakening from Above." TES, page 935, Ohr Pnimi: "The first time that MAN rose, not by ZON of AVI, then from that same MAN became the aspect of ZON. And after ZON was made, than the second time they raised MAN - after he had the vessels of bestowal, which he acquired from the awakening from Above, "Noah needed His assistance and support," which came from the Upper One, and that is the degree of Noah.
The degree of Abraham - not needing His support. He walked in the vessels of reception, which come before the vessels of bestowal. The vessels of bestowal, G"A, are Above. Beneath them are the vessels of reception, AHP. And Abraham walked in the vessels before him, before the vessels of bestowal, which are attributed to the Creator, whereas the vessels of receiving are not attributed to the recipients. Hence, using the vessels of receiving is called "awakening from below," attributed to the lower one. Thus, Abraham does not need His assistance and support, since he walked in the vessels of reception, and with those vessels, he served the Creator. "Noah walked with the Creator" - with the vessels belonging to the Creator, vessels of bestowal, which the Creator gave.
Question: Is bringing contentment to the Creator the aspired reward?