These are the offspring of Noah –

Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations;

Noah walked with God.

(Bereshit 6:9)

“Why, rather than mentioning ‘the toledot’, ‘the generations’ of Noach, the Torah mentions that he was ‘a righteous man in his generation’, ‘ish tzadik b’dorotav‘?

The connection between toledot and Noach can be explained as follows:

On one side, Noach is related to the concept of menucha, which means rest (Noach and menucha have the same root, nun het).

The menucha par excellence is the one of Shabbat, in which by abstaining from melachot (specific creational activities), we are engaged in bitul atzmenu (self-nullification) and are reconnecting to our primary root: Hashem.

Toledot, on the other hand, is related to the expansion and extension of the nekudat kedusha, which is in each of us, (that particular root of kedusha, holiness, that Hashem put in each one of us). We need to expand this kedusha by doing toledot (maasim tovim, proper behavior consistent with the Torah guidelines).

The two aspects, menucha, and toledot seem to be contradictory – retraction vs. expansion, but they are not. We can do toledot properly and authentically as long as we do bitul atzmenu simultaneously, i.e., by recognizing that all that happens is due to the Will of Hashem.”