[Genesis] Verse 6:11 says that the world was corrupt and filled with robbery. God was going to destroy the world for this corruption and robbery. This seems awfully harsh, especially in today’s world where corruption and theft seems commonplace. Rashi [Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, 1040, France] says a better translation of corruption is immorality and idol worship. The Midrash says that adultery, incest and stealing were all part of man’s daily schedule. Powerful men would take any women that they chose. The Midrash also says that a major sin of this generation was sexual relations purely for lascivious gratification. Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 57A says that the world was immersed in jealousy, greed, theft, violence, lying, impatience, intolerance, deception and fraud. The worst of all the transgressions according to both Rashi and Ibn Ezra was that people exploited each other sexually. Sounds rather familiar, doesn’t it? Hold on, there’s more.
The Midrash Vayikra Rabba says: Everyone and everything became amoral. Even animals became so morally corrupt and decadent that one species mated with another species dogs with wolves, horses with donkeys, snakes with birds. The generation of the Flood was finally wiped away when they started writing songs extolling cohabitation of males with males and males with animals. Another Midrash says that males just didn’t sodomize other males, but that they signed ketobot (marriage contracts) legalizing these relationships. (Emphasis added.)
