GEN574 Segments of the traditional community have frowned upon efforts to secure Jewish political rights on the ground that if God really wanted the amelioration of the abject conditions of the Jewish people, He could bring this about without requiring the assistance of Jewish political action. The historical record shows that Hungarian Orthodoxy, for example, was unequivocally opposed to any interventions with governmental authorizes designed to improve the sociopolitical or economic conditions of the Jewish community.  That this quietistic stance was not only prompted by the fear that better socioeconomic and political realities would expose the Jewish community to the spiritual hazards of assimilation, but also reflected a deeply ingrained and genuine aversion to any form of activism, can be gauged by a remarkable comment of R. Abraham Samuel Benjamin Sofer, the son and successor of the Hatam Sofer.  He notes that Noah is first described in [this verse] as a perfectly righteous individual, whereas subsequently Genesis 7:1, he is characterized merely as a righteous individual but not as a perfect one.  R. Sofer suggests that this diminution of Noah’s status occurred because, according to the Midrash, Noah’s invention of the plow paved the way for the development of agriculture. With the improved ability to grow food, people no longer felt completely dependent upon God. Thus, Noah contributed to the process of secularization. ETHRESP 108