ויתעצב אל לבו. אמר ר' אחא בר' חנינא, כיון שראה יתברך עולמו חרב, כביכול ישב לו, והיה מתאבל. ד"א מוסב על האדם, שלא נתאבל, אלא על לבו של אדם, שנתן שאור בעיסה, ואמר אני הוא שנתתי, אני הוא שעשיתי, וידעתי כי יצר לב האדם רע: ויתעצב אל לבו, “His heart was saddened.” According to Rabbi Acha bar Chanina in Breyshit Rabbah 27 when G–d watched as His earth appeared to head for destruction, He felt as if a mourner who has lost a dear relative. An alternate interpretation of this expression: the subject in this verse is man, who mourns only from the heart like a person who had placed leavening in his dough, and who says to himself when the dough did not rise: “it was I who made the recipe, therefore it is I who must accept the blame if the product is unsatisfactory, seeing that I was aware that it contained a potentially dangerous ingredient.” [The “leavening” is a metaphor for the evil urge within man, that G–d gave man when He made him. It was a calculated risk that G–d had been aware of from the outset. Ed.]