Skip to main content

A Community Supports the Perfection of the Individual - Parashat Noach 5777 - November 4, 2016

In this week’s parasha, the Torah presents the story of the dor haflaga – the Generation of the Division – what is known colloquially as the story of the Tower of Bavel.

Approximately 400 years after the flood, families began to settle in one locale. These families shared a common language, culture and outlook and decided to become more industrially advanced. The Torah tells us, “they then decided to build a city and a tower with its top in the heavens and to make for themselves a name lest they become dispersed across the whole earth.” The Torah continues and tells us that Hashem descended to see the city and the tower. Upon seeing that they had one culture and had decided to construct this tower, Hashem confuses their language and causes them to become spread across the whole earth.


Apparently, Hashem punished this generation. At first glance, however, it is unclear what the people did wrong. On the contrary, this generation seems to have acted quite rationally. Upon settling in a new land, they quickly created industry instead of complete relying on the natural world and they built a strong city with a tower. Furthermore, the Torah implies that part of their sin was that they had one shared outlook – one community. It is difficult to understand the problem with this outlook. Indeed, the Torah supports the idea of shared perspective at the expense of individuality. One of the 613 mitzvot is the mitzvah of lo titgodedu – communities are enjoined from dividing into agudot agudot – several sub-communities. Specifically, a community may not have two courts – this one deciding halacha one way for the community and another one deciding halacha differently for the same community. Based on these considerations, it is difficult to understand what this generation did improperly.


One approach taken by our rabbis to these questions is that of Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch. When reading this passage, we are struck by the fact that the Torah says that Hashem descended to see the city and the tower that the people had built. Hashem knows all – he has no need to “descend”. According to Rabbi Hirsch, this phrase indicates that there was nothing inherently wrong with industrialization and cities and towers - the sin of this generation lay in their motives and not in their actions.


Dor haflaga created and strengthened their community for an arrogant purpose – an exercise in self-aggrandizement. The Torah expressly indicates the motivation of this generation – na’aseh lanu shem – to make a name for their community. The Torah further reveals their motive in telling us that the generation said, “lest we become dispersed over the entire earth.” A community that is concerned with the welfare of its members would say, “Lest we become weak and hurt the potential of our members to become more perfected.” Instead the generation of the Tower of Babel was only concerned with ceasing to be a community – they prioritized the welfare of the community over and above all else.


According to Rabbi Hirsch, the Torah teaches us here that a community is a vehicle to support the pursuit of perfection, justice and morality of each of the community’s individual members. The fundamental purpose of a community is to help each individual member positively shape his or her relationship with the Almighty. The sin and punishment of the generation of the flood teaches us that a community must center itself around the guiding principle of lifting up the individuals who make up the community – or it is better off not existing.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow - Rabbi Owen's Operational Dinner Remarks - Monday, September 17, 2018

You may have noticed that we have two new huge street-side banners on White Station Road. One of them says, “Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow”. What do we mean by this? How does learning prepare for leading? The distinctiveness and difference of the Jewish People is a theme that appears regularly and intensely throughout the Yom Kippur prayers. On Yom Kippur afternoon, we read the section of the Torah dealing with immorality. The Torah says, “Do not act in the ways of the land of Egypt in which you lived; and do not act in the ways of the land of Cana’an to which I, Hashem, am taking you – and do not follow their customs. Follow My laws and guard My customs to walk in these ways – I am Hashem your G-d.” The Torah is teaching that Egypt and Cana’an represent spiritually harmful elements of each culture in which the Jewish People will find themselves over the centuries and instructs us to separate from the temptation to assimilate these ideas. The Jewish People dwell alone. Hashe...

Honor and Glory - Parashat Termuah 5780, February 28, 2020

This week’s  parasha , Termuah, and next week’s parasha , Tetzave, introduce Hashem’s command regarding the plans for the  mishkan  and its vessels – including the clothing worn by the  kohanim . One of the vessels that Hashem commands to be built is the  menorah  – the candelabra. The description of the plans for the menorah are described in Parashat Terumah and the description of its service is described in Parashat Tetzave. In Parashat Tetzave, the Torah says, “and they will take for you pure olive oil pressed to be lit to raise an everlasting candle.” Each evening the  kohanim  were obligated to light the candelabra with enough oil to last the night. In the morning, the  kohanim  were obligated to fix and relight the  menorah , as necessary, thus ensuring that the candelabra would constantly be lit. The Rambam – Maimonides – explains, based on a later verse, that the  mitzvah  to light the candelabra in the mishk...

Building Appropriate Fences - Parashat Ki Seitzei 5778, August 24, 2018

Among the many mitzvot described in this week’s parasha , Parashat Ki Tetze, is the law of the ma’ake – a fence. “When you build a new house, you shall make a guard rail for your roof, so that you shall not cause blood to be spilled in your house, that the one who falls should fall from it.” In this verse, the Torah commands us to build a fence around any exposed high area, such as a flat roof or deck, that is commonly used by human beings. Viewing this law as a positive commandment, the Rambam teaches that one must make a blessing when constructing a ma’ake . The law of the ma’ake is one of many Torah laws that teach us to protect human life. Positive commandments such as ve’nishmartem me’od et nafshotechem (and you shall greatly guard your physical life) and ve’rapo yerape (and you shall surely heal) reveal the Torah’s appreciation of man’s vulnerability and the lengths that we must go to foster human safety. Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik extends this concept of bui...