Parshat Noah; Genesis 6:9 -11:32 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger
At the very end of the Parasha at the beginning of Chapter 11 of the Book of Genesis is a brief story that tries to explain the many different languages of the world. You may know this as the story of the Tower of Babel. Briefly recounted, the people who settled in the valley of Shinar (located in what is now N. Iraq and was then Babylon) decided to build a city and a tower of bricks that reached the heavens. They wanted to “make a name for themselves and not be scattered over all the earth!” (Gen. 11:4). And so they built a city and its tower. This was a unifying moment. These wanderers from the east came together to build up not only their village from a small town to a place with a grand tower but they sought to build themselves up! They wanted their renown and their reputation as those that harnessed the earth and turned it into building material that could perhaps master the heavens above. They wished to consolidate their power and build their empire and their egos.
God came to see what they were doing. God is shocked not at their building but at the way they acted. Their inflated ego is related to their speech. They want the bragging rights of best builders who build all the way to the heavens, to the throne room of God. Thus God “confounds their speech …and scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth.” (Gen. 11:7-8).
While this tale is an earl, mythic explanation for the many languages of the earth, it is pointing out a very important lesson about how we use our language to speak of our strengths and talents. The building that the people of the valley of Shinar were doing was not to glorify God, not to unify the people, but instead was to boost their image, ego and make their name great. They wanted to be famous. They were seeking fame and fortune and power through their building of the city and the tower. One of the points is that this kind of building is nothing more than emptiness and babbling. It is not filled with holiness nor humility.
They had to stop building the city and the tower because they could no longer communicate with each other. But in truth they weren’t communicating their real needs and real essences earlier. Thus God’s judgment upon them was nothing more than fulfilling in an ironic way their desires. They became famous for their egotism and for their babbling, empty language and lives.
In our day when everyone wants their own 15 minutes of fame as Andy Warhol said, it behooves each of us to examine our motives and motivations for any project we undertake. In the era when people become famous for becoming famous ala reality television, the values of humility are in scarce supply. Perhaps the story of the Tower of Babel is trying to teach us that humility matters and perhaps if the people had exhibited humility in their efforts instead of being scattered their community would have been strengthened. When we build our egos without regard to our intentions, when we demonstrate hubris rather than holiness and humility we lack true inner power and strength. The real building is the building of our souls, our spirits and our communities based on these foundations.
Posted by Aaron at October 8, 2007 09:21 AM
