The story is told about a man who dreamed about standing in front of a table full of delicious food. All the people at the table just stared at the food with drawn faces. “Why isn’t anyone eating?” he asked. The answer given to him was that all these people don’t have joints in their arms. They can reach out and take hold of the food but they can’t bring it back to their mouths. So they are hungry and despondent. The man walked away from the table.

When he returned he saw that everyone sitting at the table was smiling and looked well fed. The food on the table had been eaten. ”What happened?” asked the man. They told him that everyone figured out that although they couldn’t bring the food back to their own mouths they could stretch out their arms, take hold of the food, and feed the person across from them!

The point of this story is that a society where people care about each other and are unified is a happy and content society.

In this week’s parsha we find another benefit from that kind of society.

וַיֹּאמְרוּ הָבָה  נִבְנֶה־לָּנוּ עִיר וּמִגְדָּל וְרֹאשׁוֹ בַשָּׁמַיִם וְנַעֲשֶׂה־לָּנוּ שֵׁם פֶּן־נָפוּץ עַל־פְּנֵי כׇל־הָאָרֶץ׃

And they said, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world.” (11:4)

Rashi cites the Midrash that explains the purpose of building this city and tower, known as the Tower of Babel. The people said, “He has no right to select the heavenly regions exclusively for Himself; let us ascend to the skies and make war upon Him”.

A rebellious world had previously been wiped out by the Flood, and now Man was at it again. The Torah describes that their plan was foiled.

וַיָּפֶץ ד’ אֹתָם מִשָּׁם עַל־פְּנֵי כׇל־הָאָרֶץ וַיַּחְדְּלוּ לִבְנֹת הָעִיר׃

Thus the LORD scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. (11:8)

The Midrash (Midrash Rabah 38) asks an interesting question. Why was the previous generation wiped out by the Flood because of their rebelliousness while the generation that participated in the rebelliousness of the Tower of Babel was spared?

The Midrash answers that the generation wiped out by the Flood was rampant with robbery as the Torah states

וַתִּשָּׁחֵת הָאָרֶץ לִפְנֵי הָ-אֱלֹהִים וַתִּמָּלֵא הָאָרֶץ חָמָס׃

The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with robbery. (6:11)

Therefore they were wiped out. On the other hand, the generation of the Tower of Babel were people who loved each other, as the Torah states,

וַיְהִי כׇל־הָאָרֶץ שָׂפָה אֶחָת וּדְבָרִים אֲחָדִים׃

Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words. (11:1)

This means that they were united. Therefore they were spared. And the Midrash continues that Shalom, peace, is great because even if the Jewish people are worshipping strange gods but there is peace amongst them, G-d says that I will spare them.

What an amazing insight! In a world that is becoming more and more difficult to live in, we can create our own “Iron Dome” for protection. That is the dome of Shalom, peace, that emerges from the unity, love, and care that we foster amongst each other.

Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak