AND I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH YOU, AND NEVER AGAIN WILL ALL FLESH BE CUT OFF BY THE FLOOD WATERS, AND THERE WILL NEVER AGAIN BE A FLOOD TO DESTROY THE EARTH." AND GOD SAID: "THIS IS THE SIGN OF THE COVENANT, WHICH I AM PLACING BETWEEN ME AND BETWEEN YOU, AND BETWEEN EVERY LIVING SOUL THAT IS WITH YOU, FOR EVERLASTING GENERATIONS. MY RAINBOW I HAVE PLACED IN THE CLOUD, AND IT SHALL BE FOR A SIGN OF A COVENANT BETWEEN MYSELF AND THE EARTH.

 

 

The Sign of the Covenant, a Sign for Peace, Memory, and Responsibility

...it has been said, as rationale for this sign, that He did not place the bow with its two ends facing upwards, which would make it seem as if it were shooting from the heavens, He shoots his arrows and scatters them over the earth, but He did the opposite, to demonstrate that it will not shoot from heaven, for this is the custom of warriors, to turn the bow backwards in their hand when they call for peace with those who oppose them. And furthermore, the bow has no string with which to shoot the arrow.

(RaMBaN, Bereishit 9:12)

 

The Holy One, Blessed Be He, did more than promise; He established a sign and a memorial. This is characteristic of divine supervision: The Holy One decrees signs, e.g., tefillin, Shabbat, circumcision, to constantly remind one of the great truths upon which the peace of humanity depends.

For ageless generations: Doubly lacking. [Translator's note - The Hebrew dorot - "generations" - is spelled here without the two vowel vavs] God's covenant will exist in all situations; it will also protect the generation which is marked by defects observable both internally and externally. In those generations, man's heart will melt, and he may despair of ever witnessing divine justice. But the sight of the rainbow will remind him that God decreed a covenant with Man and with the earth; this covenant will be in force at all times, in all generations, and divine providence will achieve its goal - even in a flawed generation.

(Rabbi S. R. Hirsch on Bereishit. 9:12)

 

The Blessing of Multiplicity and the Confusion of Languages

Ronen Ahituv

The Babel passage (11:1-9) raises many questions. At first blush it seems to be one more episode in the education of the humans who had been created in God's image. It stands as the fourth link in a chain beginning with the sin in the Garden of Eden and which continues with the sins of Cain and of the generation of the Flood. All of these passages share a common structure in which people commit a sin and are punished. The Babel passage appears to share this structure as well: human beings plan and execute a deed; God interferes and quashes their intentions.

All of the above gives rise to several questions: What was the sin of Babel's populace, and what was their punishment? How is their sin to be linked with the sins mentioned in earlier episodes? In what way is their sin unique, and how did the punishment atone for it?

Many generations of commentators struggled to answer these questions. Some suggested that the tower should be seen as an expression of rebellion against God; others held that by building a city and cutting themselves off from the earth the people of Babel committed an ecological sin. Still others emphasized the element of national and cultural homogeneity, or the concentration of settlement in a single location.

To my mind the fascinating thing about these suggestions is that they all (except for the last) describe the values of modern Western culture, a culture that is built upon humanist foundations which in many instances led to declarations of rebellion against various religions, an urban culture cut off from working the soil, which tries to bring about cultural homogeneity and to abolish national and ethnic differences. If the Babel episode is understood as an episode of sin, the very foundations and values of Western culture - and not only their consequences - must be viewed as sinful; Western culture must be opposed at a fundamental level.

I shall now try to offer a new reading of the Babel episode. First of all, we must notice that this is the last of the Torah's passages that relate to humanity in general; from here on Scripture will concern itself with a single family - the family of the Patriarchs. The stories of the Patriarchs do not follow the schema of sins and punishment; rather, they speak of the dialogue and the covenant between humans and God. This new schema already appears in the story of Noah, which is part of the Flood narrative (and even earlier in the story of Cain). Beginning in parashat Lekh Lekha it becomes the leading motif, there assuming the position formally held by the schema of crime and punishment. This suggests that the story of Babel might be seen as a transitional episode rather than an additional link in the chain of crimes and punishments.

The focus of the episode finds it expression in verses six through seven:

And the Lord said, "Behold! [they are] one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they have commenced to do. And now, will it not be withheld from them, all that they have planned to do? Come, let us descend and confuse their language, so that one will not understand the language of his companion."

We can juxtapose these verses to God's speech preceding the expulsion from Eden:

Now the Lord God said, "Behold man has become like one of us, having the ability of knowing good and evil, and now, lest he stretch forth his hand and take also from the Tree of Life and eat and live forever."

These two passages are the only examples of the schema "Behold [hen]... and now [ve'ata]" in all of Scripture. There is also a strong geographical connection between the two episodes. Following the expulsion from Eden God stations the Cherubs and the fiery turning sword east of [mikedem] the Garden of Eden (3:24). The Babel story begins with the words and when they traveled from the east [mikedem] (11:2). These linguistic connections permit us to set up a parallel between the story of Babel and the expulsion from Eden.

In contrast to standard views, I propose that the expulsion from Eden is not presented as a punishment for the eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. That sin is described in earlier verses (3:1-8) along with its punishment (verses 9-19). Therefore, the verse beginning Behold man has become should not be read as a description of the sin but rather as an explanation why the humans must be expelled from Eden. From this we may deduce that the confusion of languages in the parallel story of Babel does not serve a punishment for some sin. Construction of the city and the tower was not a crime, and the confusion of languages was not a punishment.

What, then, was God's motivation for confusing the languages? Let us return to the comparison of the two passages before us. In the story of the expulsion from Eden, God agrees with the snake's claim that man has become like one of us, having the ability of knowing good and evil and further mentions concern that man might live for ever. In the story of Babel we read of a situation in which [they are] one people, and they all have one language followed again by an expression of concern, will it not be withheld from them, all that they have planned to do? This worry leads God to disrupt the human activities by confusing their language. The city and the tower were not the problem - the very ability of human beings to execute projects was the problem.

It seems that the key is to be found in the expression behold man has become like one of us. We have before us four divine qualities. Man gained two of them and might come near to the other two: man managed to acquire both knowledge of good and evil and (cultural) unity. The worry is that he might also gain eternal life and unlimited powers to execute his plans. In order to prevent the realization of these worries, God expels man from Eden and confuses his language.

Why do human accomplishments generate concern? Does God view human competition as a threat to His status and reign? Didn't He instruct humans to conquer the earth and subdue it, as it is written: and the earth He gave to humans (Psalms 115:16)?

It seems that the worry here does not involve God's status, but rather the status of humanity itself. The unlimited abilities of human culture do not endanger God; rather they endanger human culture itself. A culture without limits and which does not recognize its own failings has no challenges; it loses its sanity and its ability to flourish and to renew itself. The weakness of the modern West can be interpreted in this fashion.

Does the Israeli-Zionist culture also suffer from too much success?

In the course of history overly successful cultures have collapsed of their own accord, but thanks to the confusion of languages and the multiplicity of cultures there is always another culture, energetic and full of its own aspirations, to take their place. The confusion of languages and multiplicity of human cultures (which are never all successful at the same time), are God's means for ensuring the survival of humanity even in situations of success.

Jewish biblical culture did not surrender itself to either of the limitations that God set upon humanity. It reached out to the Tree of Life, as it is written; It is a Tree of Life to those who grasp it (Proverbs 3:18). It also insisted upon the hope for universal solidarity, as it is written: For then I will convert the peoples to a pure language that all of them call in the name of the Lord, to worship Him of one accord (Zephaniah 3:9). How does the prophet's vision contend with the danger of success? Perhaps the cure is that proposed by R. Eliezer the son of R. Yossi HaGalili, i.e., humility. One's awareness of one's own limitations can - in a different way - take the place of one's need for being constantly challenged. It neutralizes the dangers of success. Perhaps the words of the Talmud can be understood in this spirit:

Not because you are more numerous than any people did the Lord delight in you and choose you, for you are the least of all the peoples. The Holy One blessed He said to Israel: I delighted in you because even when I grant you greatness - you make yourselves small before Me. I granted greatness to Abraham - he said before me, and I am dust and ashes... but idolaters are not like that. I granted greatness to Nimrod - he said let us build ourselves a city... and make a name for ourselves. (Hullin 89a)

A culture that takes care to make itself small before God can perhaps also do without human multiplicity and the experience of failure, and survive even the accomplishment of universal success. For the time being - unfortunately - such a culture exists only as a distant dream, even for the sons of our father Abraham.

Ronen Ahituv is from Mitzpe Netufa. He teaches in Midreshet Oranim, Kinneret College, and the Western Galilee College.

 

 

And these are the generations of the sons of Noah: The latent message in the detailed Scriptural narrative

Every narrative in the Law serves a certain purpose in connection with religious teaching. It either helps to establish a principle of faith, or to regulate our actions, and to prevent wrong and injustice among men; and I will show this in each case.

It is one of the fundamental principles of the Law that the Universe has been created ex nihilo, and that of the human race, one individual being, Adam, was created. As the time which elapsed from Adam to Moses was not more than about two thousand five hundred years, people would have doubted the truth of that statement if no other information had been added, seeing that the human race was spread over all parts of the earth in different families and with different languages, very unlike the one to the other. In order to remove this doubt the Law gives the genealogy of the nations (Gen. 5 and 6), and the manner how they branched off from a common root. It names those of them who were well known, and tells who their fathers were, how long and where they lived. It describes also the cause that led to the dispersion of men over all parts of the earth, and to the formation of their different languages, after they had lived for a long time in one place, and spoken one language (ibid. 11.), as would be natural for descendants of one person. The accounts of the flood (ibid. 6-8.) and of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (ibid. 19), serve as an illustration of the doctrine that, Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily He is a God that judges in the earth (Psalms 58:12).

(The Guide of the Perplexed III:50, Friedländer translation)

 

Torah Morality is not Tribal Morality

Now that the exile is prolonged because of our many sins, Israel must separate itself from the vanities of the world, and must hold on to the seal of The Holy One, Blessed Be He, which is truth; Israel must sanctify itself even by [refraining from questionable] acts which are legally permitted (Yevamot 20a); one should not lie, neither to Jew nor to gentile, and not deceive them in anyway, as is written: The remnant of Israel will not perform iniquities and will not speak falsely, and their mouths shall not house deceptive tongues (Zephaniah 3:13). Furthermore it is written And I will sow her in the land as My own (Hosea 2:25) - a person sows one kur of seed in order to harvest a number of kurim, so The Holy One, Blessed Be He sowed Israel among the nations in order that it be joined by converts (Pesahim 87b) As long as they [Israel] deal with them honestly, they will cleave to them. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, is stringent even regarding theft from the wicked, as is written, And the land was rife with lawlessness (Bereishit 1:11)

"It once happened that Rabbi Shimon ben Shetah purchased a donkey from an Ishmaelite. His students noticed a precious stone hanging from its neck. They said to Rabbi Shimon: Rabbi, It is the blessing of the Lord that enriches (Proverbs 10:22). He replied: I bought a donkey; I did not buy a precious stone. He went and returned the stone to the Ishmaelite. The Ishmaelite said of him: Blessed is the God of Shim'on ben Shetah!" (Devarim Rabba 3:3)

And thus in the Jerusalem Talmud (Bava Metzia 2:5) "The elderly sages purchased wheat from the gentiles, and discovered a hidden bag of coins, and they returned it. Proclaimed the gentiles: Blessed is the Lord of the Jews! And so there were many cases where they returned things in order to sanctify His Name.

(Orhot Tzadikkim, Gate 23, The Truth)

 

 Dependence upon Land Desecrates

Then began Noah, man of the soil - Because he was dependant upon the soil, he became unconsecrated. At first he was a righteous and wholehearted man, but now, a man of the soil.

(Tanhuma Bereishit 13)

 

The World's Existence Depends Upon Law, Morality, and Interpersonal Respect

The world exists thanks to law, you can see that the flood came to the world because they lacked law, they stole and robbed from each other, as it is written, the land became full of robbery. And if this is so, then one who judges, upholding the law faithfully, causes the world to persist in its existence. It is as if he becomes a partner [to the Creator]. (Siftei Hakhamim Shemot 18:9)

 

The earth was corrupt before God: Before the great ones who were on the earth, who would take the women by force.

And the earth became full of hamas [robbery]: What is the difference between hamas and gezel [another term for robbery]? Rabbi said: Hamas is [robbery of property] worth [at least] a penny while gezel is [robbery of property] worth less than a penny. This is what the people of the generation of the Flood would do: one of them would take a basket full of lupini beans to the market. This one would come and take less than a penny's worth and another one would come and take less than a penny's worth, so that he [the owner] would not be able to demand legal recompense. The Holy One blessed be He said to them: You acted improperly, so I shall also treat you improperly and unfairly, as it is written - Their haughtiness, which is absorbed within them-does it not leave [them]? They die, and not with wisdom (Job 4) - without the Torah's wisdom.

(Hizkuni Bereishit 6:11)

 

The generation of the Tower of Babel: a different perspective

"Loves his fellow men" - how does this apply? It teaches us that people should love their fellow human beings and not hate them, as we find in the case of the generation of the Tower of Babel, where because they loved one another, God did not want to destroy them, instead scattering them to the four winds. However, the people of Sodom, since they hated one another, were caused by God to perish both from this world and from the world to come, as it says (Bereishit 13): And the people of Sodom were evil and exceedingly sinful before the Lord. And sinful - this means incest and adultery; before the Lord - this means desecration of God's name; exceedingly - means they sinned maliciously. The lesson is that since they hated each other, God made them perish in this world and in the world to come.

(Avot DeRabbi Natan 11:12)

 

 

 

 

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