This week’s portion is mostly the story about the great flood, Noah and his sons. But I am going to speak about the the last nine verses of the portion, which tell the story of Migdal Babel, the tower of Babylon.
We must first recall that God commanded Noah and his sons to scatter across the earth: [Bereshit 9:1] And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. [9:7] And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; swarm in the earth, and multiply therein.’
Keep this in mind. We’ll come back to this. Let’s now look at this week’s story:
[Bereshit (11:1-4)] And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another: ‘Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said: ‘Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’
After the flood, the descendants of Noah (who all spoke one language) moved eastward and settled in the plain of Shinar, or Babylonia. The settlement of Shinar could be construed as a partial fulfillment of the command to “increase in number and fill the earth”. Yet they decided to all stay in one place and ignore or defy God’s commandment to scatter over the earth. They believed they would have power in numbers. They believed that if they combined their strength they could “make a name for themselves” by building a tower to the sky.
What’s the problem? What was wrong with banding together to collaborate an a great building project? Think about how children naturally work together to build towers from their blocks, or about colleagues working together to construct and sail a raft during a leadership or team-building workshop.
