Parshas Noah: In an Era of Safa
Let’s be honest. Many of us are looking to the week ahead
and wondering what will be. As I write this Dvar Torah at midnight on Erev
Shabbas Rosh Chodesh MarCheshvan, the headlines are filled with discussions of
Iran’s threats of imminent attack and no one can even make sense of the political
headlines on the eve of the US elections. Thank goodness Hashem runs the world
as we mere mortals are truly on the wrong track.
Interestingly, we might be on the same wrong track as one
described in this week’s parsha - the Dor Haflaga, the generation of the Tower
of Bavel. It is a narrative we all know. The world’s population gathered together
and built a tower with the intention of fighting Hashem. They believed that
they had no need for Hashem. If we look back twenty years or so ago, many
people in the west possibly felt same way. Certainly, there were problems, global
hot spots or revolutions, but with the dissolution of the Cold War, most
nations felt more connected than ever. The internet’s pervasiveness crossed and
broke boundaries; it brought people together. Technology would shape our lives.
When we talk about language in a Torah context, most of us
think of lashon, which is also the word for the tongue. It’s how we form words
internally. Our inner voice is the voice of our souls. But Bereishis 11 does
not talk about lashon. It talks about safa, the language of the lips.
Safa is an external language. Safa is the language of the
internet. Safa is the language spoken because that’s what everyone else is
saying. It’s how politics devolved into hyperbole and soundbytes and name
calling, because it became more important to sound like part of the herd then to
stand out.
The Dor Haflaga was noted as being unified, and one might
argue that today’s society is divided rather than unified – is unable to build because
it is shaking its own foundations. But this question is addressed in an
interesting Kli Yakar on Bereishis 11:1:
“For when the wicked gather together, they think among
themselves of wicked plans against others. On top of this, fights,
disagreements, and hatred break out among them. And this is the law of jealousy
(alluding to Numbers 5:29) that is found among groups, all the actions of which
are not for the sake of the Heavens, but rather to make a name for themselves
in the world (referring to Genesis 11:4). And the main reason for this is that,
since each one has his own personal motive, their hearts are divided against
each other. For this one will desire money and glory, that one much food, the
other much sex, and still another one will say, "Let's make a name for
ourselves," and wants to be the highest of the high. Because of this, a
fight develops. Either it is from not having one goal, given that there are
many evil paths, whereas there is only one good path. Or it is from each one
wanting and desiring to be more important and higher than the others. And is
this trait not found in most of our people? Hence the dispersion of these
groups is better than their assembly…”
We see this today. The language of protest is used to
promote harrassment. The language of justice is used to promote hate. Our world
is so much larger than the world of the Dor Haflaga. (After all, we aren’t the
regeneration of human life after a world-washing flood.) Therefore, it is
harder to recognize how unified the language of the world is. But it has been pointed
out, far too many times lately, that both “the right” and “the left” have seen
a dramatic rise in unveiled anti-Semitism. They are two sides of the same coin.
The Dor Haflaga lived in a time when Hashem’s presence was
almost physical (Hashem is described as walking through Gan Eden, Noah is
described as walking with Hashem). That was many eras ago, before Hashem pulled
Himself back and before Hashem designated one nation to represent Him amongst
all the others. The Dor Haflaga used their safa to build a tower to attack Hashem,
the upcoming generation in western society – in their need to be seen as heroic,
each as a “good” person – are using their safa to slander and demoralize Klal
Yisrael, that one nation.
The Dor Haflaga recognized the existence of Hashem but resisted
the idea of being under control. Today’s generation does not believe in Hashem,
in the active force of God in the world. But, the Jewish people know
differently.
Everything that has occurred over the last fateful year makes
it almost impossible not to see Hashem’s hand in the world. Hashem is blindfolding
an entire generation so that they appear unable to see true evil when it is
before them, and Hashem is doing this, perhaps, so that Klal Yisrael will have
their own eyes opened and will step away from the other nations and closer to
Him before He knocks down their figurative tower.
With this in mind, as the week bears down on us, let us pray
not for the right outcome – since what ever outcome occurs is right, is per
Hashem’s intentions – but rather, let us daven the Klal Yisrael be given the
strength to stay strong and see truth.
I wish you all a beautiful Shabbas
