As mere earthlings, we are prone to abuse our autonomy. The Rabbis speak of the Torah’s mitzvot as a yoke, a system of laws meant to harness human talent for good. Without restraint, man remains an undomesticated animal in the wild. Self-satisfaction fed their arrogance ( Tosefta Sotah 3:10), or as the Rabbis observed elsewhere, “A full stomach is the source of much evil” ( BT Berakhot 32a).Īs an instance of rebellion, the Tower of Babel fits the dominant theme of the Torah’s prelude to Abraham. Yet what God had intended for good quickly became the source of their downfall. The migrants from the east ended their wanderings because they had come upon a land bursting with blessings. In the phrase “and they settled there” ( Genesis 11:2), the Rabbis felt a tone of finality. The building of the tower then was an act of rebellion born of prosperity. Not construction but contrition is what unites the human and divine our inner state rather than a vast sacred precinct is what bridges the chasm. Twice the narrative stresses that God easily descends from on high. To reach God there is no need to ascend to heaven. The breakdown in communication can be restored by human effort. In the face of human arrogance, God withdraws to the most remote corner of the cosmos. In the biblical tale, God’s voice is conspicuously absent. Surrounded by monuments of our own ingenuity, we grow deaf to the echoes of eternity. At the center of their world was the almighty self.īut God is less accessible in a man-made world. Well-made bricks were just as good as hewn stone, with which they could build an indestructible city and its temple. The inhabitants of Shinar take pride in their ability to compensate for their lack of natural resources. ![]()
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