~
Thoughts on the Parsha ~
Parshas Noach
Choose The One to Hear Your
Voicemail:
Listen to Your Messages
By: Daniel Listhaus
וַיְהִי כָל הָאָרֶץ שָׂפָה אֶחָת וּדְבָרִים אֲחָדִים
“Now the entire earth
was of one language and uniform word”
-Noach 11:1
As
we head towards the peak of a tense election time with such a strong split
regarding policies which have been or should be implemented, it is hard to
imagine a world which works together.[1]
Try to picture a peaceful world where seldom is heard a discouraging word; a
world with a United Nations which sits down for months thinking together to
make the world a better a place with no ulterior motives to benefit certain
individuals, parties, or nations. As impossible as this situation is to fathom,
it indeed occurred in the history of this world.
The
people who were living during the generation known as the dor haflaga (Generation
of the Disunion)[2],
were all direct descendents of Noach. Noach lived through a time when every
single human and animal outside the teivah (ark) was destroyed by the mabbbul
(flood). The earth had become too corrupt.[3]
Mankind had gotten into the habit of abusing each other in the worst ways, and
this corruptness trickled down to the creations of the world.[4]
Hashem decided that, besides for Noach and his family, no one could be
permitted to live in the world. After patiently awaiting a teshuva (repentance)
movement which never occurred,[5]
Hashem sent a mabbul to kill everything on the earth middah-k'negged-middah
(measure for measure).[6]
Now, several generations after the most violent and back-stabbing of times, the
people of the world were all united, spoke the same language, and wanted to
work together on the same agenda – they wanted to build a tower.
The
Torah[7]
describes that the people joined together to build the tower because they
thought that doing so could prevent future floods like the one the world had
recently experienced during that time. However, although their purpose was
clear, Rashi[8]
offers three possibilities as to what exactly their trigger reason was to
start this project. Rashi's first suggestion is that the people came
with a uniform plan to wage war with G-d. They decided that it was not fair
that Hashem be the one and only King, so they figured that they could build a
tower tall enough to be able to approach Hashem in the heavens. The second
possible reason Rashi relates is that the people simply joined together
to speak out against Hashem. Rashi's third possibility is that the
people calculated that the mabbul occurred in the year 1656.[9]
They therefore assumed that this would be an event which would be cycled every
1656 years. In order to prepare for the next scheduled mabbul according
to this calculation, the dor haflaga wanted to get a head start on building structures
in the world to support the skies so that the firmament would not be able to
collapse again as it did during the time of the mabbul.[10]
Regardless of their reason, we know that Hashem saw what they were doing and
exclaimed, “Behold, one people and one language for all of them and this is
what they begin to do! And now, should it not be withheld from them all that
they proposed to do? Come, let us[11]
descend there and confuse their language, so that they should not understand
one another's language.”[12]
There
is no doubt that the dor haflaga must have been wrong for doing what
they did, after all Hashem was quite upset with them. Knowing this, the
aforementioned Rashi becomes difficult to understand. Granted within the
first two reasons Rashi writes was the engine behind what they were
doing, we could comprehend why Hashem was angry. However, what was so bad if we
learn according to the third explanation Rashi suggested? If the people
of the dor haflaga really thought that the mabbul was on some
schedule to occur every 1656 years, so be it! Let them be involved in their
stupidity and waste their time building useless towers, as long as they are not
bothering anyone. What did they do wrong that should upset Hashem so much that
it was worth it to disturb the peace that existed at that particular point?
Many
of us have probably at some point attempted to solve pattern riddles. For
example. Look at the following sequence and think of what should follow: 0, 1,
3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, ??. Many of us may look at this sequence and try
to figure out what it is trying to communicate and what should therefore
follow.[13]
However, we all have that one friend who insists that the answer (in this case)
is 0. After all, this sequence of eight numbers is completely random. The blank
at the end just restarts the same pattern over again. This is what I call the
Pattern Fallacy – the idea that anyone could make anything into something
insignificant by saying that it is not inherently meaningful.
Interestingly,
many of us think that we are not subject to this. We look at the sequence and
say that anyone who answers 0 is out of his mind. We would never think to
suggest such a ridiculous thing. This though is not true. We do fall into this
trap and are indeed very inconsistent in when we decide to view something as
independently significant and when we disregard it as a baseless coincidence.
Many
years ago, the public started noticing a number of similarities between
President Lincoln and President Kennedy. Lincoln was elected to congress in
1846, Kennedy in 1946. Lincoln was elected President in 1860, Kennedy in 1960.
Both presidents had a son die during their presidency. Both presidents were
shot in their heads from behind, while with their wives, on a Friday, while
being accompanied by another couple. Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth in
Ford's Theater, Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald in a Lincoln (made by
Ford). John Wilkes Booth ran from a theater to a warehouse, Oswald ran from a
warehouse to a theater. Booth was born in 1839, Oswald in 1939. And both were
killed within the same calendar month before their trial.
At
the time these similarities were noticed, some read them and started getting
excited for no apparent reason, while others looked at them and said that the
similarities were completely by chance and the article would have been just as
special if it pointed out that both presidents were men, citizens of the United
States, enjoyed good food, had two arms, and wore shoes.
People
care about things that are meaningful to them. Meaningful things have intrinsic
value and are not viewed as random or ordinary. Rather, valued things are
viewed as unique and customized. On the other side, things which people care
less about and do not feel are worth the time to figure out, get labeled as
meaningless patterns.
The
Rambam[14]
writes that one of the most fundamental beliefs is that Hashem is not only
the borei (creator) of the world but also the manhig (director).
This idea of Hashem being the manhig, really applies on two levels,
which are really one. First, it means that Hashem arranges the endless
probabilities, combinations, and permutations of the world in order that
everyone is delivered a customized experience in this world – perfect for one's
needs.[15]
Second, it means that Hashem interacts with us and communicates to us in ways
that we are able to notice if we just open our eyes. Whether it be evil decrees
made by a dictator, a freak accident, or nature acting slightly unnaturally,
there are two routes one could take. One perspective is to say, “There is
nothing inherently special about anything. Everything happens at some point
randomly anyway.” The other perspective is to recognize the weird parts of life
as Hashem trying to catch our attention and challenging us to think.
Perhaps
this is the suggestion that Rashi is offering in his third answer. The
people of the dor haflaga failed to recognize the mabbul as a
lesson for generations to understand the type of lifestyle we must run from.
They determined it as a random piece of a meaningless cycle, instead of
realizing it as a an inherently meaningful message directly from the manhig of
the world. Hashem conveyed a clear message to the world – a tremendous flood
which only one family was miraculously saved from via the teivah, and
these people just completely missed the boat.[16]
In
our lives we are sent messages from Hashem. Some are for us as part of the tzibbur
(public), and some are for us for our personal lives. However, only if
receiving messages from Hashem is meaningful to us will we recognize when we
are being contacted. Otherwise, we fall into the Pattern Fallacy and attribute
events not to the manhig of the world, but instead to randomness.
We
will continue to receive messages whether we like it or not. However, we could
only begin to unlock these messages once we consciously choose to want to hear
what Hashem is trying to tell us. This is what it takes for us to access our
voicemail.
[1] This was written right before President
Obama's second term when Governor Mitt Romney was running for president.
[2] They received this name after Hashem divided
them by making them not speak the same language.
[3] Beraishis 6:11 and Rashi there
[4] See Rashi
to Beraishis 6:12 and 6:20.
[5] See Rashi to Beraishis 6:14
who writes that Hashem had Noach build the ark for so many years instead of
just miraculously creating one for Noach in order that the people would see him
building the ark and ask what it was for. Hashem hoped that upon hearing what
Hashem was planning to do to the world, that the people would do teshuva.
[7] Beraishis 11:3-4
[8] Beraishis 11:1
[9] The year according to the Jewish calendar
from Creation when Adam was born.
[10] See the Medrash Rabbah (38:6) which
says that they wanted to build four such towers – for the North, South, East,
and West.
[11] Rashi (11:7) explains that Hashem said
'us' because he consulted the heavenly court of angels out of extreme humility.
We see the same idea in Beraishis (1:26) when Hashem said “Let us create
nan...”
[12] Beraishis 11:5-7
[13] The answer is 36. 0+1=1 +2=3 +3=6
+4=10 +5=15 +6=21 +7=28 +8=36
[14] See the thirteenth Ani Ma'amin (Principles
of Faith)
[15] For more on this subject see my d'var
Torah on Parshas Vayeishev 2011“Chaos Theory or Control Reality”
[16] Pun intended. Sorry.
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