The Need For Unity
Welcome to Venturing Into the Parsha, a weekly(ish…ugh) e-mail intended to provide insights from the Jewish holidays and weekly Torah portions that impact and uplift our roles as investors, founders, and operators. These are intended to be ~5 paragraphs and intentionally brief. Questions or comments are always welcome in response.
This week’s VITP is dedicated as a prayer for the speedy and safe return of our 100+ hostages being held in Gaza and the tens of thousands of soldiers spending Shabbat in Gaza and Lebanon keeping the land of Israel safe.
Last week we began a new Torah reading cycle and with it, a return to the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis (and the Torah itself) we are taught by our sages is actually not a history book whatsoever; it’s a book of laws. Why then does the Torah begin with creation story, Noah, Abraham, and more — and offer an entire tractate devoid of laws whatsoever? The answer I was taught is to provide a basis for the moral and relational structure that is intended to properly define the world.
Nowhere is that more relevant than in this week’s parsha, Noach, better known in English simply as Noah. The story of Noah and his ark is filled with imagery of animals rushing in pairs towards the safety of a massive boat as heavy rains threaten to eradicate the remainder of humanity. Those rains would, in fact, eradicate all of humanity except Noah’s family — a punishment G-d considered appropriate because of the world’s reduction towards obsessive stealing. (“The earth had become corrupt before G-d. The world was filled with robbery” 6:11).
Subtly, however, the flood is not the only tale of punishment in the parsha of Noah. Tucked towards the end, almost as an afterthought, is the equally infamous tale of the Tower of Babel — a reminder that immediately after repopulating the world, having barely avoided total destruction — humanity could not prevent their inclinational descent towards evil, chaos and power. In the Tower of Babel nearly every human on earth teamed up to build an edifice to reach G-d and usurp some of His power. G-d responded by dispersing the tower builders across the earth and generating 70 languages so they would be unable to further conspire against Him.
The 11th century commentator Rashi is bothered by a crucial difference between the two punishments: the builders of the Tower of Babel are “scattered” across the earth whereas the punishment for stealing had been death. Stealing is only a crime against other people. The Tower of Babel was an attack directly on G-d. Why should the latter have a reduced punishment?
“Now which sin is more severe, that of the Generation of the Flood or that of the Generation of the Disunion which resulted from the attempt to build the Tower of Babel? These did not send forth their hand against that which is fundamental [G-d], whereas these did send forth their hand against that which is fundamental to wage war against Him.
Yet the people of the generation of the Flood were washed away while the people of the Tower of Babel were not obliterated from the world.
The reason is due to the fact that the Generation of the Flood were robbers and there was hostility between them. That is why they were obliterated. But the Generation of the Tower of Babel would behave with love and friendship among themselves, as it says ‘one language and unified words.’ You have thus learned that conflict is hateful and peace is great.
There is no gentle way to conclude this piece. The current Presidential election (amongst other emerging societal differences and fears) has cultivated a level of extreme conflict and rhetoric that I had not yet experienced in my lifetime. This rhetoric has, I believe, brought out the worst in many of us, impaired relationships, and even led to dramatic increases in political violence.
“Conflict is hateful and peace is great.” One of the foundational truths of life, as taught to us by G-d, clearly and explicitly, is that we need to pursue unity and harmony as human beings irrespective of our differences.
Wishing everyone a safe and peaceful Shabbat Shalom.