NOACH PARDES - The Tower of Bavel

Sunday, October 19, 2014 · Posted in , , , , ,


Bereishit 11:4
וְנַעֲשֶׂה-לָּנוּ שֵׁם
vena'aseh-lanu shem
so that we can make a name for ourselves.

According to the peshat (plain meaning) of the text, all these people wanted was to settle in one single location on earth in order to stay together. However, they did not find a location other thant he valley of Shinor in which to do this. This is why they wanted to build a city and a tower which could accommondate all of them. The purpose of the tower was to serve as a beacon so thaat people all over the earth would be able to see it and to orient themselves by means of it. They themselves would all live in a single city. This is the reason the Torah quoted them as saying "lest we will scatter. This is why G-d punished them by scattering them to teach them that they had contravened His commandment to fill the earth with their presence (v9:1). Yeshayahu 45:18 pointed out that G-d had made the earth in order for it to be settled by mankind.

From an homiletical point of view the operative clause in the verse are the words "let us make a name for 'ourselves.'" This is an oblique reference to idolatry. The word שם (shem) "name here and the same word in Shemot 23:13 "and you must not mention the name (שם) of any other deity," mean the same thing. We also have a Midraschic comment in Midrash Tehillim 1, that the word הבה (havah), introduces an evil thought, an evil intention as it does in Shoftim 20:7 "come up with a plan here and now!" Furthermore, we have a tradition that the word עיר "city" is reference to a deity as we find in Dani'el 4:10 that the words עיר וקדיש (ir vekadish) refer to a destructive angel (ha-satan or similar). According to one Midrash on the Ten Commandments, these people proposed to take spades planning to invade heaven to flood it and drain it in order to ensure that another deluge could not originate from that source. They wanted to take large chunks of heaven and to engage in war with the King of the heavens. The Tower had seventy steps in an easterly direction and seventhy steps in a westerly direction on its opposite side. G-d descended those seventy steps accompanied by seventy angels and He confused their language and their dialects. Thus far that Midrash.

In Bereishit Rabbah 38:6 it writes that these people said, "we do not agree that G-d should have exlusive right to heaven whereas we have only been assigned earth. Let us make war against Him."

Looking at this story from a rational point of view, the words "and let us make a name for ourselves," must be understood as follows: The people of that generation were very advanced in matters of philosophy and even technology. However, they used their intelligence in a sinful manner. They constructed the city and Tower to protect themselves against a deluge of fire (seeing tht G-d had promosed not to again bring a deluge of water). This is what the word "war" in the Midrash refers to. They prepared to contend with the heavenly forces, such as angels, against the will of HASHEM. They tried to isolate and tame the power of fire in order to neutralise its deadly effect so that it could not engulf their city.

There was another reason which motivated them. They had been witness to the fact that G-d had decreed death on Adam, while they perceived themseles as physically powerful and enjoying a much longer life span than the 120 years G-d appeared to have decreed. They thought that they were all powerful (G-d Himself in v6 questioned whether their power should not be curtailed). They planned to scale heaven wie alive and well in order to overcome the impediment to this imposed pon them by their mortality. Their principal aim was to overcome the decree issued against Adam which made all of them mortal also. all of their planning in building the Tower was designed to achieve immmortality. The reaon G-d had to scatter them was because they planned to nullify His world order. The Torah has worded its report in such a way that it did not spell out these people's evil intent in detail. Whereas the Torah revealed the sin of the generation of the deluge, it did not spell out the sin of the generation of the Tower.

The Torah did want us to know that basically, their sin was of the same category as that of the first man. This is why the Torah refers to the people in this paragraph as בני האדם (ben ha'Adam) "Adam's sons", to hint that what they did paralleled what Adam had done.  The extra letter ה (heh) before the word אדם (adam) stresses that they behaved not like ordinary human beings but like the first human being, Adam (as opposed to 5:1 where the Torah describes "this is the Book of the generations of man," without the letter ה in front of the word אדם.

The words "ben ha'Adam" are a hint that these people were like the first human being and the Torah had indicated that the people of the deluge had sinned by denying that there is something higher than the emanation "Keter", which had led to their destruction in the "lower universe." The word שם (shem - name) in this instance is reference to the highest emanation "Keter". They were under the mistaken impression that that emanation is the absolute highest level of heaven, i.e. celestial force which exists. The Attribute of Justice, even when in a dominant role, is always accompanied by some aspect of the Attribute of Mercy as represented by שם the Ineffable Name YKVK. In the case of the deluge, the principle of midah keneged midah (measure for measure) operated in such a away that as punishment for that generation's refusal to recognize anything beyond the emanation שם=כתר, they experienced the full impact of the unrelieved Attribute of Justice so that even the earth they had lived on was destroyed. The earth had been the creation of the Attribute of Justice, i.e. אלוקים (ELOKIM). The Attribute of Mercy, i.e. השם (HASHEM), had been "co-opted" only at the time when the Torah reported the creation of Adam (2:4) as a functioning human being.

Basically, man had tried to separate the role of the Attribute of אלוקים from the role of the Attribute of שם, or YKVK. G-d demonstrated to them that such an attempt if successful spells disaster both for them and for the earth they lived on. They had wanted only "nature," as represented by the Attribute of אלוקים.

It is quite possible that prior to the deluge such considerations had not had a philosophical basis, had been mostly based on an emotional resentment of authority from an extra-terrestrial force. At this time, it had been developed to a philosophy by highly intelligent people, people who had already learned of the value of co-operation, unity, working towards a common goal. This was why their newly developed approach was so dangerous.

G-d scattered them, i.e. separated them from their unity all over the globe as retaliation for their attempt to "scatter," i.e. separate His Attributes from one another. They had calculated the precise number of steps needed to ascend to heaven - 70. According to Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, the number reflects 70 miles, a mile per step. The number may also allude to the 70 representatives of the 70 nations in the celestial spheres. According to tradition, Nevuchadnetzar, who was also from Bavel (though it was renamed Babylon) introduced the golden image of Baal into the remnants of the Holy Temple to symbolize that this philosophy had triumphed. In Yirmeyahu 51:44 the prophet predicts the eventual humiliation of that idol and that of the people who worshiped it. Dani'el 3:1 speaks of a huge gold image Nevuchadnetzar had put up in the valley of Dura in the land of Babylon. this valley may be identical with the valley described here in this chapter where the Torah described these people as וימצאו בקעה (vayimtzeu vik'ah), "they found a valley." All of this is part of the aforementioned hints the Torah provided concerning the sins of that generation.

May HASHEM protect us from committing similar errors.

The confusing of their languages was an example of the principle of the punishment fitting the crime, midah keneged midah (measure for measure). Their sin consisted of the words they spoke, i.e. "they said, 'Let us build a city for ourselves...'" Seeing they had put the power of speech to improper use, their power of speech now became impaired so that they no longer could understand each other.

The descendants of Noach who had numbered seventy at that time, were now divided into seventy nations, each with a distinctive language.

★ There are seventy "princes," i.e. representatives in the celestial spheres who represent these seventy nations before the throne of G-d. They correspond to the respective kings or heads of these nations here on earth. Each one of these seventy celestial "princes" is a part of the nation he represents, unlike Yaakov (Yirmeyahu 10:16) of whom the prophet said "unlike these is the portion of Yaakov, for it is He Who forms all things." Just as the Jewish people do not need intermediaries before G-d but have direct access to Him, so the Hebrew tongue is superior to all the other languages in the world. It is G-d's own language and as such it is as superior to other languages as is G-d Himself to any of the agents He has appointed in this world to do His bidding. It is the duty of Jews to draw the help from celestial sources by means of the Holy Tongue, Hebrew. Unless they are capable of praying in Hebrew their prayer loses in effectiveness.

May HASHEM continue to enlighten us with the Light of His Torah.

-Bachya; Chazal

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NOACH PARDES - Noach's Ark & The Flood

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Bereishit 6:14
עֲשֵׂה לְךָ תֵּבַת עֲצֵי-גֹפֶר קִנִּים תַּעֲשֶׂה אֶת-הַתֵּבָה וְכָפַרְתָּ אֹתָהּ מִבַּיִת וּמִחוּץ בַּכֹּפֶר
Aseh lecha tevat atzei-gofer kinim ta'aseh et-hatevah vechafarta otah mibayit umichutz bakofer
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. The ark should be divided into compartments. Caulk the inside and outside with pitch.

"Gopher" is an especially light weight kind of wood. Onkelos translates the word as a kind of cedar-wood. G-d instructed Noach to make for himself an Ark out of this well-known wood and to bring into it two specimens, male and female, f all the domestic and free roaming animals in order to keep these species alive as well as seven pairs of each of the pure species of birds in order for some to serve as sacrifices after the deluge. G-d informed Noach beforehand that he was going to bring the deluge in order to wipe out all flesh on earth which had the breath of life in it.

Noach knew there was a need for only ten righteous people in order to ensure the survival of the world as it was. He based this tradition on the ten directives G-d employed to create the universe. He reasoned that if there were indeed ten righteous people alive at that time G-d would not have instructed him to prepare for the deluge by building the Ark. Under the prevailing circumstances, only eight people had been commanded to enter the Ark - Noach, his wife, his three sons and their respective wives, proof that at that time there were already no ten righteous people left on the earth. (Avraham had also stopped praying when he realized that there were fewer than ten good people in Sedom.) Seeing that there were no ten good people left on earth it was clear to him that the generation did not merit survival on account of the remaining eight good people. Under the circumstances, the most that G-d was willing to do was to save Noach seeing he was the first member of the tenth generation of mankind. G-d accommodated Noach by also saving his immediate family. The fact that Avraham himself did not bother to implore G-d to save the city of Sedom for the sake of few than ten righteous people proves that Noach cannot be faulted for not having prayed when told to tke only seven additional human beings into the Ark with him. In fact, Noach was not even allowed to pray when he knew here were fewer than ten good people. In addition, as opposed to the people of Sedom, the people at the time of Noach had been given 120 years warning. The people of Sedom had not been given any kind of warning by G-d prior to Avraham being informed of their impending doom. G-d is not in the habit of decreeing doom unless the potential victims had been warned (Yuma 81).


6:15
וְזֶה אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשֶׂה אֹתָהּ שְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת אַמָּה אֹרֶךְ הַתֵּבָה חֲמִשִּׁים אַמָּה רָחְבָּהּ וּשְׁלֹשִׁים אַמָּה קוֹמָתָהּ
Vezeh asher ta'aseh otah shelosh me'ot amah orech hatevah chamishim amah rachbah ushloshim amah komatah
This is how you shall construct it: The ark's length shall be 300 cubits, its width 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits.

G-d commanded Noach the measurements of the Ark. When one considers the many types of species Noach had been asked to bring into the Ark, these measurements appear to be totally insufficient. In fact, according to the number of species of animals and birds in our world today, even ten times as many Arks of that size would not be able to accommodate them all. There can therefore be no doubt that the entire operation was possible only by means of G-d's miraculous intervention. G-d demonstrated to Noach and his family that even a physically small space can accommodate a great number of creatures when G-d so decrees it.

There was an additional reason why G-d had commanded Noach to spend 120 years of his life to build the Ark even when G-d could have had a number of other alternatives once He had decided to invoke miracles. He had hoped that when people would watch the vast amount of time and energy which Noach and his sons put into constructing this huge Ark that he must have known what he was doing, and that at least some people would take his warning of the impending deluge to heart to repent and change their lifestyle. If they would nonetheless ignore such warnings they were obviously irredeemable sinners and would deserve whatever G-d decreed for them.


7:4
כִּי לְיָמִים עוֹד שִׁבְעָה
Ki leyamim od shive'ah
For in another seven days.

In addition to the 120 years which G-d had given mankind to repent and to mend its ways, He now gave them another seven days. Chazal (Sanhedrin 108) say that these seen days were the days of mourning for Metushelach (Noach's grandfather), who had died at 969 years of age. He had lived the life of a righteous man and G-d had held back with bringing on the deluge on his account. This is why the Torah (7:10) wrote the apparently superfluous words, "it was after these seven days that the waters of the deluge were upon the earth."


According to Nachanides the timetable of the deluge ran as follows:

Rain descended on earth for forty days continuously from the date the fountains of the deep broke open. During those forty days the waters on earth rose to a level of fifteen cubits above the highest peaks. At the end of the forty days the rain stopped but the fountains of the deep remained open and the "windows" of heavens also remained open so that the atmosphere was extremely moist. The entire globe was full of water none of which dried off during that period. This condition continued until the end of 150 days after the rain had started falling. At that point G-d made a strong wind blow in the atmosphere and on earth and the fountains of the deep closed. The waters which had flooded earth from below returned to the interior of the earth where they had been before the deluge started. At that point the "windows" of the heavens were closed also and the air of the atmosphere began to dry up. As a result, the level of water on earth became drastically reduced so that the Ark which had previously been about two or three cupbits deep in water managed to "land" on the mountain range of Arrarat. Some 73 days later the tops of the mountains became visible on the first day of the tenth month, i.e. on the first of the month of Tamuz. Another forty days later, on the tenth of the month of Av, the dove left the Ark for good. Another thirty days later Noach removed the cover of the Ark.


8:11
וְהִנֵּה עֲלֵה-זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ
vehineh aleh-zayit taraf befiha
and here it had torn off an olive leaf with its beak.

Where did the dove find even such a leaf since the destruction of vegetation on earth had been so thorough that Chazal in Bereishit Rabbah 28:3 claim that even the lower millstones had been thoroughly destroyed. This may be based on Iyov 14:19, "the waters wear away even stones."  Rabbi Levi (Midrash) claims that the leaf came from Mount Olives in Yerushalayim, seeing the deluge had not touched the Holy Land. He claims that G-d had said to Yechezkel (22:24) "Ben Adam, say to her, 'You are a land that has not been cleansed; she had not been rained upon on the day of fury." The words לא מטהרה (lo metohara - not cleansed) refer to the fountains of the deep beneath the Holy Land not having opened at the time of the deluge, whereas the words לא גשמה (lo gushmah - nor rained upon) mean that no destructive rain fell on the Holy Land during the period of the deluge. Nonetheless, it is fair to assume that the waters of the deluge which had flooded neighboring countries also spilled over into the Holy Land. After all, the Torah testifies that the waters of the deluge "covered all the high mountains beneath the whole sky" (7:19). Seeing that no rain had fallen on the Holy Land which would have uprooted and broken the trees in that land, the waters which spilled over into that land did not have such a destructive effect. It is quite plausible therefore that the dove took the leaf from Mount Olives.


8:14
בְּשִׁבְעָה וְעֶשְׂרִים יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ
beshive'ah ve'esrim yom lachodesh 
on the twenty-seventh day of that month.

This was the month of Marcheshvan. Earlier the Torah had spoken of "on the seventeenth of the month the fountains of the 'deep' broke open" (7:110, whereas now the Torah says that on the twenty-seventh day of that month the earth had dried out completely. This teaches that the deluge lasted exactly one full solar year (365 days). We know that ordinarily the solar year is 11 days longer than the lunar year, i.e. 12 months. This is why Chazal in Ediyot 2:10 stated that the period during which the people of that generation were judged lasted for 12 months. According to Rabbi Shlomoh ben Aderet we have to add the eleven days of the difference between the solar and the lunar years so as to avoid the Mishnah in Ediyot being in conflict with the Torah. We are also told in that same Mishnah that the judgment of the Egyptians in Egypt (the ten plagues) lasted 12 months and that Iyov's afflictions lasted for 12 months. Finally, the Mishnah states that the judgment experienced by the nations taking part in the final assault on the Jewish people under the kingdoms of Gog and Magog will last for 12 months.

May HASHEM continue to enlighten us with the Light of His Torah.

-Bachya; Chazal

Noach Pardes - Noach

Noach Pardes - Corruption

Noach Pardes - The Tower of Bavel

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NOACH PARDES - Corruption

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Bereishit 6:12
וַיַּרְא אלוקים אֶת-הָאָרֶץ וְהִנֵּה נִשְׁחָתָה כִּי-הִשְׁחִית כָּל-בָּשָׂר אֶת-דַּרְכּוֹ עַל-הָאָרֶץ
Vayar Elohim et-ha'aretz vehineh nishchatah ki-hishchit kol-basar et-darko al-ha'aretz
ELOKIM saw the earth, and here it had become corrupt. All flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.

At this point the Torah reverts to G-d's Name "Elokim" to indicate that the Attribute of Justice enters the picture at this stage. Seeing that the sins of that generation were so great the Attribute of Justice was poised over them.


וְהִנֵּה נִשְׁחָתָה
vehineh nishchatah
and here it had become corrupt.

What precisely did this "corruption" consist of? "All flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth." They were all destroying their own seed. They did not want to prcreate and used sexual union for pleasure only. This is what is meant by Yeshayahu 57:5 "the ones who slaughter their children." Chazal (Niddah 13) comment on this that a preferable reading to this passage would be "they squeezed out their semen before impregnating their wives." Seeing that they had become guilty of destroying semen which becomes a fetus after forty days, they were punished with a deluge which poured rain on them for forty days (based on Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 22).

Actually, the people of that time were guilty of four sins:

1) idolatry
2) sexual licentiousness including incest
3) murder
4) gratuitous violence

The reason for the forty days of rain may be broken down as follows: Thirty days of continuous rain descended because of their idolatry, i.e. they worshiped the sun for thirty days; however seeing the sun's influence on earth commences already five days before it becomes visible to us and it continues for five days after it has ceased to be visible, it was proper that they be punished on account of sun-worship for forty days. Whatever is true of the visible effect of the sun as well as its invisible effect, applies equally to the stars so that in respect of every form of worship of celestial constellations the number forty represented midah keneged midah (measure for measure) "the punishment fitted the crime." Similar considerations apply to the sin of sexual licentiousness and murder as in both instnces the gestation period of the human being was forty days before it became a real fetus. As to the violence, their fourth sin, the number forty is approprite for the duration of the days of rain as the Torah containing this legislation was given to Moshe after he had spent forty days on Mount Sinai.

The sin of corruption did not only include human beings but it had also corrupted the behavior of the animals. This is why Chazal (Sanhedrin 108) explained "the ones who had become guilty of wasting hot semen were punished by a deluge of hot water." This fact is based on the words used at the end of the deluge in v8:1 "and the waters cooled off."


וַתִּשָּׁחֵת הָאָרֶץ לִפְנֵי האלוקים
vatishachet ha'aretz lifnei ha'ELOKIM
the earth had become corrupt in the presence of ELOKIM

This is in reference to idolatry practiced by man. The Torah alluded to the fact that the sins of mankind included both trespasses against G-d as well as trespasses against society. They corrupted religion and they corrupted the basics of procreation. These latter sins also included indiscriminate robbery among the people. The Torah refers to this by writing, "the earth became filled with violence," and the repetition, "for the earth is filled with violence through them." Seeing that the Torah reports G-d's decision to bring on the deluge in connection with the report of the violence it is clear tht this sin weighted most heavily and that the decree to destroy mankind was not sealed until G-d had reviewed the indiscriminated violence on earth (Sanhedrin 108). There is support for this view in two verses in Sefer Yeshayahu. In Yeshayahu 54:14 it reads, You shall keep away from oppression [do not engage in it] and you shall have no fear, and from ruin and it shall not come near you." Teh same prophet had said a few verses earlier, "that this is like the deluge to Me..." (v9). In other words, the prophet, in the Name of G-d, warns the people that the deluge had been due to the violence and oppression practiced by people against each other. The reason that this was the "straw that broke the camel's back," i.e. the most critical sin was that it is a trespass against common sense. If there were no G-d at all, mankind would have to legislate laws controlling violence as otherwise civilisation would collapse of its own. A society which did not even observe such a code of laws could not expect to endure.

The very occurrence of the deluge is proof positive that the universe was a creation and that a Creator presides over it and watches it; it proves tht he same Creator punishes those who are guilty and saves the ones who deserve to be saved such as Noach and his family. It proves further that G-d's supervision is not limited to the celestial spheres but that it extends to our "lower" world also. Just as Adam was the ancestor of all human beings after him, so Noach became the ancestor of all human beings after the deluge. Just as Adam had three sons, Kayin, Hevel, and Shet, so Noach had three sons, Shem, Cham, and Yafet. Just as two of Adam's sons were his mainstay whereas the third one was cursed, so you find that one of Noach's sons was cursed. Just as Adam's third son was the one who became the link to posterity so Noach's third son is the true link to posterity as only the descendants of Shem are the ones who will qualify for resurrection. [According to Rashi, Shem was indeed the third, i.e. the youngest son of Noach.]

May HASHEM continue to enlighten us with the Light of His Torah.

-Bachya; Chazal

Noach Pardes - Noach

Noach Pardes - Noach's Ark & The Flood

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