BackWhen Unity is Sinful
By: Rabbi Barak Bar-Chaim
The Torah relates that Noah’s descendants (all the people of the earth) spoke one common language. They gathered, made bricks, and built a tower toward the heavens. Their project was evil in God’s eyes according to the Torah. Thus, God split them up into groups with different languages and the people dispersed. The Torah does not explicitly state which sin was unpleasing to God. What was their sin?
Rashi’s commentary is also mystifying: “They came with one scheme and said, ‘He had no right to select for Himself the upper regions. Let us ascend to the sky and wage war with Him.’ Another explanation… They said, ‘Once every 1,656 years, the sky disintegrates, as it did in the time of the Flood. Come and let us make supports for it.’” Did these people believe that they could wage war against God by building a tower towards the heavens? And were they so primitive as to think that through this building they could possibly build a tower to support the heavens?
The Telzer Rov explains that the people realized how vulnerable human beings are to illness, natural disasters, and other threats. They thought that to alleviate their vulnerabilities they would unite. Together, in collaboration, they would be able to find cures for illness and natural disasters. They viewed illness, famine, and other natural disasters as simply natural phenomena, matters outside of God’s control. They thought that by uniting to control nature, they would no longer need to view natural occurrences as emanating from God, and no longer need to turn to God for assistance. While unity is generally a good thing, a united front attempting to remove God from control over human conditions is indeed a grave sin. This is what Rashi (quoting midrashim) means when he says that they wanted to ascend to wage war with God, and that they wanted to support the heavens to avoid another flood.
While obligated to unite and collaborate for the benefit of all humanity, we should never forget that God is the force behind nature. No matter what we do, we will still be vulnerable. We live in a world with incredible medical and scientific development, yet we are extremely vulnerable and fragile. The only true source of security is placing one’s trust in the hands of the controller and creator of everything, God Almighty.