Although the story of Noah's ark is one of the Bible's most famous, there is more to this week's parashat than just that. God chooses righteous Noah to be the keeper of the world's species while the world is destroyed by a massive, forty day flood. It is up to Noah and his three sons thereafter to repopulate the world. Once humanity is reestablished, the people of Earth settle into a valley and consolidate their efforts to build a marvelous city. God looks down at the people and sees how progressive they are becoming. Acknowledging any task is within humanity's reach, God mixes up the speech of each of the builders. God spreads these people among the world, each bringing a different language with them. The unfinished tower is known as the Tower of Babel, for the people babbled with confusion in their scrambled tongues.
This scene at Babel is quite troubling. Why does God interrupt the people's uniting, an unachieved goal of humanity throughout all of history? The text offers that the tower is literally being constructed to ascend toward the sky. Perhaps, this type of progress is intimidating to God. In God's vision of the universe, humans are meant to be below the heavens. If this was offensive, was there fear that God's sovereignty was threatened? Weekly, Jews praise God for being almighty and the most powerful force in the universe. What if God simply stops anyone else from coming close? In this moment, people live in the same place, know of the same God, speak the same language, and work with each other. Instead of this ideal unity, humans are separated by nation, some hating others. Rather than building a beautiful city, humans destroy one another's beauties. Is it God's fault? The people of Babel do not believe this city is a threat to God. The people build this city to make a name for themselves. Maybe they are doing this in arrogance toward God, boasting how like in the image of God humans can truly be. On the contrary, the people may be proving that their post-flood society is worthwhile. After all, they know God believed creation was mess before Noah, they want to show that this previous mistake is actually a masterpiece in the making. Whatever the reason, humans were separated by language at Babel.
Can one ever really "try their best"? From this logic, it can be concluded God limits a human's ability to excel toward true divinity. For instance, doctors and scientists are slowly finding cures to the world's diseases, but can there be cures for every illness? New York City is a hub for culture, politics, and society. However, can it grow too great? Even on a personal level, there is so little knowledge that can be attained. A student may go on to be their high school and college's valedictorian, but even Albert Einstein was clueless to some wonders. There are times when people limit themselves, but another force could be at work. In Eden, Adam and Eve are granted a perfect world to tend to with one rule. As Eve breaks this rule, the idea of perfection disappears. At Babel, the people nearly reach this level of greatness again. Based on Judaic teachings, the Messianic Age, the return of perfection in the world, is yet to come. It is possible that God separated humans by language to challenge them. Some may find this cruel, but is an A+ truly an A+ if the teacher never makes tough tests or quizzes? Is it worth reaching a goal without work? In most people's live, success comes with effort and elbow grease. God is like a parent, and God just does not want to spoil the children of Earth. Suddenly, the so ever troubling puzzle of Babel never seemed so clear.
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