A Word of Torah

Jacqueline Lehrer
University of Ontario

In Parshat Noah we see the unity of the world’s inhabitants for the wrong reasons. The Hebrew is ambiguous in explaining the sin of the people in the generation of the flood. We are left to go to the midrash (Torah commentary) to illuminate this issue.

If one person left, on the windowsill, a bowl of peas, within the hour it would have been emptied. Secretly, each person who saw the bowl would remove two or three peas. If the owner wanted to have the culprit charged for stealing, the individual would plead, "I only took three; surely that is not enough to convict someone." (From Bereshit Rabbah 31:50) This lack of respect for one another was why, according to the midrash, the entire generation merited destruction.

The next story in this selfsame parashah is the Tower of Babel. The Torah relates that until this time (after the flood and up to the Tower) the people were unified. One day, they decided to build a tower high enough to reach the heavens. This angered God who broke their unity by diversifying their language.

What was their sin? Although many answers present themselves, in the interest of brevity and clarity I will stick to one. The Tower was similar to a step pyramid. People would go up with a brick on one side and, after placing it where it was needed, go back down the other. This was fine. However, the midrash explains that if a person were to fall, no one seemed to care. The problem went further. If a brick would fall, these people would lament at what a terrible loss occurred. (Midrash Pirkei D’Rebi Eliezer, 24)

All of this happened before the birth of Abraham, known at the time as Avram The Ivri. Ivri literally means the other. Unlike previous generations, Avram’s predominant attribute was G’milut Hasadim, acts of lovingkindness. Aside from monotheism, what set him apart as "Other" was how he treated others. He treated them with respect and kindness, something that was lacking in earlier generations, and even in his own generation in Sodom and Gomorrah. Avram and Sarai, Bereshit Rabbah (midrash on Bereshit) tells us, converted thousands of people to belief in one God.

We can all learn from the example of Avraham. It is important to note that as Jews we may be the minority but together with the right priorities we can affect change on any political level, from the local arena all the way to national and even the international level. May we merit leading life as positive examples to others despite -- or possibly because of -- our differences as Jews. In this way we can truly be a "light unto the nations," following in Avram’s footsteps and respecting others.

[Posted 10/14/04]