Noach

What Were They Thinking?

Author: Rabbi Moshe Pruzansky

THE TORAH RELATES that civilization decayed so terribly in  the eyes of Hashem, that He regretted having ever created man in the first place and decided to destroy all of mankind. In this week’s parashah, we learn in detail that Hashem destroyed the entire planet — except for those on the teivah — through the mabul.

Toward the end of our parashah, the Torah tells us about another disappointing occurrence in Man’s history — Migdal Bavel, The Tower of Bavel (11:1–9). After the mabul, the nations of the world recognized that Hashem was in full control. They also understood that He rewards those who do good and, as the mabul demonstrated, punishes those who do bad. They began to fear that if they sinned, they too would suffer the same fate. In an attempt to break free of Hashem’s control, the leaders of the nations devised a “sophisticated” plan: to build a very tall tower that would reach Heaven and utilize it to wage war against G-d Himself. Hashem stopped them by changing the language that each one understood to an entirely new language, causing them to mis- understand each other, and thus bringing an end to their wicked plans. What were these people thinking? If the nations recognized that G-d is real and almighty, how could they even fantasize about the idea of fighting Him — and by building a tall tower no less! Were they out of their minds? There must have been more to their strategy than meets the eye. What was it?

During the Holocaust, a group of Jews escaped Germany to Britain with a few meager possessions. Unfortunately, escaping Germany was not enough, as Britain refused to allow them to enter their country.

Instead, Britain decided to redirect the boat to Australia, a colony owned by Britain at the time. But who would be willing to sail all the way to Australia during war, with the risk of being attacked by the German/Axis alliance? Therefore, poorly trained, anti-Semitic brutes were the only ones who accepted the job. As a precaution against attack, the sailors and captain had all identifying marks from the boat removed.

During the voyage something terrible transpired; the brutes got drunk and decided to have what they considered a good time. Roaring with laughter, they took the precious few belongings of those weary Jews and tossed them all overboard. The poor victims were horrified. Someone witnessing this sad event would have probably concluded that Hashem had forsaken these Jews. Hadn’t they been through enough? Can we even begin to imagine the feel- ing of utter abandonment that those passengers must have felt?

Years after the war, in 1980, someone going through the Ger- mans’ meticulous notes found the records of a German subma- rine. The captain of the submarine reported that they spotted a boat leaving Britain but were uncertain of its identity, as there were no identifying marks upon it. However, after speaking to their superiors, they were instructed to nevertheless follow it and blow it out of the water. However, strangely, they suddenly saw full suitcases “fall” overboard. They sent a diver out to investi- gate, who brought back a suitcase and they immediately recog- nized German writing on the contents. Thinking that there must be loyal Germans on board, they changed routes and decided to leave the boat alone. Ultimately, the brutes’ decision to throw those suitcases overboard was orchestrated by Hashem, and ac- tually saved each and every Jew aboard that boat. (Story cited in Rabbi Frand on the Parshah 2, p. 121. See there for more details.)

True, through the mabul the entire world witnessed first-hand that Hashem has full control over nature and the elements. However, the people who built Migdal Bavel thought that Hashem’s power was limited to only natural events and He had no control over man. Therefore, they concluded, they could “beat” Hashem by building an impenetrable tower that would go high into the sky, way above the height that the water had reached during the mabul. At this height, they concluded, they would be safe even if Hashem decided to try to destroy them through a second mabul.

To this very day, the thought process of those who built the Tower is not uncommon. Even today, it is easier to accept that some- thing from “nature,” like rain, is from Hashem while something that man does is not. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. To remind the world of this fact, namely that Hashem can manipulate even the ideas and thoughts of man, Hashem caused each man who was building Migdal Bavel to speak a language different from that of the person next to him (11:7). As a result, they did not under- stand each other; when one asked for bricks, his fellow passed him cement instead. Before long, chaos broke out and each man fought with the person next to him, thus forever halting the project and put- ting an end to their infamous plan.

The fact that Hashem caused each person to suddenly speak a different language — one that had never existed before* — demon- strated that Hashem controls even our very thoughts. Furthermore, among the hundreds of people building the tower, not even a single man took a moment to think about what was going on when the person next to him began speaking in a language he didn’t under- stand. Instead of even one of them looking around and realizing that something strange was happening — that Hashem was trying to foil their plan — and remaining calm and trying to communicate in any other way, the vast army of men all lost themselves and fought with each other. Their behavior was proof of another element of Hashem controlling even the actions and attitudes of man.

DID YOU KNOW that when the Jews traveled and encamped in the des- ert, they never knew how long they would be settling for? Sometimes they would settle in one spot for a few years and sometimes for just a single day. Anyone who has traveled before and lived out of a suit- case knows how unsettling this can be. Why is it that the Jews com- plained to Moshe multiple times in the desert about seemingly any inconvenience, but they did not complain even once about having   to travel on a moment’s notice or about never knowing for how long they would be sojourning in a location?

Rabbi David Ashear explains that the answer lies in a funda- mental understanding of man’s innate thought process. When the Jews traveled and camped, they followed the ananei hakavod and the amud ha’eish, both representing Hashem.* When people feel that something is coming from Hashem, they have a much easier time ac-cepting things and living with the circumstances brought upon them. After all, G-d Almighty Himself ordained this to be. However, on  the occasions where the Jews did complain, they felt that Moshe had some hand in their suffering and that it was not from Hashem. This is illustrated by the fact that in the vast majority of the times the Jews complained, the Torah attests that they complained to Moshe; not to Hashem. When Hashem puts us in a challenging situation, it’s easier for us to accept that it’s all for the best; but when man does something to us, it is easy for our belief that “everything is from Hashem” to go out the window.

May we internalize the message from this week’s parashah, namely, that everything that happens to us, even by the actions of other people, is from Hashem. This applies to all areas of our lives, from business to social interactions — and everything in between. Internalizing this fact is the secret to living a peaceful life.