Noah's Flood and the Tower of Babel's Message

   This Shabbat I continued reading Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' book, "Not in G_d's Name."  I was struck by how much the Torah had told us, but we could not understand it's depths.  Rabbi Jonathan Sacks clears up a great deal.
   "The Bible is explicit about the failings of the generation of the Flood.  The people were wicked, violent, and 'every inclination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil all the time' (Genesis 6:5)  This is the language of systematic moral failure.
    "The mood at the beginning of the story of Babel seems, by contrast, almost idyllic.  'The entire earth had one language and a common speech' (Genesis 11:1).  Unity seems to prevail.  The builders are intent on construction, not destruction.  It is far from clear what their sin was.  Yet from the Bible's point of view Babel represents another serious wrong turn, because immediately thereafter G_d summons Abraham to begin an entirely new chapter in the religious story of humankind."
     Rabbi Sacks then illuminates upon what was just a mystery to me.  Before the Flood mankind was a tribal structure.  Tribes competed for resources and there was no overriding moral code.  Mankind took from each other and the environment in evil ways.  This era was about the individual and selfishness and not about a community.  The Flood washed this era away and the Noahide Laws were put in place to avoid this era from ever reoccurring:

1. Do Not Deny God
2. Do Not Blaspheme God
3. Do Not Murder
4. Do Not Engage in Incestuous, Adulterous or Homosexual Relationships.
5. Do Not Steal
6. Do Not Eat of a Live Animal
7. Establish Courts/Legal System to Ensure Law Obedience

     Shortly after Noahide civilization developed there were 70 kingdoms with their own languages and customs and there was peace and respect for the fact that humans were made in G_d's image, yet were very diverse.  Diversity was enjoyed.
     Then there came the time of Babel and all a sudden there was one language.  What happened?  A few neo-Assyrian conquerors happened.  Per Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, "We have historical evidence dating back to the neo-Assyrians that conquerors imposed their own language on the peoples they defeated.  One inscription of the time records that Ashurbanipal II 'made the totality of all peoples speak one speech.'  A cylinder inscription of Sargon II says, 'Populations of the four quarters of the world with strange tongues and incompatible speech...whom I had taken as booty at the command of Ashur my lord by the might of my sceptre, I caused to accept a single voice.'"
     So Babel was a story about the people being dominated by an emperor and losing their individual freedom and being forced to work together to build an empire.  The people of Babel lost their identity, their individuality, which G_d has given to each of us to come to love Him in our own individual ways.
     Rabbi Jonathan Sacks states, "When a single culture is imposed on all, suppressing the diversity of languages and traditions, this is an assault on our G_d-given differences.  As the Quran (49:13) puts it, 'Oh, mankind!  We created you from a single (pair) of a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other)."
     When G_d tore down the Tower of Babel and confounded the languages of the peoples, He was restoring the world to live in kingdoms governed by Noahide Laws and thriving in diverse cultures and worship of Elokim, the universal G_d.  He almost immediately made a covenant with Abraham, which was one of love.  Abraham dwelt peacefully amid many nations without judging them and loved G_d with his mind, heart, and soul.
    Per Rabbi Jonathan Sacks,"There is no single, simple system that will honour both our commonalities and our differences.  Tribalism-identity without universality-leads to violence.  Imperialism-universality without identity-leads to the loss of freedom and the suppression of the very diversity that makes us human.  That is why the Bible sets out two covenants [Noahide and Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants], not one:  one that honours our common humanity, the other that sanctifies diversity and the particularity of love.  And the universal comes first.  You cannot love G_d without first honouring the universal dignity of humanity as the image and likeness of the universal G_d."
    Rabbi Jonathan Sacks continues to discuss in his book, "Not In G_d's Name," how in Modern Times we have forgotten about the lessons of the pre-Flood era and the time of Babel.  We have tried these ways of building societies again with Imperialism, Communism, Enlightenment, Crusades, Tribalism, and dethroning the group in celebration of the individual---resulting in erosion of family and community and morality.

     We have attained nationalism, racism and communism, two world wars, the Holocaust and the Gulag.  We have  attained repression.  We have attained acceptance of violations to the Noahide Laws.  We have attained moral decay, hatred, lust for violence, isolation with technology, and indifference to loss of life of those who oppose us.
    Many have lost a sense of community by the decay of family structures.  Many have forged their own version of a code of ethics which is not of G_d.  Many blindly seek what they innately need and find wolves in sheep's clothing waiting to lead them down horrible paths of extremism.
    Now is the time to love G_d with our minds, hearts, and souls.  Now is the time to recognize that every soul is precise.  Now is the time to love each other.  Now is the time to try to celebrate diversity within the scope of the covenants.  Now is the time to recognize that G_d's righteous are in many nations and religions.  Now is the time to come together in peace and love.