Noach - Invisible Unity

You're listening to the weekly para podcast recorded with Hashem's never- ending assistance in Raish Israel 5776 2015. This week's para is parasyak and I'm actually going to skip the story of Noah and I'm going to go straight to the end of the para because I'd like to discuss the idea of the dora the generation of the dispersion and the introduction that the Torah gives us to au to Abraham who would be the progenitor of the Jewish people and in looking at the description of our khazal how our sages explain the dha and the interaction of Ara of Abraham with this generational dispersion. So the khazal our sages fill in a lot of blanks. The Torah is very unclear as to who exactly was who were they? What was the problem? What did they do wrong? Why was there a dispersion? Why did God himself as it were come down and say I don't like what's going on here? I'm going to disperse them throughout the land. The Torah is almost silent on the story. The Torah is almost silent on the the sin of the the generation of the dispersion and the midrashim have to fill in the holes, fill in the gaps. So the first question I'd like us to think about as we start discussing who was or who were these people, the first question I like to think about and plant the seed inside of your mind is why indeed is it? Why is it that the Torah is quiet when it comes to the dispersion in explaining their sin? Doesn't speak about it and our need to fill in the blanks. So, but why why is it indeed that way? That's the first question. The second question is so the majam also talk about au as we said and and his interaction with the generation of the dispersion. It talks about him as a Abraham the ivy the Hebrew as we refer to it. So the word iry in Hebrew actually means the one who's on the other side. And hazel tell us that the entire generation that entire time all of the people who lived in the time of Abraham they were all on one side and Abraham alone stood on the other side because they were all preaching the concept of idolatry that there are many gods. One should bow down heaven forbid to the to the sun, the moon and the stars. That was the idea that they were proliferating. Aravino Abraham came along and said this is not true. There's one God who is above all of these powers. Maybe that they do have some powers but it's not powers that they have on their own. The stars don't control reality but rather they are the vehicle through which God controls reality. Now as his kdish that was the novelty of Abraham the people fought against him. Nimrod was the leader of these people of the generation of the dispersion and hopefully we'll soon see exactly what was their sin what was the thing that they had done wrong but what's interesting here and the point that I'd like to make is that au this whole interaction that he has with these people him being on one side everyone else being on the other side and and the story that comes out of it which I would like to also share with you which has to do with him breaking the idols and being brought in front of Nimro thrown inside of the kisha inside of the fire and surviving that which is also only barely hinted to in the Torah. That whole story is something which we don't hear about. We don't hear about it. The first thing that we really hear about Arau is in next week's paras in parl when God says to him go leave where you are. Leave your father's house. Leave everything behind and go to Israel. That's something that happens much later in his life. We don't really hear the Torah is not explicit. doesn't really tell us about the beginnings of Arainu even about what he teaches about the one God. I mean, we we look at the stories as they continue. You look in you look at this at what happens to him as he gets to Israel. It speaks about his his kindness, his interactions with Aimelik and and and the parro and they're trying to steal his wife, etc., etc., etc. Everybody knows he's a man of God, but the Torah never really talks about what he's preaching. The Torah never tells us the shittita, the opinion and of Abraham and what he stands for. It's it's almost never mentioned. It mentions perhaps that he he he called out there in the name of God. But it doesn't actually say what he was saying. Doesn't tell us that he was the okay he he was the man of God. He was the one who believed in the one God and we know that. But it doesn't speak about that at length. And it's very interesting in these explanation. Why indeed is it that the beginning of of Arau's life the the shittita how he became molded as a human being in his philosophy and his belief in one God that's something that's left out. It's just left for our sages to fill in the gaps on. Why indeed is it left out? And why as the story continues do we only hear about his actions, his goings, his doings, his back and forth, even even the the binding of Isaac. It's something that hits there's movement there. But we don't hear anything about his philosophy, his teachings, that which as as we understand Abraham and we understand his place in history was the center of who he was and what he was teaching. How come the Torah is almost silent on Abrau and his teachings of the one God of the people of Israel. Now before we move into trying to understand this there's one more question one more point I'd like to raise and that is that in the description the way that the measure speaks about the dha the dha fluga the generation of the dispersion it says that what they wish to do what was their point what was their goal with this tower that they built part of the goal with the tower was that they wanted to be able to climb up to heaven classically this is how we hear it described they wanted to climb up to heaven and fight against God which of course if we think about it doesn't really make that much sense because if we're talking about a god who's spiritual, so you don't really need to go anywhere if you if you actually want to fight against God. All you need to do is defy his will, right? But somehow by building this tower, there was going to be a great defiance of God. Interestingly and beautifully, the measure speaks about the fact that they wanted to place an idolatry, an idol at the top of this migdall, at the top of this tower. And not only was there to be one tower, there was supposed to be multiple towers which would be built. And indeed, they place this idol at the top of the tower. And the measure says something amazing. They were going to use these towers to prevent a a further mobble to prevent another flood from occurring. They were trying to to be able to protect themselves against the wrath of God. that if God would want to destroy them or punish them, that they would be protected somehow through this idolatry. Now, there's a few things that are really difficult to understand when we read this and we think about this. First of all, I mean, do they believe in God or not? Like, they're fighting against God. If you if you're fighting against God, that means that you believe in God, but you're just not interested in what God has to say. You're not interested in being subservient or sub to submit oneself to God. So, so here on one hand they they believe in God and on the other hand they don't believe in God. They want to fight against God. They don't believe in what God actually represents. It's very interesting just to to to notice that that they believe in God and they don't believe in God. I mean that's classic. And you think about people who who say that they're atheists very often it's because God did something wrong or something was so bad that it can't be that there's a God. So they're fighting against there's like a rebellion against God. It seems that intrinsic innate in the human experience is the belief of God. Okay, that's just an important point to notice. But another point here that's interesting is that what was the result of this tower? The result of this tower was that God dispersed them at at the beginning as the Torah describes there was one language. Everyone spokeesh. They spoke Hebrew. That was the language everyone spoke and they used that language that holy language against God who used the holy language to create the world. So because they had a because they had unity they were united in purpose they were united in language. So that unity they used in order to somehow fight against God to defy God to try to prevent God from bringing any kind of punishment on them if they would do something wrong. What is the result? The result is Hashem takes all of these people, disperses them, creates 70 different languages for 70 different nations. No longer would they have that unity, not when it came to their language, and not when it came to their location. No longer would they be in one place, but rather they were dispersed throughout the land. That that that was the tikun. Now, it's very interesting. Why specifically was it this the the dispersion? Why were they separated? The languages had to be split up into 70 languages. What is the significance of that being the punishment? How are we to understand this on a deeper level? Also, I'd like to share with you one more medish. The medish says in speaking about Arabino Abraham and the way that he started to preach about the concept of one God and the and the falsehood of the idolatry that people were following. So, the mag says like this, I'm going to read it inside. Aram's father. So he served idolatry and not only did he serve idolatry, he made the idols. One time he left, he had to go out of the country. He asked Abraham to to sell in his place to be the salesman of these idols of the idolatry. So a person would come. They wanted to buy an idol. So Abraham would say to the person who was coming to purchase, he would say, "How old are you?" He would say, "I'm 50 years old. I'm 60 years old." So Abraham would respond and say, he he would say to them, "Woe unto the person who is 60 years old and he wants to serve an idol which was just created a day ago, which is one day old." and the person would become embarrassed and they would leave. Okay, so that's the first story that Abraham that we find about Abraham the way that he started to preach. Second story, these are classic stories, but it's important to notice the details of these stories. A woman came one time. She had in her hands a basket full of flour. She said to him, "Take this and I want you to bring this basket full of flour as an offering in front of all of the idols. Come." So Abraham got up. He took an axe and he destroyed all of the idols. He left one idol standing which was the biggest of them all. He placed the axe in the hand of the biggest one. Once his father came back, he said, "Who did this? Who who destroyed all these idols?" He said, "What what can I do? I can't I can't tell a lie." This woman came in and she had a basket full of flour and she said to me, "Bring this as an offering in front of them. I brought it in front of them. Each of the idols would they started arguing and they said I want to be the one who eats this offering. No, I'm the one who wants to come in. So Abraham told his father that this very large idol got up which was in the middle amongst them. You see he has the axe in his hand. He used that axe and destroyed all the other idols. He said to him his father said what are you making a joke out of me? What do they know? They know anything. They they know what's happening. You're giving them offerings. Abraham says to his father, "Listen, did you did you hear what you just said? Do you understand what you just said?" And the story continues. His father brings him to Nimrod. Nimro was the leader, the head idoltor. And there's a whole conversation there. I don't want to get into that conversation, but I do want to focus in on the two different things that Abraham did here. One was that he he showed this woman or the person who would enter into his store that you're old. You've been here for a long time. This is a brand new thing. Why are you 60-year-old bowing down to something which is one day old? That was the first thing. And they were embarrassed. Very interesting to point this out. They were embarrassed. It means that they knew the truth. That's what embarrassment is. A person who's humiliated means he's he's caught by the truth. That's the first point. The second point is that how did he show up? How did he show up his father that that these are fake that the idols are false? The way he did it was by destroying them, smashing them to bits. Why did he choose to do it that way? Why didn't he just, you know, throw it in the river and say that the the main one, the main honcho threw all the ones in the river? There's lots of different ways that he could have dealt with the same exact issue. Why did he specifically break them all? What's the significance of them being broken into pieces? So now to start to understand this, I want to share with you one one more medish. And the medish is very powerful and it explains something deep about what's going on here. The medish says like this when it came to the generation of the flood no one was left. There was only Noah. When it came to the generation of the dispersion they all survived. What's the difference? Since the generation of the flood, they they were busy stealing from each other. They were separate from each other. The verse in reference to the generation of the flood talks about the fact that they were they were constantly moving around their borders. They were stealing from each other. That's why nothing was left of them. There was no remnant of alu. But the generation of the dispersion of says um they had something even though they were they were rebelling against God even though they were coming to fight with God as it were they loved each other they were united it says that the entire nation the entire world at that time they were all of one language they spoke the same language meaning they all saw eye to eye the That's why they survived. Furthermore, says the message says the concept of peace is incredible. Peace between men, between people is so powerful. Even if the Jewish people serve idolatry, but if there's peace amongst them, God says as it were, I can't I can't do anything to you. I can't conquer you. I can't do anything to you negative. because of the fact there's peace amongst them. We find this a verse in Hosea 4:1 17 because the people of Ephraim who were the classic the the representation of the 10 tribes who ended up serving idolatry since they're connected to each other since they're they have that love for each other leave them. leave them. There's nothing I can do. But when they start to fight with each other, when they start to become splintered, what does the verse say? Now that their heart has been splintered, has broken apart, they don't agree with each other anymore. They don't have that love for each other. Now they will be found guilty. This teaches you how great is the concept of peace amongst the Jewish people and how hated is the concept of arguments. measures us one more thing and this is the key. This is the bottom line of it. It refers to the fact that they were all one. The medish addresses the point which we raised earlier which is why is it that the dora m the description of the Torah of the of the entire generation of the flood and what occurred and what what was happening before what was happening afterwards that story the Torah describes in full. But when it comes to the madora flago, when it came to the generations of dispersion, the Torah does not explain it. It's something that need to fill in. Says an amazing thing. The reason that the Torah didn't speak negatively about this generation was because of their aus. This is how the explains what the measure is saying. Because they were united. Even though they were united for evil. Even though they were united to fight against God, to build a a tower which would protect them from the wrath of God if they were doing evil. Nevertheless, because they were united, they wouldn't do anything to take someone else's things to to try to get something that belonged to someone else. They saw themselves as a part of a greater hole. Because of that, the Torah didn't want to say anything negative about them. Didn't want even talk about it beish talk about it explicitly what the story was and what they had done wrong. It's an amazing thing, amazing idea. And I think that what we see from this is extremely powerful and it it starts to explain why the beginnings of the story of Aram of are also not misparish. Why it's also not explicit what happened at the beginning of Aram's life. why his general shittita his his his approach his his what he preached in life the Torah doesn't explicitly say and I think it's a very deep idea that when it comes to aus when it comes to unity whether it's unity amongst people or whether it's seeing the broader picture of how everything comes together all the pieces of reality all the pieces fit together and form a greater hole when it comes to that concept when it comes to the transcendent idea idea of seeing things from that broader perspective because we live in a two-dimensional reality so to speak. We are not see we can't see it from the three-dimensional vantage point. The Torah is speaking to us where we are. It's speaking to us in our realm. And in our realm, the concept of aus, of unity, of of transcendent unity, of of being able to see that bigger picture is something that we can't see from this vantage point. It's something that requires more of a pirish. It's deeper. It's it's it's sight. It's hidden. Yes, our khaz can talk about our sages can talk about it. But it's something that's hidden. And that's true when it comes to the aus comes to the generation of the flood. And it's true when it comes to au as well. Abraham the beginning of his career, the beginning of of the whole the whole story of Aram is not in his parish. It's not explained. And I think that the the reason is because it's about a it's about Abraham has the ability to see that all the pieces everybody looks at the pieces the the id the idols the the um the stars the sun these are all the pieces that Hashem used but Hashem is the broader unity that encompasses all of these pieces. Hashem works through all of these pieces. To us, it seems like many different, many different powers, which is why we refer to God as Elohim, which is plural, because he's the God is behind all of those powers. But when it comes to that idea, which is the foundation of who Abraham is, it's the foundation of Judaism, that idea almost can't be explicitly stated. We can't talk about the beginning of Aram's life. We can't even talk about what he preaches. It's something that requires time. It's not until we get into the guts of the story of the Jewish people that we start to hear about the unity of God. It's really it's really what happens in Mitsim in the depth of the darkness after all of the difficulties the Jews have gone through after they've been broken as a people after they've been enslaved for 210 years. Only then do we start to get this picture of God, the oneness of God, the unity of God, God being above nature of being beyond everything and also being inside of reality. But the idea here is that the unity that that transcendent aspect the bigger picture is something that it's much harder to touch and to talk about and we see that from the fact that we can't talk about the doraflaga the generation of the dispersion themselves. And now the depth that comes out of here also is that the punishment of the dha the the punishment always whenever we have a punishment it's always a tikun it's always a rectification somehow it serves to to bring the people who have done something wrong back towards God back to seeing the true reality when the dua these people were united so when they're united to do something wrong so that unity is really false that unity is really they're united against God The concept of unity is really belongs to God. So they're fighting against God with their unity. So they're really in a state of destruction, of separation. It's not real unity. So what Hashem does is it's an amazing thing that when there's a a state of unity which is negative, Hashem creates a state of disunityity which is positive. He he takes them out of their state of quote unity and puts them into a deeper state of quote disunityity. But by doing that, by breaking it down more, what happens is now becomes more possible to see the truth. The truth is revealed as you see the pieces for what they are, which is false. So the the greatest example of that is what Afraino does. Abraham takes the Soom. He takes these idols and he smashes them to pieces. It's not a coincidence. He's smashing them to pieces. And by doing that, that's how he shows the truth of what they really are, which is that they are pieces. They are not the greater whole. God is the greater whole. And and he's doing that by showing the truth. He he speaks to these people. He says, "You are 60 years old. You've been through time. You've touched all of the pieces of time." Because just like in reality when you have a distance from one place to another and that that creates pieces so to speak as as as what happened with the dispersion. So too in time there are pieces of time when I get from here now to there later that all that in itself is a dispersion so to speak. So he was saying to them you have been living for so long and and you're and you're talking to something which hasn't gone through that process and therefore hasn't experienced the unity through separation that we're speaking about. So aam and and what what happened as a result that they were humiliated they were embarrassed by his words they realized the truth the depth of what he was saying and the depth was that here when you go through the reality you see the pieces for what they are which is pieces all of a sudden what's revealed is that there's a deeper unity which binds all of the pieces and that is something which you have to see for yourself. It's not explicit. It's not something that that anybody can really tell you about. It's something that you have to realize on your own and face off with experientially. I want to bless you and please bless me back. Hashem should help us to be able to recognize the unity which he is and realize that so many times the experiences that we have, the destructions that we experience in our own lives, whether it's personally on a national level, these experiences also serve to break down the false reality that we see so that we can experience the deeper reality which is the the reality of unity. Hashem should help us to be able to see that day where we see the broader view that that transcendent view of the aus the unity of all of reality and that day when all of us join together as one to serve Hashem all of us as one in that place that unified place the place which is whole where there is true seeing of the unity of God. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabas. 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