Chaverim:
Several years ago, I wrote a short d’var torah on
Parashat Noach, specifically about the story of the Tower of Babel. In reading
about the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the
connection to Migdal Bavel, the Tower of Babel, sprung immediately to mind. Here
is my new reading of an ancient midrash on a contemporary tragedy.
SOMETHING OF VALUE
"And they said, 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world."' Genesis 11:4
More than a mere explanation of the origin of the multitude of human languages and nations, our Rabbis tell us it is a cautionary tale, one with particular significance even, or perhaps especially in modern times.
In the Midrash, Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer, we are told, "The tower had seven ramps from the east and seven from the west. The bricks were hauled up from one side; the descent was on the other. If a man fell down and died, no attention was paid to him. But if one brick fell down, they would sit and weep, saying, 'Woe is us. When will another be brought up in its place?'"
Although the people had the intelligence and the technical skill to erect a great building, they were clueless when it came to applying their wealth and knowledge to helping each other. They sought only to make a name for themselves, to assert their superiority over the world and over God. They cared nothing for the individual human being - the individual's worth was measured, if at all, only insofar as a person could contribute to the idolatrous undertaking.
"And they said, 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world."' Genesis 11:4
More than a mere explanation of the origin of the multitude of human languages and nations, our Rabbis tell us it is a cautionary tale, one with particular significance even, or perhaps especially in modern times.
In the Midrash, Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer, we are told, "The tower had seven ramps from the east and seven from the west. The bricks were hauled up from one side; the descent was on the other. If a man fell down and died, no attention was paid to him. But if one brick fell down, they would sit and weep, saying, 'Woe is us. When will another be brought up in its place?'"
Although the people had the intelligence and the technical skill to erect a great building, they were clueless when it came to applying their wealth and knowledge to helping each other. They sought only to make a name for themselves, to assert their superiority over the world and over God. They cared nothing for the individual human being - the individual's worth was measured, if at all, only insofar as a person could contribute to the idolatrous undertaking.
This is the attitude that leads to Rana Plaza - the cheapening of human lives so that we might have inexpensive clothing. This is the attitude that leads to Foxconn and other forced labor electronics manufacturing plants – the dehumanization of our fellow “tzalmei Elohim” – “images of God” - so that we can spend as little as possible for our Tweeting and our Face Booking and our Super Bowl parties with 70-inch HD screens. Nations build nuclear weapons while their people starve. And who can forget the neutron bomb, designed to kill people but not destroy buildings? We conduct cost-benefit analyses and determine that it is better to continue building dangerously defective cars and pay settlements for the dead and injured than to spend money on building safer vehicles. We treat "human resources" as if they were fungible goods, like so many widgets or ten-penny nails, and dismiss thousands of people from their jobs with the stroke of a pen.
Perhaps, when any human life is at stake, we should say, "Woe is us. When will another be brought up in its place?" Otherwise, we neglect at the peril of our very souls the teaching of Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 - "one who destroys a single human life, it is as if he destroyed an entire universe; and one who saves a single human life, it is as if he saved an entire universe".
Which has greater value – another person’s life, or your
five dollar shirt?
