In the tale of the Tower of Babel we are told of humanity
united in its desire to reach heaven.
The story is use to describe the degradation of humanity. Yet, the reader is left with a question: What
is so terrible about constructing a tower?
Even if their purpose was to storm the Gates of Heaven, what is so
bad? After all, they could never possibly
complete such a ludicrous task!
“This brief episode, told in a few verses, troubled the Rabbis
because they could not understand why so drastic a step was taken against a
relatively innocuous undertaking. A
Midrash offers a striking interpretation.
It explains that when the tower was being built, tier upon tier, if one
of the workers fell from an upper platform to the ground and was killed, his
fellow workers paid no attention o him.
But if a brick slipped out of a worker’s hand and fell to the ground,
there was wailing and lamentation, because the process of building was being
delayed.
The Rabbis explain: “Because they rated material goods above
human beings and regarded the building enterprise as more important than human lives,
the tower was destroyed.” -Rabbi Robert
Gordis
Whenever we value “things” more than people we are lost.
Comments