Tower of Babel - the Beginning of Pluralism

Noach
Genesis 6:9-11:32


Précis: The story of Noah and Flood appear in this parasha. Noah, called by God, builds the Ark and collects the animals (two by two, except when he collects 7 pairs). Then it rains and floods the world. Noah and his family are saved and subsequently leave the Ark, build an altar, and offer sacrifices to God. God sets a rainbow as a promise not to destroy mankind again. Noah plants a vineyard and becomes drunk. The story of the Tower of Babel is included, and the parasha ends with a genealogy of the ancient peoples of the Bible, ending with Abram.

Genesis 11:7-9 "‘Let us go down there and confuse their speech, so that no one understands what the other is saying.’ So it came about that God scattered them over all the earth, and they stopped building the city."

Our reading this week is one of the most extraordinarily dramatic portions of the Torah: the destruction of the world by flood, Noah’s survival, the building of the Tower of Babel, and the scattering of humanity.

The Babel story shows us the power of language. A shared common language allowed humanity to cooperate and undertake the effort to build the tower. God appears to take umbrage at their effort to bridge the gap between Himself and Creation, and punishes humanity by dividing them.

On the other hand, we could interpret God’s action as giving us the gift of pluralism. Because we are not all alike, we can learn from one another, and the texture of humanity is enhanced by the different threads which make up the “whole cloth.” Different languages lead to different cultures and different thoughts.

Americans have long believed in the concept of religious pluralism (or at least have given lip service to it as an ideal). President George Washington famously wrote in his letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, RI in 1790:

"It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support."

Washington’s point is simple: it is not for us to “tolerate” the beliefs of others, because everyone has a “natural right” to believe what he or she will believe, provided only that we act as good citizens and offer support to our country.

Unfortunately, in recent months and years, individuals who claim to have a special understanding of the “intent” of the Founding Fathers have nevertheless ignored President Washington’s thoughts and lash out at those who believe "differently" than the majority of Americans. In a country “which gives bigotry no sanction” and which offers “persecution no assistance,” it is ironic that there is a movement afoot which seems intent on limiting the exercise of religion by those who pray in another language. I'm not sure which is a greater offence to the Founders: those who call the President a "secret Muslim" or those who think that somehow a Muslim is not eligible to be President.

While some of America's foes -and they do indeed exist- find our support for religious pluralism heretical, I would submit that the God who confounded humanity by linguistic separation at Babel also knew that all people could call upon Him in their own language.