Parshat Noach: The Flood and Dor Haflaga: Learning From Our Mistakes

BY: Tali Kern

One of the things I found very interesting about Parashat Noach was that over one small parasha, we see the exploration of two very different generations--dor hamabul--the generation of Noach and the flood, and dor haflaga, the generation of the building of the tower of Bavel. There seems to be special significance to the juxtaposition of these two generations, which both manage to disappoint and anger G-d so strongly. Before analyzing the meaning behind their consecutive appearances, I would like to analyze the sins of each generation independently, which will help us understand the reason for the close placement of these two generations in our parasha and what lessons this can teach us.

When speaking about dor hamabul, the Torah says “And the world was corrupt before G-d and the land was filled with violent crime.” (Bereishit 6:11)  Rashi says that the people were committing violent and forceful theft, in addition to being sexually promiscuous. The depraved men of this generation had no compunction about taking any woman they desired.

Ralbag (R. Levi ben Gershon, 13-14th century France) elaborates on Rashi’s point, explaining that these sins were especially bad because they built on one another. Though the initial sin was adultery, and not respecting the wives of their peers, that licentiousness led to a serious corruption in justice and the theft of the material possessions of others. This principle of aveira gorreret aveira, one bad deed leads to another, is illustrated in Masechet Avot (4:2). Ultimately, dor hamabul lost their fear of G-d and their respect for the Torah. Without G-d as their guidepost, there were no agreed upon moral standards, and everyone did what he believed to be right, ignoring the idea of a higher and ultimate morality. Rabbi Bernie Fox (of the Orthodox Union) explains that the people deserved to be destroyed because of this behavior and attitude; the people of dor hamabul viewed themselves as being superior to their peers by taking that which didn’t belong to them. They had exaggerated self-esteem, no boundaries, and viewed themselves as the exclusive dominators of the earth.

After the generation of the flood was destroyed, the next generation, dor haflaga, sinned by building a tower to the heavens. Rashi explained that G-d looked upon it negatively because it was either a statement of war against G-d or they thought that G-d needed the support.

Rabbanit Sharon Rimon brings in another reason for why building the tower might have been such an evil enterprise. There was no evidence at the time for why the people might have built this tower, as it was not a necessary architectural structure. Against this backdrop, the arrogance of the builders of the Tower is especially striking; the whole purpose of this construction is self-glorification. The people did not build the tower for any practical purpose or to give honor and glory to G-d. The purpose was simply to "make for ourselves a name."(Bereishit 11:4) The text emphasizes this through the word "lanu – for ourselves": "We shall make [for] ourselves a name." This word expresses their focus on themselves, on the glorification of the name of man.

The foil to the self-glorification of dor haflaga appears in the immediate introduction of Avraham that follows dor haflaga. Avraham chose to spiritually elevate his constructions, building an altar specifically to honor G-d. The contrast to dor haflaga, who built the tower solely for themselves, is striking and purposeful.

Upon focusing on the sins of each generation, I think it becomes clear why in such a short parasha, we see two extreme generations, one after the next, who act in such destructive and sinful ways. Even though G-d destroyed the world with the flood, the next generation, dor haflaga, still managed to sin albeit in a different way. Although they didn’t make the same mistakes again, they weren’t careful about their actions and continued to sin against G-d. These two generations show two extremes of sinning: the first displayed cruelty against our fellow human beings, and the second, arrogance against G-d.

I think that the juxtaposition of these two generations shows us the importance of learning from our mistakes and the punishments that can befall us if we don’t. After the world was destroyed, dor haflaga should have been especially sensitive to sin, but they didn’t seize the opportunity to do teshuva (repentance) for the generation before them and sinned again. Every day we have a new opportunity to work on ourselves and do teshuva for our sins in the past. We can revert to old mistakes by turning against G-d like in dor haflaga, or we can turn our mistakes into constructive means of aiding us in serving G-d. It is up to us to seize the opportunities we are given and put them to good use.

GOOD SHABBOS.