13 Oct PARSHAS NOACH GREAT IS PEACE

I saw the following
insight on Parshas
Noach written in the
name of the Rosh
Yeshiva of Ner
Israel, Rav Yaakov
Weinberg, of

Blessed Memory.
We are all familiar with the story recorded
at the end of the Parsha involving an
attempt to build “a tower with its top in
the heavens”. Society spoke a single
language and had a common purpose.
With single- minded dedication, this
society attempted to build a brick and
limestone structure that would allow them
to “make a name” for themselves. Hashem
descended, as it were, and “confused their
language” such that they stopped building
the tower and the project was abandoned.
The Torah records: “That is why it was
called Bavel, because it was there that
Hashem confused the language of the
whole earth, and from there Hashem
scattered them over the face of the whole
earth.” [Bereishis 11:9]

Rashi asks: Which sin was greater – that
of the Generation of the Flood or the
Generation of the Dispersion? Off hand,
we would say that the latter were worse.
The people of the Generation of the
Dispersion were heretics. They engaged
in theological battle, waging war against
the Almighty (by building a tower that
would reach the heavens to go up and
fight with Him). The Generation of the
Flood engaged in theft, violence, and
immoralities — crimes of passion.
However, they did not engage in heresy.
They did not have the audacity to “wage
war against the Almighty!”
And yet, the Generation of the Flood was
totally destroyed while the people of the
Generation of Dispersion were merely
dispersed. Rashi explains that the unity
that existed within the society of the
Generation of Dispersion is what saved
them. The Generation of the Flood was a
totally dysfunctional society. They hated
each other and stole from one another.
The people of the Generation of
Dispersion on the other hand, despite the
fact that they were heretics, were unified.

They loved one another. They spoke with
one language and had common purpose!
Rashi concludes: From here we see that
disputes are hated and great is peace
(Gadol haShalom).
Rav Weinberg asked a basic question on
Rashi’s premise. How can Rashi say that
love of fellow man and unity prevailed in
the society of the Generation of the
Dispersion? Rashi himself two pasukim
earlier cites a Medrash that the people of
this generation were more concerned
about the loss of a brick than they were
about the loss of human life! (One asks
for a brick and the other brings lime, and
the former stands over him and shatters
his brain). Where is the love and friendship
that Rashi in pasuk 9 claimed was
pervasive in this society?
Apparently, any cooperation they
manifested in the project of building the
tower was a very superficial demonstration
of “peace”. The Shalom was based on
ulterior motives!
In a classic insight, Rav Weinberg stated
that this teaches us that even if people

have their differences or even hate each
other, the mere fact that people work
together is “shalom”. The mere fact that
people can join together to work on a
project and set aside their differences —
superficial shalom — is also very
meritorious. Even though the shalom may
be short-lived, still, people working
together is better than people working
against one another. Even if Shalom is
only skin-deep, if the people, for whatever
reasons, come together: Gadol HaShalom
– Great is Peace.