Key Educational Questions for this Section:

• Is the universal situation an ideal that we should aspire to? Or is being separate and distinct a natural evolution of human history?
• Are there common words, expressions or values that are shared by everyone?
• What role does different languages play in the world? Do they help us or harm us?

Text: The Tower of Babel, Genesis 11:1-9

In this short Biblical passage we see how the efforts of all humanity to unite with one language and purpose are thwarted by God, who divides them by language.

1 And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

3 And they said one to another: ‘Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.

4 And they said: ‘Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6 And the LORD said: ‘Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do; and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do.

7 Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.’

8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

א וַיְהִי כָל-הָאָרֶץ, שָׂפָה אֶחָת, וּדְבָרִים, אֲחָדִים.
ב וַיְהִי, בְּנָסְעָם מִקֶּדֶם; וַיִּמְצְאוּ בִקְעָה בְּאֶרֶץ שִׁנְעָר, וַיֵּשְׁבוּ שָׁם.
ג וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל-רֵעֵהוּ, הָבָה נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים, וְנִשְׂרְפָה, לִשְׂרֵפָה; וַתְּהִי לָהֶם הַלְּבֵנָה, לְאָבֶן, וְהַחֵמָר, הָיָה לָהֶם לַחֹמֶר.
ד וַיֹּאמְרוּ הָבָה נִבְנֶה-לָּנוּ עִיר, וּמִגְדָּל וְרֹאשׁוֹ בַשָּׁמַיִם, וְנַעֲשֶׂה-לָּנוּ, שֵׁם: פֶּן-נָפוּץ, עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ.
ה וַיֵּרֶד יְהוָה, לִרְאֹת אֶת-הָעִיר וְאֶת-הַמִּגְדָּל, אֲשֶׁר בָּנוּ, בְּנֵי הָאָדָם.
ו וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, הֵן עַם אֶחָד וְשָׂפָה אַחַת לְכֻלָּם, וְזֶה, הַחִלָּם לַעֲשׂוֹת; וְעַתָּה לֹא-יִבָּצֵר מֵהֶם, כֹּל אֲשֶׁר יָזְמוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת.
ז הָבָה, נֵרְדָה, וְנָבְלָה שָׁם, שְׂפָתָם–אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ, אִישׁ שְׂפַת רֵעֵהוּ.
ח וַיָּפֶץ יְהוָה אֹתָם מִשָּׁם, עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ; וַיַּחְדְּלוּ, לִבְנֹת הָעִיר.
ט עַל-כֵּן קָרָא שְׁמָהּ, בָּבֶל, כִּי-שָׁם בָּלַל יְהוָה, שְׂפַת כָּל-הָאָרֶץ; וּמִשָּׁם הֱפִיצָם יְהוָה, עַל-פְּנֵי כָּל-הָאָרֶץ. {פ}

Genesis 11:1-9

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Explanation of text:

This short Biblical story tells us, in very few verses, of a pivotal event in early human history. The story starts by describing the situation of extreme unity, “the whole earth was of one language and one speech”. It seems that all of humanity shared a language; they could communicate easily and were part of a shared culture.

This is a universal situation, where people can’t be distinguished from each other by speech and language. They are all the same.

And it appears that these people had a fear of being scattered and separated, because they traveled together across the earth, settled in one place and then embarked on a building project that would ‘make for us a name’, create for them a reputation of unity that would prevent them being split into small groups.

It is also possible to understand their motivations as being to rival God and His power, by building a tower that reached the heavens. Perhaps unity and unification is indeed so powerful? In any case, God discovered what was going on, and decided to thwart the intentions of men by confusing them with language. The word Babel (or “Bavel” in Hebrew) means ‘to confuse’ and indeed that was what God did.

He split them into different languages and as a result they were unable to communicate and coordinate their shared purpose. They split into sub-groups and scattered throughout the earth.

This story functions as a wonderful lens through which to consider questions of particularism versus universalism. Is the universal situation an ideal that we should aspire to? And is being separate or distinct a punishment or a natural evolution of human history? Our approaches to these questions can be discussed through the text, which is ambiguous on these points.

Language plays an important role here in the evolution of humanity, and it offers us a concrete way to discuss these questions. Think about language in its broadest sense, including culture and shared values that are transmitted through language. And consider what would really happen, for good and for bad, if all of humanity spoke one language.

Are there common words, expressions or values that are shared by everyone? And what role do different languages play in the world? Do they help us or harm us?

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Key Educational Questions for this Section:

• Is the universal situation an ideal that we should aspire to? Or is being separate and distinct a natural evolution of human history?
• Are there common words, expressions or values that are shared by everyone?
• What role does different languages play in the world? Do they help us or harm us?

Text: One Language or Many?

In this excerpt Yeshayahu Leibowitz explains why he thinks that differences, in language and culture, are what God wanted for the world, and that when differences are silenced, totalitarianism is the result.

In a world that is of “one language and a common speech”, man is a complete slave because there is no greater tyranny than to have unity forced on people in such a way as to leave no room for differences of opinion or for struggles over contrary and opposing opinions…God performed an act of mercy to humanity by giving them different languages – that is to say, different cultures, viewpoints, opinions, ways of life and forms of government.

The struggle between contrary points of view is what prevents the domination of one central body which will always be a tyranny crushing all opposition. It is true that these differences and separations are the source of all the cruel and harsh struggles in human history. And more often than not, they involved bloodshed. However, let us not forget even for a moment, that general agreement, forced conformity and imposed consensus against which there is no appeal is far worse.

Yeshayahu Leibowitz

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Explanation of text:

In this piece, the well-known Orthodox thinker Yeshayahu Leibowitz (1903-94), comments on the story of the Tower of Babel. As might be remembered, the story begins with the words “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech” (Bereishit ch.11 v.1) and ends with God separating men into different groups by splitting humanity into different language groups thus preventing easy communication. It is an interesting story, among other reasons, because it can act as a kind of litmus test for people’s attitudes on the question of particularism and universalism.

Utopians and universalists who take a more universalist stand (think John Lennon’s “Imagine”) would incline to see the split into distinct groups that cannot communicate or co-operate easily as a fall from universalist grace that has negative consequence for the world. Particularists and nationalists would tend to see it as the natural and healthy course of events.

Leibowitz’s position is firmly in the anti-universalist camp. He sees the idea of people having the same languages and cultures as paving the way for a colorless world which would deny difference and individuality and would inevitably be governed by a totalitarian government which would do everything in its power to forcibly eliminate differences between people. Leibowitz sees differences as essential in human society, even though they certainly create tensions and difficulties.

However, the alternative, a totalitarian dictatorship on the lines of Stalinist Communism, is far worse. Such a model must always produce a tyranny which crushes all opposition according to Leibowitz. Division into different peoples is what prevents the emergence of one dictatorship. From his point of view as a religious thinker God performed an act of mercy to humanity by giving them different languages… different cultures, viewpoints, opinions, ways of life and forms of government.

According to Leibowitz, the world that God wants is certainly one of cooperation and agreement but not one in which different peoples are suppressed and forced to suppress their healthy cultural differences. Even in the Messianic future Leibowitz would undoubtedly side with Isaiah when he says in his famous picture of the future Messianic era

And many peoples shall go and say: ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

And He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more (Isaiah ch. 2 v. 3-4).

Like Isaiah, Leibowitz does not see the abolition of nations as a desirable end for mankind even in the Messianic era. Nations will continue to exist but the Messianic nature will express itself in everyone going in their own way to an acceptance of God and the ways of life that God wants to see for all humanity. In Isaiah we hear the hope that “we may walk in his (God’s) paths” – note the plural nature of “paths”. (Verse 3).

From this point of view, Leibowitz’s picture of a good and desirable world becomes clear – a world inhabited by different peoples, societies and cultures who glory in their diversity but are united in their peaceful intentions. Diversity does not have to mean tension, even though it often does.

Secularised versions of such a world have often appeared both in Jewish and general contexts over the last hundred or so years. The Bund’s vision of a socialist world where each nation or people had their own language and cultural expression is one of the famous Jewish visions. Woodrow Wilson’s vision of a post W.W.1. which would lead to a world of free and autonomous nations cooperating under a League of Nations is one of the famous non-Jewish ones.

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KEY EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS FOR THIS SECTION:

• In what ways are Jewish values of Tikkun Olam, or fixing the world in conflict with particular interests of caring for other Jews first?

• How can universal values be understood as Jewish values?

• How does Judaism become a compelling resource to you and your students as you educate toward using Jewish language like “Tikkun Olam” to ground universal values and ideas?

Text: The Jewish Value of Tikkun Olam

In this text, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, a Reform Jewish leader, speaks to the way in which the universal value of Tikkun Olam is deeply embedded in Jewish particularist values.

Jews do not observe Torah in order to survive; they survive in order to observe Torah. And … observing Torah means much more than worrying only about our own souls.

Observing Torah involves fulfilling a grander purpose. It means taking to heart the words of R. Hayyim of Brisk, the greatest Talmudist of the late 19th century, who defined the rabbi’s task as follows: “To redress the grievances of those who are abandoned and alone, to protect the dignity of the poor, and to save the oppressed from the hands of the oppressor.”

Social justice, in short, is required by our religious texts and is inseparable from our religious mission. There is no such thing as a morality that is selectively indignant — that looks within but fails to look without. And Judaism without ethics, both personal and societal, is a contradiction in terms.

I have found that the work of “tikkun olam,” for all its rewards, is lonely and discouraging work, and only by absorbing the light of the Shabbat candles and by studying and worshiping with a strong, dynamic Jewish community can I immunize myself against the cynicism and alienation that surround me.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, Judaism is always Tikkun Olam – and More”, 2011

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Explanation of Text:

Rabbi Eric Yoffie is one of the central leaders of Reform Judaism having headed the Union for Reform Judaism from 1996 to 2012. This is an excerpt from an article that he wrote in 2011, in which he emphasised the idea of Tikkun Olam – which in the context can be translated as social justice, or perhaps more accurately, social action in order to bring justice within the whole world – Jewish and non-Jewish, as a key concept within Judaism.

In the article he argued against the opinion that has often been voiced within certain Orthodox circles that social action for justice towards non-Jews is extraneous to the Jewish tradition and has been dressed up as Jewish by those Jews who get their main value framework from outside of the Jewish tradition.

From Yoffie’s point of view, the task of Judaism is to attend to the wounds of the world wherever they are found – a universalist mission that is absolutely incumbent on Jews in the modern world, a world in which they have the resources and the access to help address the needs of those who need help wherever they are found. This for Yoffie is the meaning of Tikkun Olam.

In this, he firmly echoes the dominant line within Reform Judaism from the time of its inception in the 19^th century. However, he makes the point that despite the universalist mission of Judaism as he understands it, it is a mission that is generated by the Jewish tradition and culture and which can be best carried out by Jews who work from within the Jewish community, working consciously as Jews with their community supporting them and helping them fight for that mission.

The Jew can be strengthened by the Jewish tradition and way of life (“the light of the Shabbat candles”) and by the mobilisation and support of the Jewish community who can help the individual from falling into the cynicism and alienation that are so often the lot of the individual idealist trying to do something to create a better world while surrounded by indifference and selfishness.

Yoffie is by no means the only modern Jewish thinker who has trodden this path. Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, one of the important figures within the Modern Orthodox world in America, has stated that just like values such as “family” and “education” that are accepted as central parts of the Jewish tradition identified as such by Jew and non-Jew alike, “so should personal service [to society] become known as the indispensable expression of Jewishness”.

British Chief Rabbi (Orthodox) Jonathan Sacks has made a related comment saying that “we are here to make a difference, to mend the fractures of the world, a day at a time, an act at a time, for as long as it takes to make it a place of justice and compassion where the lonely are not alone, the poor not without help; where the cry of the vulnerable is heeded and those who are wronged are heard. ‘Someone else’s physical needs are my spiritual obligation,’ a Jewish mystic taught.”

All of these modern Rabbinic leaders are essentially making the same point in this regard: Judaism is not just about Jews working to help other Jews. It is at least partly about Jews working as Jews, from within the Jewish tradition, to address the problems and the needs of the world as a world. The Jewish people are a particular people with their own identity, tradition and culture but part of that tradition is about engaging with the wider world in a universalistic agenda.

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KEY EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS FOR THIS SECTION:

• In what ways are Jewish values of Tikkun Olam, or fixing the world in conflict with particular interests of caring for other Jews first?

• How can universal values be understood as Jewish values?

• How does Judaism become a compelling resource to you and your students as you educate toward using Jewish language like “Tikkun Olam” to ground universal values and ideas?

Text:  Tikkun Olam – Bridging Universal and Particular

And the other aspect of a compelling moral ambition is, of course, devotion to tikkun olam, the bridge between our obsession with self and our commitment to the work of creation. I say “bridge” even though many of us suppose that we must choose between our particularism and our universalism, between our interests and our values. I say here what I have been saying for as far back as I can remember: Even if the devotion to tikkun olam were not in itself worthy, there is no surer path to Jewish continuity than the uncompromising, the passionate attachment to God’s work on this earth; the Jewish people has no more urgent interest than the energetic pursuit of its highest values. It is a desolating and debilitating mistake of our times to present our interests and our values as competitors in a zero sum game.

Leibel Fein, Speech to the New York Jewish Labor Committee on Peoplehood and Continuity, June 1992

Explanation of text:

In this text Leibel Fein not only highlights the importance of Tikkun Olam (literally, “Fixing the World”) as the expression of Jewish values but also challenges the dichotomy and competition between our collective values and our interests. To him this false dichotomy between values and interests is the “desolating and debilitating mistake of our times”.

For Fein, Tikkun Olam is not to be measured by the acts of charity and justice themselves. It should be understood in the context of “the attachment to God’s work on this earth” which to Fein reflects  the “most urgent interest”. It is interesting to note that Fein shifts from using the language of values to presenting the pursuit of Tikkun Olam as an interest. For him, following universal values through Tikkun Olam simultaneously does two things:

1. Offers a current vision and a value driven mission for the Jewish people; and
2. Reinvigorates the Jewish enterprise and contributes to a sense of relevance and meaning among Jews.

This is why for Fein, Tikkun Olam provides “a bridge between our obsession with self and our commitment to the work of creation”. It is not an either/ or situation where we must choose between our interests and values. Pursuing the values will also strengthen the Jewish camp thus serving both values and interests and bridging the false dichotomy.

KEY EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS FOR THIS SECTION:

• In what ways are Jewish values of Tikkun Olam, or fixing the world in conflict with particular interests of caring for other Jews first?

• How can universal values be understood as Jewish values?

• How does Judaism become a compelling resource to you and your students as you educate toward using Jewish language like “Tikkun Olam” to ground universal values and ideas?

Text: Giving Priority to the Jewish People

At a time when Jewish communal institutions are failing to attend to the needs of Jews at home and abroad, the hot trend in Jewish philanthropic and organizational circles, incredibly is to channel ever more of their resources to nonsectarian causes. Preachers in every corner of the Jewish community are intent on urging the faithful to drop their parochial concerns for the welfare of fellow Jews and instead think globally. How can Jews worry about their own, they ask, when so many unfortunates in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia are suffering even worse afflictions? ….In  today’s American Jewish community, this kind of talk is hardly an exception: representatives of every denomination have discovered a Jewish imperative to “repair the world” (Tikkun Olam), a commandment unknown to Jews for most of their history but that now, in the view of its most outspoken advocates, is preeminent.

Jack Wertheimer Peoplehood Papers 6, November 2010

Explanation of text:

Jack Wertheimer provides a critical perspective on the preeminence of Tikkun Olam in today’s American Jewish conversation and policy making. According to him at a time when Jewish communal institutions are failing to attend to the needs of Jews at home and abroad, Jews are giving priority to nonsectarian causes, thus neglecting their parochial concerns for Jewish causes. This trend is influenced by the call to help those suffering throughout the third world (Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia) based on the severity of their affliction.

Extension Activity

Responsible for Whom?

Tzedakah Priorities & Global Giving

KEY EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS FOR THIS SECTION:

• Is there a particular role that the Jewish people play in the world?
• How do you understand being Jewish as a particular expression of being a human being?
• How do you understand your own circles of connection and concern?  What causes you to shift your attention from one circle of connection and concern to another?

Text: Beloved is all Humankind

Beloved is all humankind for they were made b’tzelem Elohim (in the image of God.)  Doubly beloved are they, for they were told that they were made in the image of God.  As it says: “In the image of God was humanity made.” (Genesis 9:6)  Beloved is Israel for they are called God’s children.  Doubly beloved are they, for they were told that they were God’s children.  As it says: “you are the children of the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 14:1). (Mishna, Avot 3:14).

Explanation of text:

This text is an extremely important Jewish text because it emphasizes both the universalist dimension of Judaism as well as the unique place the people of Israel have. It opens by establishing, based on Genesis 9:6, that all mankind were created in the image of God. But it also reinforces what that means. The fact that all mankind were created in the image of God implies that they are beloved and actually as the text tells us, “doubly beloved”. This means that by definition, according to Judaism, we have to care for all humankind that carry in them the image of the Creator.

But the text does not stop there. It also tells us about the unique status of the Jews. They are also “doubly beloved” because the Torah tells us “you are the children of the Lord your God “(Deuteronomy 14:1). It is interesting to note that both Jews and non-Jews share the status of “doubly beloved”, but the framing of the Jews highlights an additional dimension. Being presented as the children of God means that they have a special status among equal members of humankind. While they may all be equally beloved, being God’s children may add a whole set of expectations and demands in terms of their place and role in the world. It also, by definition, makes all of Israel brothers and sisters.

The importance of this text is that it balances the universalist perspective of Judaism that treats all humankind as equals, with the unique place of the Jews. The Jews have a unique and special place but that does not imply that they are more beloved. If anything it allows for demanding more from them as human beings that are the children of God.

Extension Activity

Responsible for Whom?

Tzedakah Priorities & Global Giving

KEY EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS FOR THIS SECTION:

• Is there a particular role that the Jewish people play in the world?
• How do you understand being Jewish as a particular expression of being a human being?
• How do you understand your own circles of connection and concern?  What causes you to shift your attention from one circle of connection and concern to another?

Text: Fourfold Song, Rav Kook

In this poetic piece Rav Kook describes the four “songs” that a person can sing in his life, moving between particular and universal levels of belonging.

There is one who sings the song of their own life, and in themselves they find everything, their full spiritual satisfaction.

There is another who sings the song of their people. They leave the circle of their own individual self, because they find it without sufficient breadth, without an idealistic basis. They aspire toward the heights, and they attach themselves with a gentle love to the whole community of Israel. Together with her they sing her songs. They feel grieved in her afflictions and delight in her hopes. They contemplate noble and pure thoughts about her past and her future, and probes with love and wisdom her inner spiritual essence.

There is another who reaches toward more distant realms, they go beyond the boundary of Israel to sing the song of humanity. Their spirit extends to the wider vistas of the majesty of humanity in general, and its noble essence. They aspire toward humanity’s overall goal and look forward toward its higher perfection. From this source of life they draw the subjects of their meditation and study, their aspirations and their visions.

Then there is one who rises toward wider horizons, until they link themselves with all existence, with all God’s creatures, with all worlds, and they sing their song with all of them. It is of one such as this that tradition has said that whoever sings Perek Shira (Chapter of Song) each day is assured of having a share in the world to come.

And then there is one who rises with all these songs in one ensemble, and they all join their voices. Together they sing their songs with beauty, each one lends vitality and life to the other. They are sounds of joy and gladness, sounds of jubilation and celebration, sounds of ecstasy and holiness.

The song of the self, the song of the people, the song of humanity, the song of the world all merge in them at all times, in every hour.

And this full comprehensiveness rises to become the song of holiness, the song of God, the song of Israel, in its full strength and beauty, in its full authenticity and greatness. The name “Israel” stands for shir el, the song of God. It is a simple song, a twofold song, a threefold song and a fourfold song. It is the Song of Songs of Solomon, Shlomo, which means peace or wholeness. It is the song of the King in whom is wholeness. (Rav Kook, Orot HaKodesh, volume 2)

Explanation of Text:

Abraham Isaac Kook, or Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, (1865-1935) was one of the most influential rabbis of the 20th Century. Rav Kook was the first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of mandatory Palestine, before the establishment of the State of Israel, and was the ideological father of the religious Zionist movement. His approach to the Jewish People was highly inclusive as he tried to build connections between Jews of all kinds, and his style was mystical and poetic.

In this piece from Rav Kook’s seminal work “Orot HaKodesh” (Lights of Holiness) he describes the four ‘songs’ or levels on which a person can find meaning in the world.

The first song is the “Song of the Self”, and on this level a person is completely self-contained. His or her own life is enough to give meaning and provide a sense of belonging. There is no need to look beyond or outside one’s own daily life.

The second song is the “Song of the People”, or the Nation. At this level a person is dissatisfied with just being self-contained and concerned with only herself, so she expands one level out to a song that includes the whole of the Jewish People. This provides meaning because the person is connected, in spirit at least, with the successes and failures of the whole People, and is tied to them with a strong connection.

The third song is the “Song of Humanity”, and includeד all human beings, not just Jews. A person who sings this song understands themselves as connected to all human beings, and as part of the human race.

The fourth song is the “Song of the World” and expands to include all of creation and all of the world, so a person who is singing this song feels spiritually connected to the animals, to the planet and to everything in the world.

Rav Kook concludes by talking about the combination of all these songs into a completeness, (maybe even a fifth song?) that is the Song of God, the Song of holiness. At this level all the songs are being sung in harmony with one another, not as competing melodies. This, says Rav Kook, is the ideal envisaged by God for the whole of creation.

This piece offers us a way to think about the expanding circles of belonging, starting with the inner circle of the self, and expanding to reach outwards to encompass everything in the world. Where do we and our students see ourselves? In which level (or levels) do we function in the world? Where do we feel we gain most meaning? Rav Kook clearly saw all these songs as existing concurrently, and the way he describes them gives us a sense of a progression outwards towards an ideal, which is universal. He also emphasizes the harmony between these different songs that is the ultimate ideal. According to him we shouldn’t be prioritizing one song over the other, but working towards a harmonization of all the different songs.

For more information about Rav Kook, see the following resources:

Teachings from Rav Kook on the weekly portion, as well as a timeline of his life and many stories about him. http://www.ravkooktorah.org

For an interesting musical interpretation of this piece (in Hebrew) click here.

Extension Activity

The Songs We Sing, Rav Kook