Babel and Totalitarianism

1. CALEV BEN DOR Babel and Totalitarianism 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 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 were building. 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.)בראשית יא ( "To make a name for ourselves" -- the tower was to be an everlasting testament to the might of the public and to its paramount importance over the individual. Herein lies the danger, however: if the community does not "call on the name of the Lord," if the individual is called upon to be the servant of the public and not to serve G-d, if the public presents itself as the goal and not merely the means, then the entire future morality of mankind would be lost. When man believes that the public is exempt from keeping the laws of morality...then specious goals, which do not bring blessing, become the object of worship. (Shimshon Rafael Hirsch) It was not the content of the things that aroused God to oppose their plan, but the fact that they were unanimous. Since people’s deot are not identical, the builders of the tower feared that people would abandon their one view and consider alternative thoughts…. Hence they decided to kill anyone who had a deah different than theirs…So too they prohibited travel from one city to another... and they used the tower as a watchtower to observe and keep control all their residents... From there they sent out emissaries to maintain surveillance over all their domain and under them served military officers to punish all violators and throw them into the furnace.” (The Netziv, Ha’emek Davar Bereshit 11)

2. The Importance of Diversity There are many ways of living, believing, behaving; mere knowledge provided by history, anthropology, literature, art, law makes clear that the differences of cultures and characters are as deep as the similarities (which make men human) and that we are none the poorer for this rich variety; knowledge of it opens the windows of the mind (and soul) and makes people wiser, nicer, and more civilized; absence of it breeds irrational prejudice, hatreds, ghastly extermination of heretics and those who are different; if the two great wars plus Hitler's genocides haven't taught us that, we are incurable. ... It may be of interest to remark, incidentally, that there are certain values that we in our world accept which were probably created by early Romanticism and did not exist before: for example, the idea that variety is a good thing, that a society in which many opinions are held, and those holding different opinions are tolerant of each other, is better than a monolithic in which one opinion is binding on everyone. Nobody before the eighteenth century could have accepted that: the truth was one and the idea of variety was inimical to it. (Isaiah Berlin) Plato’s most powerful idea is that truth – reality, the essence of things – is universal. How could it be otherwise? What is true is true for everyone at all times, and so the more universal a culture is, the closer to truth it comes…the history of homo sapiens is precisely the move from small, roving bands, to city states, nations and ultimately, if not yet, global governance. Particularity – the world of the senses and the passions – is the source of conflict, prejudice, error and war. Universality is the real of truth, harmony and peace. The move from primitive to sophisticated, parochial to cosmopolitan, local to global, is the journey from particular attachments to universal reason. My argument is that universalism is an inadequate response to tribalism and no less dangerous. It leads to the belief – superficially compelling but quite false – that there is only one truth about the essentials of the human condition and that it holds true for all people at all times. If I am right, then you are wrong. If what I believe is the truth, then your belief, which differs from mine must be an error from which you must be converted, cured and saved. From this flowed some of the great crimes of human history, some under religious auspices, others – the French and Russian revolutions for example – under the banner of secular philosophies, but both under the enchantment of Plato’s ghost. Until the great faiths not merely tolerate but find positive value in the diversity of the human condition we will have wars, and their cost in human lives will continue to rise. Only when we realize the danger of wishing everyone should be the same will we prevent the clash of civilizations. The critical test of any order is: does it make space for otherness? Does it acknowledge the dignity of difference?”(Jonathan Sacks, The Dignity of Difference) What is the great revolution in science of the last 10, 15 years? It is the movement from the search for universals to the understanding of variability…That is the final, and I think most beautiful lesson, of Howard Moskowitz. That in embracing the diversity of human beings, we will find a surer way to true happiness. (Malcolm Gladwell)