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Thursday, October 15, 2026

Noach 5

This class covers the family tree of Bereishis 10, which lists the seventy nations that came from Noach's sons, and then the Tower of Bavel in Bereishis 11:1–9. Along the way it follows Nimrod's rise from a "trapper" of minds to the first king to rule other men, and Ashur's flight from his influence. Two ideas keep coming back. First, a generation only 340 years after the flood forgot its lesson and turned the whole world, with one voice, against Hashem. Second, that same generation lived in peace with one another, and this is why, unlike the generation of the flood, they were scattered and punished but not wiped out.

The pesukim

Bereishis 10:1–5

וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת בְּנֵי־נֹ֔חַ שֵׁ֖ם חָ֣ם וָיָ֑פֶת וַיִּוָּלְד֥וּ לָהֶ֛ם בָּנִ֖ים אַחַ֥ר הַמַּבּֽוּל׃

These are the chronicles of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham and Yefeth. Children were born to them after the flood.

בְּנֵ֣י יֶ֔פֶת גֹּ֣מֶר וּמָג֔וֹג וּמָדַ֖י וְיָוָ֣ן וְתֻבָ֑ל וּמֶ֖שֶׁךְ וְתִירָֽס׃

The sons of Yefeth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Yavan, Tuval, Meshekh, and Tiras.

וּבְנֵ֖י גֹּ֑מֶר אַשְׁכְּנַ֥ז וְרִיפַ֖ת וְתֹגַרְמָֽה׃

The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

וּבְנֵ֥י יָוָ֖ן אֱלִישָׁ֣ה וְתַרְשִׁ֑ישׁ כִּתִּ֖ים וְדֹדָנִֽים׃

The sons of Yavan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

מֵ֠אֵ֠לֶּה נִפְרְד֞וּ אִיֵּ֤י הַגּוֹיִם֙ בְּאַרְצֹתָ֔ם אִ֖ישׁ לִלְשֹׁנ֑וֹ לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם בְּגוֹיֵהֶֽם׃

From these the isolated nations branched out into their lands. Each had its own language for its families in its nations.

These are the chronicles of Noach's sons, Shem, Cham and Yefes, and the children born to them after the flood. Only the three sons themselves had been born before it. The list of Yefes's sons (Gomer, Magog, Madai, Yavan, Tuval, Meshech and Tiras) and of his grandsons ends with the nations that branched out from them into their lands, each with its own language. The Torah lists Yefes's family first, and this supports the view, left open at the end of last week's parsha, that Yefes was Noach's firstborn.
Bereishis 10:6–9

וּבְנֵ֖י חָ֑ם כּ֥וּשׁ וּמִצְרַ֖יִם וּפ֥וּט וּכְנָֽעַן׃

The sons of Ham were Cush, Mitzraim, Put, and Canaan.

וּבְנֵ֣י כ֔וּשׁ סְבָא֙ וַֽחֲוִילָ֔ה וְסַבְתָּ֥ה וְרַעְמָ֖ה וְסַבְתְּכָ֑א וּבְנֵ֥י רַעְמָ֖ה שְׁבָ֥א וּדְדָֽן׃

The sons of Cush were S'bha, Havilah, Sabhta, Raamah and Sabht'ka. The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

וְכ֖וּשׁ יָלַ֣ד אֶת־נִמְרֹ֑ד ה֣וּא הֵחֵ֔ל לִֽהְי֥וֹת גִּבֹּ֖ר בָּאָֽרֶץ׃

Cush was the father of Nimrod, who was the first to amass power in the world.

הֽוּא־הָיָ֥ה גִבֹּֽר־צַ֖יִד לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה עַל־כֵּן֙ יֵֽאָמַ֔ר כְּנִמְרֹ֛ד גִּבּ֥וֹר צַ֖יִד לִפְנֵ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃

He was a mighty trapper before God. There is thus a saying, "Like Nimrod, a mighty trapper before God!"

The sons of Cham were Cush, Mitzrayim, Put and Canaan. Cush fathered Nimrod, who "began to be mighty on the earth" and was "a mighty trapper before Hashem," so that people would say, "like Nimrod, a mighty trapper before Hashem." His name comes from mered, rebellion, and the Tower of Bavel was his idea. A trapper "before Hashem" was not a hunter of animals. As Rashi explains, he trapped people's minds with his words and led them to rebel against Hashem, even at a time when people still recognized that Hashem created the world.
Bereishis 10:10–12

וַתְּהִ֨י רֵאשִׁ֤ית מַמְלַכְתּוֹ֙ בָּבֶ֔ל וְאֶ֖רֶךְ וְאַכַּ֣ד וְכַלְנֵ֑ה בְּאֶ֖רֶץ שִׁנְעָֽר׃

The beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, along with Erekh, Akkad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

מִן־הָאָ֥רֶץ הַהִ֖וא יָצָ֣א אַשּׁ֑וּר וַיִּ֙בֶן֙ אֶת־נִ֣ינְוֵ֔ה וְאֶת־רְחֹבֹ֥ת עִ֖יר וְאֶת־כָּֽלַח׃

Asshur left that land, and he built Nineveh, Rechovoth Ir and Calach,

וְֽאֶת־רֶ֔סֶן בֵּ֥ין נִֽינְוֵ֖ה וּבֵ֣ין כָּ֑לַח הִ֖וא הָעִ֥יר הַגְּדֹלָֽה׃

as well as Resen, between Nineveh and Calach. [Nineveh] is a great city

Nimrod's kingdom began with Bavel, Erech, Akkad and Kalneh in the land of Shinar. From that land Ashur went out and built Nineveh, Rechovos Ir and Kalach, and Resen between Nineveh and Kalach, and Nineveh was "the great city." Nimrod was the first to rule over other men. As the Ramban explains, after the flood there had been no wars and no need for kings. Nimrod was the first of ten kings to rule the whole world, as the Me'am Loez brings from Rabbeinu Bachya; Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer counts Hashem as the first King and Nimrod as the second. When Ashur, a righteous son of Shem, saw his children being drawn after Nimrod, he left the land and built cities of his own. One of them was Nineveh, the great city of the book of Yonah, which took three days to walk from one end to the other.
Bereishis 10:13–14

וּמִצְרַ֡יִם יָלַ֞ד אֶת־לוּדִ֧ים וְאֶת־עֲנָמִ֛ים וְאֶת־לְהָבִ֖ים וְאֶת־נַפְתֻּחִֽים׃

Mitzraim fathered the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabhim, the Naftuchim,

וְֽאֶת־פַּתְרֻסִ֞ים וְאֶת־כַּסְלֻחִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר יָצְא֥וּ מִשָּׁ֛ם פְּלִשְׁתִּ֖ים וְאֶת־כַּפְתֹּרִֽים׃

the Pathrusim and the Casluchim (from whom the Philistines descended) and the Caphtorim."

Mitzrayim fathered the Ludim, Anamim, Lehavim, Naftuchim, Pasrusim and Kasluchim, from whom the Philistines came, and the Kaftorim. The Lehavim were named for lahav, a flame, because their faces looked like flames. Bereishis Rabbah teaches that the Philistines came out of the Pasrusim and Kasluchim, who were deeply immoral and swapped wives with one another. The Philistines descended from the children of those unions. The Kaftorim are the pygmies.
Bereishis 10:15–20

וּכְנַ֗עַן יָלַ֛ד אֶת־צִידֹ֥ן בְּכֹר֖וֹ וְאֶת־חֵֽת׃

Canaan fathered Sidon (his firstborn) and Heth,

וְאֶת־הַיְבוּסִי֙ וְאֶת־הָ֣אֱמֹרִ֔י וְאֵ֖ת הַגִּרְגָּשִֽׁי׃

as well as the jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,

וְאֶת־הַֽחִוִּ֥י וְאֶת־הַֽעַרְקִ֖י וְאֶת־הַסִּינִֽי׃

the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,

וְאֶת־הָֽאַרְוָדִ֥י וְאֶת־הַצְּמָרִ֖י וְאֶת־הַֽחֲמָתִ֑י וְאַחַ֣ר נָפֹ֔צוּ מִשְׁפְּח֖וֹת הַֽכְּנַעֲנִֽי׃

the Arvadites, the Tzemarites, and the Chamathites. Later the families of the Canaanites became scattered.

וַיְהִ֞י גְּב֤וּל הַֽכְּנַעֲנִי֙ מִצִּידֹ֔ן בֹּאֲכָ֥ה גְרָ֖רָה עַד־עַזָּ֑ה בֹּאֲכָ֞ה סְדֹ֧מָה וַעֲמֹרָ֛ה וְאַדְמָ֥ה וּצְבֹיִ֖ם עַד־לָֽשַׁע׃

The Canaanite borders extended from Sidon toward Gerar until Gaza, and toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Tzevoyim, until Lasha.

אֵ֣לֶּה בְנֵי־חָ֔ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לִלְשֹֽׁנֹתָ֑ם בְּאַרְצֹתָ֖ם בְּגוֹיֵהֶֽם׃

These are the descendants of Ham, according to their families and languages, by their lands and nations.

Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn, Ches, the Yevusi, the Emori, the Girgashi and the other peoples who would later live in the land of Canaan. Their borders ran from Sidon toward Gerar and Gaza, and toward Sedom, Amorah, Admah and Tzevoyim, as far as Lasha. The Torah lists the children of Cush, Mitzrayim and Canaan but not those of Put, because this list names only people who founded a separate nation. Put's children all married their cousins and merged into one nation, so there were no separate nations to list.
Bereishis 10:21–25

וּלְשֵׁ֥ם יֻלַּ֖ד גַּם־ה֑וּא אֲבִי֙ כׇּל־בְּנֵי־עֵ֔בֶר אֲחִ֖י יֶ֥פֶת הַגָּדֽוֹל׃

Sons were also born to Shem. He was the ancestor of the Hebrews/ [and] the brother of Yefeth, the eldest.

בְּנֵ֥י שֵׁ֖ם עֵילָ֣ם וְאַשּׁ֑וּר וְאַרְפַּכְשַׁ֖ד וְל֥וּד וַֽאֲרָֽם׃

The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

וּבְנֵ֖י אֲרָ֑ם ע֥וּץ וְח֖וּל וְגֶ֥תֶר וָמַֽשׁ׃

The sons of Aram were Utz, Chul, Gether, and Mash.

וְאַרְפַּכְשַׁ֖ד יָלַ֣ד אֶת־שָׁ֑לַח וְשֶׁ֖לַח יָלַ֥ד אֶת־עֵֽבֶר׃

Arpachshad had a son Shelach. Shelach had a son Eber.

וּלְעֵ֥בֶר יֻלַּ֖ד שְׁנֵ֣י בָנִ֑ים שֵׁ֣ם הָֽאֶחָ֞ד פֶּ֗לֶג כִּ֤י בְיָמָיו֙ נִפְלְגָ֣ה הָאָ֔רֶץ וְשֵׁ֥ם אָחִ֖יו יׇקְטָֽן׃

Eber had two sons. The name of the first was Peleg, because the world became divided in his days. His brother's name was Yoktan.

Children were also born to Shem, "the father of all the children of Ever, the brother of Yefes the elder." His line runs through Arpachshad and Shelach to Ever, whose sons were Peleg and Yaktan. Shem had many descendants, yet the verse names only one of them, Ever, and only one brother, Yefes. Ever is named because he was the descendant Shem truly loved: a saint who studied Hashem's law, and the one from whom the Jewish people, the Ivrim (Hebrews), would come. That is the line Shem identified with. He is called only Yefes's brother, not Cham's, because Shem and Yefes both feared Hashem and honored their father, while Cham shamed him, and Shem wanted nothing to do with that.
Bereishis 10:26–30

וְיׇקְטָ֣ן יָלַ֔ד אֶת־אַלְמוֹדָ֖ד וְאֶת־שָׁ֑לֶף וְאֶת־חֲצַרְמָ֖וֶת וְאֶת־יָֽרַח׃

Yoktan was the father of Almodad, Shelef, Chatzarmaveth, Yerach,

וְאֶת־הֲדוֹרָ֥ם וְאֶת־אוּזָ֖ל וְאֶת־דִּקְלָֽה׃

Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

וְאֶת־עוֹבָ֥ל וְאֶת־אֲבִֽימָאֵ֖ל וְאֶת־שְׁבָֽא׃

Obhal, Abhimael, Sh'bha,

וְאֶת־אוֹפִ֥ר וְאֶת־חֲוִילָ֖ה וְאֶת־יוֹבָ֑ב כׇּל־אֵ֖לֶּה בְּנֵ֥י יׇקְטָֽן׃

Ophir, Havilah, and Yovav. All these were the sons of Yoktan.

וַיְהִ֥י מוֹשָׁבָ֖ם מִמֵּשָׁ֑א בֹּאֲכָ֥ה סְפָ֖רָה הַ֥ר הַקֶּֽדֶם׃

Their settlements extended from Meshah toward Sepher, the eastern mountain.

Yaktan fathered thirteen sons, Almodad, Shelef, Chatzarmaves, Yerach and the rest, and the verse closes, "all these were the sons of Yaktan." Yaktan means "small." His father Ever saw through prophecy that this son would be humble, small in his own eyes, and named him for it, just as he named Peleg through prophecy. The Torah lists all thirteen sons and then repeats "all these were the sons of Yaktan" to show what his humility earned him: thirteen married sons sitting at his table. When a person is humble, much comes out of him. One of them, Chatzarmaves, means "courtyard of death": he fathered a nation of ascetics who went about naked and expected death every day.
Bereishis 10:31–32

אֵ֣לֶּה בְנֵי־שֵׁ֔ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לִלְשֹׁנֹתָ֑ם בְּאַרְצֹתָ֖ם לְגוֹיֵהֶֽם׃

These are the descendants of Shem, according to their families and languages, by their lands and nations.

אֵ֣לֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹ֧ת בְּנֵי־נֹ֛חַ לְתוֹלְדֹתָ֖ם בְּגוֹיֵהֶ֑ם וּמֵאֵ֜לֶּה נִפְרְד֧וּ הַגּוֹיִ֛ם בָּאָ֖רֶץ אַחַ֥ר הַמַּבּֽוּל׃

Such were the families of Noah's sons, according to their chronicles in their nations. From these, the nations spread over the earth after the flood.

These are the families of Noach's sons, and from them the nations spread over the earth after the flood. The names listed here are the seventy nations. Whenever the Torah speaks of "the seventy nations," it means these founding ones. The count gives 15 from Yefes, 32 from Cham and 27 from Shem, which is 74. The Yalkut brings that Shem, Arpachshad, Shelach and Ever, a line of very righteous men, were not counted with the others, which leaves exactly seventy. Their being set apart matters at the Tower, when Hashem takes this line as His own portion.
Bereishis 11:1

וַיְהִ֥י כׇל־הָאָ֖רֶץ שָׂפָ֣ה אֶחָ֑ת וּדְבָרִ֖ים אֲחָדִֽים׃

The entire earth had one language with uniform words.

The whole earth had one language and devarim achadim, "uniform words." More than a shared language, they shared one message. Devarim achadim can be read as words against the One: against Hashem, and against Avraham, whom the prophet Yechezkel calls "one" (echad haya Avraham). The whole world spoke with one voice against Hashem and against the one man who stood for Him.
Bereishis 11:2

וַיְהִ֖י בְּנׇסְעָ֣ם מִקֶּ֑דֶם וַֽיִּמְצְא֥וּ בִקְעָ֛ה בְּאֶ֥רֶץ שִׁנְעָ֖ר וַיֵּ֥שְׁבוּ שָֽׁם׃

When [the people] migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar, and they settled there.

As the people traveled mikedem, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. Kedem is not the usual word for east (mizrach). It also means "ancient times," as in "renew our days ke-kedem, as of old," and here it hints at Hashem, the Ancient One: they traveled away from Hashem. The valley they "found" was a beautiful, fertile place that nobody had found before, because Hashem created it new for them. A person is led along the road he wants to take, and since they wanted to go against Hashem, Hashem gave them every opportunity to do it.
Bereishis 11:3–4

וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵ֗הוּ הָ֚בָה נִלְבְּנָ֣ה לְבֵנִ֔ים וְנִשְׂרְפָ֖ה לִשְׂרֵפָ֑ה וַתְּהִ֨י לָהֶ֤ם הַלְּבֵנָה֙ לְאָ֔בֶן וְהַ֣חֵמָ֔ר הָיָ֥ה לָהֶ֖ם לַחֹֽמֶר׃

They said to one another, "Come, let us mold bricks and fire them." They then had bricks to use as stone, and asphalt for mortar.

וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ הָ֣בָה ׀ נִבְנֶה־לָּ֣נוּ עִ֗יר וּמִגְדָּל֙ וְרֹאשׁ֣וֹ בַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְנַֽעֲשֶׂה־לָּ֖נוּ שֵׁ֑ם פֶּן־נָפ֖וּץ עַל־פְּנֵ֥י כׇל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

They said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top shall reach the sky. Let us make ourselves a name, so that we will not be scattered all over the face of the earth."

They said to one another, "Come, let us mold bricks and fire them," and then, "Let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top reaches the sky, and make ourselves a name, so that we will not be scattered over the face of the earth." The leaders were Cham's sons, Cush, Mitzrayim, Put and Canaan, and because the valley had no stone they made bricks and fired them in a kiln. Rashi explains their mistake. The flood had come in the year 1656, so they concluded that the world runs in cycles, with a flood every 1,656 years, the way people speak of ice ages. A tower tall enough would let them escape the next one, so that they would not be "scattered" and destroyed like the generation of the flood.
Bereishis 11:5

וַיֵּ֣רֶד יְהֹוָ֔ה לִרְאֹ֥ת אֶת־הָעִ֖יר וְאֶת־הַמִּגְדָּ֑ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר בָּנ֖וּ בְּנֵ֥י הָאָדָֽם׃

God descended to see the city and the tower that the sons of man had built.

Hashem came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of man had built. Hashem does not need to come down to see anything, because He knows everything happening in the world at once. He came down to teach judges a lesson: do not rush to judgment or rely on assumptions, but go and see for yourself until it is as if you were a witness. The same lesson is in "Hashem saw that it was good" at creation: He knew it was good, since He made it, and still the Torah says He looked.
Bereishis 11:6–9

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהֹוָ֗ה הֵ֣ן עַ֤ם אֶחָד֙ וְשָׂפָ֤ה אַחַת֙ לְכֻלָּ֔ם וְזֶ֖ה הַחִלָּ֣ם לַעֲשׂ֑וֹת וְעַתָּה֙ לֹֽא־יִבָּצֵ֣ר מֵהֶ֔ם כֹּ֛ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָזְמ֖וּ לַֽעֲשֽׂוֹת׃

God said, "They are a single people, all having one language, and this is the first thing they do! Now nothing they plan to do will be unattainable for them!

הָ֚בָה נֵֽרְדָ֔ה וְנָבְלָ֥ה שָׁ֖ם שְׂפָתָ֑ם אֲשֶׁר֙ לֹ֣א יִשְׁמְע֔וּ אִ֖ישׁ שְׂפַ֥ת רֵעֵֽהוּ׃

Come, let us descend and confuse their speech, so that one person will not understand another's speech."

וַיָּ֨פֶץ יְהֹוָ֥ה אֹתָ֛ם מִשָּׁ֖ם עַל־פְּנֵ֣י כׇל־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַֽיַּחְדְּל֖וּ לִבְנֹ֥ת הָעִֽיר׃

From that place, God scattered them all over the face of the earth, and they stopped building the city.

עַל־כֵּ֞ן קָרָ֤א שְׁמָהּ֙ בָּבֶ֔ל כִּי־שָׁ֛ם בָּלַ֥ל יְהֹוָ֖ה שְׂפַ֣ת כׇּל־הָאָ֑רֶץ וּמִשָּׁם֙ הֱפִיצָ֣ם יְהֹוָ֔ה עַל־פְּנֵ֖י כׇּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

He named it Babel, because this was the place where God confused the world's language. It was from there that God dispersed [humanity] over all the face of earth.

Hashem said, "They are one people with one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing they plan will be beyond them. Come, let us go down and confuse their speech, so that no one understands another." Hashem scattered them over the face of the earth, they stopped building the city, and the place was named Bavel because there Hashem confused the language of the whole world. This was measure for measure: they built the tower so that they would not be scattered, and scattering is exactly the punishment they received.

English from The Living Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, used with the permission of the Kaplan family. Hebrew: Miqra according to the Masorah (CC BY-SA).

Takeaways

  • Hashem leads a person down the road he chooses, so choose the direction carefully.
  • Don't judge before seeing for yourself: even Hashem "came down to see."
  • Humility brings blessing: Yaktan, "the small one," had thirteen married sons at his table.
  • Pain fades; keep the lesson after the pain is gone, or it won't stay learned.
  • Peace among people keeps Hashem's presence with them, and strife drives it away.
Going deeper— the stories, Kabbalah and the reasons behind the reasons

Yefes's sons: why only founders of nations are named

  • Tiras was Yefes's youngest son, and he started the custom of wearing gold and silver rings on the fingers.
  • Togarmah, a grandson of Yefes, was the father of ten nations.
  • Yefes had seven sons, but only the children of Gomer and Yavan are listed. Each of the other five sons produced just one nation.
  • The rule behind the whole chapter is that the Torah names only people from whom a nation came, which is why some sons' children appear and others' do not.

Nimrod: the trapper, the byword, and what "he began" really means

  • Bereishis Rabbah reads "mighty trapper" differently: Nimrod was expert at trapping wrongdoers into confessing. He would ask side questions like "where were you that night?" until they tripped over their own words.
  • "Like Nimrod, a mighty trapper" became a saying for the worst kind of evil. In the same way today someone might say a person is "as evil as Hitler," back then they said he was "like Nimrod."
  • "He began to be mighty" cannot mean he was the strongest man alive, because the giants were stronger. It also cannot mean he started idol worship, because the generation of Enosh already worshipped idols.
  • Hu heichel ("he began") shares its root with vayachel Noach, which we read as "Noach profaned." Read with a pause, the verse says Nimrod profaned Hashem's name and became mighty on the earth.
  • His rebellion did not come from passion. It was cold and calculated, and that is the essence of Nimrod.

Adam's garments and how Nimrod became king

  • Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer and Sefer HaYashar trace the leather garments Hashem made for Adam and Chava: after Adam died they passed to Chanoch, then to Mesushelach, then to Noach, who brought them into the ark.
  • Cham stole them from the ark and gave them to his son Cush, and Cush gave them to Nimrod. They gave Nimrod great courage and helped him win many battles.
  • When he wore them in the hills, every animal feared him. People thought the fear came from his own strength, crowned him king, and never realized it came from the garments.
  • When war broke out between Cush's descendants and the sons of Yefes, Nimrod gathered his cousins, about 460 men, hired 80 more, and with 540 men defeated all of Yefes's descendants. From then on Yefes's tribes were slaves to Nimrod and the descendants of Cush, who ruled the civilized world.
  • Nimrod's second in command was Terach, Avraham's father. Terach was not descended from Cham, yet Nimrod and other kings held him in great importance.

Ashur's reward: four cities for four

  • Ashur left Nimrod's four cities for Hashem's sake, so Hashem rewarded him with four cities of his own. Hashem always makes the reward fit the deed (Bereishis Rabbah 37:4).

Ever names his son Peleg through prophecy

  • Peleg means "division." Ever was a great prophet and foresaw that the year Peleg died, the earth would be divided at the Tower of Bavel, so he gave his son that name.
  • Names in those generations were chosen from what the parents saw of the future, which is why they sound so original compared with our names.

Why we name children after our ancestors

  • The Me'am Loez, based on Bereishis Rabbah, gives the reason. The early generations knew their lineage all the way back to Noach. We no longer know our tribe, so we name after ancestors to keep hold of our family line.
  • The Me'am Loez adds that those generations had ruach hakodesh, the holy spirit that let them see future events, and named their children by what they foresaw. Since we do not have it, we name after those who came before us.
  • I have also heard that giving the exact name of a person who has passed away can be a tikkun (a repair) for that person's neshama, while a name that is not exact is an honor to the neshama.
  • Sefardim also name after living relatives, which honors the person whose name is given.

340 years after the flood: a world that forgot the lesson

  • The generation of separation, the Dor Haflagah, rose in the year 1996 after creation (1764 BCE), exactly 340 years after the flood of 1656.
  • The Torah says the nations spread out "after the flood." We already know that everyone except Noach's family died in the flood, so the words are there to teach that they did not learn the lessons of the flood. They forgot the generation of Enosh, which was hit by a flood, and the generation of the flood itself.
  • Bereishis Rabbah compares them to a person out of his mind who calms down only while he is in pain. When the pain wears off, he goes right back to his madness, and once the pain of the flood had faded, they went back to sinning.
  • They were protected for those 340 years in the merit of Shem, because the numerical value of his name, shin-mem, is 340.

A world left to the stars: their philosophy and the mockery of Avram

  • The Yefeh To'ar explains their philosophy: Hashem has no interest in this world. He handed it over to the stars and planets to do as they please and left.
  • Aristotle held a similar view, that Hashem is concerned only with the heavenly bodies and not with the day-to-day matters of this world. This is false, because Hashem controls everything.
  • They mocked Avram, then 48 and childless, as a barren mule.
  • They used him as proof for their view. If Hashem ran this world, He would surely give children to a man as righteous as Avram, so in their eyes the stars decide everything and there was no reason to serve Hashem.

"Let us burn it": a slip of the tongue

  • The Hebrew is nisrefah lisrefah. They did not say "let us fire them," meaning the bricks, but "let us burn it."
  • It was the first slip of the tongue that gave away a hidden thought. They were really predicting that Hashem would end up burning what they were building with such evil intentions.
  • Bereishis Rabbah brings that the making of bricks and mortar was miraculously sped up, so they put up what was literally a skyscraper very quickly.

Three groups at the tower, and the merit of their unity

  • They planned to place an idol holding a sword at the top of the tower, as if waging war against Hashem and proving He could do nothing to them because they were under the stars.
  • The Gemara in Sanhedrin (109a) describes three groups among the builders. One said, "let us go up and live there" to be safe from another flood. The second said, "let us worship idols there." The third said, "let us wage war against Hashem."
  • The tower had two staircases, one in the east for carrying bricks up and one in the west for coming down. When a person slipped and fell to his death, nobody grieved, but when a brick fell, everyone stopped working and cried.
  • Whenever Avram passed by, he ridiculed what they were doing, and they ignored him.
  • "One language" works in both directions. They shared one philosophy against Hashem, but they were also truly united, and unity is a merit even for people doing wrong.

"The sons of man": heirs to Adam's ingratitude

  • The verse calls the builders "the sons of man," bnei ha'adam. That needs explaining, because nobody else could have built it.
  • The phrase ties them to Adam. When Hashem asked Adam about the tree, he answered, "the woman You gave me." He blamed the helper Hashem had given him for his own fall, even though he had free will and should not have listened.
  • The builders had the same ingratitude. Hashem gave them a beautiful world and a beautiful new valley, and they turned it against Him, so being called Adam's children is a rebuke for having no gratitude.

Were the gates of teshuvah closed to them?

  • "Now nothing they plan will be beyond them" means these people were so wicked that Hashem would not have accepted them even if they repented.
  • This is difficult, because the gates of teshuvah (return to Hashem) are said to be always open. The gate of tears is never locked, and Hashem says "return, wayward children" to everyone.
  • The answer is that someone who has no pity on himself does not receive Hashem's pity. Hashem helps a person who comes forward and takes responsibility, and this generation declared it would never repent and never change.
  • Even Acher, the great sage who left the path and was told he could not return, would have been accepted if he had actually come back, according to the commentators. So had this generation truly repented, it might have been a different story.

Seventy angels, seventy nations, and Hashem's own portion

  • "Come, let us go down" sounds like many gods, just like "let us make man." In both places Hashem is showing humility by consulting the angels, whom He created on the second day, even though He alone is in charge.
  • Here He gathered seventy angels and divided humanity into seventy nations, putting each nation under a ministering angel. This is the source of the angels appointed over the nations.
  • The line of Avraham was not among the seventy because Hashem took it as His own portion. As the end of the Torah says, "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of man… Hashem's portion is His people." The Jewish people are under Hashem's direct care, and every other nation is under its angel.
  • Until then everyone spoke Hebrew. Now seventy original languages and alphabets were split off.
  • When the sages translated the Torah into Greek for King Ptolemy, they rendered "let us go down" as "let me go down" so that no one would misread it as many gods.

Why Hashem divided humanity into nations

  • Hashem had sworn never again to bring a flood on the world, of water or of fire. That oath covers only the world as a whole; it does not rule out destroying a single nation, as happened to Sedom and Amorah.
  • So that the wicked could still be punished, Hashem divided humanity into separate nations (Das VeDin, quoting Rabbi Yosef Catzbi).

The six punishments of the generation of separation

  • First, Hashem confused their speech. Workers could not understand each other's instructions, grew frustrated, fought with their tools and killed each other, leaving bodies lying in the valley.
  • The verse hints at this. "To confuse" would normally be nevalbel, but the verse says venavlah, which sounds like nevelah, a corpse: "let us make their speech produce corpses."
  • Second, the ocean rose and swept away thirty families of builders. Third, families who saw this and fled toward the mountains found their way blocked, and the ground swallowed them.
  • Fourth, they could not even go back home. Hashem swapped their places, so that the people of Sidon went to Tyre and the people of Tyre went to Sidon. They had built the tower so as not to be scattered, and they were scattered, measure for measure.
  • Fifth, as the Gemara in Sanhedrin (109a) teaches, some were turned into apes and others into spirits and demons.
  • Sixth, the whole generation lost its share in the World to Come, because they were worse than the generation of the flood. Hashem would have flooded the world again if He had not promised never to do so.

One language, not even dialects

  • Originally, the language of humanity was not even divided into dialects. Today one language has many variations: Spanish and Portuguese are essentially the same, yet many words differ, and some places speak crisply while others slur.
  • At the Tower everyone spoke exactly the same way. That is why the Torah says "one language with uniform words": besides one language, all their words and expressions were the same.

Worse than the flood: marching on the palace

  • The builders were like citizens who march up to the royal palace and announce, "We no longer want you as our king; we are ready to appoint another." The idol with a sword at the top of the tower meant war, to overthrow Hashem.
  • In the time of the flood no one rebelled against Hashem this way; they only refused His commandments (Bereishis Rabbah 38:6).

Going down, not up: humanity's slide

  • The common view is evolution: over millions of years, creatures improve. Here people were turned into apes, which shows humanity sliding downward.
  • The world was created complete, with Shabbos as its completion, so humanity began perfect. The trend since then has been downward: people grow more and more animalistic, not more refined.

What became of the Tower of Bavel

  • The verse says they stopped building the city. Some say they stopped the city but not the tower, and others say they finished the tower but never got to finish the city.
  • A third of the tower sank into the ground, a third burned, and a third was left standing so that people would know what happened.
  • The Gemara in Sanhedrin says that from the top of the remaining third, the tall palm trees of Yericho looked like grasshoppers. Sefer HaYashar brings that its shadow was so long you could walk in it for three days.
  • The Gemara in Sanhedrin warns that the tower makes a person forget his learning, so one should not walk in its shadow, because no good comes from something evil.
  • Hashem destroyed it in two different ways, partly burned and partly sunk, so that nobody could call it chance or a freak accident. Two distinct destructions make it plain that it was a divine punishment.

Why they survived when the flood generation did not: peace

  • The generation of the flood was steeped in stealing, there was no peace between people, and so they were destroyed.
  • The generation of separation was even more wicked, but its rebellion was against Hashem, not against each other. They had no hatred among themselves and stood together as one, devarim achadim.
  • Hashem loves peace, and where there is peace His presence remains, so universal destruction cannot come even on people who are rebelling against Him. They still received the six punishments, but they were not wiped out.
  • Once peace is gone, Hashem's presence leaves and destruction is free to do its damage.
Review questions
  1. Why does the verse call Shem "the father of the children of Ever" and "the brother of Yefes," and leave out his other descendants and Cham?
  2. Why did it take 340 years after the flood for the world to rebel again?
  3. What did the builders reveal by saying "let us burn it" instead of "let us fire them"?
  4. Why are Shem, Arpachshad, Shelach and Ever not counted among the seventy nations, and whose portion did their line become?
  5. Name three of the six punishments of the generation of separation, and explain how the word venavlah hints at one of them.
  6. Why was the generation of separation not wiped out like the generation of the flood, even though it was more wicked?
Sources
  • Rashi — Nimrod trapping minds to rebel; the tower as his idea; the builders' theory that a flood comes every 1,656 years; the Lehavim's flame-like faces
  • Bereishis Rabbah — Nimrod tricking wrongdoers into confessing; the immoral origins of the Philistines; the madman who calms only in pain; the miraculously fast brickmaking
  • Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer 24 and Sefer HaYashar — Adam's garments passing down to Nimrod
  • Ramban on 10:9 — Nimrod as the first to rule over other men, at a time when there were no kings
  • Sefer Yonah — Nineveh, the great city that took three days to cross
  • Yalkut — Shem, Arpachshad, Shelach and Ever not counted among the seventy nations
  • Me'am Loez (based on Bereishis Rabbah) — why we name children after our ancestors
  • Yechezkel — "Avraham was one," behind reading devarim achadim as words against the One
  • Yefeh To'ar — the generation's belief that Hashem left the world to the stars
  • Aristotle — a similar view that Hashem is concerned only with the heavenly bodies
  • Gemara Sanhedrin 109a — the three groups of builders, people turned into apes and spirits, the palm trees seen from the top, the tower causing forgetfulness
  • Sefer HaYashar — the remaining tower's shadow, three days' walk long
  • Devarim 32:8–9 — Hashem's portion is His people when the nations were divided
  • The Greek translation made for King Ptolemy — "let us go down" rendered "let me go down"
  • Rabbeinu Bachya (as the Me'am Loez cites) and Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer 11 — the ten kings who ruled the whole world
  • Bereishis Rabbah 37:8 — Chatzarmaves, the people who expected death every day