Noah 1987

In the Torah portion Noah we have illustrated one of the underlying themes of the entire Book of Genesis. That theme is, where does man find his worth? Within himself because he is a child of G-d, or must his self-worth be validated by others? Does man only have self-worth because he pursues a particular occupation or has a lot of wealth or is given fame and glory by others, or is his self-worth innate to himself because he is a creature of G-d? We learn how after the flood the people gathered together and built the Tower of Babel.  It says, "That in all the land there was one language and one speech,”literally one" words. Why should the Torah, which is usually so sparing in words, use the word "Uvoreem Achodim"? It already said "Sofo Achas", which means "one language". Why does it have to say "one words" as well? The answer many commentaries give is that when we mention the words "Devoreem Achodim" we are speaking about something else. We are speaking about the fact that the people had sharp words against G-d. There are two explanations about what these sharp words were.  Some people say that the people stopped believing in G-d because how could they believe in such a cruel G-d who would wipe out humanity, Who would send a great flood to destroy the world? They, therefore, ceased believing in such a G-d. Either they believed in the G-d but would not worship Him because He was cruel and capricious, that every 1650 years or so He would bring a flood to destroy the world, or they said that there was no G-d at all, that the world is just controlled by natural forces that have no overlord, that these forces are completely capricious, that floods come and go, that destruction comes, and man is put in a hopeless condition. Therefore, it says, "Let us build a city and a tower with its head up to heaven, and we will make for ourselves a name lest we will be scattered on the face of all the earth." "Nafutz" can also mean lest we be "exploded", "destroyed". We will not leave behind any mark in the world at all. They wanted to make sure there was some sign of their presence on earth, that even though they were to meet a cruel fate, even though the world was to be destroyed every 1650 years they though, yet they would leave some mark to show they were here. This is similar to what we did when we went to the moon and left behind a mark to show mankind had reached the moon. They said, "Let us leave a name behind. Let us show that we were here. Let us build a huge structure which will outlive any flood which will come in future generations.

At least we will say that we were here." Their whole self-worth was wrapped up in leaving behind an object, that the only worth they had was in the building they were trying to build. In fact, the rabbis say that if a person would fall off the building while they were building it and die the people would say, "Tut, tut," and continue on, but if a brick would fall and brick then the whole populace would moan and cry because it meant that the world was set back. This whole theme of what is important in life, where do we get out self-worth from, began in the earlier chapters of Genesis when we learned about the struggle of Cain and Abel. Cain was only interested in acquiring things. That is what his name means. He thought his own self-worth was in how much he possessed, in how much he could acquire, in how he could put his will upon nature. Everything was dependent upon the skills or property he possessed. Abel, on the other hand, was a spiritual human being. He understood that the most important thing in life is relationships, that the most important thing is that you are a child of G-d, and, therefore, you are holy just because you exist. Later on we learn in the struggle of Esau and Jacob that the same argument, basically, took place. Esau sought his justification and validation of himself outside himself in a gang of ruffians. He felt that if he won their approval, that if he could acquire things and master other people, then he was important. Jacob knew that that was not important, that your self-worth comes from within yourself. Unfortunately, we have in the United States today the fallacy being repeated. People think they are only important if they own things, if they can control others. They think they are only important if they have high ranking jobs. If they have low jobs they are of no worth whatsoever. I suspect that the suicide rate will go up in the United States now that the stock market has had such a precipitous drop. 

It happened in 1929. People thought they had no self-worth at all so, therefore, they jumped out of skyscrapers. They only had worth if they had money. The same thing applied to different types of skills. If they failed at a company, then they would skulk or hide and not show their faces and sometimes even commit suicide, because their whole worth was bound up in the fact that they could do a certain job, and if they failed at a certain job they had no value, no worth. I remember when I was a Hillel director the students who were contemplating suicide who I had to counsel very carefully were not C students afraid to get an F but A students afraid to get a B. In other words, their whole self-worth was bound up in the fact that they were going to get a B and not an A, and they would not be the kind of person they thought they should be.  In other words, their self-validation came from outside themselves, not because they were important because G-d created them and G-d wants them and G-d needs them. It does not make any difference whether you can accomplish this or that or you fail at this or that. As long as you try your best and you are a good moral person, that is all that counts. Unfortunately, in America today we are filled with this same idea, that unless you are a winner you are no good. I know that someone came to me with a personal problem and said, "You don't have to worry about me, though, Rabbi, because I have always been in the winner's circle, and I am going to be a winner." In other words, if you are a loser you are no good. You have no worth. In fact, we have taken all our relationships and turn them into a conflict relationship, a relationship in which one has to predominate and unless you win you are no good. We have even changed marriage into such a relationship. It used to be that marriage was a complementary relationship. A man had his responsibilities and a woman had her responsibilities, and they complemented each other. They did not conflict with each other. It really did not make any difference which responsibilities each took, but they each had their own areas. Now, however, everybody is supposed to do everything, which means there is perpetual conflict in a marriage. We see this throughout all life. People do not want to complement others. They want to ultimately conflict with others and compete with others on every single level.

Anything everybody else can do I can do just as well, etc. This leads to a terrible amount of tension and anxiety and loss of self-worth. We all have to believe that we are G-d's children. We all have to know that our self-worth comes just because we exist. It does not come because we can do certain things or possess certain things. That, of course, was the mistake of the people who built the Tower of Babel. Of course, it was going to inevitably lead to their dispersal on the earth, because they were setting up a situation where all their self-worth came from outside themselves, and, therefore, they would have to cheat and compete viciously in order to achieve the most. If their self-worth only came from building the Tower, then that person who contributed the most to the building of the Tower was the most important. That, of course, led to many, many problems. There is so much pressure on people today to cheat and act in a deceitful manner otherwise they cannot succeed. They cannot win, and they have to win at all costs. The people of the Tower of Babel had lost faith in G-d. They had sharp words against Him. That is perhaps why they had to look for their self-worth from outside themselves. We should always realize that no matter what happens, as long as we have tried our best and as long as we are good people, that is all that counts. You can possess a lot of things, but people still talk behind your back and will still consider you a lowlife type person if you act that way even though you have a lot of possessions. If a person acts in a moral way and is a good person people will recognize it. I remember a story I heard about a man who worked in a supermarket for 30 years. His wife was always pestering him.  "Why don't you get a promotion? Why are you still working in the produce department?11 Finally, after 30 years he came home and announced to his wife that he had been made a vice president of prunes. His wife was elated. The next day she called to supermarket to talk to her husband and she said, "Please, could you give me the vice president in charge of prunes?" The other person replied, "The vice president of soft prunes or hard prunes?" In life we should not look for our self-worth from things outside ourselves. We should not be so concerned about whether or not we have this one up on our friends or not know that in many corporations whether you can park in this parking place or have this potted plant or this type of bookcase is very important because it shows that you have self-worth, that you are important. Importance, though, does not come from things outside yourself. Importance comes from within yourself. Let us all realize that we are all important because we are all the children of G-d.