This D’var Torah should be a Zechus L’Ilui Nishmas my sister, Kayla Rus Bas Bunim Tuvia A”H, my maternal grandfather Dovid Tzvi Ben Yosef Yochanan A”H, my maternal grandfather Dovid Tzvi Ben Yosef Yochanan A”H, my paternal grandfather Moshe Ben Yosef A”H, my uncle Reuven Nachum Ben Moshe & my great aunt Rivkah Sorah Bas Zev Yehuda HaKohein.
It should also be in Zechus L’Refuah Shileimah for:
-My father Bunim Tuvia Ben Channa Freidel
-My grandmothers Channah Freidel Bas Sarah, and Shulamis Bas Etta
-MY BROTHER: MENACHEM MENDEL SHLOMO BEN CHAYA ROCHEL
-Mordechai Shlomo Ben Sarah Tili
-Noam Shmuel Ben Simcha
-Chaya Rochel Ettel Bas Shulamis
-And all of the Cholei Yisrael, especially those suffering from COVID-19 and the Meiron tragedy.
-It should also be a Z’chus for an Aliyah of the holy Neshamos of Dovid Avraham Ben Chiya Kehas—R’ Dovid Winiarz ZT”L, Miriam Liba Bas Aharon—Rebbetzin Weiss A”H, as well as the Neshamos of those whose lives were taken by terrorists (Hashem Yikom Damam), COVID-19, and the Meiron tragedy.
-It should also be a Z’chus for success for Tzaha”l as well as the rest of Am Yisrael, in Eretz Yisrael and in the Galus.
בס”ד
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Parsha Paradise/פרשה פרדס – Noach: What was the Sin of the Tower Builders? ?
Enter the Pardeis with me as we answer this question according to P’shat, Remez, Drash and Sod.
Audio version:
https://jewishpodcasts.fm/thedatabeis/24222
P’shat:
Netziv [Ha’Eimek Davar, Bereishis 11:6] picks up on Hashem’s voiced concern that “nothing will be withheld” from this people, “whatever they scheme.” He elaborates that if the people, through their conformity, would succeed in completing this tower, they would eventually become a society that functions only based on one limited perspective, violently intolerant of any dissent.
Remez:
Ba’al HaTurim [11:2] points out that the word “B’Nas’am”-“when they traveled” only appears in other time, namely when the B’nei Yisrael fled Har Sinai, as the Midrash portrays, like children from school. Just as they attempted to retreat from their commitment at their first national center of religious responsibility, the tower builders fled the moral yoke of G-d.
Drash:
Rashi [11:1, citing Bereishis Rabbah 38:6] suggests several Drashos based on the words “Devarim Achadim”-“matters of oneness.”
(1) The people comformed toward “one” unified Eitzah (counsel) to do war against G-d.
(2) They challenged the “Oneness” or “Singularity” of G-d.
(3) They communicated sharp words (“Devarim Chaddim”), devising a scheme to prevent a future Flood (which they rationalize, was a natural occurrence).
Sod:
Zohar [1:25B] explains the mighty men of this generation were the progenitors of the Eirev Rav who would build Batei Kneisiyot and Batei Midrash, and would crown Sifrei Torah, but they would do so in a way that SheLo L’Sheim Shamayim (not for the Name of Heaven), but in order to “make a name for [them]selves.”
(Rashbatz, Abarbanel, and Ran have similar explanations of the story.)
We should be Zocheh to overcome the inclinations of conformity, diffusion of religious responsibility, denial of G-d, and self-aggrandizement, and Hashem should build, with us, not a defective tower to Shamayim, but the steady and eternal Beis HaMikdash L’Sheim Shamayim, Bimheirah BiYomeinu! Have a Great Shabbos!
-Yehoshua Shmuel Eisenberg