This week’s reading is Noakh (Noah). It includes two of the best-known biblical tales, Noah’s Ark and the Tower of Babel. Because most of us haven’t looked at these stories since we were kids, and because we were kids when we learned them, it’s easy to forget that both stories have a lot to say to us as adults. In previous reflections, I’ve considered the Ark; this year, I’m going to focus on the Tower.
Let me begin by refreshing your memory:
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there…And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:1, 3)
To this day, human beings continue to erect monuments, build higher and higher buildings, and even plant flags on the moon. In this way, we assert our power and and seek a form of immortality.
Noakh, humanity and hubris
But in this text, God saw something more than a natural expression of human longings:
And YHVH said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” (11:5)
God may have promised not to destroy the world again after the Flood, but that doesn’t mean that human beings were then (or are now) all that trustworthy. Something had to be done. So God said:
Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (11:6)
Who, I can’t help but ask, is God talking to? The ancient Sages also asked this question, and offered this answer:
He took counsel with His tribunal due to His extraordinary humility. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 38b)
Whether or not you believe an anthropomorphized Divinity who consults with heavenly tribunal, this response is extraordinary. It suggests that even God can benefit from advice–more significantly–that God is humble enough to know it. Would that we were.
Humility is a virtue
Wikipedia explains that “[h]umility is the quality of being humble. In a religious context this can mean a recognition of self in relation to God or deities, acceptance of one’s defects, and submission to divine grace as a member of a religion. Outside of a religious context, humility is defined as the self-restraint from excessive vanity, and can possess moral and/or ethical dimensions.” The word itself derives from a Latin word meaning “humble”, which is itself derived from the word humus, which means earth or ground. Thus, humility can also mean, “grounded”.
Humility is considered a virtue and this quality is typically contrasted with narcissism, grandiosity, hubris and vanity, all of which are generally considered to be serious vices. Unfortunately, many of us misunderstand the concept. We believe that in order to be humble we must be self-deprecating and meek, and that is just plain wrong.
Genuinely humble people recognize and appreciate their own merit, skills and achievements. The difference is that they don’t take sole credit for them. Religious people may see them as gifts from God to be used in service of the Sacred. Others may simply recognize that everything they are and everything they’ve accomplished is the result of innumerable conditions that made it possible. They know they do not and cannot possibly accomplish anything without the help and support of others.
Interdependence and awe
I was born healthy, with a certain amount of innate intelligence, into a white family in a moderately affluent community. My family encouraged me to develop my skills, and both supported and inspired my spiritual and ethical growth. I attended outstanding public schools, and the vast majority of my teachers were gifted and compassionate. The synagogue my family helped to found taught me to love and respect Jewish teachings and practice. As a result of circumstances utterly beyond my control and having no relationship to any merit I might have, I’m blessed to be able to what I love without worrying about keeping a roof over my head or food on my plate.
I don’t for a minute think any of my accomplishments are solely mine. They are the product of everything I’ve just described and more. I genuinely believe that I am nothing more than a vehicle for something that wants to be expressed, and I am humbled by that role.
Humility is not just a virtue; it is wisdom. Our culture’s belief in independent individualism is, frankly, a delusion. No one is truly independent, and no one can go it alone, not even, as Noakh reminds us, God.
May you be blessed…
May you be blessed to appreciate your own worth and to recognize your achievements. May you see clearly the invisible web of connections that makes you possible. And may that which can only come through you flow freely into the world.
Ameyn keyn yehi ratzon. Amen, may it be so.
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