The Builders

I. The Builders

The Ariza”l teaches us that the Generation of the Flood, the Generation of the Tower of Babel and the Generation that left Egypt all shared the same souls. I would like to explore the meaning of this connection and, along the way, try to glean some understanding of the wrongdoing and consequences of the aforementioned generations that were severely punished along with the reason why the Jewish Nation was exiled to Egypt and what we received from the Egyptian Exile.

God created man in order to settle the world (Isiah 45:18). Just as God is a Creator and Builder man, in his mandate to emulate God, is intended to reflect the same industriousness. The first two millennia of existence are referred to be the Sages as the time of תהו (Tohu), emptiness, during which man did not take advantage of his opportunity to build, to further civilization and leave a legacy. We are taught that the predominant sin of those times was that of the wasting of seed, this symbolizes an unwillingness to work with others to create something new. It was each man for himself, and, with no cooperation or meaningful communication the advance of civilization was not possible. As they did not choose to settle and build the world, God punished them measure for measure by flooding the world and making the entire world desolate.

The following generation was determined not to repeat the same mistake. Where their predecessors were faulted for not building, they chose to engage in building. However, rather than uniting in a positive manner of cooperation, they united by finding a common enemy (God), and by demanding that all people be part of this singular effort and no other. They sought fame (שם) and centralized power rather than cooperation, building and settling the world. God scattered them and their building and built barriers to easy communication, challenging them once again to fulfill their mandate.

He then turned to Avraham. Interestingly, as God instructs Avraham to leave his homeland and go to the land that God shows him, the commentary of Rashi mentions twice that God was promising him that if he were to follow the instructions he would achieve fame (שם). That which eluded the previous generation would be his. We find that the patriarchs spent quite a bit of their time digging wells, and then re-digging them as others filled them with dirt. These were all efforts at establishing permanent settlements in order to advance the development of civilization. To some extent the Patriarchs succeeded, however, the next step could not be achieved until this body of souls who had failed twice before engaged in a national effort at building, something they did while guests of Egypt.

Before we continue let us review the thread. No building in the time before the flood, was followed by builders who sought fame. Their building failed, but fame was promised to their successor. Ultimately, the final step for the generation of souls was to re-engage in building during their time in Egypt.

II. The Talkers

Prior to the Nation leaving Egypt God said to Moshe to please speak in the ears of the people and tell them to ask their Egyptian neighbors for their gold and silver. Our Sages are puzzled by the word “please” and they explain that God didn’t want Avraham coming to him and saying, “You made sure to keep your promise to enslave my children, but you did not make sure to keep your word that they would leave with great riches.” God was, so to speak, asking Moshe for a favor so that he wouldn’t look bad in the eyes of Avraham. During the plague of darkness, when it was light for the Jews, they went around and examined the treasures of the Egyptians and now, before leaving, they asked for these riches as payment for the work they had done.

It seems a bit troublesome to believe that the “wealth” which they were taking out of Egypt was merely some gold and silver. Valuable as they must have been, one has to wonder if there wasn’t something more substantial, perhaps some spiritual lesson that they took from the Egyptians at that time.

The Ishbitzer explains that the servitude in Egypt came about because of a propaganda/psychological campaign run by the Egyptians to convince the Jews that the highest aspirations they could possibly have was to work as builders for the Egyptians. Over time, the people bought the message and never stopped to think that they could be achieving something more with their lives. The power of speech was in exile, the Kabbalists teach, because it was being used to exploit people and prevent them from fully realizing themselves.

This became obvious to the Jews during the plague of darkness. As the Egyptians fell into a state of confusion and chaos, for the Jews there was light, there was clarity. They learned and saw how the power of speech can be used to move people and build civilizations.

They now had both sides of the coin. From their experience as builders they now knew how to create, and from the Egyptians they learned of the great power of communication as a tool for building.

When they approached the Egyptians for their treasure the Torah said that the people had חן, usually translated as favor. Rebbe Nachman explains that the letter ח represents Chochma, the wisdom that creates the plan, the highest of the seven revealed sefiros, whereas the letter ן represents Malchut, the lowest sefira, the arena in which the plans are carried out. The Jewish Nation had learned how to build the world, from conception and planning to communicating and executing. This חן, Rebbe Nachman explains, is what enables a person to request assistance from another, or from God, and receive it. It enables productive communication.

They were now ready to leave.