Parasha: Noach · Aliyah: Sixth (Yesod)

ויהי כל הארץ שפה אחת. The whole earth had a single language. We must give some thought to the intent of the generation that built the Tower. What exactly did they mean to achieve by means of a city and a tower? If all they had in mind was to give expression to some aspect of heresy, how was that expressed by their building plans? If indeed their heresy was of a serious nature, their punishment, i.e. scattering them over the globe, seems an inadequate punishment. How would that punishment cure them of their heresy? The words ועתה לא יבצר מהם כל אשר יזמו לעשות, "Must not everything they are planning to do be withheld from them now?," are difficult. This line poses severe problems for a believer. Why did they say: "we will build a city for ourselves?" Who else was there to build a city for? Besides, did not G'd want mankind to construct a civilised universe? Surely He did not want a bunch of cave-dwellers?

If we accept the view of the sages that G'd intended one third of the earth to be under cultivation and civilisation, one third desert, and one third water, if you were to line up all the cities side by side even now several thousand years later, they would not cover one hundredth of a third of the available land mass! Most of the earth would remain desert, or at least uninhabited! It seems therefore that the roads linking one town or village to another are all considered as part of the "built up" areas that are to form approximately one third of the earth's surface. When the Torah reports that the people spoke one language and דברים אחדים, were of one mind about all important issues, the meaning is that they literally congregated together without spreading out at all. To prevent becoming scattered they built a single city. They built the tower as a landmark so that if anyone of them strayed too far from home he would be able to orient himself by seeing the tower from a distance. The "name" the Torah speaks of is the "name" of the tower, i.e. its visibility from afar, its significance. It was this very reluctance to comply with G'd's intention to populate various parts of the earth which annoyed G'd. Had they not been endowed with free choice, they never could have defied G'd's plan for an evenly populated earth in this manner. G'd therefore had to resort to some stratagem to frustrate their plan without interfering with their basic freedom of choice. G'd achieved this by confusing their uniform language. Henceforth people who had a language in common would tend to congregate together, and as a result of a common language they would choose to live together. This could only be accomplished through their migrating from what used to be a central location, or what we are fond of calling "the cradle of civilisation." G'd's whole purpose was to fill the earth with people. The sin of wanting to remain together in one location was almost as serious as outright heresy, being מקצץ הנטיעות. While it is true that there are numerous mystical angles to this episode, and our sages elaborate on many of them, none of these explanations represent the plain meaning of the text.

ותהי שרי עקרה אין לה ולד. Sarai remained barren, she had no child. Why did the Torah have to add "she had no child?" Our sages (Yevamot 64) comment that she had no womb. The Talmud there elaborates that both Abraham and Sarah were congenital טומטמאים, people with undeveloped genitals. The Talmud bases this on Isaiah 51,1: "Look to the rock you were hewn from, to the quarry you were dug from. Look back to Abraham your father and to Sarah who brought you forth." Rashi comments there that "hewn from" and "dug from" refer to G'd having supplied male and female genitals to Abraham and Sarah (after they were adults). The Talmud also states there that when someone marries a woman and lives with her for ten years and she bears no children during that time, he should divorce her and pay her כתובה, her marriage settlement. This is based on Genesis 16,3 where Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to have children with after she had failed to bear children after ten years in the land of Israel. The Talmud questions why we do not rather take Isaac as an example. He lived with Rebeccah for at least twenty years and did not take another wife but prayed and as a result had children from Rebeccah. The Talmud answers that actually the reason the Torah mentions the number of years Abraham lived in the land of Israel before he married Hagar was to enable us to compute Ishmael's age in comparison to Isaac's. This also enables us to calculate Jacob's age during different periods of his life. Tossaphot comment that actually Isaac too waited only for ten years before he prayed, seeing that Rebeccah was three years old when he married her and her normal child-bearing years did not commence until after Isaac was married to her for ten years. Tossaphot concludes that a) not all Midrashim agree on the subject; b) in those days girls were able to bear children at a much younger age than nowadays. They also say that even assuming that Abraham had been born without visible genitals, by the time he married he had obviously developed in this respect. However, we must accept the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah who holds that once a טומטום, such a person is unable to sire children even after his genitals have become visible. Of course, one must assume that Sarai's genitals too, had become visible by the time Abraham married her. [there is no good reason that Abraham a) would have married while suffering such a crucial physical blemish; b) that Sarah would have been given in marriage to anyone while she was similarly afflicted. Ed.] Even according to the view that once the genitals of a טומטום have become visible he is no longer totally sterile, it is unlikely that such people will be capable of siring or bearing children. The Torah therefore adds the words אין לה ולד in the case of Sarah to tell us that though she was no longer a טומטום, her condition had not changed materially, and she still did not conceive.

Furthermore, Rabbi Yehudah is of the opinion that the rule that a טומטום remains sterile even after his genitals become visible, applies only to the male. A female is quite likely to conceive once her genitals have been laid bare. According to this view our verse means that a) first Sarah was barren, i.e. her inability to conceive was not due to her genitals not being visible, a defect suffered by her husband but not by her. In her case it was simple barrenness that prevented her from giving birth. The Torah had to add the words אין לה ולד, to teach us that this was not due to a visible deformity.

According to the view that she did not have a womb, we must understand the verse as follows: It turned out she was barren due to an invisible deformity, i.e. the lack of a womb. This deformity only came to light after her genitals had become visible, i.e. after her visible deformity had been cured. The expression ותהי is not appropriate except for a new development, not for a condition which existed already, [many commentators do not share that view of the meaning of ותהי. Ed.] The words אין לה ולד therefore are meant to draw attention to her not having a womb to carry an embryo in.

ויקח תרח את אברם בנו. Terach took his son Abram, etc. We must understand this verse as an extension of a popular proverb quoted by Baba Metzia 75, that if someone experiences bad luck in one location and he does not move to another location he only has himself to blame if his bad luck continues. When Terach realised that his son Abram did not beget children in Ur Casdim he left in the direction of the land of Canaan to see if his luck would improve. The Torah shows us that Abraham was so important in the eyes of the other members of his father's household that they all joined in the migration in order to stay close to him. This is why the Torah adds the words ויצאו אתם, "they emigrated with them (Abraham and Sarah)."

ויהיו ימי תרח חמש שנים ומאתים שנה. Terach lived to be 205 years. The reason the decription of Terach's age differs from the description of the other people listed in this chapter, i.e. "all the days of so and so were, etc." is twofold. It can either mean that Terach lived longer than the years originally allocated to him, or it can mean that he did not live all the years that had originally been allocated to him. Here the absence of the words "all the days of his life" most likely mean that he lived longer than the years originally allocated to him. He accumulated merit because of his extraordinary concern for the welfare of his son Abraham. One proof may be seen when we compare Terach's lifespan with that of his father Nachor. The latter had only lived for a total of 148 years (11,24-25). Terach lived 57 years longer than his father. Our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 65,12) have said that when a man approaches to within 5 years (either side) of the age at which his parents died he should begin to be concerned about his own death approaching.

Inasmuch as Terach lived many years longer than his father, the Torah reports his death in conjunction with his migration to Charan to indicate which merit added the extra years to his life. Had the Torah merely stated the usual "ויהיו כל ימי תרח, all the years of Terach were, etc., we would have assumed that G'd had originally allocated to him a lifespan of 205 years although this would have been quite wrong. There is also support from the text for the view that Terach lived fewer years than had been allocated to him originally. The Torah reports that he set out on his way to Canaan. However, the Torah also reports that he died in Charan which is on the way. Terach had failed to make good on his vow to move to Canaan and settled in Charan. G'd shortened Terach's lifespan because he did not make good on his vow.

I have had an inspiration which enables me to explain why Abraham left his father in Charan though the latter had migrated for his sake all the way from Ur Casdim. When Abraham moved to Canaan Terach was 143 years old. He was 68 years old when Abraham was born and Abraham was 75 when he moved to the land of Canaan. [I presume that verse 26 which describes Terach as 70 years old when his three sons were born must refer to his age when the youngest was born. Ed.] It seems difficult to understand that Abraham abandoned his father for so many (62) years, even though G'd had told him לך לך.

I believe the answer is simply that Abraham had good reason to expect that his father would die soon after his departure for Canaan, seeing that he was within 5 years of the age at which his grandfather Nachor had died. G'd may even have given Abraham a subtle hint when He told him לך לך, go on "your acccount." The words "on your account," were to indicate that even if Abraham's father were to live additional years he had only Abraham's merit to thank for those years. Abraham therefore did not have to blame himself for "abandoning" his aged father.