Do We Share HaShem’s Priorities?
Two of histories more tragic events happened relatively close to each other chronologically. The generation of the flood and the generation of the dispersion occurred within five generations. Both are tragic from the perspective that the sinners in both generations lost their share in the world to come. For the people who lived during the flood, they were also punished by being physically wiped out, unlike the generation of the dispersion who lived on in a normal fashion albeit dispersed throughout the world.
Our Sages of Blessed Memory see the chronological juxtaposition of these two generations as a message to compare them. Upon scrutiny they drew a most significant distinction, which raises an obvious question. Although, both generations lost their share in the eternal world to reside in Gehinom forever, as mentioned, the generation of the flood had the added punishment of death in this world. It would seem that their physical annihilation indicates a greater severity in their crimes.
Rashi in his commentary on the Torah poses the question of the Sages? How can it be that the people of the flood received a worse punishment if the crimes of robbery and theft were considered the actions that brought upon them the great wrath of the Al-mighty? Whereas, the generation of the dispersion had as their cause and united goal to rise up against Hashem and overthrow Him as the King of kings. The Midrash describes the towering edifice that they built to challenge Hashem as having an idol with a sword in his hand perched at the top.
Robbery and theft are serious crimes that can corrode society if left unchecked. However, it does not compare to any effort to challenge the ultimate Authority of the Universe, who gives and sustains life for everything that exists in His domain.
The explanation for this counter-intuitive outcome to this comparison is common throughout the Torah. Simply put, what seems to be logical to the human mind does not always conform to the way Hashem sees things. Chazal tell us that we have it backward. From the eternal perspective, peace and unity are the loftiest attributes that a society can achieve, even greater than a society that has a positive spiritual outlook-a connection to Hashem but lacks the middot to leave in harmony with each other.
Therefore, although the generation of the dispersion hated Hashem and actually sought to challenge His authority. Because of the achdut- a unified commitment to the same values and goals and the lofty achievement of Shalom, peaceful co-existence among them all, Hashem considered them greater than the people of the flood who showed little regard and respect for each other by constantly robbing and stealing. Hence, the people were only dispersed to remove their threat but were left to live active lives.
Actually, the real formula of a good life, which we all ascribe to and pray for, is a combination of two goals, developing a relationship with a Hashem through religious practice and through living a life of peace and achdut. Derech Eretz and middot tovot are the bedrock of peace and achdut.
We are reminded of this dual outlook when we reflect upon the Luchot, the two tablets of stone that contained the 10 commandments. The two tablets were identical and were considered of equal importance and held in the same grandeur. Yet, one contained mitzvot that reflected our direct spiritual relationship with Hashem, while the other focused on precepts that impacted our relationship man with man. Clearly the message, we need to be committed to both goals to ensure that we are fulfilling our purpose in this world.
What is actually more amazing if you think about it, Chazal seem to imply that the relationships man with man are more important than a man’s pursuit to serve Hashem. Chazal describe a well-balanced person as someone who pursues “Torah Im Derech Eretz”, learning Torah with proper behaviour toward other people. The word “im”-with, indicates that the Torah is secondary to Derech Eretz, “Torah (along with) Derech Eretz. This idea reflects back on Chazal’s comparison between the two generations, as we mentioned earlier.
A colleague of mine moved a while ago to a new community to take up the position of menahel of the local elementary yeshiva. He recently mentioned to me that soon after his first school year began, he realized that there was a significant amount of blatant bullying and mean spiritedness even in front of school personnel including himself. The behaviour seemed engrained in the youth. A short time later he shared his impressions with someone who had resided in the community for a long time. The response was, the children’s behaviour reflects a community culture.
After thinking about our conversation, I realized his community is not unique. The idea that children’s behaviour reflects what comes from the homes is what Chazal tell us. The home is the greatest role model for children. In this light, may I suggest three strategies that can help our children deal better with the challenges of having improved derech eretz and middot tovot.
First, parents, grandparents and all significant adults in our children’s lives need to strive to be paragons in middot tovot, derech eretz, avoid negative speech-lashon hara, rechilut, etc.
Second, parents should put greater emphasis on children’s successes in good behaviour and middot tovot than in academic success or other pursuits. This is also an important focus for teachers. They should be just as excited when a child does an act of chesed as he/she would when responding to a child’s understanding of a challenging concept.
Third, parents need to be careful not to be in denial about their children’s behaviour or try to minimize their child’s negative behaviour in order to protect their child from consequences or feeling guilty. This approach is insidious because children receive subtle messages that their behaviour is condoned.
Let’s embrace Hashem’s priorities because they represent the truth.
Shabbat Shalom