The sermon starts at the 5:00 mark in this video.
(1) Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words. (2) And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. (3) They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard.”—Brick served them as stone, and bitumen served them as mortar.— (4) And they said, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world.” (5) The LORD came down to look at the city and tower that man had built, (6) and the LORD said, “If, as one people with one language for all, this is how they have begun to act, then nothing that they may propose to do will be out of their reach. (7) Let us, then, go down and confound their speech there, so that they shall not understand one another’s speech.” (8) Thus the LORD scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. (9) That is why it was called Babel, because there the LORD confounded the speech of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
How do you understand the people's motivation in this story? How do you understand God's motivation?
(ו) רבי פנחס אומר לא היו שם אבנים לבנות את העיר ואת המגדל מה היו עושין היו מלבנים לבנים ושורפין אותן כיוצר חרש עד שבנו אותו גבוה שבעים מיל ומעלות היו לו ממזרחו וממערבו אלו שהיו מעלין את הלבנים היו עולים ממזרחו ואלו שהיו יורדין היו יורדין ממערבו ואם נפל אדם ומת לא שמי' את לבם עליו ואם נפלה לבנה אחת היו יושבין ובוכין ואומרין אוי לנו אימתי תעלה אחרת תחתיה.
(6) Rabbi Phineas said: There were no stones there where-with to build the city and the tower. What did they do? They baked bricks and burnt them like a builder (would do), until they built it seven mils high, and it had ascents on its east and west. (The labourers) who took up the bricks went up on the eastern (ascent), and those who descended went down on the western (descent). If a man fell and died they paid no heed to him, but if a brick fell they || sat down and wept, and said: Woe is us ! when will another one come in its stead?
How do these texts compare to the original Torah text?
What message are the rabbis trying to send to the reader in each of these texts?
"This isn't a punishment. God blesses the people by putting them in situations where they are forced to be different, forced to learn and care about others . . . God pushed them to a place where love could now grow them." (18:30)
What do you make of this interpretation? How do we know whether this was a punishment or a blessing?
Our creation story, at the beginning of Genesis, is a story of movement from chaos to order, which God deems "good." Do you ever think chaos is preferable to order?
Have there been times when you have interpreted something as a punishment, or negative shift in your life, and later seen it as a blessing?
What ideas regarding come to mind when you consider the Reverend’s charge about choosing new situations that “force us to love others past whatever fear we have for ourselves”? How would society look different if we heeded this call?
"Justice is going to look chaotic. It's going to require us to push beyond our normal sensibilities and to try something new."
What biblical or historical moments does this bring to mind for you?
What personal moments does this call to mind?
Is it ever easier to build something new starting from chaos and devastation, rather than the status quo?
In what ways have you been given a push into chaos during the pandemic? Have any of these changes been a source for good?