Parashat Noah – 5787

A D’var Torah for Parashat Noah

By Rabbi Inna Serebro-Litvak

 

A few years ago, when my daughter Emily graduated from high school, we went on a mother-daughter trip to Spain.

That was the first time I learned, with Emily’s help, how to easily use Google Translate from text or words, adding it to my toolbar.

This was quite a revelation for me! I couldn’t believe the convenience of this technological feature (remember this was four years before AI took over our lives). But at the same time, I felt cheated. I really wanted to be able to speak Spanish, as well as Italian, French, Mandarin – and perhaps other languages fluently.

I did eventually add French to my repertoire, along with Russian, English and Hebrew – the three languages I already speak. I confess that my success in learning French can be partially attributed to the Duolingo App. I practice with it daily and am fluent enough now to have a basic conversation. I have been committed to learning French and I take great pleasure when I understand people speaking French or when I listen to the songs of my favorite French artists.

As I continued to look for other tools to learn new languages, I discovered that there is an app called Babel. As a matter of fact, it was a Russian speaking store associate in France who told me about it. As soon as I heard the name, I exclaimed. “Oh, that is such a perfect name for a language learning app! Do you know why?” She did not, so I told her the story of the Tower of Babel. You are all familiar with this Biblical tale:

“After the flood, the earth was like one big country – there were no borders and the people spoke one universal language. (So I guess you can see why they had no need for Google Translate!)

The people felt very powerful. They decided to build a city and erect a huge tower in the center that would reach all the way to the heavens. They thought that this city and its tower would make them famous. This way they would “make themselves a name” and they would never be scattered. In other words, these descendants of the survivors of the flood thought they could be as powerful as God!

They carefully built the tower brick by brick. When God saw what the people had created, He said, “Lo! they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they have commenced to do. Now, will it not be withheld from them, all that they have planned to do? Come, let us descend and confuse their language, so that one will not understand the language of his companion.” (Genesis 11:6-7).

And so, God scattered the people across the land and also confused all the languages so that there was no longer a way for the people to communicate with each other.

As much as for me learning languages is enjoyable and intellectually stimulating, I find this part of the Torah puzzling.

Apparently, Ibn Ezra, a medieval commentator, found it puzzling too.

According to Ibn Ezra, God didn’t necessarily create different languages in one dramatic moment. He scattered the people first and the language changed over the generations. In other words, diversity was not simply a punishment. It became part of God’s plan for humanity.

I love learning a new language. It is not just the ability to speak it that thrills me. When I learn a new language, I realize that I not only learn how to communicate with people – but through their language I also learn about their unique culture and values. In fact, speaking a new language teaches me that there are many ways to express an idea or to view the world.

And so, the story of Babel may not be a message about punishment – but rather it may be a message about how important it is to create a world where we appreciate the importance of making an effort to understand each other.

It may seem that with the resources of AI and Google Translate we now have an easier way of communicating with each other despite the language barrier. And yet that isn’t enough. Even when we speak the same language, we still seem to have a hard time understanding each other.

I think the way to be better at understanding another person can be found in the way we learn another language. In order to become articulate in a language, it requires putting in an effort, practicing regularly, using the words you already know without the fear you are not pronouncing them correctly, and listening more carefully.

Learning another language teaches us essential skills for communicating with people even when we already share a language.

May we all continue to strive to be multilingual while perfecting our communication skills in any language!