The Torah notes that "all the earth had the same language" (Genesis 11:1) and that the people gathered together in a valley and decided to build a tower to the heavens. Midrash (the Oral Torah) tells us that the people wanted to build a tower with a statue and sword on top to wage war against God (Artscroll Bereishis, The Sapirstein Edition Rashi, Genesis 11:1 note). If a person fell from the tower during construction, everyone kept working, but if someone dropped a brick, they mourned the loss of the brick and the delay it caused their work. In their single-minded focus on building the tower, life ceased to be precious; the people did not value the humanity of their fellow man. Being of one mind became toxic and destructive. So God gave them all different languages and dispersed them throughout the world. On one hand, when everyone spoke the same language and were of the same mind, they were able to join together in a unified undertaking of massive proportions. On the other hand, there was no voice of dissent among them to question their violent tendencies. Giving them different languages and dispersing them not only disrupted their endeavors, but diversified humanity as well.
Science backs up God here with a theory called the edge effect. You can learn more about it from this Hidden Brain podcast episode on the topic, but in short, studies on the edge effect show that working with people from diverse backgrounds increases the creativity of all involved. While it is natural to want to cluster with people who understand you and share your background, scientific and creative breakthroughs are more likely to come from diverse groups of people working together.
I can't help but draw parallels between the Tower of Babel and the political toxicity of our society today. When we surround ourselves only with people who think like us and only consume media that reinforces our beliefs, we are creating little Babels for ourselves. From our little towers of sameness where everyone speaks the same language, we propose to wage war on big ideas (capitalism, socialism, political correctness, the patriarchy, Big Pharma, etc), and reject the humanity and worth of anyone who does not contribute to our cause. What we can learn from the Tower of Babel and the edge effect, however, is that it is not good or productive for us to surround ourselves with like voices. Listening to only one perspective seems to inevitably lead us down a path to war. God's solution can be a model for our own attempts to do better today - diversify. Read multiple sources, talk to and really listen to the concerns of others, collaborate, learn a new language.
Shabbat Shalom
Science backs up God here with a theory called the edge effect. You can learn more about it from this Hidden Brain podcast episode on the topic, but in short, studies on the edge effect show that working with people from diverse backgrounds increases the creativity of all involved. While it is natural to want to cluster with people who understand you and share your background, scientific and creative breakthroughs are more likely to come from diverse groups of people working together.
I can't help but draw parallels between the Tower of Babel and the political toxicity of our society today. When we surround ourselves only with people who think like us and only consume media that reinforces our beliefs, we are creating little Babels for ourselves. From our little towers of sameness where everyone speaks the same language, we propose to wage war on big ideas (capitalism, socialism, political correctness, the patriarchy, Big Pharma, etc), and reject the humanity and worth of anyone who does not contribute to our cause. What we can learn from the Tower of Babel and the edge effect, however, is that it is not good or productive for us to surround ourselves with like voices. Listening to only one perspective seems to inevitably lead us down a path to war. God's solution can be a model for our own attempts to do better today - diversify. Read multiple sources, talk to and really listen to the concerns of others, collaborate, learn a new language.
Shabbat Shalom
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