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; lest we be scattered all over the world.” (Bereishis 11:4)

The sin of the dor haflaga is discussed by many commentators, yet I believe that many people do not have any clarity about what they really did wrong. I would like to share an approach based on Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, which I think is relevant to all of us in our communal lives. Rav Hirsch points out that it seems that the people in that generation specifically moved to a plain of land which was void of building materials – no trees or stones – and they had to make everything themselves. Obviously, this plain does not seem to be the regular place to build something. Instead, one would assume that construction would take place in a location where the building materials were more readily available. Yet, man has a desire to make his mark. Sometimes we have a city and as it grows and grows, suburbs develop around the city. Other times residents get frustrated with the city and decide to strike out on their own, as in the expression, “Go West, young man” (though in our case, the verse tells us that they actually went East). The newer generation decided to strike out on their own to create their own community and make their own mark.

Why would people go out on their own and make their lives more difficult? Maybe they were frustrated that they don’t have a place in society (they felt cheated that they are not “the players” in society), or perhaps their previous society was truly decadent and they wanted no part of it? In our recent history, this exact model seemed to have happened in the USSR. The original claim of the Communists was to create a society in which everyone was equal. Today we know the reality: Those who were the “managers” lead a far better life than the proletariat – the regular citizenry.

The verse tells us that the purpose of their community was to create a name for themselves. They would accomplish this by creating a monument. The Torah is actually telling us that their core reason to create this new society was completely corrupt. The Yalkut Shemoni tells us that their society was so morally baseless that if both a brick and a person would fall off the tower, they would mourn the loss of a brick to a greater degree than the loss of human life. It seems the reason for this thinking was because they felt that the ultimate goal was to have a greater community name. The individual was disposable. Such an ideal lacks the understanding that the community must not have a purpose of self-glorification but rather a purpose of serving Hashem.

Indeed, many times we find people who have all kinds of ideas of how to make things better for everyone else, yet many times in our subconscious it is about getting glory for ourselves.

I would like to share with you the following story: There was a widow by the name of Mrs. Frank who took for her daughters sons-in-law who all became Gedolei HaTorah. At one point, she had a daughter who was engaged to a fine bochur, but then it was pointed out that Mr. Frank’ Last Will and Testament left instructions that his daughters should only marry the best bachurim in Volozhin. Because of this, the match was broken. This daughter soon after married a different budding scholar. But life at those tumultuous times was difficult, and this new son-in-law soon felt compelled to go into his father’s business. Exactly at that time there was a yeshiva that needed a new Rosh Yeshiva and they approached the first bachur, whose match was broken off with this particular daughter and asked him to become the Rosh Yeshiva. After some thought, he said that he was not willing to take the job because he felt that the position should instead be given to Mrs. Frank’s son-in-law (the one who was about to go into his father’s business). He said, “I believe he can do just as good a job as me, and by doing so there will be no pain caused to a Jewish mother (for if he this first bochur would take the position, she would regret breaking the shidduch).” This is how one of today’s most famous yeshivas began. Doing something for the community with no kickback in mind, without any desire to have one’s name inscribed on a wall, can bring about a community of which Hakadosh Baruch Hu can be proud.