CHASSIDIC PEARLS BY RABBI LAZER BRODY PARSHAS NOACH

The whole earth was of one language and of common purpose (Bereishit 11:1). The above passage is an apparent praise of the generation that built the Tower of Babel, in that the people were united. But, when we take a closer look at them, we see that under Nimrod's leadership, they were united in a double purpose of evil. First, as their leader's name indicates (Nimrod in Hebrew means "we shall revolt"), the people of Babel united in erecting the Tower of Babel as a declaration of revolution against Hashem. Second, they were united in their opposition to the tzaddik of the generation, our forefather Avraham (Abraham), the world's lone monotheist. Nimrod threw Avraham into the same fiery furnace that was used to produce bricks for the Tower of Babel. As such, the construction of the Tower of Babel and the attempt to kill Avraham were simultaneous acts of the same evil generation revolting against Hashem. According to Rashi and the Midrashic texts, Avraham was thrown into the fiery furnace in the Hebrew year of 1972, when he was 24 years old. Hashem put an end to the folly of Babel by confusing the languages and scattering the people of Babel across the face of the earth a mere 24 years later, in the Hebrew year of 1996 when Abraham was 48 years old. To be exact, we find that the unity and "common purpose" of the evil generation lasted only for a few decades. In reality, as we learn in retrospect, there was no unity at all among the different peoples; on the contrary, they hated each other. Yet, they united in their double purpose of evil to revolt against Hashem and to oppose the generation's one true tzaddik, Avraham. As the old adage says, even two dogs that hate each other will unite to fight the wolf. Rebbe Nachman of Breslev teaches an eye-opening principle (see Likutei Moharan I:67.6) and says, "When the evil unite, they fall quickly."