Dear Sisters,
I want to share a quick thought with you that you can use as a discussion starter at your Shabbos table tonight. This Shabbos we will read the Torah portion of Noach, which is most famous for the story of the flood and the ark. The next most famous story in the parsha is about the tower of Babel. In a nutshell, the people rebelled against G-d, tried to build a tower high enough to fight against Him (silly people, don’t you know G-d is everywhere?!), and in response Hashem mixes up their languages and the whole plan falls apart. I want to focus on one point of this story that I learned from Rabbi Dovid Rosman in his book Torah Connections.
The Torah tells us at the beginning of the story that “the whole earth was of one language.” When Hashem deals with the people, He announces, “there is one language for all of them.” And the consequence He proposes is, “Come let us…confuse their language that they should not understand one another’s language.” Clearly language is super important in this episode.
The obvious question we need to deal with first is what language did the people of the world speak at this time? They all spoke the same language, but what was it? The answer is not Hebrew. (Did I just burst your bubble? Sorry:) The Hebrew that you are familiar with, which you even may speak a bit of, is a very modern language. It was revived in the later part of the 1800s, and was certainly not the language spoken more than 5700 years ago. Modern Hebrew words like proyect (project), epeedural (epidural), and televisia were obviously not in use in those days. A great deal of modern Hebrew is not really Hebrew per se; it is Hebraized versions of words from other languages.
The tower of Babel was built by people who spoke Lashon HaKodesh, the language of the Torah. We call this Biblical Hebrew today, although it literally means the Holy language. It is the language Hashem used to create the world and it is what was spoken by Adam and Eve and everyone until the tower of Babel was built. What makes this language holy or special? Lashon HaKodesh is a language that reveals the essence of the person within. It reflects the holiness within the person herself. Because it is the language of G-d it has this unique ability to reveal the inner depths of mankind. When the people abused this holy language and used it to create a rebellion against G-d, the consequence had to be to take away the privilege of speaking Lashon HaKodesh from them, and to replace it with 70 languages that have no inherent value at all.
Rav Moshe Shapiro, a great sage who passed away in Israel in 2006, shared a really fascinating observation about the structure of our lips. Most of our skin is flesh-colored on the outside, but red on the inside. The lips are the only organ in which the inside lining extends to the outside, which is why they are red. This physical reality is a lesson in the way our language reflects our inner selves. What we say with our lips is an extension of what resides within us. Through speech we show the world our true colors.
So here is the idea you can think about and discuss at dinner tonight: How does speech reflect our essence? Why does language show our true colors? And, if this is the case, what choices should we be making as a result?
Have a wonderful Shabbos and a great week,
Mimi David
PS We are back to programming! Join us for learning and inspiration!
Monday, Oct 26 — Mamas in Pajamas is back, better than ever! We are moving to zoom so it can be more interactive. We also have an all new topic: Lessons for Ladies from the weekly Torah portion! 8:30 pm zoom.us/j/9699246316. You can also call in if you prefer at 312-626-6799, and then enter that same ID.
Sunday, Nov 1 — Take a hike with Aish! Bring bikes, kids, and come to have fun and see people! 12 pm – 4 pm at Klondike Park between Defiance and Augusta. You can purchase a boxed lunch from Kohn’s for $10, and we have a heated pavilion reserved for the afternoon. Call the office 314-862-2474 to let us know if you are coming and to order your lunch. Looking forward to it!
