Looking Out For Myself

Parshat Noach

The Tower of Babel story teaches many lessons. Arguably the most blatant problem in the story is that the goal of the people involved was to "make for ourselves a name." (Bereishit 11:4)

Unified they were, but to what end? Hillel said, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?" (Avot 1:14) Avot D'Rabi Natan explains this to mean that "I am my own best advocate." For a person to be successful, the initiative to make a good name must come from within and must be followed with precise actions which will help achieve such a goal. How could this be a problematic aim for the builders of the tower?

The answer lies in the focus of the name they were trying to make, and its purported intent.

It is one thing to stand up for oneself and to make a personal growth chart guided by distinct benchmarks of "what I need to achieve to be the best I can be." It is an entirely different matter to put the vital interests of our community above those of other individuals and the world as a whole.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch writes, "The community complements the individual, but only if the community assumes the same attitude toward God as the individual should; that is, if it subordinates its will to God.

"If the community declares, 'We want to demonstrate the powers inherent in the community' without calling in God's name; if the individual is called upon to be a servant of the community, but not to serve God; if the community presents itself as an end instead of as a means to an end – then mankind's whole moral fixture is lost."

While Rabbi Hirsch may have been addressing the dangers of Communism (he lived at the same time as Karl Marx and they overlapped living in Germany at different times), I think we can springboard off his division between the community and the individual to create a new paradigm for what individual growth can look like.

Over the course of many travels and shabboses spent in different cities and towns, I have found many people quite dedicated to their communities. Many talk about how "everyone here is so nice." They'll talk about the distinguishing character of their shul, or the "chevra" they have, or how people look out for one another, in good times and especially in bad times.

They'll talk about how the community is very supportive of Jewish causes, how the community is a "makom Torah," and how the community is a model of chesed. Many people will say "I wouldn't want to live anywhere else." Some might even express the name of the "somewhere else" where'd they'd never want to live because "We don't want to be like those people."

But the story of the Tower of Babel is meant to tell us that it's not about what your community can accomplish. Many communities, in fact, do a lot of good. Each one supports their causes (and thank God there are plenty to go around), and each community looks out for their own.

The downside of the Tower of Babel group is emphasized particularly in contrast to an individual named Abraham, who chose to make a name for God, instead of making a name for his community. He worked on himself in order to sanctify God's name, rather than focus his attention on the trimmings of his neighborhood.

Now that the holiday season is behind us, let us ask ourselves in what ways we are working to sanctify God's name – both as communities, and even moreso as individuals. It's nice that we have shalom zachars. But why are rabbis the only ones who prepare the divrei torah to share?

It's nice that we have long shabbos meals, but why do we spend the entire time chatting, perhaps remembering to say a "quick dvar" right before bentching, in place of filling our shabbos tables with songs and a vibrant discussion of the parsha?

It's nice that our children speak at their bar and bat mitzvahs. But why does half the speech need to contain a gratuitous "roast" of siblings instead of a sophisticated thought that parent and child worked on together that shares a powerful message for speaker and participants? Let us aim to bring our children into adulthood, rather than encourage them to demonstrate how childish they can be.

It's nice that the communities we live in support causes, Torah, chesed. But wouldn't it be even greater if every individual participated in these support efforts, not just by saying "I'm a fan" but by showing up, rolling up sleeves, and getting involved?

Our communities can have whatever reputations they've developed or will develop. But our goals as individuals should always be, as Hillel said, "To look out for myself." If I don't make the effort to break away from the coattails of others to create my own good name, to sanctify God's name myself, and to continue to grow in a spiritual way, "Who will be for me?"