A Rabbi Without A Cause: Achdus – The Ups and Downs of Unity

Parshat Noach

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch lived in Germany from 1808 to 1888, and was at the early stages of his career around 100 years before the Third Reich came to power. Reading his commentary on the Tower of Babel and the Dispersion, one wonders if he was prophetic regarding how far mankind could go in seeking a name for a community, or if he just saw the writing on the wall because the country which was his home for his entire life showed signs of how far a desired social order could be taken.

Sometimes when the words “unity” and “community” are bandied about, images of Fritz Lang’s German-expressionist film “Metropolis” come to my mind. The opening scenes of the “Shift change” are a little frightening to consider when we think of the importance of individuality, and the value of every human being. In 1927, Lang was demonstrating what it means when people are reduced to “workers” who no longer have a discernible identity. (see clips at the end below)

Regarding those building the tower of Babel, Hirsch writes “there was nothing wrong in the act of building a city or tower per se. The people’s sin, then, was in the purpose for which they built and in the attitude that accompanied their actions. Everything turned on their stated aim, ‘Let us make a name for ourselves!’”

Hirsch goes on to claim that such a statement “can be directed against two parties: against God, Who is over mankind; and against the individual, who is under or subordinate to mankind.”

When considering their motivations, he suggests they intended to make an edifice that future generations would have to continue building, through creating a structure “that would be an everlasting monument to the power of the community and its preeminence over the individual.”

Quoting Amos 9:6, he notes that God based His world on the community. “People are different from one another, and their views are different. Their duty is to complement one another… but this [only works] if the community assumes the same attitude toward God as the individual should, that is, if it subordinates its will to God.”

The worry Hirsch expresses is over the realization the individual will come to when he realizes that his powers are limited, while the community is not limited, and therefore the community “may easily come to regard itself as the highest goal.” This would supplant the uniqueness of the yachid.

If the community doesn’t call out in God’s name and “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 merely as a means toward an end – then mankind’s whole moral future is lost. Man… thinks the community is exempt from serving God and from observing the laws of morality.”

Continuing in his worry over the future of the individual, Hirsch writes “the individual is expected to sacrifice his life, and the community is expected to renounce its allegiance to morality… When the community builds its edifice of glory the toll in human life is deemed to be of no importance… The individual believes he has not lived in vain if he has sacrificed his life for the community, even if it is for a vain cause, as long as that cause brings glory to the community. Millions may die, yet the community is easily comforted and adds new layers onto the edifice of glory… From a spiritual and moral standpoint, the means becomes an end in itself.”

And so Hirsch draws attention to when a community gets it right versus when it is morally misguided. “If a community is in sync with its true purpose, then even if it has millions of members, it will require no artificial means to hold the people together; the bond between them lies in the consciousness of every individual, and the unifying point is God. If, however, a community does not exist for the sake of the individual… then the individual members must be compelled, or enticed by artificial means, to submit and to sacrifice themselves.”

Hirsch turns his attention to the lessons of history noting that in other times as well “the lust for glory prompted the building of a ‘tower’ and the indiscriminate consumption of all else, in order to obtain the building blocks for its own triumphs,” namely those of the power-driven authoritarian leader. Think of Egyptian pyramids and the Great Wall of China – was the goal on God, while focusing on the unique contributions of the individuals who built these structures? Or was the goal to “glorify the tyrant who knew how to exploit the energies of his community to set a laurel wreath upon his own brow”?

Was the individual so demarcated for destruction in the Tower of Babel episode? “The future of mankind, which depends on the inalienable dignity and moral significance of the individual, was jeopardized by the plans of the generation and its leaders. This is why God’s intervention is described as the work of Hashem (using God’s name of mercy), the Divine providence that ensures the future of mankind.” (Compare this, as Ramban does, to the name Elokim which appears throughout the flood narrative.)

And so the big problem was that “the community sought to be the individual’s sole master. This was an attack on the inalienable worth of the individual, which does not depend on the glory of the community, and which can never be reckoned in terms of mere bricks, not even those used in building the glory of the community. It was also a denial of God’s name. God summons every individual directly to His service and thereby makes every man, be he prince or slave, free and equal. The Name of Hashem tolerates no slavery! The moment the community says ‘we shall make for ourself a name’ and does not summon each individual in Hashem’s name… then God descends to see the edifice the community has been building and to assess the intent of the builders."

That community was a failure in many ways, and “its misuse of power sought to subjugate the individual to its rule.” This prompted God to disperse them across the globe.

Perhaps my suggestion that Hirsch had a keen reading on what was in store for his country, starting fewer than 50 years after his passing, is now a little more clear. The dangers of people creating an edifice for a higher power were demonstrated in that expressionist film, made in Germany in 1927, and six years later, the world’s most evil dictator came to power and turned “Metropolis” into a reality in his efforts to create a master race.

We are not living in such a time, yet community is nevertheless challenged in our times. In some ways, the individual’s identity has been removed or at the very least challenged. What, then, is the solution, and the take-home lesson? In the tower of Babel the only salvation for mankind, which was on a road to the destruction of individuality, was decentralization. People needed to move away and forge their own destinies, perhaps through starting their own nations and dynasties that would appreciate each person’s role and contribution much more than this misguided utopia could never provide, as it was, by basically all accounts, a product of the tyrant Nimrod, who lusted for power like no one else in his era.

Our goal is supposed to be the promotion of God as King, and of realizing that no person is as free as the one who chooses to be subservient to the King of kings, the Master of masters, our Father in heaven. (Avos 6:2, and see also Talmud Brachos 17a)

When we, as a community, can gather with that focus in mind – prayer, connection, and becoming one with Almighty in declaring His Name and in sanctifying His Name, we become worthy of our charge and our position in this world.

We should only be blessed to see a complete return to our task, which is to gather together to declare God’s Oneness, and to be the community that celebrates each individual’s right and power to be an independent thinker, while we unite together in our devotion to the mission our forefather Avraham made his personal life goal, to call out in God’s Name, and to sanctify His Name in every way possible in the eyes of the nations.

*****************

The following are film clips from "Metropolis" (1927) by Fritz Lang.