Dear members and friends,

 

While the American media has devoted a significant amount of air time to a premature discussion on who will be the next President of the United States, a political light year from now, other developments in the word have received scant notice. Having said that, it’s hard to ignore the recent events in Israel.

As it is portrayed, the current conflict surrounds the Temple Mount: who has and who does not have the right to enter the space? For many years, Jews in Israel deliberately avoided an extensive public discussion about the unavoidable centrality of the Temple Mount in our tradition. Of course, denying the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount is almost as absurd as trying to deny the Holocaust (and some of course try). For many years, I also thought that this issue is so explosive that it’s better to be silent about it. But more and more, I am starting to believe otherwise.

We recently read Parashat Noah, and the lesson there may provide a solution to the conflict. The Torah tells us that “Noah was a righteous man in his generations.” (Gen. 6:9) This passage can represent the two main generations in the story of Noah — Dor HaMabool, the generation of the flood — and Dor HaPalagah, the generation after the flood and the constructing of the Tower of Babel, when God separated mankind’s single language into many languages. In both cases, God disapproved of the people’s behavior. In the first case, it was the relationship among the people, who stole and raped. In the second case, it was the relationship between God and the people, who built “a tower, with its top in heaven” (Gen. 11:4), essentially with a desire to surpass God.

It seems that the punishment in the first case — causing the flood — is different from the second case — causing miscommunication. The 70 nations listed in the 10th chapter of Genesis are the 70 grandchildren of Noah born after the flood: “These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations; and of these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.” (Gen. 10:32) Nevertheless, there is still a common thread between the two punishments; both have to do with the word. Just as God assembled the world with words, He disassembled it through words. Of course, it’s easy to see the connection to the words in the case of the 70 nations and the creation of many languages, but how do we see it in the case of the flood? Well, here we have to look a little deeper.

Our sages taught us in a Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 13:15) that there are 70 “faces” to the Torah — many valid interpretations to the word. Interestingly, another name for the word “word” in Hebrew is tevah, the same as Tevat Noah — Noah’s Ark. So from Noah’s ark, out came 70 nations — literally 70 faces; so too, from the word, out can come 70 faces — 70 interpretations. The same world God created with words He destroyed by a flood, but not before protecting the means of re-creating.

Similarly, there are connections made by Noah’s Ark and Tabernacle and Holy Temple; they are three structures about which the Bible tells us their measurements. In a sense, they are all containers of the Word of God. Noah was a righteous man in his generations; he followed God’s instructions and did not argue with Him, as Abraham did. He followed the letter of the law, of the word, or simply entered the “Ark.” But in order to create a new world, the Ark had to be opened, and 70 faces had to come out of it. When the 70 nations kept only one language in the world, God realized that they were missing the point. Speaking one language, or only one way of interpretation, can lead to a world of oppression and a false sense of power — the very reason God destroyed the world. Therefore, God had to diversify their languages.

Perhaps we can learn from it that the conflict on Temple Mount is unnecessary. Not only is there room for Jews and Muslims to pray there in their respective languages and interpretations, but there is room also for others. “For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Said the Lord God who gathers the dispersed of Israel: Yet I will gather others to him, beside those of him that are gathered.” (Isaiah 57:7-8)

With many blessings,

—Rabbi Gadi Capela