The Power of Unity

When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars that You have set in place, [I think,] “What is man that You should remember him, and the son of man that you should be mindful of him?” Yet You have made him but slightly less than God, and crowned him with honor and splendor. (Psalms 8:4-6)

Looking up at the cosmos, at the specks of light that seem to stretch onward forever into the millions of galaxies light-years away, we are struck with an overwhelming sense of awe. We get a taste of the Infinite power of the Creator of the universe and in contrast feel so infinitesimally small. "What is man that You should remember him?" King David proclaims.

And then he explains, "You have made him but slightly less than God." Human beings have incredible power! We can almost match the Almighty.

What is this enormous power that makes us “but slightly less than God”? In this week's parashah the Torah reveals our secret power, a power so strong that mankind realized that it gave them the ability to wage battle against God Himself.

How can this be? Who would be crazy enough to fight with the Creator of the universe?

Sounds ludicrous, but this is exactly what the builders of the Tower of Babel did.

Fighting Against the Almighty

The whole world was united as one nation, with one language and one purpose, as the verse says, "The whole earth was of one language and of common purpose (devarim achadim)” (Bereishis 11:1). Rashi explains that the words “devarim achadim” mean “one plan.” “Hashem has no right to take the upper regions for Himself,” they reasoned. “Let us ascend to the heavens and wage war against Him.”

They plan on building a tower and invading the heavens to fight the Almighty. What are their chances? It's ridiculous.

But listen to God’s response: "Behold, they are one people with one language for all, and this they begin to do! And now, it will not be withheld from them" (Bereishis 11:6). The Almighty Himself testifies in the Torah that as long as they are united, nothing will stop them from attaining their goal, even though their undertaking is diametrically opposed to Hashem’s purpose.

In order to thwart their rebellion, Hashem sowed seeds of dissension among them. "Come, let us descend and confuse their language, so that one will not understand the language of his companion” (Breishis, 11:7). By changing their language, He made it difficult for them to communicate with each other, and that caused their unity to implode. Once they were at odds with each other, Hashem was able to disperse them. “And the Lord scattered them from there upon the face of the entire earth, and they ceased building the city" (Breishis, 11:7,8).

How Great is Peace

The Midrash (Sifri, Naso 42) describes the incredible power of unity: “How great is peace, for even if Israel worships idolatry, if there is peace among them, the Omnipresent, so to speak, cannot overcome them since there is peace among them.”

The generation of the Tower of Babel was far worse than the generation of the flood, because they actually went to war against Hashem! Despite that, Hashem did not wipe them out, since they had one crucial redeeming quality: They were unified, with one purpose and one language, working in complete harmony to achieve their mission. Humanity came together. And as long as they were united, they were unstoppable.

Hashem said, "I cannot punish them since they are united. Of course, I cannot let them succeed with their attack, so I will undermine their unity and scatter them."

The Torah is teaching us the astonishing power of unity. When we are unified, respecting each other and genuinely listening to each other, nothing can stop us. There is an exponential power that is unleashed when we come together.

The Torah says, “Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand; and your enemies will fall by the sword before you” (Vayikra 26:8). But the math seems wrong. If five will chase a hundred, one hundred should chase two thousand. The Midrash says that the Torah is teaching us that “There is no comparison between a few who fulfill the Torah and a multitude who fulfill the Torah” (Toras Kohanim 26:10). When we are unified, our power is exponentially greater.

It is this power of unity that King David referred to when he wrote, “Yet You have made him but slightly less than God, and crowned him with honor and splendor." If you want to be in awe, Hashem says, look at mankind. When they are unified, nothing can stop them. Humanity tapped into this incredible power, but they misdirected it, using it against Hashem’s plan.

Unleash the Power

The Jewish people’s ultimate purpose is “to perfect the world through the Almighty’s sovereignty.” We are a “kingdom of priests, a holy nation” (Shemos 19:6), but do we know it? Does the entire Jewish people know it? There's no unity because we have forgotten our purpose, and as a result, we become preoccupied with our own egocentric goals, thinking only about ourselves and forgetting about the klal, the nation.

The Jewish people civilized humanity. Through our Torah we have taught the world the pillars of morality – monotheism, love your neighbor, justice for all, one nation will not lift their sword against another. Just imagine what we could accomplish if we would respect each other and genuinely listen to each other! We would change the world.

We are living in precarious times. With genuine unity, we can become “but slightly less than God,” and then nothing can stop us. We can unleash the power that the Almighty gave us to bring Torah to His people and clarity to mankind. The world is counting on us.