Where exactly did they do wrong? All we see from the apparent reading of the verses is that they sought to unite and work collectively towards creating a society with common goals.

The Midrash enumerates how the Divine Presence continued to further remove its residence on this earth as each continuous generation sinned. From the very first sin that was committed in history by Adam, followed by the sins of Kayin, Enosh, Generation of the Flood, Generation of the Dispersion, Sodom and Egypt in the days of Avraham, the Divine Presence ascended from its abode on earth to the Seventh Heaven, disassociating itself totally from the corruption below. It was only when Avraham appeared on the scene that the Divine Presence began its return trip to dwell once again upon earth. Avraham brought it from the seventh level to the sixth, with Yitzchok, Yaakov, Levi, Kehas, Amram and Moshe each successively drawing it down to until it resided once again upon earth. 

According to this calculation it turns out then that the Generation of the Dispersion was responsible for driving away the Divine Presence from the fourth heaven to the fifth. In distinction it was Yaakov who merited, by his virtue, to cause it to descend from the fifth level to the fourth.

Indeed, the Midrash points out this parallel between the Generation of the Dispersion and Yaakov Avinu insofar as the time period from the Flood until the Generation of the Dispersion was identical to that from the birth of Yaakov until the Jewish nation recited Az Yashir, the song at the splitting of the sea, which was 'ש"ם' שנה, 340 years.

There seems to be an additional analogy between the two, evident in the episode of Yaakov’s vision of a ‘ladder set earthward and its top reaching heavenward’ at Mount Moriah. Doesn’t this description ring similar to that of a ‘tower with its top in heaven’, reported here?

Here they take ‘brick that served them as stone’ but Yaakov specifically selects ‘from the stones of the place which he arranged around his head’, and then later ‘took the stone ... and set it as a pillar, and he poured oil on its top’.

In contrast to how ‘G-d descended to look at the city and tower, which the sons of man built’, at the vision of the ladder ‘G-d was standing on top of it’.

אשרי האיש אשר לא הלך בעצת רשעים ובדרך חטאים לא עמד ובמושב לצים לא ישב (תהלים א א), Praiseworthy is the man who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked, and in the path of the sinful he did not stand,and in the session of the scorners did not sit.

The Midrash teaches that the ‘wicked’ refer to the Generation of Enosh who initiated the seeds of idolatry, the ‘sinful’ alludes to the Generation of the Flood, and the ‘scorners’ refer to the Generation of the Dispersion. (ב"ר כו א)

What scorn is indicated here?

ויהי בנסעם מקדם וימצאו בקעה בארץ שנער וישבו שם (בראשית יא ב), And it came to pass, when they migrated from the east they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

The Sifrei reveals that the description of their ‘settling’ there implies indulgence and frivolous self-gratification similar to when the Torah describes the flippant atmosphere that allowed for the eventual sinning with the Golden Calf, as it states: ‘The people sat to eat and drink, and they got up לצחק, to revel’.

What is this lighthearted revelry and mirth that took place during the era of the attempt to build the great Tower of Babel that earned them the ‘honored’ appellation of לצים; clowns, scorners and jokers, that became their defining title?

Humor is a potent tool or more accurately a weapon. G-d created us with an ability to laugh at the absurd, often deflecting the stress of the moment with a good laugh. It can be used to lighten a moment or at times to destroy that which is sacred. Freud pithily said: “humor is a means of obtaining pleasure in spite of the distressing affects that interfere with it; it acts as a substitute for the generation of these affects, it puts itself in their place.” Humor can work as a deflection, or substitute, for the inevitable confrontation with emotional pain by deferring them perhaps for another time; for a time when one is stronger, or maybe to quash the painful reality of commitment and purpose altogether, conveniently shoving it under the carpet where we won’t be challenged by its summon to reality and responsibility.

As the Generation of the Dispersion undertook their mighty project to unify humanity towards achieving the elusive goal of happiness and success, they faced the reality of G-d’s expectation from mankind to be moral and kind. But too often those goals of morality interfere with the pursuit of happiness. They needed something to deflect the pangs of consciousness that would creep into their efforts to focus on the extraordinary task of building the towering edifice which would serve as their focal point of their objectives. The instrument they used to retain the populace’s undistracted attention was humor laced with an undercurrent of scorn.

When fears of G-d’s intervening in their goals blossomed they quickly joked about G-d, creating a momentary lapse of consciousness, all in good humor of course, allowing them to refocus on their task and quieting the stress of that fear.

Perhaps the Talmud describing the three factions among them; those who said ‘we will dwell there’, those who said ‘we will serve other gods’ and those who said ‘we will battle Him’, were  simply portraying the approaches they would use to ‘jokingly’ deflect their concerns by describing the absurdity of taking up residence in heaven or humorously claiming to find protection among the other gods, or  in the silliness of  possibly taking on  G-d. 

Might the depiction of them traveling מקדם, literally from the ‘past’ and וישבו שם, their ‘settling’ there, be emphasizing their desire to be unburdened from the past, to just live in the present, warding off fear of the future by implementing what Freud implies is artificial happiness.

When we are told by our sages that this generation ‘knew their Master, but intended to rebel against Him’, perhaps this means that although they joked outwardly but underlying their mirth were seeds of rebellion, a deep seated urge to undo the shackles of responsibility.

They sought to reach for the skies free of a consciousness of a benevolent Creator, who although bestows His kindness like no other, but desires for us to become great in the moral choices we make and directs us to see the ultimate joy, in a life of inspired choices. But they slipped down the slope of frivolity that provides momentary joy, permitting us to forget. It always catches up though in the end. This attitude is what G-d feared would enable them to ward off forever the true goals in life were they not halted.

Yaakov Avinu is the antithesis of those who grasp fleeting moments of unshackled joy. Yaakov was ever conscious, for even as he slept he awoke exclaiming ‘how awesome is this place’.

The exchange of man-made brick for the G-d formed stone represents the pursuit of artificial replacement for the genuine article. Yaakov mindfully grabs for the stone to erect a pillar in tribute to G-d. Yaakov knows of only that which is genuine and absolutely true.

We are told that Yaakov never experienced the unintentional impurity that stems from a mindset of קלות ראש, lightheadedness, which is interpreted by the great sage Rashi to mean לצון, scornful laughter and humor. His head remained firmly implanted in heaven even as he traversed the dirty soil. (שבת ל: ד"ה קלות ראש)

The land where this tower was built was called שנער, which possesses the root נער, to ‘shake off’.

They were experts in the poisonous effects of humor that can slowly erode and slough off all that is of value and worth.

Rashi quotes how after G-d confounded their language when someone asked a brick the other, not understanding the request, mistakenly delivered mortar instead, to surprisingly receive a frustrated and angry blow on the head from his partner builder. This is a classic routine in many cartoons and slapstick comedy. Did Rashi really need to illustrate for us what the consequences of misunderstanding one another can bring on an assembly line?

Perhaps Rashi sought to reveal to us that all is fine and good in humor until the jokes on us. This was indeed the ultimate message G-d sought to instruct to this dangerously misguided generation.

We live in a generation that lacks reverence for so much that is holy. The media is filled with caustic humor that mocks all that is sacred. We must keep our heads in the ‘clouds’ never allowing ourselves to descend in to the clutches of artificial happiness. We must never indulge in קלות ראש, לצון, lightheadedness. This is the legacy from our illustrious father Yaakov. Therein lays our true greatness.

באהבה,

צבי טייכמאן