Babel

Babel

      In Genesis, we learn that humanity, speaking in one tongue, began building a structure that would reach the heavens.   G-d disapproved of the plan, caused people to speak different languages, and dispersed them throughout the world.   The Tower of Babel ceased to be built.
      Why did G-d disapprove of the structure?
      According to one tradition,[1] G-d did not disapprove at first.   For over forty years, six hundred thousand people worked together on the tower.   It reached so high that it took an entire year to bring materials to the top.   The materials, therefore, became very valuable; so valuable, in fact, that the workers began to care more about the bricks and mortar than the people bringing them.   If a brick fell and broke, people cried.   However, if the same happened to another human being, people looked the other way.   G-d decided that when structures trump relationships, structures should cease to exist.   So, G-d destroyed the Tower and made it more difficult for people to work together, hoping that, someday, we will learn once again how important we are to one another.
      We, the United States, have been building our own Tower of Babel for over two hundred years.   People of different nationalities, cultures, races, creeds, religions, and languages have worked together to create a Golden Medina, a safe haven where, in theory, anyone can make a living and everyone can live freely.   To this day, immigrants flock to America for a better life; to this day, the sky is the limit for what we, as a nation, should be able to accomplish together for ourselves and others.
      But, when we care more about stock options than the people stocking our shelves, our Tower begins to crumble.
      When we look at low wage workers as people who work for us instead of with us, our Tower begins to crumble.
      When we treat service workers like dogs instead of seeing that they have to work like dogs just to make ends meet, our Tower begins to...