{"id":36109,"date":"2018-07-29T01:36:40","date_gmt":"2018-07-28T22:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=36109"},"modified":"2022-02-19T23:01:39","modified_gmt":"2022-02-19T21:01:39","slug":"the-too-tall-tower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-too-tall-tower\/","title":{"rendered":"The Too-Tall Tower"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[400],"acf":{"old_id":"36109","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"11","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Is ambition, even inflated ambition, an offense? ","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The builders of the Tower of Babel had their work cut out for them. The alluvial plain of Mesopotamia (formed by the Flood) had no quarries that would yield monumental stone. Instead, they molded and fired bricks and substituted raw-bitumen for mortar. By the power of technological ingenuity, they freed themselves from their environmental constraints. By ordinary standards, they would seem to be in line for our congratulations, their exaggeration over its height notwithstanding.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Particularly vexing, then, is the theological challenge the story poses. Is ambition, even inflated ambition, an offense? Why did the Sages regard the construction project as a grievous sin and according to the Mishnah [Sanhedrin 10:1], deny the \u201cgeneration of the dispersion\u201d a share in the World to Come?\u00a0 According to Rashi, they were intent upon ascending heaven in order to overthrow God. Ibn Ezra, however, argued that their crime was the refusal to abide by God\u2019s post-diluvian imperative to \u201cbe fertile, increase, and fill the earth\u201d (9:1).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The builders of Babylon, then, are the archetypes of selfish and egoistical human who puts himself even above God and places his own desires at the center of his existence while relegating God\u2019s dictates and imperatives to the periphery. God commanded humankind \u201cto fill the earth,\u201d and in the face of this decree the otherwise understandable, even admirable desire for unity (of both language and purpose) becomes rebellious.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":36135,"id":36135,"title":"tower","filename":"tower.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tower.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-too-tall-tower\/tower\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"tower","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":36109,"date":"2018-07-28 23:17:47","modified":"2023-07-02 11:03:25","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":408,"height":580,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tower-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tower-211x300.jpg","medium-width":211,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tower.jpg","medium_large-width":408,"medium_large-height":580,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tower.jpg","large-width":408,"large-height":580,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tower.jpg","1536x1536-width":408,"1536x1536-height":580,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tower.jpg","2048x2048-width":408,"2048x2048-height":580,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tower.jpg","post_full_size-width":408,"post_full_size-height":580,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tower-295x420.jpg","home_baner-width":295,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The Too-Tall Tower","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Is ambition, even inflated ambition, an offense? 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