פלג

Peleg is the man in whose days the world was divided into seventy nations. 'For in his days the earth was divided' (Genesis 10:25), and for the division he was named. In his generation the affair of the Tower of Babel occurred: all humanity spoke one language and sought to build a tower with its top in the heavens, 'and let us make a name for ourselves,' and God scattered them and confused their tongue.

Tradition teaches that the sin of the generation of the Dispersion was not in the building itself but in the pride and the false unity: they united not around truth but around rebellion, 'let us make a name for ourselves,' a unity that was all power without content. Precisely because of this unity God scattered them, for unity around evil is more dangerous than division.

Peleg himself, by tradition, was among the righteous who did not take part in the rebellion, and the line of transmission continued through him to Abraham. The name 'Peleg,' which memorializes division, forever recalls that there was a moment when humanity chose pride over humility, and paid with dispersion.

What do we learn from him? That not every unity is a blessing, and that unity around pride and rebellion is worse than division. The generation of Peleg teaches that the question is not only whether people are united but around what, and that a tower whose whole aim is 'to make a name for ourselves,' power without humility, is doomed to crumble.