Two covenants: purity and holy speech

והנה בפרשה זו נא' ענין דור המבול ודור הפלגה והם ענין ב' הבריתות שניתן לבנ"י ברית המעור וברית הלשון.

Now, in this parsha the matters of the Generation of the Flood and the Generation of the Dispersion are related, and they correspond to the two covenants given to Bnei Yisrael: the covenant of the bris (circumcision) and the covenant of the tongue.

The Sefas Emes maps the two great failures of Noach's era — the Flood generation (sins of immorality) and the Dispersion generation (sins of speech) — onto the two covenants that Bnei Yisrael are charged to guard: the bris of milah and the bris of the tongue.

וכיון שנקראו בריתות הם דברים שיש להם התקשרות באחדות הנ"ל ולכן צריכין סיוע להוציאן מכח אל הפועל וצריכין שמירה ולא לחנם נכשלו דורות הראשונים בזה.

And since they are called "covenants," they are matters that have a connection to the aforementioned Oneness; therefore they require assistance to bring them from potential into actuality, and they require guarding. And it was not for nothing that the early generations stumbled in this.

Because these two faculties are "covenants," they connect a person to Hashem's Oneness — and precisely because they are so lofty, they need divine help to be realized and careful guarding to protect them. The early generations' failures in these very areas were no accident; these are the hardest, most consequential domains.

והקב"ה נתן לנו ברית מילה לסיוע לתיקון המעור.

And Hashem gave us bris milah as an assistance for the rectification of the bris (the area of moral purity).

To help us succeed where the Flood generation failed, Hashem gave bris milah as a support for guarding personal holiness.

והתורה לתיקון הלשון.

And the Torah for the rectification of the tongue.

And to help us succeed where the Dispersion generation failed, Hashem gave the Torah as a support for sanctifying speech.

כי כח הדיבור עושה תולדות והתחדשות כמו המעור שמוליד וממשיך נשמה מן השמים כן הדיבור אם הוא כראוי בדחילו ורחימו כמו שהיו בראשונים ודור הפלגה היו שפה אחת והי' להם כח הלשון שנק' מדבר מלשון מלכות והנהגה שיש בכח הפה לגזור ולעשות התחדשות וכ' הבה נבנה כו'.

For the power of speech produces offspring and renewal, just as the bris [of procreation] generates and draws down a soul from Heaven; so too speech, when it is as it should be, with awe and love — as it was among the early ones. And the Generation of the Dispersion were "one language," and they possessed the power of the tongue, which is called "medaber (speaker)," from the term for kingship and governance, for there is power in the mouth to decree and to bring about renewal; and it is written, "Come, let us build, etc." (Bereishis 11:4).

Speech, like procreation, is creative — it "gives birth" and brings new things into being, just as the marital bris draws a soul down from Heaven. When speech is uttered with dread and love, it carries immense power. The Dispersion generation, unified in "one language," wielded this creative power of the tongue (linked to "kingship" and rulership) — the very power to decree and create — and they harnessed it for "Come, let us build."

ואחר כך כ' וירד לראות כו' אשר בנו.

And afterward it is written, "And He descended to see... which they had built" (Bereishis 11:5).

The Torah then says Hashem "descended to see what they had built."

ולא נזכר עדיין בנין. משמע שבזה הדיבור עשו בנין וכמ"ש באדה"ר לראות מה יקרא והכא כ' לראות ג"כ כי זה כח קריאת שמות של האדם.

And no building had yet been mentioned. This implies that through this very speech they had already made a "building." And as it is written regarding Adam HaRishon, "to see what he would call them" (Bereishis 2:19), and here too it is written "to see" — for this is the power of a person's naming.

Strikingly, the verse speaks of "what they had built" before any structure was described — implying that their speech itself was the "building." The Sefas Emes links this to Adam, whom Hashem brought the animals "to see what he would call them": man's power of naming is itself a creative, building force, the same word "to see" appearing in both verses.

וכוונתם לא הי' לטובה לכן ניטל מהם כח הלשון וניתן לבנ"י בכח התורה ולכן היו הראשונים מתפללים ונענים שהיו מתפללים בשם כמ"ש בגמ'.

But their intent was not for good; therefore the power of the tongue was taken from them and given to Bnei Yisrael through the power of the Torah. And therefore the early ones [of Israel] would pray and be answered, for they would pray using the [Divine] Name, as is stated in the Gemara.

Because the Dispersion generation misused this creative power of speech, it was stripped from them and entrusted instead to Bnei Yisrael through the Torah. This is why the early Yidden could pray with the Divine Name and have their tefillos answered — they had inherited the holy creative power of the tongue.

וב' הבריתות שיש לבנ"י מילה ושבת מילה ותפילין הם ב' הנ"ל כי שבת סהדותא איקרי והוא ברית הלשון וכמו כן תפילין למען תהי' תורת ה' בפיך וכמ"ש ואשים דברי בפיך היפוך מנבלה שפתם.

And the two covenants that Bnei Yisrael possess — milah and Shabbos, milah and tefillin — are the two mentioned above. For Shabbos is called "testimony," and it is the covenant of the tongue; and likewise tefillin, "so that the Torah of Hashem shall be in your mouth" (Shemos 13:9). And as it says, "I have placed My words in your mouth" (Yeshayahu 51:16) — the opposite of "let us confound their language" (Bereishis 11:7).

The two covenants of Bnei Yisrael — milah (guarding purity) paired with Shabbos and tefillin (guarding speech) — correspond to the two earlier failures. Shabbos is "testimony" and tefillin places "the Torah of Hashem in your mouth," both sanctifying the tongue. "I have placed My words in your mouth" is the direct reversal of the confounding of language at Bavel.

לנטוע שמים כו' ולאמר עמי אתה כ' בזוה"ק עמי כמה דאנא במלולא עבדית שמים כו' ע"ש:

"To plant the heavens... and to say to Tziyon, 'You are My people'" (Yeshayahu 51:16). The Zohar HaKadosh writes on "My people (ami)": [read it as] "with Me (imi)" — just as I made the heavens through speech, etc. — see there.

The same verse continues "to plant the heavens... and say 'you are My people.'" The Zohar rereads "ami (My people)" as "imi (with Me)": just as Hashem created the heavens through speech, so a Yid, through holy speech rooted in the Torah, becomes a partner "with Me" in this creative power — the ultimate tikkun of the tongue.

Summary: The two great failures of Noach's era — the Flood generation's immorality and the Dispersion generation's misuse of speech — correspond to two "covenants" Bnei Yisrael must guard: the bris of milah (purity) and the bris of the tongue (speech). Both faculties are creative and lofty, connecting a person to Hashem's Oneness, and so require divine assistance and careful guarding. Hashem gave milah to safeguard purity and the Torah (with Shabbos and tefillin) to sanctify speech. The creative power of the tongue, which the Dispersion generation abused at Bavel, was transferred to Bnei Yisrael through the Torah, so that holy speech becomes a partnership "with Hashem" in His own creative word.