Power Of Speech Builds For Hashem

בענין דור הפלגה שהי' בכח הדיבור שהוא עיקר מעלת האדם המדבר דכ' השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי איזה בית אשר תבנו לי כו' אל זה אביט כו' וחרד על דברי.

Concerning the Dor HaPlagah (Generation of Dispersion), which operated through the power of speech, which is the essential distinction of man, the "speaker," as it is written, "The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool; what house could you build for Me?... To this one I will look... who trembles at My word" (Yeshayahu 66:1-2).

The Sefas Emes frames the Tower of Bavel as a misuse of speech — man's defining faculty — and contrasts it with the one whom Hashem regards: the one who "trembles at His word."

דבאמת רוצין שהתחתונים יבנו בית המקדש.

For in truth, it is desired that the lower beings build the Bais Hamikdash.

Hashem's will is that mankind below should be the ones to build a "house" — a dwelling for His presence.

כדאיתא מעולם נתאוה הקב"ה להיות לו דירה בתחתונים.

As it is brought, "From the very beginning the Holy One, blessed is He, desired to have a dwelling among the lower beings" (Midrash Tanchuma, Naso 16).

The whole purpose of creation is for Hashem to have a dirah b'tachtonim — a home in the lower world, built by human hands.

וכ' ואשים דברי בפיך כו' לנטוע שמים כו'.

And it is written, "And I have placed My words in your mouth... to plant the heavens," etc. (Yeshayahu 51:16).

Hashem places His words in our mouths so that our speech itself becomes the tool to "plant heavens" — to build worlds.

והכל בכח כ"ב אתוין דאורייתא.

And it is all through the power of the twenty-two letters of the Torah.

This creative power of speech derives entirely from the twenty-two holy letters with which the Torah — and creation — are formed.

אביט הוא כ"ב כמ"ש רז"ל הביט בתורה.

"I will look" (abit) corresponds to the number twenty-two, as Chazal said, "He looked into the Torah [and created the world]."

The word "abit" has the numerical value of 22, alluding to the 22 letters; Hashem "looked into" the Torah to create — all His regard for the world passes through Torah.

כי כל הבטת הקב"ה בעוה"ז באמצעות התורה.

For all of the Holy One's "looking" upon this world is by means of the Torah.

Hashem relates to and sustains this world only through the medium of the Torah.

כמ"ש כמה פעמים וירא אלקים כי טוב ואין טוב אלא תורה.

As it is written many times, "And God saw that it was good," and "good" refers to nothing but Torah.

The repeated "ki tov" of creation hints that the "good" Hashem saw in the world is the Torah within it.

ושמים הוא תורה שבכתב וארץ תורה שבע"פ.

And the heavens are Torah she'biksav (the Written Torah), and the earth is Torah she'be'al peh (the Oral Torah).

"Heaven and earth" correspond to the Written and Oral Torah respectively.

ויכולין ע"י התורה לבנות ביהמ"ק להיות שורש למעלה ופרי למטה כמו שקיימו אבותינו במשכן ובבית הבחירה.

And through the Torah one can build the Bais Hamikdash, to have a root above and fruit below, as our forefathers fulfilled in the Mishkan and in the Beis HaBechirah (the Chosen House).

Torah enables building a true Mikdash that links Heaven and earth — root above, fruit below — as was realized in the Mishkan and the Temple.

ודור הפלגה שלא הי' כוונתם לשם שמים. ניטל מהם כח הדיבור ונתבלבלו הלשונות.

But the Dor HaPlagah, whose intention was not for the sake of Heaven — the power of speech was taken from them, and the languages were confounded.

Because the builders of Bavel acted not l'shem Shomayim, their misused power of speech was stripped away and their unified language was scattered.

מוכח מזה כשהי' הלשון מסודר. דברים אחדים. היו יכולין לבנות הבנין להיות ראשו בשמים.

This proves that when the language was ordered — "of one speech (devarim achadim)" — they had the ability to build the structure so that "its top would reach the heavens."

The very fact that confounding their speech stopped them proves how potent ordered, unified speech is: it could have built a tower reaching the heavens.

ובנ"י בכח התורה כתיב ואשים דברי בפיך שימה הוא לשון סידור שבנ"י יכולין בכח התורה להוציא הדיבור בשלימות מכח סייעתא דשמיא והיינו וחרד על דברי להיות הבנין לשם שמים כמ"ש לאדם מערכי לב ומה' מענה לשון.

But Bnei Yisrael, through the power of the Torah — it is written, "And I have placed (va'asim) My words in your mouth"; "simah" denotes ordering — for Bnei Yisrael are able, through the power of Torah, to bring forth speech in perfection, by the power of siyata d'Shmaya (heavenly assistance); and this is "who trembles at My word," so that the building be for the sake of Heaven, as it is said, "To man belong the arrangements of the heart, but from Hashem comes the answer of the tongue" (Mishlei 16:1).

Where Bavel's speech was scattered, Bnei Yisrael's Torah-speech is "set in order" and brought to perfection with Divine help; trembling at Hashem's word ensures the "building" is l'shem Shomayim, with Hashem granting the very words of the mouth.

ולעתיד יהי' נגמר זה הבנין בשלימות וע"ז כ' מדי חודש בחדשו שבת בשבתו יבוא כל בשר להשתחות.

And in the future this building will be completed in perfection, and concerning this it is written, "From new moon to new moon and from Shabbos to Shabbos, all flesh will come to bow down" (Yeshayahu 66:23).

The structure that Bavel failed to build will be perfected in the future, when all mankind comes to bow before Hashem on every Rosh Chodesh and Shabbos.

שבת הוא בחי' השמים כסאי תורה שבכתב לכן בשבת ניתנה תורה וקריאת ג"ן סדרים דאורייתא המתגלין בשבת.

Shabbos is the aspect of "the heavens are My throne" — the Written Torah; therefore the Torah was given on Shabbos, and the reading of the fifty-three (gan) sedarim of the Torah is revealed on Shabbos.

Shabbos corresponds to "heaven" and the Written Torah, which is why the Torah was given on Shabbos and why its weekly portions are read then.

וחודש הוא בחי' תושבע"פ ישראל דקדשינהו לזמנים ובכח אלה הבנינים יבאו להשתחות לפני ה':

And the new moon (chodesh) is the aspect of Torah she'be'al peh — "Yisrael, who sanctify the times" — and through the power of these "buildings" they will come to bow before Hashem.

Rosh Chodesh, fixed by Bnei Yisrael who sanctify the calendar, corresponds to the Oral Torah; together these two Torahs are the "buildings" through which all flesh will ultimately come to bow before Hashem.

Summary: Speech is man's defining power, meant to build a "house" for Hashem — a dirah b'tachtonim — through the twenty-two letters of the Torah, by which Hashem Himself "looked" and created the world. The Dor HaPlagah misused unified speech for purposes not l'shem Shomayim and so had their language confounded, proving how potent ordered speech is. Bnei Yisrael, trembling at Hashem's word, use Torah-speech with siyata d'Shmaya to build truly. Heaven/Written Torah corresponds to Shabbos and earth/Oral Torah to Rosh Chodesh; through these two "buildings" all flesh will ultimately come to bow before Hashem.