True unity must serve Heaven

בענין דור הפלגה בפסוק הן עם אחד כו'.

Regarding the generation of the Dispersion, on the verse, "Behold, they are one people..." (Bereishis 11:6).

The Sefas Emes takes up the dor haflagah (the generation of the Tower of Bavel), beginning from Hashem's words about their being "one people."

התורה מלמדת אותנו איך נפלו התחתונים משורש האחדות.

The Torah teaches us how the lower beings fell from the root of unity.

The narrative is really a lesson in how the world below progressively fell away from its source in true achdus (oneness).

מקודם כ' הן האדם הי' כאחד ממנו שהי' דבוק ממש באחדות.

Earlier it is written, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us" (Bereishis 3:22) — that he was literally cleaving to the Oneness.

Adam in Gan Eden was "like one of Us," truly bound to and absorbed in the Divine Oneness — the highest starting point from which the descent began.

דרשו חז"ל כאחד ממלאכי השרת דכ' וקרא זה אל זה שמתחברין להיות אחד כמ"ש ומשמיעין יחד בקול דברי אלקים חיים.

Chazal expounded "like one of the ministering angels," as it is written, "and one called to another" (Yeshayahu 6:3) — that they join to become one, as we say [in davening] "and together they proclaim, in unison, the words of the living God."

"Like one of Us" means like the malachim, who unite into a single chorus — "one calls to another" — proclaiming Hashem's praise in perfect unison. Adam originally shared this angelic unity.

כי הקב"ה ברא הכל בכ"ב אותיות וכל כתות המלאכים מתעלין אל שורש האותיות המיוחד להם.

For Hakadosh Baruch Hu created everything with the twenty-two letters, and all the companies of angels ascend to the root of the letters designated for them.

Creation was wrought through the 22 letters of the alef-beis; each group of angels traces back and rises to the specific letter-root from which it stems.

ומתחברין כל כ"ב אתוין הבאים מכל מיני צרופים של הכ"ב אתוין שאין להם סוף וחקר ונעשין אחד.

And all twenty-two letters — which come from all the endless, unfathomable combinations of the twenty-two letters — join together and become one.

All the letters, and the infinite combinations formed from them, ultimately reunite into a single oneness, reflecting the unity of their Source.

וכן הי' האדם קודם הירידה.

And so was the man before the descent.

Before his fall, Adam stood within this complete unity of the letters and their Source.

ואח"כ נגרש מג"ע לעבוד את האדמה ומ"מ הי' עוד לשון אחד וע"י התחברות בכ"ב אתוין שלמטה הי' לו עוד אחיזה בכ"ב אתוין דלעילא וכמ"ש בזוה"ק דמתאחדין לתתא ברזא דאחד כגוונא דלעילא.

And afterward he was banished from Gan Eden to work the soil, yet still there was "one language," and through connection to the twenty-two letters below he still had a grip on the twenty-two letters above, as it is written in the Zohar HaKadosh, "that they unite below in the secret of One, in the manner of Above."

Even after the expulsion from Gan Eden, a remnant of unity survived: humanity still shared "one language," and through the letters below it maintained a hold on the supernal letters — the Zohar's principle that unity below mirrors and connects to the Oneness Above.

דיש כמה מדריגות באותיות אתוין רברבין וזעירין ובינונים.

For there are several levels in the letters — large letters, small letters, and intermediate ones.

The letters exist in tiers — great, small, and middling — corresponding to higher and lower planes of the same reality.

אבל כח האחדות שלמטה צריך להיות רק הכנה לשרש האחדות שלמעלה כמ"ש הבונה בשמים מעלותיו ואגודתו על ארץ יסדה.

But the power of unity below must serve only as a preparation for the root of unity Above, as it is written, "He who builds His upper chambers in the heavens, and has founded His bundle upon the earth" (Amos 9:6).

Earthly unity is legitimate only as a means — a hachanah pointing toward the higher Oneness. The pasuk shows the proper structure: the "bundle" (agudah) below is founded on earth precisely to connect upward to His chambers in the heavens.

ולפי שדור הפלגה לא הי' כנסי' לשם שמים שעזבו את העיקר והפרידו בין אחדות שלמעלה לאחדות שלמטה לכן נפלו גם מאחדות שלמטה ונתפלגו לשבעים לשונות.

And because the generation of the Dispersion was not a gathering for the sake of Heaven — for they abandoned the essence and severed the unity Above from the unity below — therefore they fell even from the unity below and were split into seventy languages.

The dor haflagah's "oneness" was not l'shem Shomayim; they used their unity for their own ends, cutting off the earthly unity from its heavenly root. Having severed unity from its purpose, they forfeited even the lower unity and were shattered into seventy nations and tongues.

אך לשון הקודש נשאר לבנ"י ונקראו גוי אחד בארץ שהם כנסי' לשם שמים וסופה להתקיים:

But Lashon HaKodesh remained for Bnei Yisrael, and they are called "one nation on earth" (Shmuel II 7:23) — for they are a gathering for the sake of Heaven, and such a gathering is destined to endure.

Bnei Yisrael retained the holy tongue and are "goy echad ba'aretz" — a unity on earth that is l'shem Shomayim, oriented to its supernal root. Because their oneness serves Heaven, it is enduring, unlike the fractured unity of Bavel. A gathering for Hashem's sake is destined to last (cf. Avos 4:11).

Summary: The story of the Dispersion teaches how the world fell from the root of unity. Adam was originally bound to the Divine Oneness like the angels who unite into one chorus, all rooted in the 22 letters that themselves reunite into One. Even after his fall, "one language" preserved a grip on the supernal letters — but earthly unity is meant only as a preparation pointing to the higher Oneness. Because the dor haflagah's unity was not for the sake of Heaven and severed the lower unity from its root, they lost even that and split into seventy tongues. Bnei Yisrael, who keep Lashon HaKodesh and are "one nation" gathered for Heaven's sake, retain an enduring unity.