[Avodah] who is going to Gehenim

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 09:26:43PM +0200, Eliyahu Grossman wrote:
: While there are some Midrashim that say that the Tower of Bavel was built as
: a rebellion, the actual language of the text in Berashit doesn't say it at
: all...

But in terms of drawing a lesson for ourselves, this is a distinction
without a difference. Both are sources.

:      Would one say that Avraham was rebelling against Him, since it says
: that EVERYONE was participating, so Avraham was making those bricks just
: like everyone else?

If you're working with the text itself (as you did before), the word
"kol" isn't there. So it needn't have been all the "benei adam".

If you're drawing lessons from maamarei Chazal, see the first paragraph
of Yonah Rabba. According to this, two patriarchs didn't participate in
Migdal Bavel -- Avraham and Ashur. Ashur was rewarded in two ways: First,
the gift of the holy script, Kesav Ashuris, was given to the nation he
founded. Second, that nation was given a second chance when Hashem sent
Yonah to their capital, Nineveih.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It is harder to eat the day before Yom Kippur
micha at aishdas.org        with the proper intent than to fast on Yom
http://www.aishdas.org   Kippur with that intent.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                       - Rav Yisrael Salanter