Somewhere back in hoary antiquity, at least in the realm of
modern technology, perhaps in the late ‘80’s or early 90’s, I was at a meeting
of rabbis in Vancouver, British Columbia. Cell phones were still a curiosity,
and turning the pages of books still more common in the quest for knowledge and
information than online searches. Keeping in mind how far we have moved since
that time, and holding the excitement and trepidation that comes with standing
at the cusp of change, it is not surprising that I vividly remember the program
that provided the learning content of that meeting.

I have never forgotten that moment, often reflecting on
where the question came from and of its deeper meaning beyond the way of its
delivery. I was really asking about connection and of engagement, of the book
as something precious beyond the words on its pages. It is not at all that I am
against technological advancement. An important challenge is whether there is
really advancement, or if in advancing in one realm we take a step backward in
another.
Once having fancied myself as a Luddite, I fully acknowledge that I am
no longer part of that club. I use a smart phone, delighting in texts of
another sort, which at times are also holy, my Shabbos text messages to my
children remaining my phone’s most important weekly use. I certainly use online
searches for both Jewish texts and general information. The concerns raised by
my younger self’s insensitively asked question, are concerns that need to be
asked in regard to all technology. For every technological advancement, so many
of great benefit, but not all, we need to ask what steps are we are going to
inadvertently take in the other direction, remembering to ask what will be
lost?


I had not thought to go in this direction as I reflected on
the nature of technology. More sinister questions had been on my mind in
reading the weekly Torah portion of No’ach
(Gen. 6:9-11:32). The portion begins with a very familiar story, earth so
filled with violence that it could not be sustained, a great flood destroying
all that was and had been, No’ach told to build an ark, then riding out the
storm, preserving life and the possibility of its future. By the end of the
portion, violence and arrogance have again filled the earth. God has promised
never again to destroy the earth, yet waiting for us to make the same promise.
At the end of the portion people come together to build a mighty city with a
great tower whose top shall reach to the
heaven… (Gen. 11:4).
The defining purpose of their endeavor is carried in the words that come next, and let us make a name for ourselves…. Of their seeking to storm the heavens, the great commentator Rashi (10th century France) speaks of this as a war with God, interpreting their words to suggest, let us go up above and make a war with God…. This is in stark contrast to Avram’s intention in the next portion when in building an altar he then proclaimed in the name of God.

The defining purpose of their endeavor is carried in the words that come next, and let us make a name for ourselves…. Of their seeking to storm the heavens, the great commentator Rashi (10th century France) speaks of this as a war with God, interpreting their words to suggest, let us go up above and make a war with God…. This is in stark contrast to Avram’s intention in the next portion when in building an altar he then proclaimed in the name of God.
The question for the most part is how we use our creative
gifts, whether for good or ill. Speaking of those who built the Tower of Babel,
the rabbis teach, their arrogance came
from the good that had been given to them…. The question becomes how we use
that which our minds and hands are able to create. Of the clay that is used to
make the bricks for the tower, a Chassidic teaching looks at the word for clay,
chomer, a word that is used to refer
to all material substance. So we learn that the material realm needs to serve
as a mediating influence, helping to strengthen the spiritual realm…. And yet,
there is that which we have created that is a technological monstrosity, that
which is evil in its essence, which threatens all life in its ability to undo
all of creation in a nuclear flash.

Rabbi Victor H. Reinstein
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