Reply To: Dvar Torah Noach: Monkey See, Monkey Do

According to Rav Soloveichik, Noach was the first atomic individual. He did not even pray for his generation. He was happy to save himself, his family and a few animals. On the other hand, Babel, as the Netziv says, was the first totalitarian society. Everyone spoke the same language and had the same words. No dissent, even slight, was allowed. The Torah condemns both attitudes.