parshaמפרשי הפרשה

כלי יקר — ועתה לא יבצר מהם

Why did Hashem disperse the builders of Migdal Bavel if their stated goal was unity ('פן נפוץ'), and why does the verse 'ועתה לא יבצר מהם כל אשר יזמו לעשות' not read (as Rashi has it) as a rhetorical question?

ועתה לא יבצר מהם כל אשר יזמו לעשות. אין פירושו בלשון תמיהה, אלא באמת אמר כן יען כי המה חשבו לעשות מעמד קיום אל השלום, גם אני חושב כן אמנם בסיבה הפכית ממה שחשבו... כי לעולם אין שלום בין אנשים אשר כל מגמת פניהם לעשות להם שם בארץ.

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כלי יקר

Kli Yakar on Genesis 11:4

Noach

Q — Why did Hashem disperse the builders of Migdal Bavel if their stated goal was unity ('פן נפוץ'), and why does the verse 'ועתה לא יבצר מהם כל אשר יזמו לעשות' not read (as Rashi has it) as a rhetorical question?

A — Kli Yakar reads the builders not as rebels but as peace-seekers — and Hashem agreed with their goal but knew their means would fail. Because they added 'ונעשה לנו שם,' the city would have spawned internal competition for leadership ('כל אחד ירצה להיות מושל ושר') and turned conflict inward. The dispersion is therefore not a punishment but the actual fulfillment of their plan: 'לא יבצר מהם' — through scattering, what they sought (universal peace) will come about, since 'כנוס לרשעים רע להם, פיזור לרשעים טוב להם.'

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