Parsha Noach

     Come let us build ourselves
     a city, and a tower with its top
     in the heavens...
           Genesis 11: 4

Rabbi Shila says they built the tower
high enough to spear the heavens,
draining the water to stem another flood
But Rabbi Elazar disagreed-- he imagined
one group of builders erecting a tower
high enough to climb away,
to escape raging waters
if God sent another flood,
a second group wished to build the tower
as a shrine for the worship of idols
while the third group wished to battle God
Some thought the earth might fold
in upon itself if another flood washed
across the land-- the tower
could hold the earth in place
Their goal-- survival
God had bigger plans