“Each man said to his counterpart: Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly. The brick was for them as stone, and the clay was for them as mortar” (Genesis 11:3). “Each man said to his counterpart” – who said to whom? Rabbi Berekhya said: Mitzrayim said it to Kush.17”Each man said to his counterpart” does not refer to a conversation between members of the same nation, but a conversation between different nations.
“Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly [venisrefa lisrefa]” – these peoples are going to be eradicated [mishtarpa] from this world.18By using this choice of words, they were unwittingly foretelling their own downfall. “The brick was for them as stone…” Rabbi Huna said: They met with success. One would come [with the intention] to lay one brick, and he would lay two. He would come [with the intention] to plaster two bricks, and he would plaster four.
“They said: Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for us; lest we be dispersed upon the face of the entire earth” (Genesis 11:4). “They said: Come, let us build us…” – Rabbi Yudan said: They built the tower, but they did not build the city [completely]. An objection was raised to him: “The Lord descended to see the city and the tower” (Genesis 11:5).
He said to them: ‘Read a subsequent verse: “They ceased to build the tower” is not written here, but rather, “they ceased to build the city”’ (Genesis 11:8).19They were in the middle of building the city, but they ceased building it. The tower, however, had been completed. Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: The tower that they built, one-third of it was burned, one-third of it sank [into the ground], and one-third of it still exists.
If you think it is small, Rabbi Huna said in the name of Rabbi Idi: Anyone who ascends to its top sees the palm trees before him as though they were grasshoppers. “And let us make a name [shem] for us” – Rabbi Yishmael taught: Shem is nothing other than idol worship.20This is based on: “And the name [shem] of other gods you shall not mention” (Exodus 23:13). “Lest we be dispersed upon the face of the entire earth” – Rabbi Shimon ben Rabbi Ḥalafta said: “A fool’s mouth is ruin for him” (Proverbs 18:7).21They unwittingly declared their true fate.