Sermon: Noah (The Tower of Babel and the value of Human Life)

Written by Rabbi Hannah Kingston — 27 October 2020

The Tower of Babel and the value of Human Life

The UK is pushing ahead to be the first nation to carry out a ‘human challenge’ study to speed up the race to get a Covid-19 vaccine. This week scientists at Imperial College London announced that they plan to deliberately infect a group of up to 90 volunteers with coronavirus early next year, launching the worlds first study on how vaccinated people respond to being exposed to the virus. Although the study will open a new path towards identifying a vaccine, it is a hotly contested strategy.

 

The method has been used in the past to test vaccines for typhoid, cholera, malaria and other diseases. Human challenge studies provide a faster way to test vaccines, because you don’t have to wait for people to be exposed to the illness naturally. Controlled doses of the virus will be dripped into the noses of a group of healthy 18 – 30 year olds, chosen for the study as they present the lowest risk of severe illness and death.

 

Human challenge studies present a great ethical dilemma. Whilst there is a moral imperative to develop a safe and effective vaccine, people are risking being infected with a pathogen for which there is no known treatment. The group of volunteers will be monitored for up to a year for the lasting effects of coronavirus, known as long covid, which are as yet not fully known.

 

The scientists involved in this trial need to weigh the risks against the benefits. In the face of a global pandemic, where time is life, it could be argued that it is unethical not to do the challenge study. However, these volunteers are unlikely to come out the other side unscathed, without casualties among them. Are scientists facing this trial with a disregard for human life?

 

In Jewish law, one of the most basic principles is that of Pikuach Nefesh, that the preservation of human life takes precedence over all other laws. With human beings all created in the image of God, putting human life first is paramount to all we do as Jews. So, when faced with the uncertainty of the human challenge, do we support the risk, knowing that the loss of just one human life during the trial could be too much to bear.

 

Today we read the story of the tower of Babel. This story offers so much potential, from any angle we can find inspiration that feels relevant to the situation we find ourselves in at the present moment.

 

There is a particular midrash written around this story, that feels so pertinent in this time, when we are grappling with the value of human life. This particular midrash argues that as the tower grew in height, so too did the people’s disregard for human life. We read:

As the tower became taller it took one year to get bricks from the base of the tower to the upper stories. The bricks became more precious than human life. When a brick slipped and fell the people wept, but when a worker fell and died no one paid any attention.

 

Further the midrash goes on to say that both men and women were forced to make bricks. The routine was so strict that women were not even allowed to be released in the hour of childbirth. They brought forth children whilst making bricks and carried their children in aprons whilst they continued working.

 

As the tower continued to grow, the people of Babel lost sight of the value of each human being. They failed to see them as individuals, each made in the image of God. The midrash concludes. It was due to the people of Babel’s disregard for human life that they were ultimately punished.

 

Today we face a similar problem. The government of our country are in an increasingly difficult position, forced to choose between our economy and human life. As the economy became shuttered when the country was forced into lockdown, there was an increasing risk that any damage would become permanent. Over the warmer summer months, when the virus naturally slowed, a shift was made from focussing on the impact on health and wellbeing, to economic costs.

 

But as the winter draws in, if we continue to show disregard for human life, for both those affected by the virus and those on the front lines fighting to keep us safe, then we act as the people of Babel, showing no care as a person falls off of the tower.

 

If we continue to treat each day as a growing death toll, as a number of people, rather than think of each person as an individual made in the image of God, then we will end up like the people of Babel – truly scattered to the ends of the earth, isolated from one another and unable to come back.

 

So, we come back to our ethical dilemma. Now more than ever, the need for a vaccine is paramount. But if that vaccine knowingly places human life in danger, is it worth the rush?

 

Now we are in a period of waiting, knowing that we are faced with increased risk whilst our country remains open. In this time without a vaccine, when the government of our country is not making the decisions to put human life first, we need to make the decision for ourselves. We need to continue to remember the importance of pikuach nefesh and place it at the centre of all we do.

 

Once again we find wisdom in our biblical story of Babel with its many different faces. As Rabbi Josh taught in another midrashic interpretation last night, there is a reason that the generation of the flood were destroyed, whilst the generation of the Babel were merely dispersed. The people of Babel were not fundamentally bad towards each other, like the generation of the Flood. Rather, hayu ohavim zeh et zeh – They loved each other. What they did, they did in an act of collaboration and communication, with mutual care for one another.

 

In this sense now is the time for us to act as the generation of Babel. We should not show disregard for human life, but rather work together to keep one another safe. We need to think carefully about each movement we make, take responsibility for ourselves and our actions, and in turn to take responsibility for others.

 

Although not yet under the restrictions of lockdown, we need to find the strength to remain inside, when necessary, knowing that our decision to stay in will keep others from harm. We need strive to keep the most vulnerable among us safe, by respecting boundaries and guidelines. We need act with pikuach nefesh at the heart of all we do.

 

And in doing this, may we keep lines of communication open. May we not be scattered from our community, but remain together, a source of strength for one another. And may we always put human life first.