I lost my voice. 
This past week I had a pretty serious case of laryngitis. 
For a few days I could not emit a squeak. 
This might have come as quite a relief to some of my loved ones. 
But to me - extremely disconcerting. 
There were things I needed to say and despite my every effort I could not make myself heard. 
In the beginning it was just annoying. 
But it did not take too long for it to become existential. 
Who am I if I cannot be heard?
How ironic that I lost my voice during the Parsha that we are taught that what distinguished a person is the ability to speak. 
From a macro perspective, speech holds the power to create worlds, builds civilizations or completely destroy them. 
From a micro perspective (it may actually be macro too) the words we share with those we love can build, destroy or create deep
connections. 
In his new book Vibe: The Secrets of Strong Connections in a Lonely World, Adam Grant outlines research backed strategies on how to speak to someone in a way that will avoid meaningless interactions and instead will create meaningful connection. He suggests “ditching small talk for deep talk” as one such strategy. 
One can see how not being able to talk at all would leave one feeling isolated and depressed.  
This week’s Torah portion is called Noah, after the man who built the Ark pursuant to Gd’s command and saved humanity and the animal kingdom from extinction. 

There are many lessons to be derived from Noah and his actions. 
At the very end of our portion there is discussion of post flood humanity that gathered to create a tower which would reach the heavens and challenge Gd. All the people at that time spoke the same language. Their ambition was to build a tower with its top in the sky. Their ideology was one of total conformity. Each person did not have value, only the collective counted. 
Our Sages recount an example of cruelty that stemmed from this attitude. 
The tower was so massive that it took a worker an entire year to carry a single brick from the base to the summit. (Pirkei DRabbi Eliezer)
If a person fell from the tower and plunged to a gruesome death, there was no reaction to the loss of human life. 
But if a brick broke and was lost, all the workers would mourn its loss. 
Gd was greatly displeased by this aggressive and ego driven behavior and intervened by introducing many languages. Instead of all speaking the same language, they now spoke 70 different languages and they could no longer communicate. 
Because the workers couldn’t understand one another, bedlam and chaos ensued. 
Imagine a worker asking for a brick and receiving water instead. 
Massive fighting broke out and the tower was abandoned. 
Then Gd physically dispersed the people over the entire earth which laid the groundwork for the development of different nations and culture. 
The Tower was called the Tower of Babel which literally means the Tower of Mixed Up Speech. 
(In English the word babble means meaningless or confused talk. It is a cute coincidence or perhaps a Divine joke!)
Adam Grant is building (no pun intended) on this Torah concept. Grant teaches that meaningful conversation “significantly accelerates trust and connection because it taps into genuine excitement and emotional honesty”. Grant also highlights that the strongest bonds are built through navigating productive disagrees and healthy conflict, rather than maintaining polite but superficial harmony”. 
My son in law, Rabbi Menachem Lehrfield in his comments on Vibe picked up on an intriguing point. 
He noticed that the endorsements of the book included one from Adam Grant’s daughter who is about 8 years old. She is quoted as saying “Stop saying ‘vibe’ Dad”. 
By including his daughter in the list of the dignitaries who praised his book, Adam Grant did something very powerful. 
He gave his daughter a voice. 
Shabbat Shalom and so much love!