Parashat Korah
Parashat Korah is one of those key transitional places in The Torah. For many weeks, we have been reading about The Journey of The Children of Israel through the wilderness. We read about the glorious redemption from slavery in Egypt, about the power of God and the reluctant determination of Moses to lead the people.It is important to remember what a reluctant leader Moses always was. Our Sages have taught us that Moses was the most humble man ever to walk the earth; he didn’t want to be a leader but God and History had completely different plans for him. Moses was the one who considered himself an “Arel Sfatayim (someone with uncircumcised lips).” It took major convincing and arm twisting from God to send Moses on his way to help free our People from bondage.
Why is it important to remember all of these? Well, simply put, if we just read the words spoken by Korach this week in a vacuum, ignoring any type of historical context, we could think that Moses was the greatest tyrant who ever lived.
Rashi, the famous medieval Torah commentator, in one of his famous statements wrote that, “There is no early or late in The Torah…” — which basically means that the text is circular and one does not need to know the context and background of the entire text to understand any of its parts.
How can you ignore the context in this case? The story of Korach and his attempted rebellion against Moses is not the result of events that happened in one or two days. The Rebellion had been brewing for months since The B’nei Israel left Egypt, and it finally comes to fruition during this specific Torah Portion.
It is important to understand that this rebellion did not occur in a vacuum. If we ignore the historical context and Moses’ personality traits and leadership skills, we will never be able to understand the true nature of this rebellion. Korach was much more than an agitator; he had real issues with Moses’ leadership, and he perceived both Moses and Aaron as behaving themselves and presenting themselves as Holier than thou.
In fact, Korach asks the very important question, “Why are you holier than all of us…? Why should we follow you?” There is an inherent problem with the way in which Korach presented his argument. To understand where Korach went wrong, we also need to explore the different ways in which we as humans react to other people’s leadership in a community of equals.
Korach never took the time to go and have a private conversation with Moses. The first time that Korach confronts Moses, he does so by bringing 250 elders with him. Imagine how Moses felt! Moses, who risked his life, who didn’t properly tend to his wife and children, who gave so much time and love to The Children of Israel is now being questioned by Korach. What does Korach know? Can he really understand that Moses’ leadership only happened at a great personal cost to Moses? No! Korach doesn’t understand and certainly does not care! Korach never had a private quiet conversation with Moses. He was perhaps the ultimate playground bully! What did Korach basically say? “If I don’t have my way, I will push you and push and turn The People against you until you give it up!” and although he didn’t exactly use these words, that was the thrust of his message.
It is always easy to criticize leadership. It is even easier to second guess every single decision made by a leader. Is there a right way to criticize our leaders? YES! Through love, by building with them and by asking a very simple question — “How can I help?” — instead of simply implying by our actions that we are here to sabotage and to destroy.
Korach wanted The High Priesthood; he was not happy with being part of The Levi’im. He wanted more, so much more. Korach did not understand the first thing about leadership. It is not about glory, it is not about prominence. Leadership is about empowering, leadership is about building, even at the expense of our own personal story.
For Korach and his followers, it was all about themselves. They couldn’t care less about the rest of the people. If we carefully examine Dathan and Abiran’s words to Moses, we immediately understand the core of the problem.
They complain to Moses about taking them out of a land flowing with milk and honey (they were referring to Egypt) to bring them to die in the wilderness. What is wrong with this besides the obvious? Moses was not the one who took them out of Egypt — it was God. No wonder God takes it so personally and causes the earth to open and swallow Korach and his followers. Korach is considered by The Jewish Tradition as the ultimate demagogue! He is capable of twisting and manipulating the truth to an extreme where the truth is not relevant anymore.
What can we learn from this powerful story? There is always a right and a wrong way of doing things! We have to be able to understand people “in their own place” by standing in their shoes. Yes, we even have to learn to understand our leaders, but more important, we need to learn the incredible power that constructive criticism and building together with bricks of love can have in someone’s life.
Towards the end of the story, there is a very beautiful image. Aaron and other leaders are instructed by God to stick their staffs in the ground. After a couple of moments, Aaron’s staff begins to flourish as if it was an almond tree.
What does this symbolize? Just like Korach is the symbol of demagoguery, Aaron, in our tradition, is the ever present symbol of the pursuit of peace and understanding! Only when we seek true peace amongst ourselves, only when we argue for the sake of heaven, only when we seek to bring out the best within one another, will our lives flourish with the blessings of understanding, pluralism and community.
Shabbat Shalom
© Rabbi Felipe Goodman, all rights reserved.