Commentary on Parashat Korach, Numbers 16:1-18:32, 28:9-15
Parashat Korach is one of several portions that relates stories of dissension and resistance among some of the children of Israel against Moses and God during the nation’s desert wanderings. This portion describes perhaps the most significant challenge to Moses and God’s leadership since the incident with the Golden Calf.
Korach, a cousin of Moses and Aaron, is joined by Datan and Aviram of the tribe of Reuben, and together they challenge Moses’ authority as a leader. They say that all of the people are part of God’s holy community, and thus who is Moses to elevate himself above the people? Further, they question why the Kohanim (priests) receive special privileges of the temple service.
Moses was quite shaken by this challenge and responded that in the morning God would indicate who should lead the people. Moses also rebukes Korach, who was a Levite, by pointing out that he already has a special status, and thus he should not agitate and challenge the Kohanim.
In the morning, God makes his preference for Moses quite clear. In a stunning passage, the earth opens up and swallows Korach, Datan, Aviram and all of their families and followers. The next day, the whole community, clearly both frightened and angered by what happened to Korach, assembles against Moses and Aaron. God is furious with this reaction, and sends a plague as punishment. Thousands die, and the plague ceases only when Moses and Aaron intercede on the people’s behalf.
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The remainder of the portion affirms Aaron as the Kohen and offers instructions to the Levites as to their responsibilities in serving the Kohanim.
We see in this portion that challenges to recognized authority can come with grave consequences. On one hand, there is a strain within Jewish tradition that validates challenging even God directly. We recall Abraham, who challenges and bargains with God to save the wicked inhabitants of Sodom. We also have stories about the great Hasidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, who “takes God to task” for the sufferings of the Jewish people.
On the other hand, we see in our portion that Korach’s rebellion is crushed by God. The differences between these different challenges is that God approves of protestations that are faithfully on behalf of the Jewish people. However, when self-aggrandizement or personal gain motivate the protest, God has no tolerance.
We see that real anger flowed through Korach and his followers. Anger is certainly part of who we are as human beings. Not everything goes our way, nor do we always agree with the decisions that our leaders make. However, the story of Korach should impress upon us that it is essential that we must be able to express our anger and protest in ways that will not, so to speak, cause the earth to swallow us up in response.
Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Forebears) poses the question: Who is strong? The answer that is given is that the strong person is one who can control himself or herself, is slow to anger, and is able to master his or her own spirit.
Reprinted with permission from the UJA-Federation of New York.
parsha
Pronounced: PAR-sha or par-SHAH, Origin: Hebrew, portion, usually referring to the weekly Torah portion.
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