Korach

Rabbi Mati Kirschenbaum

The Disastrous Consequences of Being Accustomed to Privilege

POLSKĄ WERSJĘ Poor Moses. The Book of Numbers doesn’t give him a moment’s rest. In the parsha Behaalotecha, read two weeks ago, opposition to his leadership was expressed by Miriam and Aaron. A week ago, the parsha of Shlach Lecha described a rebellion of Israelites incited against Moses by ten scouts who returned from a reconnaissance of the Land of Canaan negative about their chances of conquering it. This week Moses must face another rebellion among the Israelites. Our parsha describes this rebellion as follows:

Korach, the son of Jishar, the son of Kehat, the son of Levi, and Datan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Pelet, the son of Reuben, rose up against Moses, and with them two hundred and fifty men from among the Israelites, princes of the community, representatives of the people, men of respect. They joined together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them: “Enough of this, for the whole community, all of them, are holy, and in their midst is the Eternal; why then do you exalt yourselves above the congregation of the Eternal?” When Moses heard this, he fell on his face. Then he said to Korach and all his congregation, “In the morning the Eternal will make it known who belongs to Him, who is holy and can approach Him. Only to him whom the Eternal has chosen will the Eternal permit to approach. This is what you shall do: let Korach and his partisans take their incense sticks, let them put fire in them, and tomorrow they shall put incense in them before the Eternal One. Whom the Eternal One chooses, he is holy. (Numbers 16:1-7)

The next day, the followers of Korach, Dotan and Abiram prepare to offer sacrifice. This represents an active challenge to the previous order, in which the offering of sacrifices was the domain of Aaron and his descendants. Moses sees that only an appeal to the authority of the Eternal is able to save the new order he has established. He announces that the earth will part under the rebels. These words immediately become true, burying Korach, Datan and Abiram alive, along with their families and possessions. The fire then consumes all the community leaders who supported them.

The punishment meted out to Korach and all his followers is immediate and extremely severe. Unlike Korach’s revolt, only ten people were punished during the previous protest against Moses, which erupts after the scouts return. These were exclusively scouts who described the Land of Canaan as impossible to conquer. The lives of their followers are spared; the Eternal condemns them instead to wander in the desert for forty years.

The contrast between the consequences of these two rebellions puzzled our sages. Rabbinic tradition teaches us that the widespread discontent caused by the scouts’ report was not indicative of the average Israelite’s bad intentions. Rather, it was an expression of a lack of readiness for freedom and a reaction to the hardships of wandering in the wilderness. Therefore, as a result of it, immediate punishment was meted out only to the ten scouts responsible for spreading defeatism.

The situation was quite different for Korach and his followers. Rabbinic tradition claims that Korach was the richest among the Israelites. According to the Sanhedrin tractate 110a of the Babylonian Talmud, Korach’s wealth had to be transported by as many as 300 mules. According to this treatise, Korach gained wealth by finding Joseph’s treasure buried in Egypt. Rabbis claim that it was unimaginable wealth that became the source of his arrogance.

It was not wealth, however, that was the direct cause of his speech against Moses. According to rabbinic tradition, Korach – son of Jishar, second in line to Amram, Moses’ father, son of Kehat – felt that the first in line of seniority, cousin of the leader of the People of Israel and his family were entitled to special privileges. Moses, however, saw it differently. In the Book of Numbers (Numbers 3:30), we read that Moses appointed another cousin – Elisaphan, son of Uzziel, the youngest of Kehat’s sons – as head of the Kehatite family. Korach treated the appointment of Elisaphan, the son of his father’s younger brother, as an insult to his honor. From that moment on, he felt the need to get back at Moses for taking away his “due” social position.

Korach’s rebellion, therefore, was not aimed at improving the situation of the Israelites, it only served to promote his vested interests. Korach found allies in other members of the elite of the People of Israel bitter over their marginalization in the power structures created by Moses. Exemplary representatives of this disgruntled elite were Korach’s companions, Datan and Abiram, who belonged to the Rubenid tribe. This tribe was denied the right to lead the Israelites due to the misdeeds of its founder. Unfortunately, after punishing the participants in Korach’s rebellion, many Israelites are convinced that the rebellion defended their interests. This group accuses Moses of acting to the detriment of the People of Israel. The Eternal sends a plague against them, as a result of which fourteen thousand seven hundred Israelites are killed.

These days, many groups are rebelling against the grassroots changes taking place in our society. This discontent is often justified with the words: “it used to be different and everything was fine, no one complained”. When you encounter such statements, I encourage you to subject them to critical analysis. It is worth asking yourself the following questions: are you sure everything was fine in the past? Did no one really complain? And if so – why? Could it have been that certain groups were not allowed to speak? Or perhaps were their voices deliberately ignored?

The revolt of Korach and his followers shows us that the opposition of hitherto privileged groups against the changes taking place in a democratizing society is nothing new; these groups have had difficulty accepting the loss of their “due” leading position since the dawn of time. Korach’s story also teaches us that representatives of the elite are able to convince the rest of society to stand up for their privileged position. The tool often used to achieve this goal is to identify an “enemy,” an individual or group of individuals fighting for a new quality of social life. In the parsha we are reading, such an “enemy” of Korach’s followers is, of course, Moses.

This Shabbat I encourage you to consider who in our society is a Korach, a representative of a social group wishing to maintain a social order that discriminates against others. In the present world, the Eternal One will not cause the earth to part under such individuals. It is we – through our involvement in society – who must build a better world, in spite of Korachs of today. Shabbat Shalom!