TORAH TALK
Parashat Korah ~ For the Sake of Heaven
Numbers 16:1-18:32
Parashat Korah ~ For the Sake of Heaven
Numbers 16:1-18:32
It’s been a long time since I saw the bumper sticker that reads, “Question Authority.” The phrase is attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but it became popular in the 1970s as a counter-cultural response to the status quo. Alas, the last three months have laid bare how the last three years have given America so many reasons to question authority once again. On the one hand it seems democracy itself has been under attack, and on the other hand, social justice activism and the response to policies and rhetoric that seek to dismantle the core values of America has been widespread.
Questioning authority is not only an American tradition leading to some of the most important changes in our nation’s history, but it is also embedded in Jewish tradition if done with intention and integrity, and for the sake of a larger goal beyond individual gain.
I often think about this phrase when reading this week’s portion, Parashat Korah. As the rebellion narratives of the Book of Numbers intensify, all the grumbling against Moses and ultimately, against God, reach a fever pitch. Korah, along with some 250 followers challenge Moses and Aaron’s leadership. This parasha also sets the stage for the transition from the first generation, which experienced the exodus from Egypt, to the second generation, which was destined to grow up in the wilderness before entering the Land of Israel.
The rabbis of the midrash make it clear that Korah’s questioning of authority is arrogant and he is condemned by the tradition. Korah, Datan, and Aviram, along with 250 followers roundly criticize Moses and Aaron, but the text lists each one as an individual, they are not lumped together as a rebellious mass. The great commentator Rashi understood Datan and Aviram to be the arguing two Israelites with whom Moses intervened (Exodus 2:13), and who questioned his authority even then, before he became the leader of the Exodus with Aaron. As long-time antagonists to Moses, the text mentions them each by name, perhaps to indicate that they were not quite a united front, but that each one was out for his own gain. Perhaps it was to suggest that these men were not real leaders, but merely challenging the authentic leadership of Moses and Aaron.
Rashi also understood Korah’s actions reflecting a separation from community through his rebellion. Korah challenged the system of leadership established by Moses and Aaron as one that neglected the fact that the entire community stood at Sinai and received Torah, and that Moses himself claimed, “Would that all of God’s people were prophets, imbued with the spirit of God!” (Num. 11:29)
In Ethics of the Sages (5:17), the rabbis offer the understanding that arguments for the sake of heaven will long endure. Korah’s rebellion was an example of an argument lo l’shem shamayim – not for the sake of heaven. It is contrasted with the arguments between the sages Hillel and Shammai whose disagreements led to understanding more than entrenched conflict. In the Torah itself, we need only look to Abraham’s challenge of God before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by collective punishment. Abraham’s example was to insure a just and fair approach to God’s intention to destroy the cities and therefore an considered an argument l’shem shamayim – for the sake of heaven.
After the earth opens up and swallows the perpetrators, the Torah imagines God directing Elazar, Aaron’s son, that he “take the fire-pans of those who have sinned at the cost of their lives, and let them be made as plates for the covering of the altar, for they have become holy.” (17:1-3)
Of all the places in the Tabernacle, these fire pans cover the place of sacrifice—of sacred ritual. Their placement can certainly be read as a deterrent to the people against dissent that does not make holy a larger goal in and of itself. The legacy of the rebellion is transformed into a constant sign that our efforts to make a difference must be born out of a true desire for the greater good and by the sacred pursuit of justice.
These days, when we see the streets leading to the White House and other institutions of authority painted with the words Black Lives Matter, I see the efforts to transform American society, not like the actions of Korah, that weren’t holy in their essence, but as inheritors of the legacy of Abraham and the sages Hillel and Shammai: challenging the status quo to ensure justice for all, and having hard conversations that will transform society and the ways each of us can work for a better world. For all of our sake, we are better when we act for the greater good.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yael Ridberg
PLEASE NOTE: TORAH TALK WILL BE ON VACATION THROUGH AUGUST 1.
Questioning authority is not only an American tradition leading to some of the most important changes in our nation’s history, but it is also embedded in Jewish tradition if done with intention and integrity, and for the sake of a larger goal beyond individual gain.
I often think about this phrase when reading this week’s portion, Parashat Korah. As the rebellion narratives of the Book of Numbers intensify, all the grumbling against Moses and ultimately, against God, reach a fever pitch. Korah, along with some 250 followers challenge Moses and Aaron’s leadership. This parasha also sets the stage for the transition from the first generation, which experienced the exodus from Egypt, to the second generation, which was destined to grow up in the wilderness before entering the Land of Israel.
The rabbis of the midrash make it clear that Korah’s questioning of authority is arrogant and he is condemned by the tradition. Korah, Datan, and Aviram, along with 250 followers roundly criticize Moses and Aaron, but the text lists each one as an individual, they are not lumped together as a rebellious mass. The great commentator Rashi understood Datan and Aviram to be the arguing two Israelites with whom Moses intervened (Exodus 2:13), and who questioned his authority even then, before he became the leader of the Exodus with Aaron. As long-time antagonists to Moses, the text mentions them each by name, perhaps to indicate that they were not quite a united front, but that each one was out for his own gain. Perhaps it was to suggest that these men were not real leaders, but merely challenging the authentic leadership of Moses and Aaron.
Rashi also understood Korah’s actions reflecting a separation from community through his rebellion. Korah challenged the system of leadership established by Moses and Aaron as one that neglected the fact that the entire community stood at Sinai and received Torah, and that Moses himself claimed, “Would that all of God’s people were prophets, imbued with the spirit of God!” (Num. 11:29)
In Ethics of the Sages (5:17), the rabbis offer the understanding that arguments for the sake of heaven will long endure. Korah’s rebellion was an example of an argument lo l’shem shamayim – not for the sake of heaven. It is contrasted with the arguments between the sages Hillel and Shammai whose disagreements led to understanding more than entrenched conflict. In the Torah itself, we need only look to Abraham’s challenge of God before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by collective punishment. Abraham’s example was to insure a just and fair approach to God’s intention to destroy the cities and therefore an considered an argument l’shem shamayim – for the sake of heaven.
After the earth opens up and swallows the perpetrators, the Torah imagines God directing Elazar, Aaron’s son, that he “take the fire-pans of those who have sinned at the cost of their lives, and let them be made as plates for the covering of the altar, for they have become holy.” (17:1-3)
Of all the places in the Tabernacle, these fire pans cover the place of sacrifice—of sacred ritual. Their placement can certainly be read as a deterrent to the people against dissent that does not make holy a larger goal in and of itself. The legacy of the rebellion is transformed into a constant sign that our efforts to make a difference must be born out of a true desire for the greater good and by the sacred pursuit of justice.
These days, when we see the streets leading to the White House and other institutions of authority painted with the words Black Lives Matter, I see the efforts to transform American society, not like the actions of Korah, that weren’t holy in their essence, but as inheritors of the legacy of Abraham and the sages Hillel and Shammai: challenging the status quo to ensure justice for all, and having hard conversations that will transform society and the ways each of us can work for a better world. For all of our sake, we are better when we act for the greater good.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yael Ridberg
PLEASE NOTE: TORAH TALK WILL BE ON VACATION THROUGH AUGUST 1.