for Parshat Korach
i
Korach leads a rebellion against Moses
and against Aaron.
God tells Moses and Aaron:
Separate from these rebels
and I will devour them.
But Moses and Aaron pray
that God have mercy.
*
And when rebellion fans out
across the nation
God sends His plague.
Moses tells Aaron:
take incense,
stand between the dead
and the living;
and where Aaron stands
the plague stops.
ii
God made the world
separating Light from Darkness,
dividing the universe
along clear lines of Truth.
Now, God will separate
Moses and Aaron
—the very righteous—
from the rebels,
from the wicked ones.
*
But Moses and Aaron
will not be separated out.
Moses even sends Aaron
to stand amidst the sinners.
iii
Which is to say:
God rules the world
through the clear divisions of Truth
but Moses and Aaron lead
as heads of a nation
as leaders of a people
good people
wicked people
and everyone in between.
iv
We are led by God.
We are led, also, by Moses,
whom God has chosen to lead us.
Led by God
led by Moses
we are defined by their conversation
between Divine Truth
and human truth.
______
Shabbat shalom,
Abe
____
Sent before Shabbat began
Comments