TorahParsha

We are different

for Parshat Korach

 

i

The rebels demand

that Moses let everyone be priests

(for all the people are holy).

 

Moses says:

Let all the rebels come

each man

bringing a pan of incense to God.

See if He will accept your sacrifice.

 

But God does not accept their sacrifice.

God punishes them.

ii

God says:

let the leader of each tribe

bring his wooden pole,

set it before Me.

 

Only Aaron the high priest's pole

flowers forth like a tree.

 

Then the people know

that the priests alone should be priests,

 

iii

The rebels think everyone is the same.

And Moses treats the rebels as all alike,

telling them

to bring identical sacrifices of incense.

This does not convince the people.

 

God has each Tribe approach

with its own pole,

its own symbol,

and this convinces the people.

 

The moral of the story

is that if we are all made the same

everyone alike

we and God cannot be together.

Only when we are with God

as what makes us special in the community

as who we uniquely are

can we and God be together.

____

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

Inspired by Rav Yair Kahn's reading of Parshat Korach

 

Why ideals are unclear

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

www.TorahParsha.com

Why does religion need Law?

for Parshat Korach

 

i

The people refuse to enter the Land.

God is angry with them for this.

But the people relent. And Moses prays for them. And God forgives them,

saying: I will bring you to the Land.

And God commands Laws for the people to keep when they enter the Land.

 

ii

Korach and his followers rebel against the priests.

They say: Everyone should serve in the Temple,

not just the priests.

God punishes Korach and his followers.

The rest of the people see these punishments,

and are afraid.

We are all lost, the people say.

*

Then God commands that the Levites serve in the Temple,

standing between the people and the Temple,

between the people and God.

 

iii

The people sin. Then they are punished.

A good life with God seems impossible.

Then God offers Law.

*

Offering Law, God says:

We will be together for a very long time.

Offering Law, God says:

you are capable of a holy life.

If God did not think this,

handing out rules would make no sense.

*

In this way, Law is a promise:

that we and God will always be together;

that we—

even we—

can be holy.

 

_______

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

______

(Originally published last year)

www.TorahParsha.com

 

For Parshat Korach

Why a fractured community is tragic

 

i

Korach took a company of men into revolt.

Korach and these men say: Moses should not rule.

They say: Aaron should not be the high priest. That role is unnecessary.

All the people are holy.

*

There have been uprisings before.

There has been the sin of the Spies, and the Golden Calf.

But Korach took a company of men.

Here is the first group to splinter off.

 

ii

Moses says to this group: If HaShem will create a new creation, and the earth opens its mouth and will swallow you—then you shall know that God has sent me.

And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed… every man of that group.

*

Creating Man, God fashioned… Man of dust from the earth.

He blew the spirit of life into Man’s nostrils.

Now He creates a mouth for the earth to swallow every man.

*
Korach splinters the community.

This inverts Creation.

 

iii

Perhaps this is the meaning.

God’s role in the world is creating Man.

Our role is creating a cohesive people.

That is the partnership of Creation.

If we reject our role, it is no less terrible than if God—Heaven forbid!—would reject His.

 

 

 

_______

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

 

___________

I do not remember where I heard / read the observation about Korach’s group being the first splinter group.

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Please continue to pray for Ahuvah Rachel bat Orah, and for Rachel Tovah bat Yehudit Esther

 

 

Priesthood

i
The people revolt against the priesthood of Aaron, the High Priest.

All the people are holy, they say.

So everyone should be a priest.

*
Because of this revolt, God sends a plague.

But Aaron runs into the midst of the congregation.

And standing between the living and the dead, Aaron blocks the plague’s spreading.

ii
God makes Aaron’s wooden staff sprout blossoms, like a living tree.

The people, seeing Aaron’s specialness, know that not just everyone is fit to be a priest.

*
Then God speaks to Aaron directly.

Even Moses does not accompany Aaron when God speaks to him.

God speaks to Aaron alone.

iii
There is a difference between a holy man who can stand before God, and a holy man who helps his people to be with God.

Standing between the people and the plague, Aaron becomes this second kind of holy man.

*
Then, God guides the people to accept him.

Then, God speaks with him.

~~~

Special thanks to Jordan Rosenberg for helping me think through the conclusion of this piece; and to my wife, as always, for editing.

Korach

i
All the people are holy, and God is amongst them. And so everyone, and not only the priests, should be let to serve in God's Temple.

That is Korach's rallying-cry: through which he leads a rebellion against the whole concept of a priesthood.

God calls Korach's followers in this rebellion sinners.

ii
God has recently told the people to take up their tribes' positions within the camp—Judah at the front; Levi in the center; the priests at the Tent of God; and so on—as the people travel together towards the Land.

Before, they had all dwelt together: a single group at the base of the Mountain, learning the Laws and learning what they will need to know when they enter the Land, like children at school.

Then, the people graduated into their specific roles: Judah at the front; Levi in the center; the priests at the Tent of God; and so on.

iii
But Korach said: all the people are holy. He wanted everyone to be priests, together. He did not want anyone to graduate into differentiated roles, into unique lives.

He hoped that the people would remain schoolchildren forever.

That was the basis of his rebellion. And that was his sin.

~~~~~