THEY ASSEMBLED AGAINST MOSES AND AGAINST AARON AND SAID TO THEM: TOO MUCH IS YOURS! INDEED, THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY, ALL OF THEM, ARE HOLY, AND IN THEIR MIDST IS GOD! WHY, THEN, DO YOU EXALT YOURSELVES OVER THE ASSEMBLY OF GOD?

(Bamidbar 16:3)

 

All of them are holy– All of them heard words directly from the Omnipotent at Sinai.

(Tanhuma, quoted by Rashi, Bamidbar 16:3)

 

All of them are holy - And you shall be holy

These two passages present us with the concept of kedusha - of holiness - in its two contradictory forms: the category of All of them are holy, which is the inferior form of the religious category, as against And you shall be holy, which is the absolute and extreme opposite of Korah's version. It is a demand, in the sense of And you shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The results of Korah's conception are arrogance, pride, boasting, and sanction to cast off obligations. According to this approach, the very fact that one is part of the Israelite nation is sufficient to determine one's standing and quality. The Oral Law, however, makes great efforts to order man's life within a framework of Torah and mitzvot, attempting to realize the important dictate of You shall observe all of my commandments and you shall be holy unto your God. This is to be accomplished by the imposition of very strict restrictions and obligations upon man, something which has continued throughout the history of the Jewish people . While the kedusha at the conclusion of Parashat Shelah is the highest expression of the purpose of faith, that of the parasha of Korah is the preeminent symbol of man's rebellion against the faith in God. The distance between these two approaches, is also the distance between the belief in God and idolatry. There is no simpler, easier, cheaper, and more contemptible form of religious faith than the belief that kedusha is a given in natural reality.

(Y. Leibowitz, Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashat HaShavua, pp. 680-681)

 

 

The Relationship Between the Firstborn and the Chosen

Amos Bardea

Parashat Korah and its haftorah, which deals with the first kingship in Israel (I Samuel 11-12), together display the nature of power and its dissolution. They also offer an alternative model of leadership which we must strive to realize.

Korah is presented as a wealthy man motivated by jealousy, one hungry for power authority. He uses demagoguery to incite the people to rebel against Moses and Aaron. Korah chooses a convenient moment to begin his rebellion; the people are upset following the crisis of the sin of the spies. The spies themselves had been killed by a plague, and the people's efforts to reach the land by their own initiative had failed. It is easy to understand their psychological condition. They had been called upon to make great efforts and to remain steadfast for the long term in order to continue their trek through the wilderness; all without any purpose, goal, or destination. The necessity for the people to gird up their loins to no purpose brings them to a Sisyphean situation that eats away at their motivation. They understand themselves as having reached a dead end; this undermines the people's morale and creates fertile soil for the growth of a charismatic leader who can overturn the present regime. The message of the rebellion concentrates on complaints about the people's leaders, besmirching them with accusations of corruption and nepotism. Korah describes Moses and Aaron as running a centralized regime Why, then, do you exalt yourselves over the assembly of God? and offers an alternative of distributed leadership, Indeed, the entire community, all of them, are holy, and in their midst is God!

Moses' leadership in the desert confronted the people with the need for a revolution of consciousness. After physically leaving Egypt, the people needed to exchange their slave status for that of free men. They also had to abandon Egypt's pagan culture, which mixed divinity with sensible nature, which held that the spirit of the dead lives eternally in the physical flesh of the deceased, and which found the expression of pagan spiritualism in magic powers that were clearly present to the senses. The revolution of consciousness sought to replace idolatry anchored in nature with a transcendent God beyond all conception, and magic rooted in the natural world with miracles directed from above. Moses' revolution had to execute this spiritual change gradually. First, miracle replaced magic: in the framework of the ten plagues it struck out against pagan nature, as found in the Nile, in animals and in the firstborn, while also contending against the magical powers of the Egyptian priests. After entering the desert, the people had to struggle for their physical and spiritual existence. This moved them to become aware of their character and purge the slave-consciousness that had reduced them to a mere function of their oppressors. After the physical exodus from slavery they were to receive their certificate of spiritual freedom "do not read it as harut [inscribed on the tablets] but rather heirut [freedom]", which represents the demand to worship the God Who is beyond all nature through the observance of practical commandments, and which measures the spiritual condition of the individual and nation in terms of their accomplishments in the service of God. In receiving the Torah, the people was required both to wipe out every trace of idolatry as a first step towards the creation of a kingdom of priests and a holy nation and to prefer the world of action over the phenomenal world and individual will over that which is set by nature. In this new framework, the religious status of the dead is shattered by a new status which opposes consultation with the dead. The dead are recategorized as principle sources of impurity and the religious-idolatrous status of animals is desecrated by their sacrifice to heaven.

In the light of the above discussion it becomes possible to describe the content of the counter-revolution which Korah wished to bring about against the background of the people's demoralization following the sin of the spies. The people's desire to return to Egypt in the sin of the spies is adopted by Korah in his demand to return to the Egyptian culture. This demand is made concrete in his demand to reinstate the status of the firstborn, a status they enjoyed in Egypt. The firstborn represented the process by which the first birth left his dramatic and emotional impression by changing the social status of the family unit and allowing it to achieve completeness. The firstborn's natural characteristics lent him a religious status of one possessing magical powers; even the Pharaohs rose out of the firstborns. The plague of the firstborn - the final plague to afflict Egypt - undercut the firstborn's religious and magical power. The status of the firstborn in Israel underwent changes in the course of the gradual revolution which pulled the people out of the Egyptian mindset. In the beginning the firstborn serve as a source of contact between the people and its God but in the end they are replaced by the Levites. The priesthood is built upon a genealogical foundation of a particular Israelite tribe, just as membership in God's nation is genealogically based upon one's being born to a daughter of Israel. By the way, in contrast to pagan culture, chosen status does not derive from birth: "a bastard scholar is greater than an ignorant High Priest." One's chosen-ness is not fixed by one's being a firstborn, a motif which reappears throughout the Torah: God's chosen are systematically picked from among the younger siblings, as the following table reveals:

 

 

The status of God's chosen one is not based upon his factual circumstances but rather in spite of them. In contrast to the idolatrous view which lends rights to the firstborn, the national identity of a member of the nation of Israel burdens him with duties without promising additional rights. The Israelite is required to perform a wide range of practical duties, duties which become more wide ranging for the Levite and even more so for the Kohen. The Torah expresses the extent of these duties in even blatantly physical terms; we see this in the way it handed out the tasks of carrying the various parts of the Tabernacle. Israelites carry their own burdens with the help of animals and carts, while the Levite must use carts to transport the disassembled Tabernacle as well as their own affects, while the Kohanim must carry the vessels of the Tabernacle on their shoulders, which symbolizes the range of their spiritual duties. In addition, the tribe of Levi lost their claim to an inherited tract of land, since the Lord is his inheritance. Like membership in the Jewish people, the priesthood is genealogically based. However, it also is identified practically in terms of the fulfillment of the duties required by the service of God. In this way, the Torah springs forth from the earth, truth sprouts from the earth and like Jacob's ladder angels ascend and descend upon it; first they ascend upwards from the earth and only afterwards do they descend, despite the notion that the angels find their proper place, so to speak, on high.

Against the model in which has every chosen one wins his position by striving for spiritual perfection through the performance of his religious duties, Korah offers an alternative model that returns to the Egyptian mindset in which rights are granted on the basis of the biological datum of birth-order. Korah incites the firstborn and presents Dotan, Eliav, and On ben Pelet as members of the elder tribe of Reuven claiming their rights to priesthood. Similarly, the two hundred and fifty notable men (identified by some commentators as firstborn Israelites) were represented as demanding the rights of priesthood for the Israelite firstborn. The idolatrous tendency also comes to light in the way that God's will is expressed through miracles accompanying the burning of the incense and the flowering of Aaron's staff; these show that, due to Egyptian influence, magical revelations made a great impression upon Korah and his followers. With this we take a step backwards to the days when Moses needed to perform miracles with his staff in order to verify his (and Aaron's) mission to the elders of Israel, of whom it was said, "but if they do not believe me and do not listen to me...".

Korah makes claim to the holiness immanently present in the firstborn by their very nature, Indeed, the entire community, all of them, are holy, and in their midst is God! instead of and you shall be sanctified for your God, a verse mentioned in the end of last week's parasha, in the passage referring to tzitzit, which is held to be equivalent to all of the commandments. The commandment of tzitzit teaches of a holiness that we must work towards through steadfast service of God by observance of His commandments. Korah's demagogy scorns at the need for commandments, as the midrash tells us, asking why a tallit which is completely dyed with tekhelet must have an additional string of tekhelet tied to it. Why should a building full of books, and thus suffused with holiness, require need a mezuzah on its doorpost? The view that holiness is produced by the human will performing commandments "Who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us" stands in contrast to Korah's doctrine of holiness immanent in things themselves. Korah's theory of a prior holiness leads him to demand rights without performing duties. That is why it says and Korah took. He wanted to take the privileges of sovereignty and glory. However, Moses said, I did not take a single hamor [ass] of theirs, showing that he refrained from any material [homri] benefit, and led the people with unreciprocated giving.

The haftorah attached to our parasha deals with Israel's first monarchy. There Samuel says,

Here I am! Testify against me, in the presence of the Lord and in the presence of His anointed one: Whose ox have I taken, or whose ass have I taken? Whom have I defrauded or whom have I robbed? From whom have I taken a bribe to look the other way? I will return it to you. (I Samuel 12:3)

The prophet Samuel uses a variation of the words spoken by the father of all prophets in our parasha. Like Moses, he sets power and kingship to the test of the service of God, the test of fulfilling duties while abandoning claims to rights. At the end of his words, he warns, if you persist in your wrongdoing, both you and your king shall be swept away (verse 25). His words were meant to echo in the ears of Israel's leaders throughout the generations, since Korah's children did not die (Bamidbar 26:11).

Dr. Amos Bardea is a thinker and scientist

 

 

"I Have Not Taken the Ass of Any One of Them": A Proper Characteristic of a Public Figure

According to the plain reading, custom was that the public ruler would ride on a horse, as per Kohellet (10:7) I have seen slaves on horseback, and nobles walking... from here we see that the proper order is the reverse; but even the servant who accompanies his master on his travels is given a donkey. Not only did I never take one's horse [says Moses], I never even took a donkey to ride upon. Rashi explains according to a Midrash of the Sages: Even the donkey upon which my wife rode when we traveled from Midyan to Egypt was not theirs. It should be noted that he could have made an even more remarkable claim - that even the bread he ate in Egypt was not taken from the public. [But he does not make any such claim]. From this we learn that it cannot be rightfully expected of one who constantly engages in public affairs that he not eat from public funds, for he must set aside some hour for his sustenance, which results in not attending to public needs; the public prefers that even that hour be devoted to their needs and that the leader eat at their expense. Moses ate at public expense, and only the donkey on which he brought his wife was his. In fact, the presence of Moses's wife and children in Egypt was unnecessary - they returned to Midyan immediately - but she had asked him to be able to see the glory of the exodus from Egypt (Mekhilta Yitro). This was not essential for the life of one who deals with public needs, certainly it is not a characteristic of the righteous to burden the public with more than is necessary for life's essentials.

(The NeTziV of Volozhin; HaAmek Davar, Harhev Davar, Bamidbar 16:15)

 

It is proper, therefore, that we review and internalize that final passage of these thoughts of the NeTziV. They are worthy of being said to all generations - especially to this generation, in which it is not customary to emulate the attributes of our teacher Moses.

(Y. Leibowitz, Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashat HaShavua, p. 694)

 

Demagogy's Power to Enflame and Incite

It is revealed and known before you that the spirit of the masses are easily inflamed by dazzling claims, and a person such as Korah, who is spiritually superior and who enjoys full confidence heretofore unblemished, is able to dupe the people and lead them to sin. When the masses sin, the guilt can usually be attributed to a few instigators of high standing. When human beings intervene against the transgression, as a rule it is the incited masses - who are less guilty -who are hurt; the inciters themselves usually go unpunished. But you are God, God of the spirits of all flesh, because you are all powerful God, you have it in your power to punish whoever is guilty; and since you are God of the spirits of all flesh, you can discern in your wisdom the degree of every man's guilt. When one man sin' - Korah alone was guilty, whereas the incited masses are deserving of your graces. We have noted a number of times in similar cases: when The Holy One, Blessed Be He, leads Moshe to prayer, He arouses in his heart the understanding of His ways of supervision; He elevates his spirit, as it were, to think - along with Him - the thoughts of divine supervision.

(Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, Bamidbar 16:22)

 

 

 

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