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All is at Risk • Torah.org
They assembled
against Moshe and Aaron, and said to
them, “( RAV LACHEM) – You have too much
for yourselves, for the entire congregation are all holy, and HASHEM
is in their midst. So why do you raise yourselves above the HASHEM’s
assembly?” (Bamidbar 16:3)
You have too much for yourselves: You took
by far too much greatness for yourselves! – Rashi
(Moshe
speaking to Korach and his followers) “Place fire into them and put incense
upon them before HASHEM tomorrow, and the man whom HASHEM chooses he is the
holy one; (RAV LACHEM) you have too much for yourselves, sons of
Levi.” (Bamidbar 16:7)
The Torah treats us to the actual statement of Moshe in his
brief retort-rebuke to Korach and his rebellious troops, “(RAV LACHEM) you have much for yourselves, sons of Levi. These
words no doubt are packed with multiple
layers of meaning.
What was Moshe saying?
On a simple level he was responding to their false
accusation. The Talmud says, “Kol HaPosel, B’Mumo Posel”- Anyone who faults
another, it is with his own fault!” They were accusing Moshe of being
“politically” ambitious when in fact it was they who were trying to usurp
power. Moshe was holding a mirror for them to see themselves.
It could also be that Moshe was referring to an exchange
between Yaakov and Eisav. When Eisav at first tried to rebuff the gifts of his
brother he stated, “Yeish Li Rav” – “I have
plenty!” Yaakov responded to Eisav with the words, “Yeish Li Kol”. “I
have everything!” Implied in Eisav’s words is that he has plenty in
quantitative terms and he is open to receiving even more! Yaakov’s claim is that
he has everything qualitatively and needs no more! Eisav in contradistinction
wanted more and more!
While Korach
spoke in high platitudes about the whole nation being holy, Moshe detected that
it was his familial claim to authority that was fueling the uprising. By
referring to “Bnei Levi”- “Sons of Levi”
he was exposing Korach true selfish motive.
There is another obvious reason for Moshe to tell Korach and
his followers that they have plenty. There is a simple test for jealousy. I
have tried it on many children with surprising results. Offer a child the
following theoretical scenario. What if…I give you a candy!? The child will be
very happy about that proposition. What if…I offer you and your brother or
sister one candy as well?! The child will be OK with that no doubt. Now ask,
and what if I give you two candies… (the face will begin to blossom into a big
smile before you finish) but only on the
condition that your brother gets three candies!?!?
In most cases, but not all, the smile collapses and the child
will opt for deal number one where they get one and the sibling gets one. They
are willing to forego a 100% raise so long as their brother or sister does not
have more. Such is the nature of jealousy!
Even more! Rabbi Yonason Eibshitz pointed out a percentage
point difference between two statements of the sages. One insight into human
psychology states, “If someone has 100 he wants 200!” Another sagely statement
says, “A person does not leave this world having filled half of his desires!” That means he
did not get to 50%! The first one says he got to 50%. It may seem like a joke but it’s not.
What’s the answer?
The answer I found very useful when answering a request, a
frequent request from one of my daughters. The refrain was, “Can I go to
Marshalls and get another pair of shoes?” I realized that she has dozens and
dozens of shoes in her closet and yet she still wants more, so I shared with
her the seering insight of Rabbi Yonason Eibshitz.
He says that the half that the person does not have is
more-dear to him than the half he does have. The shoes in the store are
more-dear to you dear than the ones in your closet.
Therefore our sages (Avos 4:1) also remind us, “Who is truly
wealthy? One who celebrates what they have!? Moshe was no doubt more than
warning them that they have so very much and all is at risk!
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Guilt by Association
We read in this week’s parsha of Korach, the tragic episode of
Korach’s rebellion against Moshe Rabeinu. Korach was punished in an
unprecedented, shocking way, with the ground suddenly opening and swallowing
him and his family alive. This is the first and only time such a phenomenon ever took place since the world’s creation,
our sages tell us.
The commentaries are perplexed as to why Divine retribution
for Korach’s rebellion had to take such an unprecedented form. True, the man
was undeniably wicked but why was he not
punished in a manner more consistent with the natural order?
The dialogue between Moshe and Hashem regarding Korach’s
rebellion is likewise puzzling. Hashem apparently felt that Korach’s
insurrection was so serious that it implicated some degree of guilt in the
entire Jewish people. “Remove yourself from their midst and I will destroy the
whole nation in an instant,” Hashem said to Moshe, to which Moshe countered,
“If one man sins, should the entire congregation suffer?”
Hashem relented and said, “In that case, remove everybody
from around Korach and I will have the ground swallow him up.”
Why
did Hashem initially want to punish the entire nation for the sin of one
evildoer?
The following analogy may shed light. A man of poor means
took a third class ticket on a boat and traveled in stowage. His little cabin
had a porthole that was beneath the waterline and afforded him no view. A few
days into the voyage, his fellow passengers saw water seeping from under the
door to his room. They knocked on his door but there was no answer. When the
water began spreading into the corridor, they called down the captain who finally broke open the door. They
discovered the hapless fellow with a drill in his hand boring a large hole in
the side of the boat. The water was pouring in through the hole, flooding the room.
“Are you crazy?” screamed the captain, “Are you trying to
sink the boat?” The man replied, “What do you want from me? I paid for my room,
I have a right to do as I please here.
Leave me alone!”
One of the cornerstones of our existence as a nation is that,
unlike the fool in the boat, we understand that we are all responsible for one
another. Each one’s life and fortunes are inexorably linked to those of his
fellow Jew. We are all networked, so to speak, and a bug in one part of the
system infects the whole system. Therefore, regardless of whether righteous
Jews are mixed with evil ones in a particular group, the whole “boat” can
potentially sink. Good people can, in certain situations, suffer the fate of
evil ones in their midst.
Hashem deemed it appropriate to destroy the whole Jewish
people as a result of Korach’s sin. “Remove yourself from the nation and they will
all die in an instant!” he instructed Moshe. Moshe responded with a vigorous
challenge. “Ha’ish echad yechta?” Shouldn’t the one who sinned, thereby
removing himself from the congregation, be isolated? His sin will therefore not
affect the rest of the Jewish people.
Hashem acceded to his request by administering a
revolutionary form of punishment, which clearly demonstrated that Korach was a
complete outsider, that he had cut himself off from the fabric of the Jewish
nation. He and his family were swallowed up alive, demonstrating that he had no
portion in the nation’s destiny.
This tragic story offers a startling lesson in how
interdependent Jews are, how responsible we are for one another’s spiritual and
physical welfare. The message should be taken in a positive light. If one
malignant individual can wreak havoc and bring retribution on an entire nation,
it follows that the opposite is true: one righteous Jew can channel his spiritual talent and tremendous love and
concern for his fellow Jews to accomplish remarkable things for his people!
Let us pray that we merit to be among those in the latter
group who are granted the opportunity to bring Divine blessing upon the Jewish
people.
Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos
Rabbi Naftali Reich
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Power Grab • Torah.org
There are always differences within a team regarding the role
and efficacy of leadership and leaders.
All leaders are subject to criticism and second guessing. It comes with the job
and there is no escaping it. Nevertheless, when the criticism descends to the
level of personal abuse, and when it is obviously motivated by jealousy and
other susceptible causes, then the criticism crosses
the line of acceptability and becomes almost slander.
We see in the Torah reading of this week that Korach had
criticism of Moses and Aaron regarding their leadership roles. This criticism,
as the Torah indicates to us very clearly, stems from personal motives of
jealousy, and because Korach was convinced that he and his family were entitled to many more
privileges of leadership than they were given. So, it became a personal vendetta.
But no one likes to mount a personal vendetta without having some sort of
ulterior super-cause by which to justify it. It was not possible for Korach
to say, “I want more power, therefore,
give it to me.” Instead, he says that Moses and Aaron are lording it over the Jewish people
unnecessarily. They have no mandate to do so. All people are holy, and,
therefore, everyone is entitled to their say and their share of the privileges
of leadership.
This is a populist demand. It is common throughout all human
history that the road to obtaining power is to cloak it in some great moral
cause. In human history, there have
been instances when the moral cause was present. All those
rebellions and revolutions were justified and necessary.
However, I believe in many instances in human history, it was simply a power grab. People felt they
were entitled, and they resented that others had the power. And, for them to gain that power,
they would resort to any means possible. We can see that this plays out in
our current world as well. During political election campaigns, especially on the national
level, it is no longer simply a question of ideas or policies. It has
deteriorated into being a question of personalities and the hunger – the
insatiable hunger – for power.
Moses is taken aback by the ferocity of the attack against
him. Moses, who is the most humble of all human beings, who shirked power and
begged the Lord to allow someone else
to lead the Jewish people, this Moses is deeply wounded and aggrieved by the
slanderous accusations against him. He feels that these accusations must be
refuted. If Korach, so to speak, escapes unscathed from this incident of an
open personal power grab, then he will set a precedent for others in the
future. And then Jewish leaders will always be subjected to such vendettas and
personal acrimony. So, Moses responds, not in order to justify himself, even
though he’s upset as well. “I have not taken anything from anybody, Moses says,
I have not lived at the public troughs, I am not guilty of any corruption, I
have been as selfless as I can.”
But that is not the issue. The issue is whether an individual
can mount an attack on the leadership of the nation based solely on personal
desire and political arrogance. And that, Moses feels, must be rejected and
refuted in a miraculous and painful way. He asks the Lord to create what had
already been created in the six days of creation, the mouth of the earth that
would swallow up Korach and his cohorts, and prove once and for all that a
person has to be careful
to separate noble causes from personal greed and avarice.
This is reinforced when the staff of Aaron blossoms in the
tabernacle while the other staffs remain dead wood. Again, Aaron is the last
person that can be accused of wanting power or privilege. He is the lover of
peace, the gentle arbiter between families and communities. He is the symbol of godly service and of concern
for his fellow human beings. The attack on
him is doubly unjustified. It is abundantly clear that Korach is acting
out of personal motives. This is a power grab, which has no place in Jewish
life, and the Lord, so to speak, performs miracles that prevent it from
happening. It should remain a lesson and paradigm for all future generations as well.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Berel Wein
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