n Korach, the portion’s namesake leads an uprising against Moses’ leadership of the Israelites. He is unsuccessful and he, along with the majority of his family and clan, are punished by God as the world opens up and swallows them. On the surface the saga is meant to cement Moses as the sole rightful leader of the Israelites and his brother Aaron, as well as his children, as the sole rightful holders of the priesthood. But, like every story, there is more than presents as first read.
Let us start with the most important question: why does Korach rebel? In the wake of the saga of the 12 spies and the punishment of all those present to not ascend to the Promised Land, the complaint seems straightforward, “they gathered against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and God is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above God’s congregation?” (Numbers 16:3)
From a modern view, Korach is giving the most pronounced expression of a democratic principle in the Torah. Baruch Spinoza, the 17th century philosopher, wrote that Moses made a deep error in judgment when he transferred power from the first born to his own family, setting the stage for justified dissent. Korach’s criticism is that Moses has empowered only Aaron as the progenitor of priests, cutting off the rest of Israel from priestly power for eternity.
In response Moses puts his actions to a divine test, pitting Korach and his follower’s against those of Aaron and Moses. God comes down on the side of Moses. What is interesting in his response, however, is that Moses never directly pushes back on Korach’s critique that he has infringed on the idea that “all Israel are holy”. Instead he impugns the motivations of Korach and his followers as a quest for power.
In the rabbinical tradition, commentators also struggled to find fault in Korach’s criticism of Moses. When one reads the story, it does seem as if Korach is not rising up against God, only against Moses. Commenters and interpreters have primarily utilized the awkward verbiage, disconnected from the rest of the verse, that opens the portion: “Korah son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi took, and Datan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Pelet, descendants of Reuben.” (Numbers 16:1) By asking the question, ‘what did Korach take’ the rabbis arrived at several different homiletical explanations meant to highlight Korach’s lacking character and suspicious motivations. I will not bring all the details here (though recommend you go out and read the source material) but can say that all of the rabbinical commentaries are based on the unstated supposition that Korach is the enemy in this story.
So how can we know if Korach was justified in his revolt? Perhaps his push for democratization of priestly power was the actual righteous path.
Professor Haim Kreisel writes: Maimonides teaches us in the first chapter of his introduction to Tractate Avot (called Eight Chapters), shema haemet memi sh’amrah - “accept the truth from whoever teaches it.” Nevertheless, in many situations we have to take under consideration the person's character and attempt to understand his or her motivations before being swayed. The same action or claim may be good or bad depending upon what underlying intention of the person who delivers it. It is often hard to tell from rhetoric itself whether a person is in-genuous or disingenuous. Korah’s naked power grab is clothed in the lofty and high-minded rhetoric of social justice and religious truth.
As I read Kreissel’s article the last sentence gave me goosebumps. There are simply so many instances right now of individuals and movements wrapping themselves in the rhetoric of social justice, of security, of religious clarity that are such blatant moves for power and influence. In the social justice movements in the West, the high rhetoric of a ‘free Palestine’ so often only vaguely blurs (these days sometimes there is no attempt) the deep antisemitism held by organizers of these events and organizations. In Israel, the Minister of National Security has slowly weaponized the police force in the name of security against anti-government protesters with instances of police violence on the rise week after week. The ultra-Orthodox head rabbis have, in the name of Judaism, disparaged the State and its institutions in the wake of the court decision ruling the wide-ranging service exemption for yeshiva students, though this behavior did not only begin last month.
The lesson of Korach and his rebellion is not an easy one to implement, but we must always strive to look through the rhetoric and stated goals of anyone seeking power to try and discern their innermost motivations. Even when these figures speak to issues that matter to us, when they promise solutions that make us feel good, our first instinct should be skepticism. Our friends and family might be drawn towards movements and leaders, urging us to come along, but the lesson the Torah reminds us this week is that we must ask questions in order to understand the person beyond their promises and policies. This will keep us close to leaders of merit and our people on the path to the Promised Land.
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