This week’s parshah is mostly the story of Korach.
Who was he? What brought him to rebel against Moshe and the Torah? How was he able to convince many leading rabbinical figures—indeed, most of the Jews—to join his rebellion?
Korach was Moshe’s cousin; their fathers were brothers. Moshe Rabbeinu became the leader of the Jews: he led them out of Egypt, performed the miracle of the Splitting of the Sea, struck a rock to bring forth water to sate several million people, and was the main cause of God sending manna, a heavenly food, to feed those millions of Jews. And, of course, he ascended to Heaven to bring the Torah down to earth so we could have a guidebook on how to live and serve HaShem.
His cousin Korach, on the other hand, was an extremely wealthy person with no other seemingly notable attributes. Wealthy he was – the Midrash states that Korach left Egypt with some 300 donkeys carrying just the keys to his treasures. However, he did have an attribute that was by all means one of the worst kinds: he was extremely jealous of Moshe’s position and power. He tried to usurp the Priesthood from Aharon and attempted to belittle Moshe and his accomplishments, but he had no leg to stand on. Yet, he stood his ground, demanding a piece of the leadership positions, lacking though he may have been in scholarship, qualities and abilities. His enormous wealth was his downfall. He relied on his portfolio (i.e., wealth) to justify his claim to leadership.
The Torah’s story of Korach is an ongoing story. Many people suffer from the evil eye of jealousy. Many crave power, leadership and recognition. If, God forbid, they attain it, they are very reluctant to let go, exacerbating the problem of their being in power in the first place!
Korach needed “votes” to justify his position. As it turned out, he worked an entire night rallying his people to rebel against Moshe and the Torah. He succeeded in getting the heads of the rabbinical courts of several tribes to join his quest for power. Even scholars can make devastating choices when it comes to political positions.
Moshe taught us the power of Torah. He taught us that the “good book” contains a successful path to living a good life. Korach chose another path, and look what happened. He was extremely wealthy, but the earth (materialism) swallowed him up. His end wasn’t pleasant.
The lesson of the parshah is to avoid strife, avoid power, avoid politicians, and avoid leadership responsibilities – unless we are able to conduct ourselves with utmost humbleness and modesty, as Moshe did.
Have a great Shabbos.
