Torah reading: Numbers chapters 16 through 18.
Haftarah reading: 1 Samuel 11:14 through 12:22.
This Shabbat’s Torah reading describes the revolt that Korach led against Moses. Korach belonged to the privileged tribe of Levi. Korath combined with Dathan and Abiram, descendants of Jacob’s first born Reuben, and 250 “chieftains of the community” to challenge Moses’s authority. Korach and his followers said to Moses and Aaron:
You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the Lord is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above the Lord’s congregation? Numbers 16: 3.
When Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, they said to him:
We will not come! Is it not enough that you brought us from a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, that you would also lord it over us? Even if you had brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey and given us possession of fields and vineyards, should you gouge out these men’s eyes? We will not come! Numbers 16:12-14.
Some modern day Bible readers may sympathize with Korach, but the rabbis who compiled the Talmudic literature were unanimous in condemning Korach as a demagogue. Much of their midrashim on Korach is compiled in chapter 18 of Numbers Rabbah.
Thus, Korach, before the assembled Israelites, wagged his finger at Moses and sought to ridicule Moses and the Torah by asking, “Since the Torah demands that tzitzit must be made of blue thread, if a person is wearing a blue shirt, why does he need to wear tzitzit? And if a house is filled with Torah scrolls containing all the words inside a mezuzah, why require the door post of the home to have a mezuzah?” Korach went on to complain about the tithes and sacrificial offerings that Moses demanded the people provide, but never mentioned that these offerings and tithes supported the poor and the portable sanctuary. Numbers Rabbah 18: 1-4.
Just before launching his revolt against Moses, Korach went from tent to tent accusing Moses of wrongdoing. His message: “I am not like Moses and Aaron who want fame and power all for themselves, I want all of us to enjoy life.” Thus, he won the people’s support by lying to them. Numbers Rabbah 18: 10.
In Midrash Shocher Tov (Midrash on the Psalms), commentary on Psalm 1: 1, Korach went from tent to tent arguing that the Torah’s laws were unjust. Korach told the people about a poor widow and her daughter whom Moses and Aaron forced into abject poverty. The widow and her daughter were about to plow their field but Moses and Aaron tell her she cannot plow — it’s the seventh year. They were about to shear their sheep but Moses and Aaron stop them — Aaron demands the priestly tax on the wool. Korach smiled while concluding: “You see, they are exploiting our poor and needy.”
Pirkei Avot 5: 19 famously states:
An argument for the sake of Heaven will have a lasting value, but an argument not for the sake of Heaven will not endure. What is an example of an argument for the sake of Heaven? The arguments between Hillel and Shammai. What is an example of an argument not for the sake of Heaven? The rebellion of Korach and his associates.
We face today a demagogue like Korach. Today’s Korach assembles white working class voters, many of whom have lost their manufacturing and mining jobs, and promises a return to “a land flowing with milk and honey”, if only we put those “others” in their places and keep out Hispanic and other darker skinned immigrants. And if only we repeal all the laws and regulations protecting the environment and worker safety and the right to form unions. He convinces a multitude in MAGA hats that all will be milk and honey, while he and his family and cronies line their pockets.
Arguments for the sake of improving the lives of the American people will have a lasting value. For example, the Affordable Care Act was essentially written by the American Heritage Society in the 1990’s — arguments over how to make health care universal and affordable are arguments that have a lasting value. The arguments engendered by this modern Korach — for example, his diatribe against (mostly black) NFL players, may excite this modern Korach’s followers, but will have no lasting value.
This time, however, the earth will not open up its mouth and swallow up this modern Korach and his followers. Pirke Avot 5: 8 includes the earth opening up its mouth to swallow Korach and his followers as one of the ten things that God created at the end of the sixth day of creation, just before the first Shabbat. These ten things violated the natural laws of nature and thus had to be created special for each item’s one time use. Instead, it will be up to us to resist and defeat this demagogue and thereby achieve tikkun olam.
Shabbat Shalom.