This week we read Parashat Korach. Buckle up. Here’s the shorthand. There is a guy named Korach who gathers hundreds of people and challenges the authority of Moses and Aaron.
Numbers 16:3
וַיִּֽקָּהֲל֞וּ עַל־מֹשֶׁ֣ה וְעַֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ אֲלֵהֶם֮ רַב־לָכֶם֒ כִּ֤י כׇל־הָֽעֵדָה֙ כֻּלָּ֣ם קְדֹשִׁ֔ים וּבְתוֹכָ֖ם יְהֹוָ֑ה וּמַדּ֥וּעַ תִּֽתְנַשְּׂא֖וּ עַל־קְהַ֥ל יְהֹוָֽה׃
They combined against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and יהוה is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above יהוה’s congregation?”
To a contemporary sensibility, the claim that all people are equally proximate to the divine sounds rather nice and real and communally-oriented. And even to an ancient ear, it tracks. We were all standing at Mt. Sinai when the Torah was given. We are all created in a Divine likeness (b’tzelem Elohim). We are a “Kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). It feels rather tricky to find fault with Korach’s protest. In fact, today I may feel closer to Korach than ever before. If the social contract of democracy is based on the idea of giving up certain and limited personal freedoms for the government’s protection, what happens when those sides aren’t adding up anymore? When the contract is violated? Protest, right?
But as the Torah begs of us, let us try to understand various – if not all – sides of this story. If today, the case is seemingly easier to make in favor of Korah’s protest, let’s try and figure out his trespass and understand how it was handled.
To begin, you have to understand that Korach was already a Levite – of a special class, elevated in the eyes of God and the community. Moses raises the first possible issue when he asks, why isn’t your current position of privilege enough for you?
Numbers 16:9
הַמְעַ֣ט מִכֶּ֗ם כִּֽי־הִבְדִּיל֩ אֱלֹהֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֤ל אֶתְכֶם֙ מֵעֲדַ֣ת יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לְהַקְרִ֥יב אֶתְכֶ֖ם אֵלָ֑יו לַעֲבֹ֗ד אֶת־עֲבֹדַת֙ מִשְׁכַּ֣ן יְהֹוָ֔ה וְלַעֲמֹ֛ד לִפְנֵ֥י הָעֵדָ֖ה לְשָׁרְתָֽם׃
Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the community of Israel and given you direct access, to perform the duties of יהוה’s Tabernacle and to minister to the community and serve them?
It is not as if Korach is a down-and-out Israelite looking to “fight the man.” Korach is highly proximate to great power. While he questions the particularity of Moses and Aaron’s authority, he doesn’t exactly offer alternative models of leadership. In this case, his protest isn’t a protest but a coup. He is not upset with the system as such. He just wants a promotion.
The Velveteen Rabbi, Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, puts it as follows:
“But Korach isn't speaking on behalf of the ordinary Israelite who might feel disenfranchised by Moses and Aaron. Korach is a Levite, already part of the hereditary priestly system. He says the whole community is holy, but when push comes to shove, he battles with Aaron via competing sacrifices. It appears that he wants to be High Priest himself. Seen through that lens, suddenly his rebellion doesn't look so laudable.”
Second, Korach isn’t finding specific fault with Aaron or Moses, but instead is plainly asking, “why you?” with the subtext reading, “why not me?” In other words, Korach displays hubris or arrogance or jealousy exactly at the time he is accusing Moses and Aaron of such behavior. It would be different if he came to Aaron with a specific complaint about his work or character. But he does not. His critique seems to be that Moses and Aaron are in power at all. Additionally, in regards to Korach’s sidekicks, Dathan and Abiram, Moses says to God:
Numbers 16:15
וַיִּ֤חַר לְמֹשֶׁה֙ מְאֹ֔ד וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ אֶל־יְהֹוָ֔ה אַל־תֵּ֖פֶן אֶל־מִנְחָתָ֑ם לֹ֠א חֲמ֨וֹר אֶחָ֤ד מֵהֶם֙ נָשָׂ֔אתִי וְלֹ֥א הֲרֵעֹ֖תִי אֶת־אַחַ֥ד מֵהֶֽם׃
Moses was much aggrieved and he said to יהוה, “Pay no regard to their oblation. I have not taken the ass of any one of them, nor have I wronged any one of them.”
There is no clear harm that has been done to Korach, Dathan, or Abriam.
Finally, Moses says, “Hey, let’s offer up some incense to God and see who God chooses.” No surprise, God continues to choose Moses.
The story ends with God saying he will annihilate Korach and his followers. Moses asks God if God will really punish the whole community for one man’s actions. God says to tell the others to move away from the tents of Korach. Moses goes to warn the people who are associated with Korach. And then the ground opens up and swallows Korach.
Numbers 16:32
וַתִּפְתַּ֤ח הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ אֶת־פִּ֔יהָ וַתִּבְלַ֥ע אֹתָ֖ם וְאֶת־בָּתֵּיהֶ֑ם וְאֵ֤ת כׇּל־הָאָדָם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לְקֹ֔רַח וְאֵ֖ת כׇּל־הָרְכֽוּשׁ׃
and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all Korah’s people and all their possessions.
Is there a clear good guy and bad guy here? Are Moses and Korach just pawns in God’s plan? It’s not as if Moses is totally bought into leading the Israelites – he even asks God to kill him at one point because he is so fed up with the people, see Numbers 11:15.
While I buy some of the arguments I just laid out, my heart is still with Korach (though not necessarily against Moses). This altercation is not a simple right vs. wrong.
In the fabulous collection that is Torah Queeries, Jane Rachel Litman teaches that the Rabbis had to go to fairly far midrashic lengths to villainize Korach, all in the name of theologically squaring up this story. She writes,
“The Sages paint Korach not as an idealistic conscientious dissenter but as a manipulative greedy hypocrite. The midrashic Korach is a man of extreme wealth…[who] cynically and disingenuously stages the confrontation with Moses in order to replace Moses with himself. This midrashic Korach is creating spin about equality and universal holiness, but in actuality he is a power-hungry corrupt politician” (Litman. Torah Queeries. 203-204).
While I have a different theology than the Rabbis, I too am working very hard to make Korach’s story morally sensical – to find an argument that proves that Korach did something wrong or somehow deserved what he got.
When I’m honest, Korach’s fundamental question is one I ask everyday: “Why do you raise yourself above a holy congregation?” It generally irritates me when people say, “I think about so-and-so everyday” because like, really? Everyday? So instead I’ll just say, Korach’s question is a guiding question in my life and work: this is not hyperbole.
As a full-time Jewish educator who has very intentionally chosen not to go to rabbinical school (more on that another time), I consider what it means to spiritually lead a community very, very often. I envision a Jewish future in which we are truly a people that recognizes each other as partners in our tradition. That we walk side by side and share the load. We are living in a watershed moment for the Jewish people. Any Jewish text you could ever want to study is online and translated. Teachers can help you interpret or understand Torah from anywhere at any time using the mystical powers of the video call. If there is a time for the Jewish people to chomp at the bit of this nation-of-priests thing, it is now.
So on this very particular day in June 2022, I am left thinking the following: Korach was ahead of his time. His question was fair and frank. And urgent and essential. Perhaps even too much to the point for God to stomach. “Why do you raise yourself above a holy congregation?”
Why should any of us raise ourselves above our communities? Is it because we have something to say? Is it because we are excellent at listening? Is it because we have expertise? Is it because we think we are the best person for the job or because our community chose us? Because we have stuck around long enough? Ambition? Ego?
How do we see Jewish leadership today? What do titles or degrees or smicha have to do with it? Who says who gets to be a leader? Who is in charge amongst a people of equally sacred beings? These are Korach’s questions.
Korach also questions the orientation of the leader: “raise yourself above.” Might Korach have been on the brink of suggesting a new model of governance and Tabernacle work that better incorporated the holiness of each Israelite? It is Hillel who says “Do not separate yourself from the community” (Pirkei Avot 2:4). How much more so should a leader embed themselves with their people? This is a question of prepositions: what is the relationship between any instance of leadership and the group?
My one pause may come with how Korach went about this. My friend raised this point for me. If Korach has approached the question more gently or humbly – without raising a small army of followers, for example – might it have landed differently? How we do something is so much of what we do. And yet, we also all know what happens to people too ahead of their times. They are feared. Would a softer approach really have resulted in a different outcome? Did his cause just need better PR? We will never know.
Let’s finish by meditating on Korach’s exact cause of death. While God is no stranger to sending down plagues or consuming people in fire, instead, God deals with Korach by having the Earth swallow him.
Numbers 16:32-33
וַתִּפְתַּ֤ח הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ אֶת־פִּ֔יהָ וַתִּבְלַ֥ע אֹתָ֖ם וְאֶת־בָּתֵּיהֶ֑ם וְאֵ֤ת כׇּל־הָאָדָם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לְקֹ֔רַח וְאֵ֖ת כׇּל־הָרְכֽוּשׁ׃
וַיֵּ֨רְד֜וּ הֵ֣ם וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר לָהֶ֛ם חַיִּ֖ים שְׁאֹ֑לָה וַתְּכַ֤ס עֲלֵיהֶם֙ הָאָ֔רֶץ וַיֹּאבְד֖וּ מִתּ֥וֹךְ הַקָּהָֽל׃
“and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all Korah’s people and all their possessions. They went down alive into Sheol, with all that belonged to them; the earth closed over them and they vanished from the midst of the congregation.”
Wait, did you catch that? “Alive into Sheol.” He doesn’t die. He and his family are sent to Sheol, which, as my Professor, John Collins, once taught me, was supposed to be like the Biblical “dark, damp, waiting room” where (typically) everybody went after they died. They would wait there until Olam HaBah, The World To Come, when all was well and healed and whole. Why doesn’t God kill Korach with a plague or consume him in fire? Even the followers of Korach were consumed in fire:
Numbers 16:35
וְאֵ֥שׁ יָצְאָ֖ה מֵאֵ֣ת יְהֹוָ֑ה וַתֹּ֗אכַל אֵ֣ת הַחֲמִשִּׁ֤ים וּמָאתַ֙יִם֙ אִ֔ישׁ מַקְרִיבֵ֖י הַקְּטֹֽרֶת׃
And a fire went forth from יהוה and consumed the two hundred and fifty contestants offering the incense.
There is something quite different about Korach’s demise, and I can’t help but think about another who vanishes into a non-earthly realm without dying: Elijah, the Prophet (2 Kings 2:11).
Am I saying Korach is going to come back and teach us the messianic version of community leadership? Not necessarily. I’m saying he doesn’t have to. His messianic vision is preserved in his question: “Why do you raise yourself above a holy congregation?” If we follow that question, I wonder where it can take us.
PS: A final note for your consideration. The sons of Korach went on to guard over the gates of the Tent (1 Chr. 9:17-19) and many psalms are ascribed to them (Psalms 42-49, Psalms 84-88). Like his question, the sons of Korach did not die (Numbers 26:11).
PPS: If you want to read more of my thoughts on the currently state of the rabbinate and Jewish leadership, check this out: Rabbis, Authority, and Evolutions of Jewish Leadership: A Conversation
Sources Cited:
Rachel Barenblat, Rabbi. Korach, privilege, and striving for more. The Velveteen Rabbi. June 04, 2013. https://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com.
Litman, Jane Rachel. Torah and Its Discontents from Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, by Gregg Drinkwater (Editor), Joshua Lesser (Editor), David Shneer (Editor) (NYU Press, 2009), 202-205.
Thoughtful and provocative. Like the 'other side' perspective. Important.