THEY ASSEMBLED AGAINST MOSES AND AGAINST AARON AND

SAID TO THEM: TOO MUCH IS YOURS! INDEED, THE ENTIRE

COMMUNITY, ALL OF THEM, ARE HOLY, AND IN THEIR MIDST IS GOD! WHY, THEN, DO

YOU EXALT YOURSELVES OVER THE ASSEMBLY OF GOD?

(Bamidbar 16:3)

All of them are holy– All of them heard words directly from the Omnipotent at Sinai.

(Tanhuma, quoted

by Rashi, Bamidbar 16:3)

All of them are holy – And you shall be holy

These two passages present us with the concept of kedusha – of holiness – in its two

contradictory forms: the category of All of them are holy, which is the inferior form of the religious

category, as against And you

shall be holy, which is the absolute and extreme opposite of Korah's

version. It is a demand, in the sense of And

you shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The results of Korah's conception are arrogance, pride, boasting, and

sanction to cast off obligations. According to this approach, the very fact

that one is part of the Israelite nation is sufficient to determine one's

standing and quality. The Oral Law, however, makes great efforts to order man's

life within a framework of Torah and mitzvot,

attempting to realize the important dictate of You

shall observe all of my commandments and you shall be holy unto your God. This

is to be accomplished by the imposition of very strict restrictions and

obligations upon man, something which has continued throughout the history of

the Jewish people . While the kedusha

at the conclusion of Parashat Shelah

is the highest expression of the purpose of faith, that of the parasha of Korah is the

preeminent symbol of man's rebellion against the faith in God. The distance

between these two approaches, is also the distance between the belief in God

and idolatry. There is no simpler, easier, cheaper, and more contemptible form of

religious faith than the belief that kedusha

is a given in natural reality.

(Y. Leibowitz, Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashat

HaShavua, pp. 680-681)

The Relationship Between the Firstborn and the

Chosen

Amos Bardea

Parashat Korah

and its haftorah, which deals with the first kingship

in Israel (I Samuel 11-12), together display the

nature of power and its dissolution. They also offer an alternative model of

leadership which we must strive to realize.

Korah is presented as a

wealthy man motivated by jealousy, one hungry for power authority. He uses

demagoguery to incite the people to rebel against Moses and Aaron. Korah chooses a convenient moment to begin his rebellion;

the people are upset following the crisis of the sin of the spies. The spies

themselves had been killed by a plague, and the people's efforts to reach the

land by their own initiative had failed. It is easy to understand their

psychological condition. They had been called upon to make great efforts and to

remain steadfast for the long term in order to continue their trek through the

wilderness; all without any purpose, goal, or destination. The necessity for

the people to gird up their loins to no purpose brings them to a Sisyphean situation

that eats away at their motivation. They understand themselves as having

reached a dead end; this undermines the people's morale and creates fertile

soil for the growth of a charismatic leader who can overturn the present regime.

The message of the rebellion concentrates on complaints about the people's

leaders, besmirching them with accusations of

corruption and nepotism. Korah describes Moses and

Aaron as running a centralized regime Why,

then, do you exalt yourselves over the assembly of God? and

offers an alternative of distributed leadership, Indeed, the entire

community, all of them, are holy, and in their midst is God!

Moses' leadership in the desert confronted the

people with the need for a revolution of consciousness. After physically

leaving Egypt, the people needed to exchange their slave status for that of

free men. They also had to abandon Egypt's pagan culture, which mixed divinity

with sensible nature, which held that the spirit of the dead lives eternally in

the physical flesh of the deceased, and which found the expression of pagan

spiritualism in magic powers that were clearly present to the senses. The

revolution of consciousness sought to replace idolatry anchored in nature with

a transcendent God beyond all conception, and magic rooted in the natural world

with miracles directed from above. Moses' revolution had to execute this

spiritual change gradually. First, miracle replaced magic: in the framework of the

ten plagues it struck out against pagan nature, as found in the Nile, in

animals and in the firstborn, while also contending against the magical powers

of the Egyptian priests. After entering the desert, the people had to struggle

for their physical and spiritual existence. This moved them to become aware of

their character and purge the slave-consciousness that had reduced them to a

mere function of their oppressors. After the physical exodus from slavery they

were to receive their certificate of spiritual freedom "do not read it as harut [inscribed on the tablets] but rather heirut [freedom]", which represents the demand

to worship the God Who is beyond all nature through the observance of practical

commandments, and which measures the spiritual condition of the individual and

nation in terms of their accomplishments in the service of God. In receiving

the Torah, the people was required both to wipe out every trace of idolatry as

a first step towards the creation of a kingdom of priests and a holy nation

and to prefer the world of action over the phenomenal world and individual will

over that which is set by nature. In this new framework, the religious status

of the dead is shattered by a new status which opposes consultation with the

dead. The dead are recategorized as principle sources

of impurity and the religious-idolatrous status of animals is desecrated by

their sacrifice to heaven.

In the light of the above discussion it becomes

possible to describe the content of the counter-revolution which Korah wished to bring about against the background of the

people's demoralization following the sin of the spies. The people's desire to

return to Egypt in the sin of the spies is adopted by Korah

in his demand to return to the Egyptian culture. This demand is made concrete

in his demand to reinstate the status of the firstborn, a status they enjoyed

in Egypt. The firstborn represented the process by which the first birth left

his dramatic and emotional impression by changing the social status of the

family unit and allowing it to achieve completeness. The firstborn's natural

characteristics lent him a religious status of one possessing magical powers;

even the Pharaohs rose out of the firstborns. The plague of the firstborn – the

final plague to afflict Egypt – undercut the firstborn's religious and magical

power. The status of the firstborn in Israel underwent changes in the course of

the gradual revolution which pulled the people out of the Egyptian mindset. In

the beginning the firstborn serve as a source of contact between the people and

its God but in the end they are replaced by the Levites. The priesthood is

built upon a genealogical foundation of a particular Israelite tribe, just as

membership in God's nation is genealogically based upon one's being born to a

daughter of Israel. By the way, in contrast to pagan culture, chosen status

does not derive from birth: "a bastard scholar is greater than an ignorant

High Priest." One's chosen-ness is not fixed by one's being a firstborn, a

motif which reappears throughout the Torah: God's chosen are systematically

picked from among the younger siblings, as the following table reveals:

The status of God's chosen one is not based upon

his factual circumstances but rather in spite of them. In contrast to the idolatrous

view which lends rights to the firstborn, the national identity of a member of

the nation of Israel burdens him with duties without promising additional

rights. The Israelite is required to perform a wide range of practical duties,

duties which become more wide ranging for the Levite and even more so for the Kohen. The Torah expresses the extent of these duties in

even blatantly physical terms; we see this in the way it handed out the tasks

of carrying the various parts of the Tabernacle. Israelites carry their own

burdens with the help of animals and carts, while the Levite must use carts to

transport the disassembled Tabernacle as well as their own affects, while the Kohanim must carry the vessels of the Tabernacle on their

shoulders, which symbolizes the range of their spiritual duties. In addition,

the tribe of Levi lost their claim to an inherited tract of land, since the

Lord is his inheritance. Like membership in the Jewish people, the

priesthood is genealogically based. However, it also is identified practically

in terms of the fulfillment of the duties required by the service of God. In

this way, the Torah springs forth from the earth, truth sprouts from the

earth and like Jacob's ladder angels ascend and descend upon it; first they ascend

upwards from the earth and only afterwards do they descend, despite the notion

that the angels find their proper place, so to speak, on high.

Against the model in which has every chosen one

wins his position by striving for spiritual perfection through the performance

of his religious duties, Korah offers an alternative

model that returns to the Egyptian mindset in which rights are granted on the

basis of the biological datum of birth-order. Korah

incites the firstborn and presents Dotan, Eliav, and On ben

Pelet as members of the elder tribe of Reuven claiming their rights to priesthood. Similarly, the

two hundred and fifty notable men (identified by some commentators as

firstborn Israelites) were represented as demanding the rights of priesthood

for the Israelite firstborn. The idolatrous tendency also comes to light in the

way that God's will is expressed through miracles accompanying the burning of

the incense and the flowering of Aaron's staff; these show that, due to

Egyptian influence, magical revelations made a great impression upon Korah and his followers. With this we take a step backwards

to the days when Moses needed to perform miracles with his staff in order to

verify his (and Aaron's) mission to the elders of Israel, of whom it was said, "but

if they do not believe me and do not listen to me…".

Korah makes claim to the

holiness immanently present in the firstborn by their very nature, Indeed,

the entire community, all of them, are holy, and in their midst is God!

instead of and you shall be sanctified for your God, a verse mentioned

in the end of last week's parasha, in the passage

referring to tzitzit, which is held to be

equivalent to all of the commandments. The commandment of tzitzit

teaches of a holiness that we must work towards

through steadfast service of God by observance of His commandments. Korah's demagogy scorns at the need for commandments, as

the midrash tells us, asking

why a tallit which is completely dyed with tekhelet must have an additional string of tekhelet tied to it. Why should a building full of

books, and thus suffused with holiness, require need a mezuzah on its doorpost?

The view that holiness is produced by the human will performing commandments "Who

sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us" stands in contrast

to Korah's doctrine of holiness immanent in things

themselves. Korah's theory of a prior holiness leads

him to demand rights without performing duties. That is why it says and Korah took. He wanted to take the privileges of sovereignty and glory. However,

Moses said, I did not take a single hamor [ass] of

theirs, showing that he refrained from any material [homri]

benefit, and led the people with unreciprocated giving.

The haftorah attached to

our parasha deals with Israel's first monarchy. There

Samuel says,

Here I am! Testify against me, in the presence of

the Lord and in the presence of His anointed one: Whose ox have I taken, or

whose ass have I taken? Whom have I defrauded or whom have I robbed? From whom

have I taken a bribe to look the other way? I will return it to you. (I Samuel 12:3)

The prophet Samuel uses a variation of the words

spoken by the father of all prophets in our parasha. Like

Moses, he sets power and kingship to the test of the service of God, the test

of fulfilling duties while abandoning claims to rights. At the end of his

words, he warns, if you persist in your wrongdoing, both you and your king

shall be swept away (verse

25). His words were meant

to echo in the ears of Israel's leaders throughout the generations, since Korah's children did not die (Bamidbar 26:11).

Dr. Amos Bardea is a

thinker and scientist

"I Have Not Taken the

Figure

According

to the plain reading, custom was that the public ruler would ride on a horse,

as per Kohellet (10:7) I have seen slaves on horseback, and nobles walking… from

here we see that the proper order is the reverse; but even the servant who

accompanies his master on his travels is given a donkey. Not only did I never

take one's horse [says Moses], I never even took a

donkey to ride upon. Rashi explains according to a Midrash of the Sages: Even the donkey upon which my wife

rode when we traveled from Midyan to Egypt was not

theirs. It should be noted that he could have made an even more remarkable

claim – that even the bread he ate in Egypt was not

taken from the public. [But he does not make any such claim]. From this we

learn that it cannot be rightfully expected of one who constantly engages in

public affairs that he not eat from public funds, for he must set aside some

hour for his sustenance, which results in not attending to public needs; the

public prefers that even that hour be devoted to their needs and that the

leader eat at their expense. Moses ate at public expense, and only the donkey

on which he brought his wife was his. In fact, the presence of Moses's wife and children in Egypt was unnecessary – they

returned to Midyan immediately – but she had asked

him to be able to see the glory of the exodus from Egypt (Mekhilta Yitro). This was not essential for the

life of one who deals with public needs, certainly it

is not a characteristic of the righteous to burden the public with more than is

necessary for life's essentials.

(The NeTziV of Volozhin;

HaAmek Davar,

Harhev Davar,

Bamidbar 16:15)

It

is proper, therefore, that we review and internalize that final passage of

these thoughts of the NeTziV. They are worthy of

being said to all generations – especially to this generation, in which it is

not customary to emulate the attributes of our teacher Moses.

(Y. Leibowitz, Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashat

HaShavua, p. 694)

Demagogy's Power to Enflame and

Incite

It

is revealed and known before you that the spirit of the masses are easily

inflamed by dazzling claims, and a person such as Korah,

who is spiritually superior and who enjoys full confidence heretofore

unblemished, is able to dupe the people and lead them to sin. When the masses sin, the guilt can usually be attributed to a few

instigators of high standing. When human beings intervene against the

transgression, as a rule it is the incited masses – who are less guilty -who

are hurt; the inciters themselves usually go unpunished. But you are God,

God of the spirits of all flesh, because you are all powerful God,

you have it in your power to punish whoever is guilty; and since you are God

of the spirits of all flesh, you can discern in your wisdom the degree of

every man's guilt. When one man sin' – Korah

alone was guilty, whereas the incited masses are deserving of your graces. We

have noted a number of times in similar cases: when The Holy One, Blessed Be

He, leads Moshe to prayer, He arouses in his heart the understanding of His

ways of supervision; He elevates his spirit, as it were, to think – along with

Him – the thoughts of divine supervision.

(Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, Bamidbar 16:22)

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