Speak to the children of Israel and take from them a staff for each father's house from all the chieftains according to their fathers' houses;

[a total of] twelve staffs, and inscribe each man's name on his staff.

Inscribe Aaron's name on the staff of Levi... the staff of the man whom I will choose will blossom...

And on the following day Moses came to the Tent of Testimony,

and behold, Aaron's staff for the house of Levi had blossomed!

It gave forth blossoms, sprouted buds, and produced ripe almonds.

(Bamidbar 17)

 

It gave forth blossoms - a sign of the young priests [literally: pirhei - "flowers of the" - kehuna - "priesthood"].

sprouted buds - a sign that High Priests will descend from him and will be diligent [shokdim = diligent; shaked = almond] in their service, as they say: "Priests are quick." And in the tractate Avot [it is stated] that Aaron's rod, its almonds and flowers are among the things created at twilight on the eve of [the first] Sabbath.

(Hizkuni ad loc)

 

It gave forth blossoms, sprouted buds, and produced ripe almonds - Hiddushei HaRIM ztz''l explained the matter of the blossoms and the buds: RaMBaN z"l wrote that those 250 people were first-borns, that is, that they complained for having been deposed from holiness and replaced by the Levites. At first they thought this arrangement would only persist in the wilderness and would not be permanent, and that the service would return to them when they arrived at the Land of Israel. That was why when they were condemned to die in the wilderness; they complained that they had been rejected from the holy [status] which was given over to the Levites. That is why He demonstrated [Aaron's election] with a rod that blossomed, sprouted buds, and produced ripe almonds. This showed that even though the flowers and buds are not fruits and the almonds are the important thing, that, nevertheless, almonds cannot ripen without the flower and the bud. Each preserves the other and fruit is produced from them, so that they are all considered as part of the fruit, for without them the fruit cannot grow or be sustained. Similarly, even though the Levites were chosen, in any event they [the firstborn] were not rejected from holiness, because the Levites' holiness derived from them just as the fruit [develops from the flowers and buds] and they all are holy. For without Israel, the Levites have no holiness, and their high station is only thanks to Israel, and they are all one and a vessel for holiness.

(From Siah Sarfei Kodesh - a collection of divrei Torah from the Rebbes of the Pischa, Kotzk, and Alexanderer Hassidim)

 

Who is the Chosen One?

Menachem Klein

The controversy of Korah and his faction vs. Moses and Aaron was a dispute over the distribution of appointments and perks among members of the reigning tribe - the Levites. Korah and his followers accused Moses of nepotism, while Moses claimed that he did not personally decide who would lead or function as High Priest; these were God's choices.

Korah and his faction were not the only ones to suspect that familial and personal interests led Moses and Aaron to set themselves up as leaders. Another great event occurs the day after the earth swallowed up Korah and fire burned the 250 members of his faction who offered incense. Now it is as if nothing had happened the day before, as if the crowd that gathered around to see the contest between the two Levite leaders - Moses and Korah - had not fled in terror for they said: "Lest the earth swallow us up." And the entire Israelite community complained - not one faction of the reigning tribe, but rather the entire community accused Moses and Aaron: You have caused the people of the Lord to die. Your considerations were personal; you wanted to protect your status. God did not appoint you, rather, you appointed yourselves and killed those who exposed you. God's response was harsh. This time He did not kill a few hundred, as He had done to Korah and his faction; rather, He kills 14,700 Israelites. Moses and Aaron were the ones who ended the killing. Defying the accusation made against them by the people, Moses and Aaron saved the lives of their accusers. Even this deed did not suffice to calm the protests and doubts regarding their election. An extra test was required, the test of the flowering staff: The man whom I choose - his staff will flower. The previous proofs involved punishments and intimidation. They brought death and did not help quite the protests. The test of the staffs was, instead, a test of flowering and flourishing; it had life, it was positive rather than negative. And behold, Aaron's staff for the house of Levi had blossomed! It gave forth blossoms, sprouted buds, and produced ripe almonds.

Did this test help? And Moses took out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites and they saw and each man took his staff. Were the Israelites then completely reconciled to the choice? Did they gnash their teeth? Did they apathetically shrug their shoulders? It is not clear. First of all, it can be seen that the choice has positive significance involving flourishing, and not only rejection and alienation. Secondly, the question of choice and preference is not a marginal issue, a quarrel among members of the ruling elite. Rather, it is one of Scripture's central themes, and the Korah incident is one of its instances. The issue of “choseness” appears early in Bereishit with the story of how Abel's offering was preferred to that of Cain, who gave a murderous response. Throughout the book of Bereishit we find recurrent conflicts between the chosen and the rejected son; beginning with the book of Shemot and continuing through Chronicles this becomes the struggle between the chosen people and other rejected peoples.

Every choice creates a hierarchy, and as parashat Korah demonstrates, rankings and preferences inspire dissent on the part of those who feel deprived. The justification of choice and preference is not a simple matter. Of course, it bothers those who are not chosen. They want to know why they lost out. Often, they also want to replace whoever was chosen. The rejected are not the only troubled ones; the chosen also ask why they were chosen and why they must bear the burden of election. Across the generations, Jewish thinkers have offered various answers to these questions. R. Saadia Gaon and RaMBaM said that the election of the Jewish People was founded upon the Torah and observance of the commandments. R. Yehudah HaLevi and schools of thought within kabbalah and Hassidism thought that the choice of Israel was founded upon the people's ethno-biological makeup and the laws of the cosmos.

Modernization, secularization, and emancipation reduced the distance between Israel and the nations, making the question of election more problematic. The solution formulated on the basis of classic Jewish thought saw choseness as a kind of educational mission. Election was not meant to grant the chosen people existential preference or to mark the inferiority of other peoples or to discredit them. Rather, the People Israel was chosen in order to light the way for other nations and to help them change. Being chosen means having to share what you have with others and not to close yourself off, entrenched in superiority. This view can be regarded as apologetics - but that need not be so. This "civilizing" approach was typical of the white Europeans' feeling of superiority vis-à-vis the peoples of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It was also utilized to resolve the theological issue of Israel's relations with the nations. However, since the second half of the 20^th century, decolonization, democratization, and the values of egalitarianism and liberalism have rendered the "civilizing" thesis unconvincing for all those who see themselves as belonging to modern and postmodern Western culture. This approach ameliorates the gap between Israel and the nations, but it does not erase it. In contrast, humane, liberal, and universal values require that we view all human beings as fundamentally equal. The information revolution and globalization have deepened the need for a new justification of election. The information and communications revolution call to our attention the fact that we are not essentially different from other people. Together with globalization they reduce the distances between different cultures and pull down barriers.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, makes a bold intellectual effort to make religious principles relevant to the 21^st century. He does not think globalization and our knowledge of other cultures subvert our traditional world; rather he greets them as a challenge. In order to successfully grapple with this challenge he says we must replace our paradigm instead of taking it on armed with yesterday's concepts. He claims that today's religious challenge is to recognize the image of God even in those who do not resemble us. "There are times when God meets us in the face of a stranger" who is not Jewish. The foundational idea of monotheism "is not what it has traditionally been taken to be: one God, therefore one faith, one truth, one way. To the contrary, it is that unity creates diversity." That, he writes, is the opposite of tribalism. The principle advocated by Rabbi Sacks has many theological consequences, including some related to the question of election. The Jewish People was not chosen because it had something that others did not. The notion of choseness must be understood as a kind of pioneering; to be the first people to present the view that one God reveals Himself through difference and is worshipped in different ways. One might say that God did not choose us from all the nations, but rather with all the nations.

Dr. Menachem Klein teaches in the Political Science department of Bar Ilan University

 

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 value. The Oral Law, however, makes great efforts to order man's life within a framework of Torah and commandments, 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 Parashat Korah is the preeminent symbol of man's rebellion against 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 holiness is a given in natural reality.

(Y. Leibowitz, Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashat HaShavua, pp. 680-681)

 

More on "Controversy for the Sake of Heaven"

 

The author of Midrash Shmuel on the Mishnah (Avot 5:7), writes (as per the RaMBaM): "Every controversy for the sake of Heaven [will endure] etc.," the reason for this is that we know (Sanhedrin 17a) that "If all [judges] convict - he is acquitted," for when there is no opposition, offering question and arguments, the matter cannot be completely illuminated, and it is possible that all are subject to error. Understand that by everyone striving to make his point, the picture will sharpen and truth will come to light.

(Yismah Moshe II;7/2)

 

Who is to be Punished - the Inciters or the Incited?

They flung themselves on their faces, and said: "O God, God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, at the entire community will You be furious?!"

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 sins - 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 Moses to prayer, He arouses in his heart the understanding of His ways of governance; He elevates his spirit, as it were, to think - along with Him - the thoughts of divine governance.

(Rabbi S. R. Hirsch, Bamidbar 16:22)

 

 I Have Not Taken the Ass of Any One of Them: A Proper Characteristic of a Public Figure

According to the plain reading, custom was that the public ruler would be carried 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 this 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 then he would have to set aside some hour to make his living, which would result in his 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, too, ate at public expense, and only the donkey on which he brought his wife was his. In fact, the presence of Moses' wife and children in Egypt was unnecessary - they returned to Midyan immediately - but she had asked him that she 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; Ha'amek 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 Moses our teacher. (Y. Leibowitz, Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashiyot ha'Shavu'a, p. 694)

 

Every wise woman builds her house; but the foolish plucks it down with her hands. (Proverbs 14:1)

Every wise woman builds her house - this refers to the wife of On, the son of Pelet; but the foolish plucks it down with her hands - to Korah's wife.

(Sanhedrin 110a)

 

Rav said: On, the son of Pelet, was saved by his wife. She said to him, "What matters it to you? Whether the one [Moses] remains master or the other [Korah] becomes master, you are but a disciple." He replied, "But what can I do? I have taken part in their counsel, and they have sworn me [to be] with them." She said, "I know that they are all a holy community, as it is written, seeing all the congregation are holy, everyone of them (Bamidbar 16)." [So,] she proceeded, "Sit here, and I will save you." She gave him wine to drink, intoxicated him and laid him down within [the tent]. Then she sat down at the entrance thereto and loosened her hair. Whoever came [to summon him] saw her and retreated. Meanwhile, they [Korah's followers] were swallowed up.

(Sanhedrin 109b-110a, based on Soncino translation)

 

 

 

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