Debate and Revolt - D’var Torah – Korach (Numbers 16-18)

“VaYikach Korach” – A curious opening to this week’s parasha.  “Korach took” . . .

We have a subject (the person named Korach) and a verb but no object.  The larger context, a narrative describing the rebellion of a fellow Levite against the leadership of Moses, helps the reader understand just what Korach “took.” Korach seized an opportunity, took advantage of a vulnerability (the humility of Moses which we learned about last week as Eldad and Meidad were prophesying), took advantage of the propensity of a congregation of complainers to find something other than food and water to kvetch about.  Korach takes his own sense of having been overlooked (by God, but not by Moses or Aaron, who were, at best, reluctant leaders) and brings it to the forefront.

Having spent much of my academic career in or with Middle School students (I only did grades 6-8 once as a student but I have taught, counseled, overseen middle school teachers and students for most of the last 18 years), I really relate to this parasha and the lessons to be learned.  Rebellion and adolescence are meant to be partners.  Legitimate debate, or what our tradition labels a machloket l’shem shamayim (literally a dispute for the sake of heaven) has its rightful place in public discourse and even in Torah.  When thirsty people don’t have water, when Moses can’t get cooperation from the people to follow the easiest command, the complaint is permitted, even encouraged.  When two schools of thought, such as Hillel and Shammai, argue yet deal respectfully with each other, the arguments are recorded to give credibility to the process and the minority opinion. One of the traditional lessons from Korach, though, is the consequence of an inappropriate complaint, a complaint which comes from a place of vanity, self-service or narcissism.

While Korach takes the artful approach of using God’s words “ki kol ha-aidah kulam k’doshim” (“but all of the people in the congregation are holy” [Bamidbar (Numbers) 16:3]) he doesn’t enumerate any particular lapses or omissions in the leadership being provided by Moses (governmental leadership) and Aaron (ritual leadership).  He simply challenges their selection (which was God’s doing), their elevated position, and his own legitimate candidacy given his belonging to the tribe of Levi and personal holiness (“after all, we’re all created in God’s image” I can hear Korach say, somehow in the voice of Edwin G. Robinson, even though I know Cecil B. DE Mille cast that actor as Datan, a follower of Korach).

Adolescence, developmentally, is a time to figure out who you are and how you fit into the family, school, youth group, society, planet and universe.  It’s a time to challenge, experiment, test limits, exert some independence, take some control of your schedule, take responsibility for your own learning and work.  Bnai Yisrael (the Children of Israel) are in their own post-birth phase as a nation; they’ve gotten some laws, they’re getting organized, they’re trying to find their place in the world.  Korach’s rebellion is an appropriate adolescent enterprise.  But it ends badly.  It ends badly because the dispute was about people and not about how they were doing their jobs.  It was about privilege of position but not about responsibility.  Korach’s actions aren’t his downfall; his motivations are.

My first summer as a summer camp staff member (B’nai B’rith Beber Camp, Mukwonago, Wisconsin) I ended up being on the staff committee responsible for the Shabbat morning Torah service.  I still remember the Korach puppet show that became the format (may still be) for our weekly “lessons” on the Book of Bamidbar (Numbers). It helped us help our campers understand our tradition’s tolerance of debate, the dangers of demagoguery and the challenges of forming a society in the wilderness.  My friend, counselor and teacher, Stan Beiner, hadn’t yet written Sedra Scenes and we were on our own to make our People’s story relevant to the new, late 1970’s generation of our people.

Korach pays the ultimate price for his vanity and disingenuousness.  With the right role models, instruction, and self-awareness, we should be able to avoid his disastrous results from now on. 

Questions for Discussion:

You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.  Is there an etiquette to complaining effectively?

Sometimes leadership does need to change.  How would you go about suggesting it’s time for a change?

Sometimes we complain to express frustration, but our target of complaint may not be the actual cause of our frustration! What steps can we take to try to be objective about what’s bothering us, and to find the appropriate place to express our desires or displeasure?

As a family, compose a letter to the editor expressing an opinion or disagreeing with something in the paper or on line.  Have each person read it for tone.  Question your motivation- is your ego involved, is there a “greater good” involved, does it make the point through facts or emotion?

Steve Kerbel, Director of Education of Congregation B’nai Tzedek, is Chair of the Education Directors’ Council of Greater Washington and a national officer of the Jewish Educators Assembly.