A Taste of Shabbos – Parashat Korach

What an ‘earth shaking’ week in the world! Can a careful parasha reader not notice a parallel to the extraordinary event of the ground opening up to swallow Korach and his adherents? Well, some readers might not be aware of the fact that the sons of Korach emerged alive!

In brief the way the Talmud describes what happened is that the place these three sons stood did not sink into the earth. This was because they did teshuva at the last minute, realizing that even if Korach was their father, Moshe was their teacher and so they were obligated to take Moshe’s side in their debate. Not only were they saved, they became the most prominent of the Levite singers in the Beit Ha’mikdash, the holy Temple. In fact, if you look in psalms, in chapters forty till forty nine, they are mentioned explicitly either as ‘b’nei Korach,’ the children of Korach, or as in ‘Mizmor l’ASAPH’, who was one of the sons. 

I am reminded of a story when Elie Wiesel visited the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and the rebbe asked, ‘What can I do for you?’ Wiesel said, something like, ‘Teach me how to live again, after the holocaust.’ The Rebbe replied, ‘I want to teach you not only how to live, but also how to sing.’ It seems like a way out of trauma and PTSD, is not just to accept survival, but to become proactive in finding a new reason for living.

There are various opinions regarding Korach’s mistake. Rabbi Frand quotes the Talner Rebbe: In brief, this Rebbe says that Korach was selling the popular communistic idea of equality. ‘All the congregation, all of them, are holy.’ ‘Everything is created equal.’ So…what’s so bad about that approach? It does sound so inclusive. And Jewish. But the Torah is filled with nuance, and makes a big difference between ‘equal’ and equitable. There are clearly defined differences in people, places and times, and in particular roles- differences that should not be overlooked, but differences that do not imply one is superior and the other is inferior. Sometimes, to quote Robert Frost, ‘good fences make good neighbors.’

The Zohar says that Korach disputed Shabbos! He argued, ‘Why should Shabbos be so special? Aren’t all days created equal?’ Rabbi Frand elaborates: ‘Where do we see that all creation is about differences? We see it from the earth itself. The earth produces all kinds of life- mineral, vegetable, animal,- all sustaining humanity too.’ When all of nature functions symbiotically, then we have a balanced world. When humans act cooperatively, then we can have a peaceful world.’ 

Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks often addressed the conflicts in Genesis in particular by reminding us that when one person- or nation- is singled out for a specific purpose or mission that does not mean that the one not chosen has no purpose or value. It is just that the one not selected for that mission, has another purpose. When Korach would not recognize these differences as shown by the earth, that’s when the earth had to open its mouth in protest. The heavens and the earth both give and receive to each other; the weekdays and Shabbat also give and receive to each other.

The Netivot Shalom also has a profound take about Korach’s mistake. He sources a lot from the Zohar where it says that Korach rejected some core Torah values like Shabbos, Tzitzit, and Shalom-peace! Of course, he was clearly among those chosen to carry the Holy Ark, and other special positions, showing that he was a much honored person. So it could not be that he rejected the mitzvot themselves. Rather he rejected the concept of the mitzvot being conduits to G-d.

The Netivot Shalom explains that true peace represents an integration between two sides (assuming each respects the voice of the other).

Hence we have among the ten miracles that were created at twilight before Shabbat, the very first listing is the mouth of the earth that swallowed Korach and his followers. Erev Shabbat is that mystical ‘twilight zone’ that joins the earthbound activities of the week with the higher, more infinite lights of Shabbos into a seamless whole.

Several years ago I fell for a Facebook scam where I was promised a lot of money in return for a small investment. My mistaken psycho-spiritual goal was to not need recourse to receiving help from others. Korach too wanted to function independently of always needing a give and take dynamic between people and G-d and people with each other. His sons on the other hand realized his mistake to the extent that they composed the psalm we recite seven times before the shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah.

Their realization was indeed the message of Rosh Hashanah: We are each an organic part of each other. We are strands of a rope that connect us horizontally to each other and vertically to G-d. When the separate strands are in conflict with each other, the vertical link is weakened. Like the branches of the menorah, the seven repetitions of Psalm 47 bring us closer and closer to the Source of all being, and open the channels for the dynamic blessings of give and take for the New Year. Yes, we are all holy, but as Korach’s sons realized, mainly in the future will this holiness be fully manifest. Believe in that future, work toward it, but don’t micromanage the details of the Divine timetable.

One of the many verses that concludes with SHALOM, is from the Psalms: ‘G-d will give OZ to his nation, G-d will bless his nation with SHALOM.’ The midrash comments that at Sinai the nations of the world were terrified when the whole earth trembles, and they went to their prophet Bilam (who we read about in a couple of weeks, where the phrase ‘Rising Lion’ is found) they were scared that another flood was coming to the world. Bilam replied, No, G-d is giving the Torah to the people of Israel.’ A rabbi in Canada (whom I knew as a little boy) gave a wonderful explanation: When the world is in turmoil, the reason can be that something catastrophic may be coming, but it can also be that some new revelation of Torah, as promised by the prophets, is coming into the world. It is up to us to choose the response- more chaos, or more Torah. May we choose wisely.