KORACH is notorious as a contentious and power hungry person who tried to overthrow the leadership of Moses and Aaron.
Joining Korach in the coup against the leadership were Datan and Aviram. For a while, On ben Pelet was part of the conflict too, but eventually he dropped out.
Its interesting to note that the grievances of Korach and Datan and Aviram are different. Korach primarily takes issue with the exclusivity of the priesthood that Aaron embodies and the appointed leadership of Moses, restricting the populace in its opportunity to lead or to serve the people in a public capacity. Datan and Aviram primarily take issue with Moses, with what they deem to be his failure in leadership.
Moses promised the Israelites that he would take them out of Egypt and bring them into the land of Israel, and now, following the episode of the spies, Israel will not be entering the land of Israel anytime in the near future. In fact, Israel faces 40 years of wandering and dying in the desert that, not entry into the promised land.
Because Moses hasnt taken the Israelites into the promised land, Korach opens the Torah portion with the words, And he [Korach] took.
Commentators are puzzled.
What did Korach take?
The text does not go on to detail the object of Korachs taking. Rashi comments that Korach means that he took himself to be apart from the others; he separated himself. Along these lines, other commentators, ibn Ezra, Chizkuni and Sforno explain that Korach took people along with him and his dispute.
Another commentator, Rashbam, thematically links the chronology of the Korach episode to the aborted spy mission in last weeks Torah portion. There does seem to be a link. Joshua and Caleb are the two, lone, noble spies who return with the enthusiastic mantra we shall go up [to the land of Israel], and when confronted by Moses, Datan and Avirams response is we shall not go up [to the land of Israel].
FOR different reasons, Korach, Datan and Aviram contest the leadership of Moses and Aaron.
Korach cloaks his arguments against the current leadership of Moses and Aaron in religious, theological arguments.
He claims he to be a man of the people, that no one should be restricted to a specific role in leadership that excludes others from serving.
The entire congregation is holy, he says, speaking to the idea of the masses and of equal access to spirituality for everyone, as over against some caste system that bestows special privileges on a select few, e.g., the priesthood.
Surprisingly, since this Torah portion is named for Korach, and he is the most notorious contender against Moses and Aaron, the commentator Ralbag (in the Torah portion, Pinchas) argues that it is, in fact, Datan and Aviram who were the worst instigators.
Hence, when the punishment was wrought against the rebels in an earthquake, it was Datan and Aviram and their descendants who were consumed, while the Torah specifically notes that the children of Korach did not die. And Korachs incense pans were used generations later in the temple.
Although Korach nursed a personal grip perhaps jealousy in challenging Moses and Aaron as the chosen leaders, I wonder whether there could have been a positive motivation, too.
Could it be that Korach was the first to put forth, and have it shot down, the leadership model of the king cum prophet, the religious-political model, that ultimately accompanied the Jewish people from the books of Samuel onward?
It doesn’t say so anywhere in the text, but going with the Rashbams linkage of the Korach rebellions and the spies failure, perhaps Korachs inner thoughts were not all that different from what the Torah attributes to Datan and Aviram. Perhaps after the failure of the spy mission, and the blatant failure to enter the land of Israel until after the cursed 40 years of wandering, the seeds of doubt in Mosess political leadership were growing.
Maybe as a rabbi, as a teacher, as prophet, as a desert leader, Moses was the man. But as a political leader? With the savvy for economic, military and agricultural leadership the skills necessary to forge ahead in the physical upbuilding of the promised land perhaps not.
Ironically, Samuel, the first leader as prophet in partnership with a king-political leader, is a descendant of Korach. The defensive, poignant and vulnerable words of Moses in this weeks portion, I have not taken one donkey from them nor have I wronged them, are echoed many years later as Samuel prepares to take leave of the Jewish people before his death.
WHAT Korach and Nadav and Avihu have more obviously in common is that they each carry the burden of being passed over in the arc of history.
Korachs father was one of three brothers. The sons of the oldest brother Amram, Moses and Aaron, receive the leadership and and the priesthood. The son of of the youngest brother Uziel, Elitzaphan, was also given special mission. Only the son of the middle brother Yitzhar namely, Korach was passed over and left to be an ordinary citizen. Korach, from the distinguished Kehati clan, was outshone by his cousins.
Datan and Aviram were princes of the tribe of Reuven, the eldest son of Jacob, whose birthright was supplanted and replaced. Datan and Aviram also carried the burden of being passed over.
I wonder whether the sting of being passed over, this heavy sense of loss, of being the rejected outsider within a family with destined roles, left its impact in a grudge or perspective through which they experienced the world and their family. May be this led to their feelings as outcasts, feelings that bubbled up into a full fledged conflict that ultimately destroyed them.
Perhaps, underneath all the reasons they put forth with their veneer of credibility and legitimacy, reasons based on religious, legal and pragmatic grounds, it was the lingering psychological pain that ultimately united Korach and Datan and Aviram in their rebellion, then, sadly, in their destruction.
Copyright © 2013 by the Intermountain Jewish News
