Shabbat Messages

“The whole community is sacred, all of them, and God is in their midst.”

Do you think someone who stands for this belief deserved to be swallowed up by the Earth? Was it justified for people who longed for access to God in a fairly distributed way to be punished in this severe way?

Well, the answer is: in context, yes. Korach, the title character of this week’s parshat, challenged Moses’ leadership with 250 others, in what some may call a mutiny and others may deem a democratic revolution. Divine judgement ends this challenge, as God “opens up the earth and swallows them whole.”

Korach, an influential Levite, rallied others against Moses and Aaron, seeing it unfair that they were the only ones who got to have a more intimate relationship with God. Korach and his followers believed Moses and Aaron excessively elevated themselves and seemingly “hogged” God, so they took a stance for a new leader for their community.

While this might be seen as a demonstration of democracy in action, in the context and parameters of Israelite life wandering the desert, Korach’s actions were simply deemed a horrendous example of jealous entitlement. After all, Korach witnessed the severe sacrifices that Moses made throughout his years leading the Israelites–a damaged people still bitterly facing the after-effects of a life of slavery. He just witnessed the overwhelming communal stance of being unprepared to enter the Promised Land, still haunted by feelings of inadequateness and insecurity. The last thing the Israelites needed, then, was change: routine and comfort was the way to go! To rip these people of their leader at this critical time, seems cruel and unnecessary, driven by selfish gain. It’s no surprise then, that God serves Korach a severe and dramatized punishment.

However, taken out of context and read with a modern interpretation and individualized perspective, Korach’s punishment does not seem to fit the “crime.” In fact, one would be hard-pressed to find a crime to begin with–we could read Korach as simply an eager challenger who is unhappy with the status of his people and is passionate to enact change for the better. Reading from a modern standpoint, it’s fair to see why an overworked and tired incumbent would be challenged, especially on the platform of “the whole community is sacred.”

Perhaps Korach’s democratic intent should be celebrated, and his severe depiction and sentence was over-dramatized.

As a whole, Korach reminds me of the important lesson while reading Torah in general: these stories, while immensely powerful, need to be read within the context and frame of the time. This has helped me so many times while I've become frustrated with seemingly sexist, misogynistic, or even unbelievable storylines from our holy book. It was simply a different time, completely different circumstances, and absolutely a different understanding of how to establish and maintain a relationship with God. What is incredible about our tradition, though, is that we have the ability and the encouragement to question these stories and to read them time and time again from our modern perspective.

So whether you read Korach as a villain who dared to overthrow Moses, or a champion for the whole community, we should feel grateful we get to have these different interpretations of these ancient words that still challenge, move, and inspire us.

Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Aliya Stuart