This week, when my first glance at the newspaper caught the words “Ramat HaSharon”, it caught my attention. This week, police caught a young man from Ramat HaSharon who admitted to murdering a fellow resident, lawyer Anat Pliner. This round of violence strikes very close to home. It doesn’t make sense to us. We struggle to understand why? Why would a teenager feel compelled to act in such a violent way? Why would anyone resort to violence to resolve any issue – personal or political?
This week’s Torah portion, Korach, also presents a violent picture of our ancient Israelite ancestors. This week, Korach, Moses’s cousin, and other tribal leaders question the authority of Moses and Aaron. Their punishment for this act is to be swallowed up by the earth. This portion also forces us to ask the question, Why? Why did it have to happen like it did? What conflict causes such destruction? Was it necessary?
It is written in Numbers 16:3 that Korach took the tribal leaders and said to Moses, “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the Lord is in their midst, Why then do you raise yourselves above the Lord’s congregation?” What does Korach do here that he deserves a punishment in which the earth swallows him up? In the parsha, Moses accuses Korach of demanding the priesthood which G-d did not assign them. Various classical rabbinic midrashim paint pictures of a Korach who was arrogant, a drunkard and acted like a clown, all images of a selfish, irresponsible fool. The classical texts also place Korach in the category of among the worst villains of Jewish history alongside Haman.
I disagree. Since Korach already held a position of high authority as a Levite, I don’t buy it that he was seeking power for himself. In fact, Korach brings a legitimate question that we ask of our leaders today: If G-d said in the Torah that all the people are holy (Leviticus 19: “And you shall be Holy because I, the Lord, am holy), why aren’t we all treated equally? However, I do believe that Korach made a serious tactical error which brought about his demise. It is written in a new midrash:
“Another interpretation: “And Korach took…to rise up against Moses”. “Took” must be referring to the multitudes, meaning that Korach took a huge congregation to stand against Moses. Of Moses, the Torah says (Numbers 1:17), “And Moses and Aaron took these people.” Similarly, it says (Joshua 8:12), “And he took around five thousand men.” These all support the explanation, “And Korach took” to mean that Korah stood against Moses with a mass congregation.
“A parable to what this situation is like: To an employee of an office that got all of the other employees together, and, in the staff meeting, accused the manager of earning a high salary without having to work very hard, while the employees toil long hours for little pay. After the meeting, the employees refused to work at all and treated the manager with no respect. The manager fired the (instigating) employee. He asked him, “Why did you fire me? I spoke the truth.” He answered him, “That might be true, but you embarrassed me in front of all my employees, and now no work gets done. If you had come to me in private, I might well have listened to you.” Also (in the case of Korah), Korah denounced Moses before all the Israelites. Accordingly, Moses declared his downfall (Numbers 16:29), “And if they will die a death like any other human being, then G-d has not sent me…”. Korah might well have been right, but he embarrassed Moses before all the people. If he had come to speak with Moses in private, Moses might well have considered his claim. And for this, he was punished.”
This midrash teaches us that it wasn’t Korach’s claim that was the problem, it was the way in which he brought it. Korach thought that since his cause was just, he could say it any way that he wanted. However, he ignored a major principle of communication: The message is the medium. Your voice will never be heard if you don’t transmit it properly. Also, in attempting to bring justice, he transgressed another Jewish principle – not to embarrass others. His concern with the people’s rights completely trampled on Moses and Aaron’s rights.
However, to be fair, we must also examine Moses’s reaction to Korach’s claim. The classical rabbinic texts emphasize Moses’s humility and modesty. It is written in Numbers 16:15 that “Moses got very angry and he said to the Lord, Pay no regard to their oblation. I have not taken the ass of any one of them, nor have I wronged any one of them.” Rashi interprets “And Moses got very angry” as “he was very saddened.” This is an example of how Moses is portrayed in our tradition as innocent and doing everything right to prevent disaster.
But, in the end, Moses does resort to violence. It seems to me that Moses was more concerned with his dignity than taking much time to consider a peaceful way to end the conflict.
It is written in Numbers 16:16, “Tomorrow, you and all your company appear before the Lord, you and they and Aaron…” Moses had the entire night to explore other solutions. I imagine that there are other voices he could have consulted with before decreeing death to the rebels.
I imagine, in this fateful night, Moses and Aaron performed the evening sacrifices alone at the Tent of Meeting. At the same time, the tribal heads huddled around camp fires on the other side of the camp.
Finally, there were the women gathered around the dying embers of the fire. They murmured among themselves. One said, “I would have invited a few representatives from Korach to sit with Moses, with God as Advisor.” Another said, “I would have told Moses to consult first with God before issuing any threats or ultimatums.” They replayed the scene from the day and reconstructed it how they would have handled the situation: They would have turned to Korach and asked what are the problems and demands. They would then have turned to Moses, restraining him from, in his wrath, interrupting Korach, and they would have asked him, “Do you understand what Korach is claiming?” Moses would have shuffled crossly and only hurled back vitriol at Korach. The women, without raising their voices, would have said to Moses, “Yes, but you are not hearing the pain beneath Korach’s words. On the surface, he is telling you that he thinks you shouldn’t be leader any more for such and such reason. Underneath all of this bravado, the leaders are trying to tell you that they are scared. They are supposed to be brave for their people, and they want to be and they act brave when addressing the people, but they have no where to address their own fears. You keep telling them there’s this promised land. That’s easy for you because you have a great faith. It’s harder for us because our faith relies solely upon you. It relies upon what you have told us about God and our dim memory of the terrible storm at Sinai which we are still confused how to interpret that and what it tells us about our God. We want to have faith, but we are having a hard time. Please help us.”
But these voices of the Israelite women are not heeded. Moses resorted to violence to solve his problem.
I imagine that that day of Korach’s rebellion was a day of complete misunderstanding which became confounded and spiraled into rash violence. Violence always means loss: mourning and pain that never go away. A revenge that always needs to be taken.
How quickly men are to anger! Men strike out. They hurl words. Korach raised a rabble and shouted his accusation to the high heavens. Moses asked the earth to open up and swallow his detractors. If we want to end the cycle of violence in the world, we must condemn also the actions of our ancient leaders in this parsha. We must sound the voices of interpretation of our tradition that seek reconciliation, promote mutual respect, consult with others, and search for the merciful path. If Korach had only taken Moses aside quietly. If Moses had only listened to other voices in the camp. If only our children will learn from us that violence is never the answer.