![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/779\/2018\/06\/rose-web-200x300-200x300.jpg\")
Parshat Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32)<\/em><\/p>\nBy Rabbi Or Rose<\/strong><\/p>\n In this week\u2019s Torah portion, Korah (after whom the reading is named) and other prominent members of ancient Israelite society brazenly challenge Moses and Aaron\u2019s leadership, resulting in the dramatic death of the rebels through supernatural means (16:31-35).<\/p>\n Over the centuries, biblical interpreters have explored the figure of Korah, a member of the Levite tribe and Moses and Aaron\u2019s cousin. What inspired this man to challenge his divinely-appointed relatives? Why did he seek to overthrow them? Did he act in good conscience or was he guided by lesser motives?<\/p>\n In one intriguing comment on this episode by the early hasidic master, Rabbi Meshullam Feibush Heller of Zbarazh (d. 1795), the mystical preacher offers the following psychological insight regarding Korah (see Yosher Divrei Emet<\/em> #30):<\/p>\n Even though Korah possessed both intelligence and the holy spirit, a spark of envy remained within him. He had not purified his heart of it in a total way\u2026 He thought that Moses was using his exalted role in a way that opposed truth, that he had strayed from truth and erred in aggrandizing himself. It was Moses\u2019s sense of his own greatness, Korah thought, that caused him to exalt himself over God\u2019s community, as he said: \u201cWhy do you uplift yourselves over the congregation of YHWH\u201d (Numbers 16:3)?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Our teacher points out that while Moses did carry himself with a sense of nobility, he did so \u201cfor the sake of God, to guide people in God\u2019s service.\u201d Rabbi Meshullam Feibush adds that Moses was a deeply humble person, which is why he demurred when the Divine first called on him to serve as the liberator of the Israelites from Egypt (Exodus 4). Moses relented only after the Almighty pressed him to accept this great charge. Rabbi Meshullam Feibush rounds out his defense of Moses by arguing that the Israelite leader continued to walk humbly throughout his life, as attested to by the Torah\u2019s declaration in the Book of Numbers that he was \u201chumbler than any person on the face of the earth\u201d (12:3).<\/p>\n Korah, however, could not accept that Moses was able to act with \u201cgreatness\u201d while remaining a person of humility and integrity. According to Rabbi Meshullam Feibush, the ancient figure erred in his judgement because he could not admit to his own<\/em> envy, and so thrust his lack upon Moses. He continues, \u201cKorah thought just the opposite, as the evil of envy caused his heart to see bad as good and good as bad.\u201d As a result, Korah believed that Moses was an irredeemably haughty person, who led from a place of arrogance, and not out of a genuine sense of duty.<\/p>\n Using Korah as a case study, Rabbi Meshullam Feibush then turns his attention directly to the listener (and reader), stating that it requires \u201cgreat faith\u201d to recognize a \u201clack\u201d in oneself, particularly when a person genuinely seeks to do good. \u201cTake care: it might be sinful self-exaltation that makes you want to do a mitzvah<\/em> that is not required of you and that might be performed by somebody else.\u201d With this incisive remark, the preacher redirects our attention from the ancient world to contemporary life. No longer are we discussing a fallen biblical figure, but ourselves (whether or not we play public leadership roles). Like Korah, we wish to contribute and serve meaningfully, and<\/em> we have ego needs that can lead us astray if we do not acknowledge and channel them appropriately. We must ask ourselves why we want to engage in a certain action, if it is \u201crequired\u201d of us, or if there may be someone else better suited for it?<\/p>\n As my teacher Rabbi Arthur Green notes, in this hasidic presentation of Korah, the disgruntled rebel is not \u201ca person of wicked intent,\u201d but \u201cone who did not turn his sharp eye of critical judgement inward on himself\u201d (see Speaking Torah: Spiritual Insights from Around the Maggid\u2019s Table<\/em>, Volume 2, p. 34). While we all have a need to be seen and valued and can feel jealous of others, Rabbi Meshullam Feibush calls us to carefully weigh and measure these emotions, and to honestly assess how they contribute to our perception of ourselves and others.<\/p>\n Rabbi Or Rose is Director of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning &\u00a0Leadership<\/a>at Hebrew College.<\/em><\/p>\n Interested in a possible career in the rabbinate? Read Rabbi Dan Judson\u2019s\u00a0article \u201cJewish Lessons on Meaningful Work.<\/a>\u201c\u00a0Rabbi Judson is Dean of \u00a0the\u00a0Rabbinical School of Hebrew College<\/a>. He has a PhD in Jewish history from Brandeis University.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Parshat Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32) By Rabbi Or Rose In this week\u2019s Torah portion, Korah (after whom the reading is named) and other prominent members of ancient Israelite society brazenly challenge Moses and Aaron\u2019s leadership, resulting in the dramatic death of the rebels through supernatural means (16:31-35). Over the centuries, biblical interpreters have explored the figure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3007,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14,12,9,86,56,77,6,83,3,13,4,5],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-70-faces-of-torah","tag-boston","tag-hebrew-college","tag-jewish","tag-judaism","tag-numbers","tag-parsha","tag-rabbi-or-rose","tag-sabbath","tag-seventy-faces-of-torah","tag-shabbat","tag-torah"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n