This week’s Torah portion, Korach, reports the most serious mutiny faced by Moshe Moses during the 40 years of wandering in the Wilderness of Sinai before the Children of Israel entered the Promised Land. Korach, first cousin to Moshe and a prominent member of the tribe of Levi, took with him another 250 men of stature, and together made a claim for honors, and specifically, the position of High Priesthood, held by Moshe’s older brother Aharon Aaron.
“They assembled against Moshe and against Aharon and said to them: Too much is yours! Indeed, the entire community, the entirety of them, are holy, and in their midst is God! Why then do you exalt yourselves over the assembly of God?” Numbers 15: 3
The tribe of Levi had been set aside from the other tribes in order to assist the priests in doing the holy service, including song in the sanctuary and teaching the Torah God’s teachings among the other tribes. But these holy tasks were not enough for Korach who sought honor and power. Korach utilizes demagoguery to enlist popular support against Moshe including a charge of arrogance against the exceedingly humble Moshe.
Moshe responds: “And Moshe said to Korach: Pray hearken, sons of Levi: Is it too little for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the community of Israel to bring you near to him, to serve the serving tasks of the Dwelling of the Compassionate One, to stand before the community, to attend on them?” 15: 8-9
Korach and his cohorts see leadership as an honor to take. However, as many chairpersons of public committees and voluntary organizations know, leadership is an opportunity and a responsibility to give.
Many of us humans have a tendency to judge and to criticize others and ourselves. While the desire to improve ourselves, and the drive to achieve the most possible can help power us to make the best of ourselves, the way that we struggle in life is as important as what we accomplish. Putting down others introduces negativity to our lives and to human society. While constructive criticism is critical to healthy relationships and a healthy society, criticism can also be destructive. Criticism is destructive when its objective is to undermine others.
Korach did not sufficiently appreciate the blessings he had. Each of us is blessed with so much and firstly with life itself. With every breath, it is if we are being recreated personally with God’s kiss of life. What a miracle! If we can appreciate the great gifts that we are receiving at every moment, what someone else has is no longer so relevant.
Daily prayer in which I thank God again and again helps me to remember my blessings and to feel blessed. By cultivating an attitude of appreciation of God and our fellow human creatures we can help to develop the kind of humility exemplified by Moshe, God’s Faithful Servant. Moshe understood that to serve is what life is all about: to serve God and to serve fellow man.
I would like to thank God for his supportive teachings in the Torah. I would like to to thank Moshe Rabbeinu, Moshe our teacher, for his role model. And thank you, dear readers, for providing me with the opportunity, each week, to reach for understanding of The Compassionate One’s holy teachings, the Torah.
May each of us be blessed with a Shabbat of peace, love and appreciation of each other and of The Compassionate One,
With great love from Jerusalem,
Shaya Kelter
