Parashat Korach: LeShem Shamayim [For the Sake of Heaven]
Any dispute for the sake of Heaven, will have enduring value, but any dispute
not for the sake of Heaven, will not have enduring value. Which is an example of a dispute for the sake
of Heaven? The dispute between Hillel and
Shammai. What is an example of one not for
the sake of Heaven? The dispute of Korach
and all his company.
Who was Korach? To appreciate
his grievance and that of his followers, we need to understand the various family
structures that brought about this situation.
Levi, the son of Yaakov had three sons, Gershon, Kehat and Merari
along with a daughter, Yocheved (who was also Moshe's mother). Kehat had four sons which included Amram (Moshe's
father and therefore Yocheved’s first cousin) and Yizhar who was Korach's father. Korach was therefore a first-born son.
Who were Korach's followers? Two-hundred and fifty men, mostly from the tribe
of Reuven, Yaakov's firstborn son. They were
led by Datan and Aviram (and initially by On ben Pelet but he listened to his wife
who wisely advised him to stay away from the crowd).
Rashi suggests that the issue spurring these men in their uprising,
particularly Korach himself, was the fact that Moshe, the youngest of Yocheved and
Amram's children had appointed Aharon, his brother to be the Kohen Gadol. Korach, by his description in this week's Parasha,
was anything but a modest man and saw this as favouritism. The rebels who were all first-born men had lost
their initial favoured status when they orchestrated the episode of the Golden Calf. Hitherto, they had been earmarked to carry out
the work that was subsequently passed onto the tribe of Levi - the only collective
that did not participate in the sin.
When you consider the Ramban's view that this revolt came on the
back of the decree following the Spies' report and its dire consequences, you have
what we colloquially call 'a perfect storm'.
As a mathematical equation, you could express it in the following manner:
Forty year punishment +
long-standing firstborns' resentment +
populist sentiment stoked by some charismatic OPPORTUNISTS
=
replacement
of the current leadership.
Rabbi Sacks ztl writes:
"Populism is the politics of anger. It makes its appearance when there is widespread
discontent with political leaders, when people feel that heads of institutions are
working in their own interest rather than that of the general public, where there
is widespread loss of trust and a breakdown of the sense of the common good...The
Korach rebellion was a populist movement and Korach himself an archetypal populist
leader."
This is what he said about Moshe and Aharon:
"You have gone too far! The
whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is Among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly
of the Lord?”
That the Lord had originally commanded Moshe to appoint Aharon
and his sons as the priests is conveniently ignored (see Exodus 28.1).
Korach accused Moshe and Aharon of nepotism. In other words, corruption. If that isn't insulting enough, Datan and Aviram
accused Moshe of taking the Israelites out of Egypt - which they have the chutzpah
to call the 'land flowing with milk and honey' in order to 'be killed in the wilderness.’ To add insult to injury, they accused him of the
sin of the spies and said that he was holding onto the leadership 'for his own prestige'. As Rabbi Sacks adds: "all three, outrageous
lies."
Quoting our original text - this is an example of a dispute that
is not created 'for the sake of heaven'.
Korach and his company are not trying to further brotherly peace.
When it came to the great Talmudic schools of Hillel and Shammai,
their arguments may have been just as forthright and no doubt their views, as fiery. But the rationale behind their passion was firmly
grounded in a desire to bring the Torah to the masses. It was Leshem Shamayim - for the sake of heaven. It was pure.
Korach's rebellion shows that populism can be corrosive if channelled
in the wrong direction. What would happen
if the opposite could take place? A leader
who would launch a gentle revolution that would inspire millions of people to return
to the Torah and its teachings. A leader
whose Yartzheit we commemorated yesterday which was twenty-eight years since the
passing of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson ztl.
One does not need to be a member of Lubavitch to appreciate not
only the wonderful work that his organisation does around the world day in and day
out but the love they show to each and every Jew.
The Rebbe's raison-d'aitre was to emulate the legacy and teachings
of Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai. Everything
he did was leshem shamayim - for the sake of heaven. After the destruction of a third of the world's
Jews, he spearheaded a campaign to rebuild, along with other Sages of the age, the
shell that remained of our holy nation.
Travel virtually anywhere in the world and you will find a warm
and welcoming Chabad house. An emissary or
Shaliach as they are known and a kosher meal to tuck into. Friday night to celebrate in places where no-one
knows what Shabbat means. Someone who cares
about your soul. Another Jew who believes
in you as a fellow Jew - irrespective of how connected you feel to Judaism.
May his memory be a blessing, a bracha to all of us. He showed us that populism doesn’t need to be
spearheaded by the wrongheaded approach of people like Korach and his followers. It can be just as successful and influential if
it powered by deep-felt love towards others.
That is the true kind of populism, and it takes place - Leshem Shamayim.
Shavuah Tov.
Comments
Post a Comment