Rabbi's Message: Korach & Plagues
Shalom,
Reading ancient texts often feels, well, ancient, and distant from our lived experience. Just ask most B Mitzvah students, because when they struggle to discover meaningful ways to teach about their portion, this is often their first response. Yet, this has been our people’s way for millenia, as we read and read again our Torah, we strive to discover kernels of wisdom and insights from our commentators that can support us navigate our moment in history.
Recently, I listened to a student’s D’var Torah, and witnessed an amazing thing happening. This young person wrote a draft in which each paragraph provided a different perspective on the same story. It was as if this young person was channeling the ancient rabbinic wisdom that there are more than “seventy faces of Torah”, by which they meant we can read, study, and debate the same text and discover a new meaning each time. This student’s work was a beautiful display of exactly this, that we can see so many lessons, and ask so many questions, and struggle with so many parts of the same story.
This coming Shabbat, we will read from parashat Korach in the Book of Numbers. In reading this portion again this year, I am feeling a new understanding. We see in this story a rebellion against Moses and Aaron’s leadership. It is followed by what our Torah calls plagues that cost many Israelite lives. While the story claims their consequence was about their lack of commitment to the common call of becoming a people, I am noticing a new connection.
The story begins as Korach “betook” himself along with 250 other Israelites to confront Moses and his leadership. It is this “way” of confrontation that appears to continue to plague the community. When striving together, when trusting one another’s efforts, we can and will debate and have arguments, yet it is so affected by the “way” we engage with one another. Speaking kindly, approaching challenges with curiosity rather than critique, and sharing purpose and vision are necessary ingredients towards success.
The Israelites struggle in this moment because they fail to trust one another and engage for the sake of their own situation, not for the sake of a higher purpose. The plague that befalls our ancestors might be less a Divine action, and more a natural outcome of a loss of shared purpose and connection.
As we wrestle with parashat Korach this year and strive to see multiple perspectives, may we know we share a vision as community - striving to build an ecosystem of Jewish joy and engagement. May we know that we must approach with curiosity rather than critique. And may we choose kindness with our words.
Shavua Tov,
Rabbi Evon
