#20 April 26 - Korah Rebels

In Parashat Korah, an Israelite named Korah, who is a Levite, gangs up with Dathan and Aviram, Reubenites, and 250 other Israelites, and rebels against Moses and Aaron. Together they come to Moses and Aaron and say, "You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and God is among them. Why then do you make yourself higher than God's people?" When Moses hears this, he does not answer them but turns to God for an answer.

Then Moses says to Korah and his band, "Tomorrow morning, God will say who is His leader and who is holy, who gets to be close to God. This is your homework, Korah: You and your whole band of rebels take metal bowls and tomorrow burn incense in them in front of God's tent. Aaron and his sons, the priests, will also burn incense. Then God will tell us which man God chooses -- that man will be the holy one. You have gone too far, you Levites!"

Moses continued, "Listen up, Levites. Isn't it enough that God already made you special by letting you work for God in God's tent? (While Aaron and his sons are priests who make sacrifices to God, the Levite tribe is assigned to take care of God's tent, the Mishkan. They make sure everything is clean and tidy. They make sure all the tools and furniture are in the right place.) God has already made you and all the Levites special and now you want to be priests too?! By doing this, you are not rebelling against me but against God."

Take a look at the diagram above. This was how the 12 tribes camped and traveled together. At the center is God's tent (called the "tabernacle" in English or mishkan in Hebrew). Closest to the tent is the Tribe of Levi, which includes Moses, the leader, Aaron and his sons, the priests, and three other groups of Levites, led by Korah, Gershon and Merar. Surrounding the Levites are the rest of the 12 tribes, three tribes for each direction (North, South, East and West). So when Moses says to Korah, "Isn't it enough...?" he is talking about the fact that Korah is already very special - he gets to take care of God's own tent! So why is he complaining?!

So Korah and his crew show up the next morning at the tent with their metal bowls and and burn incense on them. God becomes so angry that He says to Moses and Aaron, "Stand back! I'm going to kill them all right this instant!!!" But Moses and Aaron bow to God and say, "No, God. Calm down. If only one man sins, is it right to kill everyone?" So God says to Moses, "Okay, tell the whole community to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Aviram." 

So the people move away from those men and their tents. As Dathan and Aviram stand by their tents, Moses says, "Now you will know that it was God that sent me to lead the people -- I did not choose to be your leader, God did." Right as he finished speaking, the ground opened up like a mouth beneath Korah, Dathan, Aviram and their families and swallowed them up!! Then the earth closed up and they vanished!  And God sent a fire that killed the rest of the 250 rebels. 

Questions for Refection

1. What does Korah accuse Moses of doing? What does Korah want?

2. Korah was actually right when he said that the whole Israelite community is holy. God said earlier, "You shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Korah is also right when he says that "God is among them" because God lives with and guides all the Israelites as they wander in the wilderness. So what is wrong with what Korah says and does? 

3. Korah accuses Moses, saying "Why then do you make yourself higher than God's people?" Moses says, "I did not choose to be your leader, God did." What is the difference between how Korah and Moses understand leadership?

Let's Ask a Rabbi

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks says that Korah and Moses understand leadership in opposite ways. Korah understands it like a pyramid whereas Moses understands it like a Menorah. First, he tells us to imagine the pyramids: 

These were more than just buildings. They were statements in stone of a hierarchical social order. They were wide at the base and narrow at the top. At the top was the king or pharaoh – at the point, so it was believed, where heaven and earth met. Beneath was a series of elites, and beneath them the laboring masses. This was believed to be not just one way of organizing a society but the only way. The very universe was organized on this principle, as was the rest of life. The sun ruled the heavens. The lion ruled the animal kingdom. The king ruled the nation. That is how it was in nature. That is how it must be. Some are born to rule, others to be ruled.

Judaism is a protest against this kind of hierarchy. Every human being, not just the king, is in the image and likeness of G‑d. Therefore no one is entitled to rule over any other without their assent. There is still a need for leadership, because without a conductor an orchestra would lapse into discord. Without a captain a team might have brilliant players and yet not be a team. In a social order in which everyone has equal dignity in the eyes of heaven, a leader does not stand above the people. He serves the people, and he serves G‑d. The great symbol of biblical Israel, the menorah, is an inverted pyramid, broad at the top, narrow at the base. The greatest leader is therefore the most humble."

According to Rabbi Lord Sacks, Moses is like the stem of a menorah - as the leader, he supports the people. Can you think of other ways that the menorah is a symbol for the Jewish people?

Can you think of people today, in your own life, who lead like Moses? Share your answer below in the Comments box.

#19 April 19 - The 12 Spies

Numbers, Chapter 13

Read the Story

God said to Moses, "Send for yourself men who will scout out the Land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. You shall send one man each for his father's tribe; each one shall be a chief among their tribe. 

So Moses sent them from the desert of Paran by the word of God. All of them were important men: they were heads of the children of Israel. They were: 

1. Shammua son of Zikkur for the tribe of Reuven

2. Shaphat son of Hori for the tribe of Shimon

3. Caleb son of Jepphunneh for the tribe of Judah.

4. Yigal son of Joseph for the tribe of Issachar.

5. Hoshea son of Nun for the tribe of Ephraim.

6. Palti son of Raphu for the tribe of Benjamin.

7. Gaddiel son of Sodi for the tribe of Zevulun.

8. Gaddi son of Susi for the tribe of Joseph.

9. Ammiel son of Gemali for the tribe of Dan.

10. Setur son of Michael for the tribe of Asher.

11. Nahbi son of Vophsi for the tribe of Naphtali.

12. Geuel son of Mahi for the tribe of Gad.

These are the names of the men Moses sent to scout the Land. And Moses called Hoshea son of Nun, "Joshua".

Moses sent them to scout the Land of Canaan and he said to them, "Go up this way in the south and climb up the mountain. See what kind of land it is and the people who live there: Are they strong or weak? Are there few or many? And what kind of land is it? Is it good or bad? And what are the cities like? Are they camps or castles? What is the soil like? Is it fatty or lean? Are there any trees in it or not? Be courageous and take from the fruit of the land." It was the season when the first grapes begin to ripen.

So they went up and explored the land. They came to the Valley of Eshkol and they cut a branch with a cluster of grapes. They carried it on a pole between two people and they took some pomegranates and figs.

They returned from scouting the Land at the end of forty days. They went and came to Moses and Aaron and the whole group of the children of Israel in the desert of Paran to Kadesh. They brought them back a report, as well as to the entire community and they showed them the fruit of the land.

They told him and said, "We came to the land to which you sent us and it is flowing with milk and honey and this is its fruit.... However, the people who inhabit the land are mighty and the cities are extremely huge and secured and there we saw even the children of the giant! The Amalekites live in the south land while the Hittites, the Jebusites and the Amorites live in the mountains. The Canaanites live on the coast and alongside the River Jordan."

Caleb silenced the people and he said, "We can surely go up and take possession of it for we can indeed overcome it." But the men who went up with him said, "We are unable to go up against the people for they are stronger than us." They spread an evil report about the Land which they had scouted telling the children of Israel, "The Land we passed through to explore is a land that eats up its inhabitants and all the people we saw in it are men of stature. There we saw giants, the sons of Anak, descended from the giants. In our eyes we seemed like tiny grasshoppers in comparison to them - and so we were in their eyes.

The entire community raised their voices and shouted and the people cried all night. All the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron and the whole community said, "If only we had died in Egypt or if only we had died in this desert. Why does God bring us to this land only to be killed? Wouldn't it be better if we went back to Egypt?"

Watch this video from G-dcast

Did you get all that?
1. What kind of men were the spies that Moses sent to check out Canaan?
2. What was the spies' mission?
3. Which spies came back afraid to go into the land? Which spies believed they could do it?

Let's go a little deeper

1. Describe the differences between the spies' actual journey to Canaan and their report of what they saw. 

2. It says that all the spies, except Caleb and Joshua, spread an "evil report" about the land. What makes their report "evil"?

3. According to Rashi, the spies say several things to scare the people: that giants live in the land; that the Amalekites, who attacked them once before, live nearby; that the land lies alongside the Jordan River, which will be difficult to cross. Why do you think they want to scare the people?

4. According to a Midrash, when God says to Moses, send for yourself, this means that God is not commanding Moses to do this. God is saying, "If you want, you can send spies to scout out the land." Moses chose to send spies because the people kept asking him "Can we send men ahead of us to check out the land?" even though God had already said that the Land is very good. God lets them send spies in order that they would make a mistake by believing the spies' report and not be allowed to enter the Land. (As you saw in the video, this generation of Israelites will not be allowed to enter the land because they do not believe they are capable of conquering the land.) Why do you think God would let them make this mistake?

5. Why do you think the Israelites, upon hearing the report, wish they could have died in Egypt?

6. The only two spies who believe they can conquer the land are Caleb and Joshua. The other spies say they felt like tiny grasshoppers compared to the people they saw in Canaan. According to rabbis in the Talmud, when Caleb says we can surely go up, it means "we could even go up to heaven! If God tells us, 'make ladders and go up there,' we will succeed in whatever God says!" Describe the difference between Caleb's attitude and the other spies' attitude.

In your own life
Describe a time in your life when (a) you felt tiny like a grasshopper or (b) when you felt like you were strong like a giant. What impact did this feeling have on your experience?