With school coming to an end,
and a wife and three children packing up and getting ready for camp, the house
had been in a state of chaos; clothes, boxes, duffle bags and sheets were all
over the floor. It had become difficult to walk. I could barely get into bed
since so much of my wife’s things had accumulated upon our bed. Then, amid clothes, garbage, bags, and more
clothes, something odd began to happen.
Clothes, towels, sheets, shoes and toiletries started to be packed into
duffle bags. Full bags which had briefly blocked access in the hallway were
brought down stairs. Duffle bags were loaded into the bag of the minivan. My
wife and 17 year old daughter drove off ( I will bring our 16 year old daughter
and 13 year old son to camp on Tuesday). Amazingly enough, I could see the
floor again, I had access to my bed again, and I no duffle bag blocked my
access to a room, or a stairway. The
house was starting to empty out. Needless to say when I return from dropping
off the remaining two children, the house will be as empty as ever. It will be quiet as ever and as peaceful as
ever. For a little while, that emptiness, that quiet, will be much appreciated
and cherished.
This Shabbat, we read from
Parshat Korach. Korach was a relative of
Moshe's. They both came from the tribe of Levi. Korach questioned Moshe's
authority. He did not do this during a private meeting between individuals.
Rather, Korach gathered 250 supporters, and then publicly challenged Moshe.
Moshe tried to keep peace within the community, but to no avail. A divine test
is administered, and Korach and his supporters fail. The earth swallows them
up. However God is angry and a plague falls upon the people. They are
communally punished for Korach's actions, their passive support, and their
failure to bond together against Korach. Yet the people are still not convinced that
Moshe and Aharon should remain in charge, only that Korach was unworthy. So a
second divine test is administered this time with 12 rods stuck in the ground
and almond branches resulting in Aaron’s staff, thus symbolizing that God has
chosen Aharon to be the Kohen Gadol. The
Parshah concludes with God speaking to Moshe and enumerating Aaron’s priestly
responsibilities, all of the entitlements and all the sacrifices that come with
the position.
Just exactly who is Korach, did
his rebellion begin spontaneously or was it a long time in the making? The
Torah begins the Parshah, teaching us Korach’s genealogy. His great grandfather is Levi, the third son
of Yaakov. This means that he is a
cousin to Moshe and Aharon, both of whom were also the great grandson’s of
Levi. Without know much more about Korach, we can already guess his motivation
behind the rebellion. The entire power
structure, Torah knowledge, and Priestly knowledge, was controlled by the two
brothers, Moshe and Aharon. The other
Leviim, we know, had been given certain special tasks focused upon the
maintenance of the Mishkan. Certainly
within the culture of the Mishkan, these jobs, and these Levite families were a
big deal. However, outside the Levi
tribe, outside the culture of the Mishkan, not too many members from the
tribe of Benjamin, Asher, Naftali, Dan or even Judah cared too deeply about the
responsibilities of the various Levite families. Their only concern was Aharon,
since they brought their offerings to him; and Moshe, since he was the ultimate
decisor of Jewish law. Ibn Ezra, the late 11th early 12 century Spanish commentator explains
that the rebellion was hardly spontaneous.
He had been thinking about this since the inauguration of the Mishkan
(Tabernacle), when Aharon and his sons were designated to replace the
other first born. Korach took two leaders from the Tribe of
Reuben, Jacob’s biological first born son, but overlooked in terms of spiritual
inheritance. The name Korach, means “Baldness,
bald spot, or emptiness”. Korach wanted
to be the legitimate heir to Levi. He wanted to fill the void of leadership when the Mishkan
was being built and a person (and ultimately a family) had to be the head of
the Mishkan. However, Korach also spread
emptiness to the rest of the community. For Korach to gain power, he separates
himself from the community- Vayikach Korach (16:1). He creates an empty space
in order to justify his filling it.
Yes, my house will be empty for
a few weeks. It will be quiet, it will be peaceful. As soon as the cleaning
late comes, it will finally be clean. It will even stay clean for several
weeks. I will even relish the quiet and the emptiness. Those empty places, will
remain empty until my wife and children return from their summer camp
experience. Then, once again those empty spaces will be refilled. Korach didn’t
want emptiness for the sake of emptiness. He wanted emptiness in order that he
could be the one to fill it. He looked at emptiness as an opportunity to satisfy
his own sense of ego. We all go through
moments of experiencing emptiness. We
can leave those spaces empty and in so doing, make them sacred. We can fill
that emptiness with sacred activity such as learning and study of Torah. We can
even fill those empty spaces with self aggrandizing activities. Certainly some choices and motivations behind
chosen activities will ultimately become more meaningful and beneficial than
others.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
No comments:
Post a Comment