Korach 5771

Rabbi Joshua Kullock
Comunidad Hebrea de Guadalajara, México

Michel Foucault, the famous French philosopher, defined power as a relationship of forces. This means, in short, that power is a construction that needs at least two people to occur. In this sense, no one is powerful or has power living alone on a deserted island.

To Foucault, exercising power means having the ability to affect the actions of others, thus changing their way of understanding life. This power can be exercised with violence and authoritarianism, or through more subtle and less cruel relationships.

With these concepts in mind, I’d like to speak about Korach.  Korach was a special man, so special that one Parashah in the Torah was named after him. And if you pay attention, not even Moses deserved such a distinction.

Korach was a Levite, which means that he enjoyed a higher social status than many others. But believe it or not, that was not enough for Korach.  Korach wanted more.

That is why he devoted himself to convince –that is, to exercise power–  and managed to convince 250 renowned men, who together defied Moses.  250 men is a number somehow ridiculous. Remember that the people of Israel in the wilderness reached 600 thousand members. But even so, the parashah shows us how a small group anxious for power, can threaten the collapse of an entire functioning structure.

Rabbinical literature treats Korach sternly. Some sages maintain that the leader of the opposition was against the rising ruling system put forth in the Torah.  Others go even farther, saying that the only thing that mattered to Korach was preserving his power, and making it grow as much as possible. According to this reading, the few but important people he convinced would serve as means to reach his selfish purpose.  Take notice, and pay attention:  the 250 renowned men ended being used by Korach to achieve his personal goal.  That is why we read, in Pirkei Avot, that Korach’s revolt is the paradigm of the revolt not done in the name of Heaven, but in the name of… Korach.  And it is worth remembering:  these revolts never end well.

Now then, Korach bears the responsibility of deceiving 250 people and generating from this base a source of opposition against Moses’ and Aaron’s work.  But in light of what we mentioned above, Korach could not have made it on his own.  Therefore, Foucault himself would say that if Korach managed to deceive 250 men, it is because those 250 men let themselves be deceived.  And you know what?  I agree with Foucault.

But don’t you worry, not all sages criticized Korach so absolutely.  Some commentators on the biblical text wonder if perhaps Korach wasn’t right in his statements.  Isn’t it true that a leadership with no system for change and participation is, in the long term, a blind alley?  Isn’t it true that delegating jobs and sharing leadership makes for more democratic and participative institutions?

At the end, it would seem that Korach’s opposition had some important bases which should have been rescued and raised for popular consultation.  And nevertheless, these commentators find themselves faced with a dilemma:  If Korach was right, or at least partially right, but he wanted to concentrate absolute power for the preservation, exaltation and continuity of his own name, what should be done then about Korach?

If Korach used truth as an excuse to convince someone that desired to be convinced, and from there on tried to throw Moses down only in order to take his place, what must be done with that truth?

Korach is, in our tradition, held responsible for two unforgivable transgressions:  On the one part, he sowed seeds of discord to maintain power, and on the other part, he delegitimized valuable criticisms that lost their specific weight the moment they were stained by his acts.  It is possible that Korach deserved his sad ending due to his megalomania, but nevertheless, it is up to us to save the aspects of truth found in his reasoning, reevaluate them, and act in consequence.

Our tradition teaches us that, just as pharaohs emerge wanting to enslave us from generation to generation, people like Korach emerge as well, aiming to use us for the fulfillment of their own interests.

To sow discord, the soil must be fertile so that it allows discord to grow. That is why we are responsible for becoming a soil where no grain of slander, or seed of self-idolatry, can grow. If we persevere in our part, Korach will possibly end doing Teshuvah.  But if we can’t do it, it is likely that Korach, and all of us along with him, will end up being swallowed by the earth.  May God help us to avoid it.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Joshua Kullock