Hello everybody and welcome back to the wilderness,

Today we feature chills and thrills from this week’s parsha (Torah portion) named after our featured “villain,” Korach.  Let’s check in with our reporters and get a summary of what took place.

The parsha begins with Korach, from the tribe of Levi, and Datan and Aviram, from the tribe of Reuvan getting together 250 leaders of the community for a chat with Moshe (Moses) and Aharon where they challenge them by saying, “You have too much, for the entire community is kodesh (holy) and haShem (god) is within them, so why do you raise yourselves above the entire community?”  Moshe falls on his face and answers that haShem will make it known who is his, and who is kodesh and who is chosen.  He then tells them that they should come the next day with fire pans and incense before god.  He also asks them, the tribe of Levi to accept their role and not also try to take the mantle of the priesthood.

The next day, they show up with fire pans in hand, and god has Moshe tell the people to move away from the residences of Korach, Datan, and Aviram.  Moshe then tells the people that if these folk die a normal death, he was not sent by god.  However, if the ground opens and swallows them alive, then the people will know that god sent Moshe to do all this, and that none of it is Moshe’s idea.  And of course the ground opens and swallows them all alive.  And of course, a fire comes from before god and consumes the 250 men offering incense.

The next day, the entire community comes and complains to Moshe and Aharon that they caused the death of god’s people.  It is at this point that god shows up.  Moshe tells Aharon to get a fire pan and incense and go quickly into the crowd to atone for them for god is upset and the plague has begun.  Aharon does this, and with him standing between the dead and the living, the plague is halted.  God now tells Moshe to take a staff from each tribe and to write on each staff the name of its leader; on the staff of Levi, write Aharon’s name.  Put them in the tent of meeting and the man that haShem chooses, his staff will have blossomed.  Well the next day, Aharon’s staff not only blossomed, but also produced almonds.

Now, of course, the people are afraid that they will come to the mishcan (tabernacle) and die.  God responds to this by telling Aharon of the responsibilities of the priesthood to guard the holy of holies, and the rest of the tribe of Levi, to make sure no non-priest approaches, so there is no more wrath against the people.  We also hear of the gifts the priesthood and the rest of the tribe of Levi receive for their work because they get no land inheritance.  We read that the children of Yisrael shall no longer approach the tent of meeting, so they will not die.

All in all a pretty intense parsha we have here.  What does it all mean?  What is god trying to tell us here?  I started out by calling Korach a villain in quotation marks.  How could I say that about him, one of the leaders of tribe of Levi, who did not help make the golden calf or believe the story of the spies?  Also, it seems he has some pretty good points.

It all has to do with how one sees the world.  Does one see god in it or not.  This is what the parsha is all about.

You see, Korach, and Datan and Aviram all lose sight of god.  They stop seeing god orchestrating everything, and start to see people doing it.  It is ever so slight a drop in holiness, but it has huge ramifications.

For example, it is what leads to idol worship.  At the higher level, one can see god shining within a tree.  At the ever so slightly lower lever, one sees the energy of god within the tree, but no longer sees god within the tree.  Therefore, one concludes that the tree must be god because that is where the godlike energy is coming from.  Boom!  Idol worship!

Here it is the same thing.  Korach and his cohorts no longer see haShem running the show, they see Moshe running things.  It must be Moshe choosing his brother over him, Korach, who has a legitimate claim to be high priest.  However, Korach is not challenging Moshe, he is challenging haShem, and that is no contest.

Moshe uses what happens to show the people that haShem is really in charge.  But, the people don’t see it because the lower energy/vibration of Korach infuses them, and that’s what leads them to believe that it wasn’t god that killed Korach and his cohorts; rather, it was Moshe and Aharon.

At this point, haShem shows up and Moshe realizes that the pure-pure energy of haShem, when it touches the less pure energy of the people will cause death.  Moshe tells Aharon to use the incense to atone for the people and stop this plague.  How does that work?
According to R. Avraham Sutton, the Hebrew word kapar, which means, “To atone,” does so by cleaning away the error as if it was never there.  And this is the word used here.  So, by, “Smudging,” or having the smoke of the incense blow over all the people, the effects for Korach’s energy get cleared away and without it, there people’s energy become pure again and the plague stops.

Almost done.  It is at this point, the people get scared.  Why?  Because if a great man like Korach, and the other 250 leaders can fall so slightly in holiness, certainly the rest of them not only can, but will.  And when this happens, and god is around, it is all over.  What to do?

Never fear for god has a plan.  haShem basically says that she will reside in the mishcan where the initiated priests have the purity to be in contact with him, and it will be the responsibility of the tribe of Levi to make sure nobody comes close by mistake.  Problem solved.

This is a nice story, but how does it apply to us today?  Well, if we look at how we view the world, we can get a sense of our holiness.  For example, do you think it is Ariel Sharon or George Bush who is to blame for, “Disengagement” (Israel evacuating the Gaza Strip), or do you believe that they are just, “Pawns in the symphony that haShem is conducting,” to mix a couple of metaphors.

May all of us see haShem’s guiding hand in the events around us, and listen to her quiet voice within us, for only then can we have no fear of approaching him and his house.

If you care to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.

About the Author

Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.