Numbers Cycle Three Korach 16:1 to 18:22

Korach

The first word of Korach sets a definitive answer in a parsha that asks a big question. Is Korach friend or foe? If foe than what about his words about equality? Doesn’t he say that we all are holy?

Korach clearly has two sides. First, there is his inner truth. Korach is being Torah by insisting that the prophet is all of us, not just one man. You can look at any great teaching and read something similar. Rev Kook himself speaks of the life jubilant pulsating in all realms of being. In the Kedushat Hayom, we weekly pray…let all of Israel keep Shabbat, observing Shabbat for all generations as an everlasting covenant. It is between me and the Israelites a sign forever (Exodus 31). Shabbat after all isn’t a covenant between God and one special Israelite, rather all Israelites (plural). This fact that we are all holy is (if you look anywhere) a done deal, an essential tenet of Judaism.

So then, what goes down with Korach? In my opinion he is incapable of expressing his deep inner truth in a way that is not destructive to the very truth itself. He challenges Moses openly without regard to the process of communal enlightenment already in place. Everyone is, after all, in transit, a holy state of being. As humans in God’s image we are moving all the time, not only on land but in our minds-eyes, our dream worlds, towards an esoteric Promised Land. We do it moment to moment, day to day, during common occurrences as well as during more focused meditation. Now, think of being in a state of mid-meditation. Can you imagine someone impatiently shouting at you…You’re trying too hard, taking on too much! That would certainly set you back a couple hundred miles. This is what happens to Moses.

Here’s more. While I’m sure there are many great rabbis who might have different interpretations, in Kaballah we might see his soul as split. His higher self has broken out of the kelipot and is rising. His lower self has completely been engulfed by the sitra atra. The fight therefore that manifests with Moses is actually a conflict that begins inside of Korach himself.

How do we know this? Let’s look at the lineage in the first line. The parsha begins with a description of Korach as son of Yitz’har, son of Kehoth, son of Levi. According to the sages, Jacob is not included in the lineage because he prayed to God not to be mentioned in their quarrel. The lineage itself though can represent levels of intimacy with God. In this interpretation, Korach gets cut off by the sitra atra right before the heart (Jacob and Joseph). Now let’s look at the Chronicles. Here, Israel (Jacob after he wrestles with God) is included in the lineage. Therefore, given the cohesive writings of Tanach, a part of Korach does rise to absolute intimacy with God. Of course, we have to look at influences of the era in which the Chronicles were written. Needless to say though, for whatever reason this addition to lineage was expressed, the very change itself opens us to thematic interpretation. Here we have two Korachs, one who can rise, one who becomes shadow, both expressed and in conflict within the very writings in which the story takes place.

Now, let’s look at the Pirkei Avot 5:8. The earth’s mouth is one of ten things that God creates at the end of the first week after creation on the evening of Shabbat. Just for a small reminder…God has the earth’s mouth open and in a scene-you-don’t-forget Korach is swallowed. What I find interesting in Pirkei Avot is the positive connotation. The earth’s mouth is on a list that includes the rainbow and the mouth of the well. What we are seeing therefore is that it is a beautiful thing because God created it. While it hurts, it also heals. It draws away the darkness and frees us to satisfy our soul’s work. Korach, so intrinsically connected to the earth’s mouth in that he is swallowed by it, in this way is hero and villain, enlightened and evil.

Finally, let’s see how the root word lokaoch is used and juxtapose it to the words rav lachem in lines 16:3 and 16:6. Vayikach or he took in line 16:1 can infer a dropped pronoun. In this case, it would translate He took Korach. Since we end the last parsha with God we could read that God took Korach. The other possibility is that Korach did the taking. He took himself, the son of Yitzhar (etc). Continuing on, the words rav lachem literally mean too much for you. This is said twice … first by Korach to Moses (in line 16:3) and then the other way around (!6:6). No doubt, when someone has too much it can be said that too much has been taken. With these two lines volleying back and forth though we are being given a choice. Has Moses taken too much or has Korach?

This brings us back to the first two words in the parsha. The act of taking revolves around Korach, whether he is object or subject. Our transit to the Promised Land has been weakened by Korach, not Moses. Despite his intimacy with God, despite the beauty of his sacred convictions, his inability to act in the stream of his acute consciousness sets him eternally into the realm of his own impossible darkness, into the belly of the earth.

In the end, Korach is a gift. He does a service for all mankind. In being taken or in taking he discerns and sets apart the very darkness within each one of us. He places evil into a distinct box. In drawing it away, we get to see it with more clarity, breathe easier, shine brighter, become cleansed, discern our boundaries. If I dare, you can even say that Korach is the anti-thesis of the Christian image of Jesus Christ. But like all heros and anti-heros we have to be careful of honoring them too much, of thinking they are just so cool, so tough, so right-on.

So, may we honor Korach for his service to the community. May we keep Korach close because he will sure come in handy when the volley changes and the necessity for rebellion is here. May we use Korach carefully as a veil to help us at that time. Until then though, may we keep him at a strong and safe distance as we continue our work and blossom into consciousness and the radiance of God.