Welcome to Torah Thoughts from Adas Israel the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa and based in Mason City. A bit of a confession. I 
was away last week at a conference in Cedar Rapids and asked my brother Yoni to write the for Parsha Korach (Num. 16 - 18). And he has done an amazing job. My failure to post this was due to my absence but, because there is always time to learn. Let's do that:
(The following “drash” is dedicated to my beloved Rebbe, Sidney Zimelman (Congregation Ahavath Sholom), whose gentle nature guided so much of my adult Jewish learning. Rabbi Zimelman is a fellow Pole (from Lomazy) who (Thanks G-d!) survived the Shoah, when almost all of his (European) family was wiped out. May my effort here bring our shared, Blessed departed an elevation!)
Rebel, rebel…
Yes, it is a nod to David Bowie. Bowie was a complex person. He was tied to Judaism through a half-brother and through his study of Kabballah. Well, there were also his 1970 statements of admiration for H**ler (May his name be blotted out forever!) and other anti-Jewish sentiments. Short take…Bowie later blamed “drugs” for his comments.
I digress…already.
Parsha Korach offers much for us to consider. In it, Korah is made the easy villain as the ringleader of a rebellion against both Moses and G-d. We learn that the story does not end well for the rebels.
But, let us look at the atmosphere of Korah’s day.
Rebellion was nothing new to the Hebrews during the Exodus. The Hebrew G-d exponentially grew a list of demands, beginning with one that males cut off a part of their penises.
As the owner of such an appendage, my first response would be “Say what?”
To those who had not directly witnessed the pre-Exodus marvels and wonders, Moses had done a series of magic tricks and some smeared blood “appeared” to be protective against a proposed Angel of Death. Pharaoh’s chariots ended up under the water. But then…
Okay, let us be clear, the Exodus and G-d demanded a lot of the wandering Hebrews, beyond cutting off body parts. The whole affair demanded a lot of faith on the part of the migrants.
It could be a shaky record.
Once on the road, Moses disappeared for weeks and came back with a proclaimed “law” written in his own hand and which Moses said “came directly from G-d”. During their waiting for their mysterious guide to reappear, the people became anxious for the familiar and this resulted in the whole “Golden Calf Affair”.
It seems, to me, a perfectly natural response. What did they have to go on, Moses’ assurances?
The even more mysterious G-d (who demands foreskins from infants) gets angry about the Golden Calf and decrees that no Hebrew on the journey over the age of twenty would see the Promised Land.
Have you ever been a good person and still been accused of some wrongdoing?
I have.
Suppose you were a Hebrew who had done everything right (so far) and were summarily declared unfit to enter the Promised Land? You have done everything asked of you. But, you are twenty-one years old. So, you are “out”. You would be cheesed off to the maximum…right? I would.
You have hiked miles in the desert sun. You have munched on nothing more than manna. You got chewed out by Moses for singing as Pharaoh’s chariots sank in the water. You had part of your penis cut off.
But, still, you are “out”. Thank you for playing.
It is not hard to imagine that the atmosphere was ripe for rebellion.
The stage is set. The players enter.
Chief among the players is Korah, a Levite. In fact, all the soon to be rebels were Levi’im.
Rebellions do not just “happen”. There are always pre-game festivities. In this case, those were Korah’s grumblings and personal obstructions.
A Midrash (R’ Hersh Goldwurm) says that Korah sought a way to undermine Moses’ authority and, therefore, his legitimacy as spokesman for G-d. Korah asked a question.
Was Korah’s question out of line?
Perhaps not.
What was the question?
Korah posed whether it was necessary to weave in a thread of techeilles-dyed thread into the fringes of a four-cornered garment that is totally dyed in the techeilles dye.
Moses said “yes”.
Yoni (Perry) Mason for the Defense 
We are instructed that the whole of Torah was transmitted in one breath, at one time, to all people. This gives legitimacy to the Talmud. The Law (and the Talmud) was always there, we (through our Sages) just need to ferret a lot of it out. Hence, the Oral Law.
Bear with me. Back to Korah’s question…
Torah says that we should “look upon” the fringes (tzitzis) on our garment; containing a single thread of techeilles-dyed thread. It is key that Torah says we must “look upon” this thread “as a reminder”. Later, Talmudic doctrine dictated that there be sufficient light to distinguish the dyed thread from the undyed threads.
Stay with me!
If the entire garment is dyed with techeilles, how can we “look upon’ the single thread among a sea of similarly dyed threads?
Do you see where this is heading?
So, how far do we carry the literalism? If the required turquois thread is among thousands of other, identical threads can we still “look on it” and fulfill the mitzvah? It is subject to interpretation.
Moses said “yes”. Did he flip a shekel to decide? This whole interpretation business gets pretty involved. Those not involved in the decision are bound to have questions. For example…
….Skipping, skipping, skipping…to the time of the schools of Hillel and Shammai.
We Jews are commanded to recite the words of the Shema (“Hear, Oh Israel…”) when we “rise up and when we lie down”.
Hillel’s school held that the mitzvah was temporal (time related) and that the recitation should take place when we end our day (to lay down) in bed and when we rise up (from bed) in the morning. Shammai’s school held that the recitation must take place, literally, when we lie down and when we rise up.
According to Shammai, we must physically lay down (or rise up) in order to say the Shema. If we are on the road, we must stop and lay in the road to recite the Shma. This would be a dangerous practice if there were bandits or such hanging around the roads in those days. But, it would be a literalist interpretation of the Law.
Hang in there. This all has a point.
So, was Korah really trying to undermine Moses? (Remember, one of the bills of indictment against Korah was that he incited the rebels to undermine Moses.)
Or, was Korah simply asking a “good question”?
To answer this, let us take a contemporary view, based on the Sage (Hillel’s) disdain for bashfulness.
(Thank you for Rabbi Joseph Telushkin’s commentary here!)
Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik was a gadol (giant) of Torah and Talmudic learning. When Rabbi Norman Lamm was a student of R. Soloveitchik, the learned rabbi inquired of student Lamm to summarize the essence of Tosafot (a medieval commentary).
Lamm, attempting to play to the vanity of Soloveitchik, gave a verbatim summary of his teacher’s lessons on Tosafot.
Rabbi Soloveitchik was not amused. He scolded Lamm:
“I know what I am saying. I do not need you to tell me. What do you think?...The problem is that you check your yetzer hara (evil inclination) outside of the classroom door and come in with your yetzer tov (good inclination). Next time bring your evil inclination with you and leave your good inclination outside.”
Was Korah undermining Moses? Or, was Korah asking a good question…arising from Korah’s yetzer hara?
So, later, when Korah questions Moses’ legitimacy as leader and his (first blush) nepotism of appointing Aaron as his second…was this rebellion, or was it legitimate questioning?
We are prohibited from “boiling a kid in it’s mother’s milk”. So why cannot I eat a chicken sandwich with a slice of cheese? Chickens do not lactate. (Yes, I know, the “fence around the Torah”.) But still, the question seems legitimate…right?
Should the ground swallow me up for my asking?
Recall the saw that Jewish mothers do not ask their children “Did you know the answers?” They ask, “Did you ask good questions?”
Our very name, “Israel”, is to “wrestle with G-d”. Questions are part of being Jewish.
If we question (“wrestle”), should we quake in fear that the ground will open under our feet and swallow us?
Or, do we simply “assume the position” without question? So, was Korah simply asking a “good question” based on his yetzer hara?
Being a Sage is tough work.
Ever served on a synagogue’s (or secular organization’s) governing board?
I have. It sucks.
Sooooo….let’s suppose…
Michael Libbie informs the Congregation Adas Israel that his brother, Yoni Libbie, has final say in the absence of Michael’s lay leadership.
Suppose Yoni says, “Yay! Shrimp cocktail and adultery are in and kiddush wine is out…we’re blazing some herb instead.”
How many people would ask, “Hey! Wait a minute. Is Yoni even qualified?” How many congregants would shriek about allegations of nepotism?
Is the position of Korah and the rebels becoming more clear?
Michael responds that doubters should bring their “fire pans” to the shul and burn up some spices before the aron kodesh. For extra fun, a few weeks earlier, “Sam” and “Danny” fired up a pan full of spices and were, without ceremony, immolated in a fireball.
Feel lucky? Go get your fire pans!
Moses’ challenge to the rebels met no takers. After all, Moses was the “house” and the house had not lost yet. Would you take that bet?
You see, it is all up to us.
What the heck does this have to do with Korah?
Here’s the legal term…preponderance of existing evidence.
All the preceding evidence supported Moses, and Torah.
Korah ignored the abundant evidence.
G-d does not ask us to suspend logic or reason. G-d demands that we examine the evidence (including evidence we do not yet see) before making a decision.
We are not Jews by faith alone. We are Jews because it is incumbent on us to question, reason, and wrestle in the light of the available evidence.
Korah, and his rebel followers, were not swallowed because they dared to question. They were swallowed because, despite the evidence available from the court, they replied with contempt.
Contempt, not questions, doomed Korah and the Levite rebels. If mere questioning could invoke the death penalty, Parsha Korach would be less than a page in length.
And finally, the Parsha goes into a lot more that. Had Korah bothered to sit down and listen, he could have defused the Levite rebellion.
For example, Korah’s group was displeased (as first-born males) that they got (in their eyes), lesser status than the kohanim. They were displeased because it appeared that they had been relegated to being servants to the priestly class that was led by Aaron. Had they sat down with Moses, rather than jumping to conclusions, they would have learned that Torah specifically prohibited the kohanim from using the Levites as personal housemen.
Okay, I must admit that I can relate to their unhappiness.
I am a Levite. I am entitled to certain privileges in the shul. Among those privileges is my right to being first called to read Torah, in the absence of a Kohen.
As a young Jew, I saw being given first aliyah to be a great honor. I always scanned the congregation for “known” kohanim. The Gabbai (Sexton) passed out the aliyah cards and I was overjoyed to see an aleph printed on mine.
Then, the sanctuary door would slowly open and a stranger to the congregation would enter. He would have a brief word with the Gabbai. The aliyah cards would be re-shuffled and I’d, suddenly, be second (or lower) in the batting order.
Then, my silent fuming would intensify as the (outsider) revealed kohen (typically) waddled up to the bimah to stammer through the Blessings that I had carefully rehearsed (to perfection!!) before minyan.
That it was the “Law” that this person could usurp me was little comfort. He was there by title, not by his learnedness!! “How dare he!”
So, in all honesty, I have some idea about how the rebels felt.
But how much greater would be my shame (and liability) if, like Korah, I stomped up, stiff-necked, to the bimah and shoved the stammering Kohen away from the Scroll! I cannot even imagine how my beloved rabbi would react to my boorish temerity. My friends in the congregation would likely show me to the door.
My hubris would lead to such shame that I would wish the earth to open…and swallow me.
Yeah…oh, wait…isn’t that the lesson?
In the coming week, unpack what we have learned from the Korah rebellion. What can the Parsha teach us about humility and knowing our place? How can we be more humble, like Moses (Our Teacher)? How can we harness our yetzer hara and ask the tough questions without resorting to contempt?
It is a lot to ask of us. We are up to the challenge.