Korach

Summary

Korach, Dasan and Aviram, and 250 of the leaders of Israel rebel against the authority of Moshe and Aaron. The rebellion results in their being swallowed up by the earth. Many people of the nation resent the death of Korach and his followers, holding Moshe responsible. Hashem's 'anger' is manifested by a plague which besets the nation, and many thousands perish. Moshe intercedes once again for the people, instructs Aaron to make atonement for them, and the plague is halted. Hashem then commands that a staff inscribed with the name of each Tribe be placed in the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. In the morning, the staff of Levi, bearing Aaron's name, sprouts, buds, blossoms and yields ripe almonds. This provides Divine confirmation that the Tribe of Levi is selected for the Priesthood, and also verifies Aaron's position as the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest. The specific duties of the Levi'im and Kohanim are stated. The Kohanim were not to be landowners, but were to receive their sustenance from the tithes and other mandated gifts brought by the people. Also taught in this week's Parsha are laws concerning the first fruits, the redemption of the firstborn, and other offerings.

Commentaries

According to the religions of the East 'when you define a thing you destroy it.' From the Jewish perspective however, definition, far from being destructive, can put us in contact with the essence of a thing, with its interior reality.

The Torah tells that Adam gave names to all the animals. Adam didn't just pick arbitrary titles. He was able to express the essence of each life-force in words. This is because the holy tongue is like no other language. In all other languages names are merely conventional - a table is called 'a table' purely as a means of communication. The word 'table' itself however, has no intrinsic connection to 'tableness.' It is only in the Hebrew of the Bible that names express essence.

This expression 'Men of name' is extremely rare in the Torah. There are only two places where the phrase appears - once in the generation of the Flood, referring to the Nephilim: "They were the mighty, who, from old, were men of devastation" (literally - 'men of name'). The other place is in this week's Parsha referring to the cohorts of Korach who assembled themselves in opposition to Moshe.

The holy Zohar explains that when the generation who built the Tower of Bavel said "Let us make ourselves a name," their whole motivation was to glorify and amplify themselves. To distort their name. To assume a name which did not define their essence.

Possibly this is why the Torah uses this expression here as well in connection with the rebellion of Korach. "They were men of name" - only in name. They tried to usurp the name of Moshe and Aaron, to usurp the name 'Kohen.' By stealing the name, maybe they could steal the essence...

But you can never be something you're not. All you can ever be is the best version of yourself that you can be. And live up to your own name.

"$500 for a pair of tefillin! You must be joking! $500 for a couple of leather boxes with some Hebrew writing in them! Why, for a fraction of the price I could get something almost identical! If the whole point of tefillin is to be a reminder, what do I need all this crazy quasi-scientific precision for. What does it matter if there's a hairline crack in one letter. It's so small you can hardly see it! It's a typical example of the sort of nit-picking legalism that I hate in organized religion!"

"Open up your computer. What would happen if I took a very sharp x-acto blade and cut one of the wires here in the modem?"

"Well of course - it wouldn't work - the modem won't receive anything."

"It's exactly the same with tefillin - if there's the tiniest break in a letter, then the spiritual modem called tefillin won't receive anything."

Korach asked Moshe if a house full of Sifrei Torah still needed a mezuza on the doorframe. Said Moshe "Yes." Korach started to mock him saying "If a single mezuza affixed to the doorframe of a house is enough to remind us of Hashem, surely a house full of Sifrei Torah will do the job!" (Midrash)