This week’s parsha is Korach, named for the antagonist of our narrative of the moment. Who is Korach? Korach is Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam’s cousin.
In short, Korach feels he was looked over for a spiritual promotion of kinds - the promotion of being chosen as the head of one of the Levi families. And so he incites a rebellion and (spoiler alert) is swallowed up by the Earth. A rather dramatic ending!
Maybe this next part will be annoying, but I feel like it’s always good to have context for who these people are to each other. So let’s do some (greatly abbreviated) genealogy.
Avraham > Yitzchak (Isaac) > Yaakov (Jacob) > Levi > Kehat > Amram and Itzhar
Amram is the father of Moshe / Aharon / Miriam, and Korach is the son of Itzhar.
Do you remember a few weeks ago we talked about the different families within the tribe of Levi? There was B’nei Gershoni, B’nei Kehati, and B’nei Merari, who each had different responsibilities. These families were named for their patriarchs - Gershon, Kehat, and Merari. If you glance back at my little list of our genealogy, Kehat was Moshe and Korach’s grandfather.
As kids of Amram, Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam were the children of the oldest son of Kehat.
As the kid of Itzhar, Korach is the oldest son of the second-eldest son of Kehat.
So what exactly had Korach been overlooked for? Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam were special - they were the Kohen Gadol (High Priest, Aharon), the general leader (Moshe), a righteous prophetess (Miriam).
Moshe / Aharon / Miriam and Korach have a younger cousin, Elitzaphan. Elitzaphan was given the leadership of Bnei Kehat.
Korach wanted that position, and if we’re going by hierarchy of genealogy, Korach was the next in line, not Elitzaphan. So, he’s (rightfully) mad.
But you only would know that Korach is mad about the specific appointment of Elitzaphan if you read the Midrash and other commentary on this parsha. If you just read the text, it seems like Korach is generally mad at Moshe and Aharon in general. Korach and his fellow mutineers say that Moshe and Aharon have given themselves too much power. They say, why do you guys get to be the ones in charge when we’re ALL special and ALL are holy? For the entire congregation is holy - כִּ֤י כָל־הָֽעֵדָה֙ כֻּלָּ֣ם קְדשִׁ֔ים
Based on this previous statement, you’d think Korach just has a grievance with there being any kind of leadership, believing we should be a nation that is 100% democratic. Except that ISN’T his real grievance. His anger is personal, and yet he corrals 250 accomplished men to accompany his complaint.
He manipulates 250 men of good repute into rebelling against their righteous leaders, all for the sake of his wounded pride. The scariest people are those who can make you feel emotions without you realizing they’re the ones putting those thoughts in your head.
If we believe the Torah was written in chronological order, last week’s parsha was a low moment. When the Meraglim (spies) came back and scared all of B’nei Yisrael into being afraid of entering Eretz Yisrael, the people lost a bit of their faith in the leadership of Moshe and Aharon. Korach saw that there was a vulnerable moment and he took advantage of it. So he’s a manipulating user with serious pride.
Not to mention — not only was Korach already a special member of B’nei Yisrael, as someone of Shevet Levi (the Tribe of Levi), he was also a member of B’nei Kehati — the most elite, spiritually heightened group within the already special group of the Tribe of Levi! And he’s mentioned as being smart, cunning, and wealthy! This guy has everything in the world, and yet he still isn’t satisfied.
Cont’d…
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