Parshat Korach: The Journey

This week I spent some time thinking about when do we commemorate events that happened to the Jewish people in contrast to American legal holidays. Juneteenth celebrates the last slaves in America learning that they were freed. Both holidays, quite logically, celebrate the conclusion of an event.

We often don’t commemorate our holidays in a similar way. From recent history, Yom Haatzmaot celebrates Israel declaring itself a Jewish nation, the day which became the beginning of the war for independence. Yom Yerushalyim, perhaps echoing Channukah, celebrates the day Yerushalayim was recaptured, not the end of the Six Day War, much like Channukah celebrates recapturing the Temple Mount, not the end of war. From the biblical period, Sukkot celebrates the living arrangements of the Jews in the desert, Shavout, probably, celebrates the beginning of the harvest and Pesach celebrates the end of slavery but also the beginning of aimless wandering in the dessert. Interestingly enough, we don’t even have a day celebrating entering Israel. Does anyone know what day יהושע crossed over the ירדן or maybe when דוד המלך finished conquering the borders of Israel?

It is an interesting theme in יהדות. For fear of falling into a cliché, we consistently demonstrate that we are interested in the journey not the destination. Moreover, we seem to highlight journeys that are fraught with troubling narratives. The journeys in the מדבר come to mind but it is not only reflected in how we celebrate holidays but also of our leaders. Think of how the Davidic lineage was established. יהודה gives his brothers some terrible advice that nearly tears their family apart. Two of three sons die and he then goes and sleeps with a masked women who he subsequently sentences to death before admitting his own sins. From this episode, the great grandfather of Boaz is born. Think of Boaz who after a seemingly scandalous affair with a foreign women ends up marrying her and fathering the grandfather of David HaMelech. Think of how Shlomo Hamelech was fathered.

It is the journey, however complicated and however ugly, that we are most interested in. This is also reflected in how we analyze biblical figures. Not heaven forfend to analyze them to understand them personally and question their position in Jewish theology but so we can better learn from them.

Moshe’s response to Korach and the rebellion is described in some detail over the course of our parshah. However, I would like to focus specifically on how to understand Moshe’s interaction with דתן ואבירם. After proposing the ultimate test of rightful כהונה to the rebellion leaders, Moshe sends for דתן ואבירם, the text does not inform us why but we can probably assume it was for peace talks, and his offer is rejected. They then accuse him of taking them out of a land filled with milk and honey to bring them to wander around the desert. Moshe gets angry and, somewhat irrelevantly, responds he has never even taken a single donkey from them or anyone else. The next day, God tells Moshe to tell everyone to remove themselves from around קרח דתן ואבירם. Interestingly, two people that were not mentioned by name by the original approach of the rebellion have now received the “honor” of being named personally. Quite fascinatingly, Moshe does not go to Korach’s tent he only goes to the tent of דתן ואבירם and proclaims for all to remove themselves from these evil masterminds.

Most of the Rishonim understand the exchange here as one of Moshe being the ultimate altruistic leader. One that has endless patients and constantly offers people second, third and fourth chances. There is, however, another approach. The Bchor Shor suggests that Moshe called over to דתן ואבירם’s tent to ensure that they would participate in the, for lack of a better word, contest so that they too would get punished for their rebellion. This is reflected in the פסוקים as well, where as we mentioned, Hashem told Moshe to go to קורח דתן ואבירם and Moshe only went to the latter two.

The journey of establishing Moshe’s leadership was quite turbulent but the journey was still celebrated. After the rebellion was squashed, the shovels they used for the קטרת were used in the משכן. As the נצי”ב explains they had received a status of קדושה as they were used in the משכן. Those shovels represented the celebration of that difficult journey.

We have journeys as well, individually and as a community. Individually, we may often struggle to accomplish all that we set out to do. But it is in that struggle that we find celebration. When things get difficult we keep working and striving to do better. That is worthy of celebration.

As a community we also have our journey to celebrate. We may not yet be as large of a community as we would like, but we celebrate the journey that we are all taking together to grow both internally and while we aim to expand.

Even our daily minyan. True we may not always get the requisite ten men that we need to have a proper minyan, especially now in the summer as more people are not around as frequently. But we celebrate the journey that we all take together, every morning, as we show up, pray together irrespective of how many men show up.

And we will embark on a new journey together starting next week. I will be beginning residency while maintaining my rabbinical responsibilities at the shul. While the road may at times be difficult even as we prepare contingency plans to ensure everything functions as smoothly as possible, we celebrate the journey together.

Let us all continue, for many years in the future, celebrate the journey that we are all taking together at Fleetwood Synagogue.