I’m uploading an extra post this week because something in this week’s parsha really struck me as relevant and important. R. Zvi Hersch Kalischer pointed out that a wide range of disaffected factions were involved in Korach’s rebellion. They had nothing in common except for their opposition to Moses and Aaron. As the old saying goes, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Any time we stop defining ourselves positively, by what we do and believe and are, and start defining ourselves negatively, but who we aren’t and what we don’t do or believe, we should take a minute to evaluate.
At the root of Korach’s rebellion lies bitterness, resentment, and pride. We need to be careful of finding these sentiments in ourselves. Korach’s pride is hurt by the fact that he is not chosen to lead, but it is the very quality of pride that makes him unfit for the role, as we know that Moshe Rabbeinu was the most humble man alive (Num 12:3). Afterall, Korach is not wrong about the whole people being holy, but his pride blinded him to the order that HaShem established for governing His Holy People.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be right, but we don’t have the privilage of being right until we lose the desire for someone else to be wrong. It’s not that our leaders are infallible, but we should think twice before we attack authorities simply for being authorities. The established order is the established order for a reason.
“For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,” Romans 13:3 (RSV) Likewise, Korach had nothing to fear from Moses and Aaron as long as he was doing what is good.
So let’s slow down, as Messianics especially. How often do we unite only because of a common enemy or enemies? Are we feeding our own ego? Do we have any kind of positive definition? Are we trying to accomplish something in the world, or are we only attacking Moses, the transmitter of the Torah, and Aaron its guardian? If we answer “yes,” we may be in danger of being part of the company of Korach.
"We don’t have the privilege of being right until we lose the desire for someone else to be wrong."
ReplyDeleteUgh, that was convicting. :D
BTW, I really like the photos you choose for your blog posts.
I was unaware of R. Zvi Hersch Kalischer's observation but find it very relevant to many situations where rebellion has a foothold. The great difficulty in those situations is to move forward with any constructive activity because there is so little commonality that survives the mutiny.
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