Parashat Korach (Korah)
2nd of Tammuz, 5785 / June 28th, 2025
By: Rabbi Eric Meiri
This Week’s Readings:
Torah: Numbers 16:1 – 18:32
Haftarah: 1 Samuel 11:14 – 12:22
Brit Chadashah: 1 Peter 5:1-6
This week, I’d like to take you into the room of what I imagine would be a therapy session for Moses, and how one of these sessions might go after the events of this week’s parashah. (Moses) “I just don’t understand it! What is wrong with these people?! I didn’t choose this. I didn’t even want to be a leader. G-d somehow convinces me to be this leader for our people. Mister I can’t even speak well, gotta get my brother to help talk for me. It becomes pretty clear right away that I’m good for nothing until G-d takes action. And yet, Korah and his followers have the chutzpah to say that “I’ve gone too far? I’ve exalted myself above the people?” Exalted? Myself? Are they nuts?! I DIDN’T EVEN APPLY FOR THIS JOB!” (Therapist) “Moses, Moses… Try and focus on how this all makes you feel.” (Moses) “Feel? I feel like I should have just let G-d finish the job and smite the whole darn lot of them! Over and over they see His miracles and receive His provision. And then overnight they forget. They grumble and complain. They blame me. They rebel. They get punished. They repent. And then the cycle begins again! And the worst part is how they become delusional, saying Egypt was a land flowing with milk and honey. Wanna go back to Egypt? GO AHEAD!” (Therapist) “Moses, we’re out of time for today”...
Hopefully next session Moses will have a breakthrough. He has some serious abandonment issues to work through. But when I read this parashah and consider what Moses has to put up with in leading Bnei-Yisrael, it makes me wonder: Why in sheol would anyone want to be a leader of people? If you wanted to convince someone to go into leadership, I don’t think reading the Torah would be a good source of motivation. Neither would much of the rest of the Tanakh and Brit Chadashah for that matter. And yet, our Holy Scriptures mandate roles for leadership and assume someone is crazy enough to step into them. Let’s consider why…
The Torah Portion is pretty painful to read if you like Moses. Korah is very sly and tactful in staging this rebellion. He gathers a following of trusted men, “men of renown who had been appointed to the council”, and challenges Moses saying “You’ve gone too far” (which can also mean “you take too much for yourselves” in terms of positions of authority). He follows this up with a true statement saying that “All the community is holy and HA’SHEM is with them!” Since this is true, it follows logical thought that no one should “exalt themselves” over the assembly of HA’SHEM. This is of course not true about Moses. And I wonder in this rebellion, what it is that Korah wants? Moses later accuses him of “seeking the priesthood”, and this may be true. But it is strange for Korah to challenge Moses in this way, noting that “everyone is holy”. This seems more like a plea towards communism which would not help him in a campaign to install himself in place of Moses. So it’s hard for us to truly know what Korah wants to accomplish in this rebellion. Perhaps he is not interested in himself being the leader, but just doesn’t like Moses. This is one significant challenge of being in leadership: when serving in a leadership role, the very nature of being in that role can cause others to not like you and want to see you fall or taken down. If it is true that Korah is indeed seeking the priesthood, then that reveals another challenge of being in leadership: there may be others who seek a leadership role for themselves and desire to remove existing leaders to obtain such a role.
So that brings me back to an earlier question I asked: why seek to be a leader? Well, in today’s working world it is pretty clear why people seek leadership roles. You get paid more. You are given authority, recognition, prestige. This makes sense and only fuels the cut-throat culture that exists in the workplace. In the case of Korah, I don’t see the role of the priesthood providing quite the same motivations. But then again, the illusion of power and the desire for it is ancient. It is one of the oldest temptations. Which again makes me question why someone would want to expose themselves to such temptation? Well, in the examples of leadership we see in the Tanakh, particularly with Moses, we see that such men didn’t actually seek out leadership. G-d called them to lead. He Himself chooses and appoints people into leadership. Which is why it is an egregious lie when Korah claims that Moses “exalts” himself above the assembly of HA’SHEM. But then a crucial question is: what is G-d looking for when He chooses a leader? If we look to Moses as the prime example, then we must look at what it says in Numbers 12:3 - “the man Moses was very humble, more so than anyone on the face of the earth”. G-d wants humble leaders.
The Haftarah Portion magnifies a different problem when it comes to leadership. We do not see the problem of someone improperly seeking leadership or wanting leadership to be removed. Instead we see quite the opposite. Samuel chastises the people for their inappropriate desire to set up leadership in the role of a sovereign. There are many layers and levels of leadership, especially in the modern structures of government, business, etc. Even in the ancient monarchs. But in a monarchy there is the ultimate and highest form of leadership: the king. So why is this a problem? Because “HA’SHEM your G-d is your king” (12:12). We are made in G-d’s image, and there is much that G-d wants us to experience “in His likeness” that helps us to better understand Him (i.e. parenting, marriage, and also leadership). But the Scriptures seem pretty clear that the role of kingship is reserved to HA’SHEM. We don’t get to share in the experience of reigning in sovereignty. But then why does G-d allow Israel a king? After all, Deuteronomy lays a blueprint for how this king should act and conduct himself in the role. It demands the king be humble, self controlled, and a follower of Torah. Why shouldn’t we set such a person as king over us? And the Scriptures say that this person is chosen by G-d! So why the contradicting messages here? Because HA’SHEM wants us to see how absolutely terrible we as His creations are at trying to be king. Some did alright. But the majority? Sooooo bad! Consider too what it does to a person to have to assume such a role. That amount of power. The potential for corruption and the temptation toward sin. Even though you hold absolute authority that all must acquiesce to, you are still mortal. Many kings throughout history lived in a state of constant paranoia of being killed. And for good reason! You couldn’t trust anyone! What an awful way to live. Clearly, only HA’SHEM can assume such a role. And that is exactly why He allows there to be a king in Israel. He is setting up an earthly throne that one day He would need to fill. The One who would fill that throne, would be a son of man, and yet also be the Son of G-d.
Even with the ultimate role of leadership reserved to HA’SHEM, we still have roles of leadership that He asks us to assume. The Brit Chadashah Portion gives instruction regarding the role of zakeyn (elder). For us, as followers of the G-d of Israel, this is the highest form of leadership and authority. Roles such as the President or Prime Minister of a nation are ones we are called to respect as the heads of governing authority, but they are not spiritual authority. Elders are called to “shepherd G-d’s flock among you”. But let’s return once more to my original question: why become a leader? Why go through all of this if we are to end up like Moses being challenged, pushed to the point of falling on our faces in frustration and desperation, needing therapy?
Simply put, because G-d asks some of us to. Now, it would be nice if we had the benefit today of having HA’SHEM Himself hand picking our leaders so we know exactly who they should be (like in the case of Moses). But even if He did, these people would still be flawed and imperfect. Consider Yeshua’s 12 disciples, and even the fact that Moses wasn’t allowed to enter The Land due to his anger and disobedience. But in asking us to assume roles of leadership, G-d gives us instruction on how we should live and conduct ourselves. We see this in the Brit Chadashah portion, in Deuteronomy 17, in 1 Timothy 3, and throughout the rest of the Torah of G-d. He tells us we are to be “servant leaders”, an idea that is so counterintuitive to our human understanding of what a leader should be. It sounds nice and we all would like to believe that we can balance the challenge of leadership and service. But we cannot do this on our own. That is why G-d gives to His servants the Ruach Ha’Kodesh to empower us to walk in roles of leadership.
G-d also gives us encouragement to serve. As 1 Timothy 3:1 says, “Trustworthy is the saying: ‘If any man aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a good work.’” 1 Peter 5:4 says that “When the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory”. But to get there is no easy path, as we saw with Moses. 1 Timothy 3:10 says “let them first be tested—then let those who are blameless serve as servant-leaders.” There is much testing in leadership! But for those who remain humble in leadership, the L-RD supports you. We are told to “clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for ‘G-d opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of G-d, so that He may lift you up at the appropriate time” (1 Peter 5:5b-6). Despite what Moses had to go through, this is exactly what G-d did for him. He will do this for others that choose the path of leadership. Although He may not open up the earth to swallow those who oppose you, or spray them with fire; but one can still pray. While we endure the present challenges of leadership, we pray for the day when perfect leadership will be installed. In the Olam Habah when HA’SHEM’s kingdom will come to earth. Yeshua will be rightfully exalted as Mashiach ben David, Melech Mashiach. Then finally, on that great and glorious day, He will reign over us as King and we will truly live in Shalom.