Korach: The Trouble with Being Right
“The problem with Korach,” my husband Ben said, in our discussion of this week’s parsha (Torah portion), “is that he is kind of right ” This is a succinct and accurate summary of the enigmatic figure at the heart of parshat Korach.
Korach is not a fearful idol worshiper, nor he is a run-of-the-mill doubter of Moshe or of God, both of whom we have seen plenty of so far in Bamidbar He represents a new challenge to Moshe and likewise a new, subtle and complicated part of ourselves: the part that understands part of the truth but closes ourselves off to a larger, deeper truth beyond the edge of what we know.
I. Korach’s Rightness
Korach’s rebellion begins with a challenge to Moshe and Aaron, particularly on the question of their leadership:
3 They assembled against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "You take too much upon yourselves, for the entire congregation are all holy, and the One is in their midst. So why do you raise yourselves above the One’s assembly?"
– Numbers 16: 3
Moshe, hearing in this challenge a new and potentially dangerous fracturing of the Israelites, falls on his face with despair In last week’s parsha, Moshe himself acknowledged the difficulty he was having leading the people through the wilderness on his own. In Exodus, Moshe also struggled with “taking on too much” by being the sole judge of the people’s disputes, which Jethro had to help him correct. Korach’s words probably struck a sensitive chord, undermining Moshe’s authority at the very place where he was vulnerable – his worth, his ability, and his tendency to hold too much. Korach is kind of right.
Korach also includes in his argument the assessment that the entire congregation is holy and that God resides with all of them. In fact, God itself has been saying as much repeatedly to the people over the last few books of the Torah, with the message 1
being “You are holy! Act holy! I am with you!” Korach’s claims on this account are also kind of right.
What Korach doesn’t get right, of course, is that just because everyone is holy, and just because Moshe falters and often takes on too much, does not mean that the people (like all of us) don’t need leadership and that Moshe isn’t the one to do it. God believes in Moshe and repeatedly bolsters him on the journey, which Korach is unwilling and unable to see or accept.
Moshe tries to move him. “Please listen, sons of Levi,” he argues. He is met with silence from Korach.
Midrash Bamidbar Rabbah picks up on this:
“Moses tried to win Korach over, yet you do not find that the latter returned him any answer This was because he was clever in his wickedness and thought: If I answer him, I know quite well that he is a very wise man and will presently overwhelm me with his arguments, so that I shall be reconciled to him against my will. It is better that I should not engage with him.”
The Midrash continues: “ ‘And Moses was very angry ’ (v.15). Why? Because when a man argues with his companion and the other answers his argument, he has satisfaction, but if he does not answer he feels grieved.” (18:8).
According to this text, Korach’s silence is employed as a weapon intentionally directed against Moshe by refusing to hear or engage with Moshe’s arguments.
Avivah Zornberg argues that Korach’s silence is internal as well as external. Korach is completely closed off from the dissenting voice within – the part of himself that would allow for multiple truths of which he may not be aware. “[Korach] is one who is so “right” that there is no possibility of discussion. He knows nothing of the yearning, the inner lack, that reaches out to know, to court, to love.” (Bewilderments, 182)
It is very easy to be a Korach in this regard. With so much to do, and so much information coming at us at all times, the mind’s natural tendency is to order and structure the world into orderly categories and then invest all of our faith into these limited ways of knowing and understanding. We judge people quickly – “He is this type of person and therefore not worth my time.” “She is this type of person and therefore I should get to know her and add her to my network.” When faced with information that does not fit into our orderly boxes, we often ignore it or refuse to engage with it, as Korach did with Moshe’s arguments.
Korach reminds me of a story about a Buddhist scholar who came to a Zen teacher and asked her to teach him Zen. They began to talk and the scholar began rambling on and on about texts, interpretations, scholarly literature and other subjects of his
studies. The master listened to him and began to make some tea. When it was ready, she began to pour him tea until it overflowed and ran all over the floor. “Stop, stop!” the scholar said, “the cup is full; you can’t get anymore in!” “This is how you come to me, ” the Zen master explained. “You are too filled with your ideas and your ways of seeing the world – there is no room for new understanding, new growth, or new learning. You have to empty your cup before I can put any more in.”
When we use “rightness” as our armor and our weapon, we miss so much of the world. Our cup is too full to fit anything new into it. We miss the yearning, the not knowing that gives rise to true intimacy with what is. Zornberg writes, “between any two who speak or argue, it is the void allowed by each, the willingness to suspend prejudices, that opens to unpredictable insight.” (183). It is into this space of not knowing that all relationships – including with God – are born.
The Catholic poet Angelus Silesius from the 17th Century put it this way:
We must make room for the mystery.
God, whose love and joy Are present everywhere, Can’t come and visit you Unless you aren’t there.
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