In the confrontation between Moses and the rebels in this week’s Parshah, the rebels accuse Moses of seeking to ‘pull out’ the eyes of the people, in other words ‘to pull the wool over their eyes’. What does this accusation refer to? According to most of the commentators, following the argument in the text, it relates to the events of last week’s Parshah and the decree upon that generation to die in the desert. Moses, they say, promised to bring them up to a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’ but rather he has led them to a dusty death. The Seforno, however, goes a step further. The accusation of deceiving the people is concerned with the fact that Moses ‘pretends’ that they are still going to inherit the Land. The device he uses for this deception are the mitzvot concerning the Land. By commanding them about leaving the gleanings of the field or orchard to the poor, for example, Moses gives reality to his ‘lie’ that they will eventually inherit the Land. It is like someone selling a bogus house overseas. On their website they will have pictures, guided tours and architectural plans, all to give it authenticity, even though the house doesn’t actually exist. This, according to the rebels, is the deception practiced by Moses by promulgating laws concerning the Land in the wilderness. This may seem merely an interesting interpretation of the Parshah, but it in fact has great relevance for our religious life today. Just as the Torah, given in the wilderness, contained laws for the future life in the Land, so too, do many of our rituals and prayers contain references about mitzvot not currently in use. The majority of these concern the Temple and sacrifices. The most prominent, of course, is the Musaf service whose whole focus is a prayer for the restoration of the Temple and the sacrifices offered within it. Yet for many Jews the notion of sacrifice, especially of animals, is deeply repugnant and even the building of the Temple, on a site where there is presently a Moslem shrine, offends their liberal sensibilities. Yet, if they go to an Orthodox synagogue, they ‘pray’ every Shabbat for precisely these things. This raises various questions. Are they not deceiving themselves and pretending to G-d? Is not the sight of whole communities asking G-d for something they don’t really want and saying what they don’t really believe, somewhat problematic? If we don’t believe in something should we still be praying for it? I’m not suggesting we should abolish Musaf, but maybe we need to think a bit more about what we are actually saying.
ALIYAH BY ALIYAH SYNOPSIS
Rishon |
Korach leads a revolt against Moses. |
Sheni |
They refuse to compromise with Moses. |
|
Shelishi |
They are swallowed up by the earth or consumed with fire. The people accuse Moses of murder. |
|
Revi’i |
Aaron again saves them from destruction by means of incense. |
|
Chamishi |
The Levites are confirmed by their rod budding. |
|
Shishi |
The tithe due to the Priests. |
|
Shevi’i |
The tithe due to the Levites. |
|
Haftorah |
I Samuel: 11;14-12;22: the people demand a king. |
Sidra Statistics
Parshat Korach
· has 75 verses;
· is the 5th in Numbers, 38th in the Torah
· shortest in Numbers, 46th longest in the Torah
· has 5 pos + 4 neg = 9 mitzvot.
