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Torah Weekly ד״סב Torah Inside/Outside The Lubavitcher community of old there was a Rebbe explained that it all slogan which has long been Weekly Some arguments are petty depends on location. The discredited. Yehudi b’veitecha affairs between small people books are inside. v’adam b’tzeitecha. “Be a Jew June 6-12, 2021 who feel a little bigger need to The mezuzah is outside. in your home and a human 26 Sivan - 2 Tammuz, 5781 stand up for their perceived When there are Jewish texts being outside.” The Nazis did Torah Reading: honor or status. Other inside our study and living not distinguish between Jews Korach: Numbers 16:1 - 18:32 arguments are honest rooms, this indicates that the who looked Jewish or those Haftarah: Samuel I 11:14 - 12:22 differences of opinion home is a Jewish home. This who had removed any visible between people of stature, is good, and as it should be. identifying marks. PARSHAT KORACH where each has an opinion But what happens when we Today, traditional dress We have Jewish worthy of consideration. We leave the comfortable reflecting a national character need to be able to discern the confines of our home? Do we Calendars. If you is common, accepted and would like one, subtleties beneath the surface cease to be Jewish? respected—from Scottish kilts please send us a of any debate before we can The mezuzah is at the to Arab kaffiyehs. The letter and we will know what sort of argument it threshold of our homes, at the outlandish hairstyles of send you one, or is. juncture and crossover sportsmen and celebrities are ask the The sixteenth chapter Calendars between our inner lives and not only accepted—they are Rabbi/Chaplain to of Numbers tells the story of outer lives. As we make the mimicked mindlessly by contact us. the mutiny led by Korach, a transition from private person millions of wannabes. Is it too cousin of Moses who to public citizen, we need to much to expect a Jew to assert Do you have family challenged Moses’ authority. be reminded of whom we are, his Jewishness in unfamiliar on the outside In the end, Korach and his and that we take our identity corporate territory, or to keep struggling? henchmen were swallowed by with us wherever we may go. the kipah on his head even Please contact or the earth in a divine display of There is only One G-d, says when he walks out of shul? have them contact rather unearthly justice. the little scroll, whether in our our office to learn Moses rejected Korach’s The Midrash reveals some of private domain or in the big, more about our argument, with good reason. the behind-the-scenes wide world. The mezuzah does not replace family programs. dialogue between these men. You and they are One of the many works by the need for Jewish libraries, Remember, Korach was no well-known author Herman but it serves as a perennial Family Programs not alone, we are pushover. Besides being of here to help. Wouk is an autobiographical reminder on our doorways. As noble lineage, he was clever, novel called Inside, Outside, we step out of our home to wealthy and quite in which he portrays his own enter the outside world, it We offer free Grape charismatic. One of the inner struggles straddling beckons us to take Juice and Matzoh questions Korach put to these two worlds. His pious our G-d and our Torah, our for you to be able to Moses was this: does a house Talmudist grandfather had a values and our traditions, make the blessings full of holy books still require profound influence on him, along with us. By Rabbi Yossy every Shabbos. a mezuzah? Moses answered but so did Hollywood and Goldman Please have your that it did. Korach scoffed at Broadway. It took him a long The Beauty of Darkness chaplain / Rabbi the idea, ridiculing Moses. time to find his way and settle contact us to enroll The little mezuzah contains into an observant Jewish Make no mistake. Korach did (available to all the Shema—but two chapters lifestyle while still writing not start out as a jealous, Grape Juice & Matzah prisons). of Torah. A whole houseful of bestsellers. power-hungry man who chose books with the to rebel Hyman & Martha Rogal Center Being Jewish “Inside” is against Moses and Aaron bec entire Torah won’t do the relatively easy. It’s when we 5804 Beacon Street trick, and a ause of personal ambition. In Pittsburgh, PA 15217 hit the “Outside” that we fact, the Kabbalists explain, 412-421-0111 little mezuzah will? It doesn’t encounter temptation and Fax: 412-521-5948 make any sense, argued Korach had a deep turmoil. The challenge every philosophical dispute with www.alephne.org Korach. Jew must face is to remain [email protected] Aaron’s approach to Why was Moses’ answer proudly Jewish even in the spirituality. Korach’s correct? What indeed is the face of conflicting cultures, significance of a small argument went something like curious looks, and often, this: Spiritual light is only a parchment on the doorpost in hostile attitudes. relation to a library inside? manifestation of the Infinite In the German-Jewish IN JEWISH HISTORY Sunday, June 6, 2021 --- 26 Sivan, 5781 Source of light, just as the sun’s rays are emanations of the sun. But Jews of Olyka Saved from Cossack Mob (1649) in the sun itself, there is no light. In order to see the essence, the During the Chmielnitzki Massacres (see entry for 4 Sivan), a Cossack mob light must be submerged in its source. Only darkness can truly gathered around the fortified town of Olyka. Among the Jews who had capture the essence of the Infinite Source. Korach resented Aaron, found refuge inside was R. David Halevi (the Taz), a refugee from the specifically because Aaron was in the light business. Aaron spent nearby city of Ostroh. As the Cossacks prepared to breach the walls, the his days lighting the menorah in the Tabernacle as well as lighting Jews gathered in prayer in the synagogue. Weak and tired, R. David drifted the metaphorical menorah in the heart of every Jew. Aaron was all off to an uneasy sleep, and in his dream he envisioned the verse, “I will about inspiring people to ignite spiritual light in their lives through protect this city to save it, for My sake and for the sake of My servant the study of Torah and the observance of mitzvahs, to spend time David” (II Kings 19:34). Indeed, the old cannons atop the walls and energy on spiritual pursuits, and to illuminate their souls with miraculously fired spontaneously toward the enemy, who proceeded to flee a love for G-d. Aaron was the embodiment of the Divine attribute (Minhagei Beis Alik, p. 752). of chessed, kindness/sharing/light. Korach believed that Aaron’s Monday, June 7, 2021 --- 27 Sivan, 5781 approach to increasing spirituality missed a deeper truth. Korach R. CHananya ben Tradyon Killed (2nd century CE) argued, “Give me the job of high priest, and I will introduce a Rabbi Chananya ben Tradyon, one of the "Ten Martyrs" was killed on this completely different model of spirituality. I will teach that no date. When the Romans discovered him teaching the outlawed Torah they matter what the people are engaged in, they are still holy: ‘The wrapped him in a Torah scroll, piled bundles of twigs around him, and entire congregation is all holy, and the L-rd is in their midst.’ before setting him afire they placed damp woolen cloths on him to prolong (Numbers 16:3.) There is no need for spiritual light. No need to the agony of being burned to death. inspire people to yearn to cleave to their source in heaven. No need As the flames engulfed him, his disciples asked him, "Master, what do you to seek inspiration to escape the lure of the material. What I will see?" Rabbi Chananya replied: "I see a scroll burning, but the letters flying preach is the celebration of the physical. It is precisely because the up to Heaven." physical represents an absence of spiritual light that it is capable of directing our attention to the essence, to the Infinite Source of both Tuesday, June 8, 2021 --- 28 Sivan, 5781 darkness and light.” Rebbe Arrives in US (1941) Korach viewed light with disdain. In his view, darkness was what After escaping Nazi-occupied Paris, and many perilous months in Vichy France, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel encompassed the absolute truth of the Infinite Creator. Schneerson (1902-1994), and his wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushkah (1901- According to Korach’s plan, the people would live a materialistic 1988), boarded the SS Serpa Pinto in Lisbon, Portugal. On Monday, June life, without the burden of seeking spiritual inspiration. Eventually, 23--Sivan 28 on the Jewish calendar--at 10:30 A.M., they arrived in New more and more people would come to appreciate what Korach York. understood. They would understand that they could be satisfied Shortly after his arrival, the Rebbe's father-in-law, the then Lubavitcher with materialism as a testament to the fact that G-d cannot be Rebbe Rabbi Yoseph Yitzchak Schneersohn (who had been rescued from expressed in a limited measure of light. Where did Korach go Nazi-occupied Warsaw in 1940), appointed him to head the social and wrong? educational outreach programs of Chabad-Lubavitch. Thus the Rebbe began his decades-long revolutionary work to revitalize Jewish life in the Western Let’s begin by pointing out what he got right: Hemisphere, which spread, by means of the emissaries ("shluchim") he He was right that darkness has a higher source than light.
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