Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Korach HERTZ 639 the Young Nikkie
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Parshat Korach July 9, 2016 3 Tammuz, 5776 TORAH ARTSCROLL 820 Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Korach HERTZ 639 the young Nikkie. One night they It was a classic struggle for father Amram – he felt that caught Luit unaware and killed power. The only thing that the position should have him. The deposed alpha male HAFTORAH made it different from the gone to him. He thought it had his revenge. ARTSCROLL 1186 usual dramas of royal unfair that both leadership courts, parliamentary roles should have gone to a HERTZ 649 Reading the story I thought of meetings or corridors of single family within the clan. the story of Hillel in Pirkei Avot power was that it took Korach could hardly expect (2:6): “He saw a skull floating Times place in Burgers’ Zoo in much support from within his upon the water, and said: Arnhem, Holland, and the own tribe. The other Levites Because you drowned others, key characters were male had nothing to gain by Candle Lighting 8:10 pm you were drowned; and those chimpanzees. Frans de deposing Aaron. Instead he who drowned you, will Waal’s study, Chimpanzee found allies among two other Mincha 7:00 pm themselves be drowned.” In fact, Politics, has rightly become disaffected groups: the so humanlike were power- a classic. In it he describes Reubenites, Dathan and Hashkama 8:00 am struggles among the how the alpha male, Aviram, and “250 Israelites chimpanzees that in 1995, Newt Yeroen, having been the who were men of rank within Gingrich, Republican Speaker of Youth Minyan 8:30 am dominant force for some the community, the House of Representatives, time, found himself representatives at the included de Waal’s work among Parsha Shiur 8:30 am increasingly challenged by assembly, and famous.” The the twenty-five books he a young pretender, Luit. Reubenites were aggrieved recommended young Main 9:00 am Luit could not depose that as descendants of congressional Republicans to Yeroen on his own, so he Jacob’s firstborn, they had no read. Korach was a graduate of Beit Midrash 9:15 am formed an alliance with special leadership roles. the same Machiavellian school of another young contender, According to Ibn Ezra, the politics. He understood the three Nikkie. Eventually Luit 250 “men of rank” were Gemara Shiur 7:05 pm ground rules. First you have to succeeded and Yeroen was upset that, after the sin of be a populist. Play on people’s deposed. Luit was good at the Golden Calf, leadership Mincha 8:05 pm discontents and make it seem as his job. He was skilled at had passed from the firstborn if you are on their side against peacekeeping within the within each tribe to the single Shabbat Ends 9:17 pm the current leader. “You have group. He stood up for the tribe of Levi. The revolt was gone too far!” he said to Moses underdog and as a result bound eventually to fail since Sun. July 10 7:30/8:30 am and Aaron. “The whole was widely respected. The their grievances were community is holy, every one of females recognized his different and could not all be Mon. & Thurs. 6:35/7:45 am them, and the Lord is with them. leadership qualities and satisfied. But that has never Why then do you set yourselves were always ready to stopped unholy alliances. Tue., Wed. & Fri. 6:45/7:45 am above the Lord’s assembly?” groom him and let him People with a grudge are Second, assemble allies. Korach Mincha 8:10 pm play with their children. more intent on deposing the himself was a Levite. His Yeroen had nothing to gain current leader than on any grievance was that Moses had Latest Times for by opposing him. He was constructive plan of action of appointed his brother Aaron as Shema/Shemoneh Esrei already too old to become their own. “Hate defeats high priest. Evidently he felt that alpha male again. rationality,” said the sages. as Moses’ cousin – son of Yitzhar, Nonetheless, Yeroen Injured pride, the feeling that July 9 9:16/10:30 am the brother of Moses’ and Aaron’s decided to join forces with honor should have gone to July 16 9:19/10:33 am Kiddush is sponsored by Bima Flowers in the Seudah Shlishit Great Neck Synagogue Beit Midrash is sponsored by Next Shabbat with a Herring Table are sponsored by Michele & Howard Chukat sponsored by Mur- Naeema & Arthur ray Weiss in honor of Wolf Pomerantz in memory Candle Lighting 8:06 pm the anniversary of in memory of his Bar Mitzvah of his mother Kochav bat Yeheskel With Fruit Platter (cocktails) Carrie Wolf z"l Mincha 7:00 pm Sponsored by Albert Halimi 26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11023 (516) 487-6100 Shabbat Announcements Parshat Korach 5776 you, not him, has led to destructive and self-destructive action Everyone had his or her part to play in the group. Their main for as long as humans have existed on earth. Third, choose the tasks were to stay alive, find food, and avoid predators. There moment when the person you seek to depose is vulnerable. was no such thing as accumulated wealth. It was only with the Ramban notes that the Korach revolt took place immediately development of agriculture, cities and trade that hierarchy after the episode of the spies and the ensuing verdict that the came to dominate human societies. There was usually an people would not enter the land until the next generation. So absolute leader, a governing (literate) class, and the masses, long as the Israelites, whatever their complaints, felt that they used as labor in monumental building schemes and as troops were moving toward their destination, there was no realistic for the imperial army. Judaism enters the world as a protest chance of rousing the people in revolt. Only when they realized against this kind of structure. We see this in the opening that they would not live to cross the Jordan was rebellion chapter of the Torah in which God creates the human person possible. The people seemingly had nothing to lose. in His image and likeness, meaning that we are all equally fragments of the Divine. Why, asked the sages, was man The comparison between human and chimpanzee politics is not created singly? “So that no one could say, My ancestors were meant lightly. Judaism has long understood that Homo sapiens greater than yours.” Something of this egalitarianism can be are a mix of what the Zohar calls nefesh ha-behamit and nefesh heard in Moses’ remark to Joshua, “Would that all the Lord’s ha-Elokit, the animal soul and the Godly soul. We are not people were prophets, that He would rest his spirit on them.” disembodied minds. We have physical desires and these are However, like many of the Torah’s ideals – among them encoded in our genes. Scientists speak today about three vegetarianism, the abolition of slavery and the institution of systems: the ‘reptile’ brain that produces the most primal fight- monogamy – egalitarianism could not happen overnight. It or-flight responses, the ‘monkey’ brain that is social, emotional would take centuries, millennia, and in many respects has not and sensitive to hierarchy, and the human brain, the prefrontal yet been fully achieved. cortex, that is slow, reflective and capable of thinking through consequences of alternative courses of action. This confirms There were two hierarchical structures in biblical Israel. There what Jews and others, Plato and Aristotle among them, have were kings and there were priests, among them the High long known. It is in the tension and interplay between these Priest. Both were introduced after a crisis: monarchy after the systems that the drama of human freedom is played out. In his failure of the rule of the ‘judges’, the Levitical and Aaronide most recent book, Frans de Waal notes that “among priesthood after the sin of the Golden Calf. Both led, chimpanzees, hierarchy permeates everything.” Among the inevitably, to tension and division. Biblical Israel survived as a females this is taken for granted and does not lead to conflict. united kingdom for only three generations of kings and then But among males, “power is always up for grabs.” It “has to be split in two. The priesthood became a major source of division fought for and jealously guarded against contenders.” Male in the late Second Temple period, leading to sectarian chimpanzees are “schmoozing and scheming Machiavellians.” divisions between Sadducees, Boethusians and the rest. The The question is: Are we? This is not a minor question. It may story of Korach explains why. Where there is hierarchy, there even be the most important of all if humanity is to have a will be competition as to who is the alpha male. Is hierarchy future. Anthropologists are generally agreed that the earliest an inevitable feature of all advanced civilizations? Maimonides humans, the hunter-gatherers, were generally egalitarian. seems to say Yes. For him, monarchy was a positive institution, not a mere concession. Abarbanel seems to say Great Neck Yoetzet Halacha Lisa Septimus No. There are passages in his writing that suggest he was a Welcomes your questions about mikvah, utopian anarchist who believed that in an ideal world no one observance of taharat mishpacha (halacha relating to married life) and women’s health, as would rule over anyone. We would each acknowledge only the it connects to Jewish law. Reach out to her at: sovereignty of God. Phone: 516.415.1111 Email: [email protected]. Putting together the story of Korach and Frans de Waal’s All conversations and emails are kept chimpanzee version of House of Cards, the conclusion seems confidential.