Parshat Korach/Rosh Chodesh June 24, 2017 30 Sivan, 5777 TORAH Rabbi Sacks on Korach ARTSCROLL 820 HERTZ 639 It was a classic struggle for unawares and killed him. The that both leadership roles power. The only thing that deposed alpha male had his should have gone to a single made it different from the revenge. family within the clan. Korach MAFTIR usual dramas of royal could hardly expect much ARTSCROLL 890 courts, parliamentary Reading the story I thought of support from within his own HERTZ 695 meetings or corridors of the story of Hillel in Pirkei Avot tribe. The other Levites had power was that it took (2:6): “He saw a skull floating nothing to gain by deposing HAFTORAH place in Burgers’ Zoo in upon the water, and said: . Instead he found allies Arnhem, Holland, and the Because you drowned others, among two other disaffected ARTSCROLL 1208 key characters were male you were drowned; and those groups: the Reubenites, HERTZ 944 chimpanzees. Frans de who drowned you, will Dathan and Aviram, and “250 Waal’s study, Chimpanzee themselves be drowned.” In fact, Israelites who were men of Times Politics, has rightly become so humanlike were power- rank within the community, a classic. In it he describes struggles among the representatives at the Mincha 7:00 pm how the alpha male, chimpanzees that in 1995, Newt assembly, and famous.” The Yeroen, having been the Gingrich, Republican Speaker of Reubenites were aggrieved Candle Lighting 8:12 pm dominant force for some the House of Representatives, that as descendants of time, found himself included de Waal’s work among Jacob’s , they had no Hashkama 8:00 am increasingly challenged by the twenty-five books he special leadership roles. a young pretender, Luit. recommended young According to Ibn Ezra, the Youth Minyan 8:30 am Luit could not depose congressional Republicans to 250 “men of rank” were upset Parsha Shiur 8:30 am Yeroen on his own, so he read. Korach was a graduate of that, after the sin of the formed an alliance with the same Machiavellian school of Golden Calf, leadership had Main 9:00 am another young contender, politics. He understood the three passed from the firstborn Nikkie. Eventually Luit ground rules. First you have to within each tribe to the single Beit Midrash 9:15 am succeeded and Yeroen was be a populist. Play on people’s tribe of Levi. deposed. Luit was good at discontents and make it seem as Gemara Shiur 7:05 pm his job. He was skilled at if you are on their side against The revolt was bound peacekeeping within the the current leader. “You have eventually to fail since their Mincha 8:05 pm group. He stood up for the gone too far!” he said to Moses grievances were different and underdog and as a result and Aaron. “The whole could not all be satisfied. But Shabbos Ends 9:20 pm was widely respected. The community is holy, every one of that has never stopped females recognized his them, and the Lord is with them. unholy alliances. People with Sun. June 25 7:30/8:30 am leadership qualities and Why then do you set yourselves a grudge are more intent on Rosh Chodesh were always ready to above the Lord’s assembly?” deposing the current leader Mon. & Thurs. 6:35/7:45 am groom him and let him Second, assemble allies. Korach than on any constructive plan Tues., Wed. & Fri. 6:45/7:45 am play with their children. himself was a Levite. His of action of their own. “Hate Yeroen had nothing to gain grievance was that Moses had defeats rationality,” said the Mincha 8:15 pm by opposing him. He was appointed his brother Aaron as sages. Injured pride, the already too old to become high . Evidently he felt that feeling that honor should Latest Times for alpha male again. son of have gone to you, not him, Shema/Shemoneh Esrei as Moses’ cousin – Nonetheless, Yeroen Yitzhar, the brother of Moses’ has led to destructive and self decided to join forces with and Aaron’s father Amram – he -destructive action for as long June 24 9:10/10:26 am the young Nikkie. One felt that the position should have as humans have existed on night they caught Luit gone to him. He thought it unfair earth. July 1 9:13/10:28 am

Next Shabbat Seudah Shlishit Chukat Congregational is sponsored by and Sheila & Moosa Ebrahimian Candle Lighting 8:12 pm Graduation Kiddush in memory of his father Mincha 7:00 pm Amin Ebrahimian, z"l 26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11023 (516) 487-6100 Shabbat Announcements Korach 5777 Third, choose the moment when the person you seek to depose part to play in the group. Their main tasks were to stay is vulnerable. Ramban notes that the Korach revolt took place alive, find food, and avoid predators. There was no such immediately after the episode of the spies and the ensuing thing as accumulated wealth. It was only with the verdict that the people would not enter the land until the next development of agriculture, cities and trade that hierarchy generation. So long as the Israelites, whatever their came to dominate human societies. There was usually an complaints, felt that they were moving toward their destination, absolute leader, a governing (literate) class, and the there was no realistic chance of rousing the people in revolt. masses, used as labor in monumental building schemes Only when they realized that they would not live to cross the and as troops for the imperial army. enters the Jordan was rebellion possible. The people seemingly had world as a protest against this kind of structure. We see nothing to lose. this in the opening chapter of the Torah in which God

creates the human person in His image and likeness, The comparison between human and chimpanzee politics is not meaning that we are all equally fragments of the Divine. meant lightly. Judaism has long understood that Homo sapiens is a mix of what the Zohar calls nefesh ha-behamit and nefesh Why, asked the sages, was man created singly? “So that ha-Elokit, the animal soul and the Godly soul. We are not no one could say, My ancestors were greater than yours.” disembodied minds. We have physical desires and these are Something of this egalitarianism can be heard in Moses’ encoded in our genes. Scientists speak today about three remark to Joshua, “Would that all the Lord’s people were systems: the ‘reptile’ brain that produces the most primal fight- prophets, that He would rest his spirit on them.” However, or-flight responses, the ‘monkey’ brain that is social, emotional like many of the Torah’s ideals – among them and sensitive to hierarchy, and the human brain, the prefrontal vegetarianism, the abolition of slavery and the institution cortex, that is slow, reflective and capable of thinking through of monogamy – egalitarianism could not happen overnight. consequences of alternative courses of action. This confirms It would take centuries, millennia, and in many respects what Jews and others, Plato and Aristotle among them, have has not yet been fully achieved. There were two long known. It is in the tension and interplay between these hierarchical structures in biblical . There were kings systems that the drama of human freedom is played out. In his and there were , among them the High Priest. Both most recent book, Frans de Waal notes that “among were introduced after a crisis: monarchy after the failure of chimpanzees, hierarchy permeates everything.” Among the the rule of the ‘judges’, the Levitical and Aaronide females this is taken for granted and does not lead to conflict. priesthood after the sin of the Golden Calf. Both led, But among males, “power is always up for grabs.” It “has to be inevitably, to tension and division. Biblical Israel survived fought for and jealously guarded against contenders.” Male as a united kingdom for only three generations of kings chimpanzees are “schmoozing and scheming Machiavellians.” and then split in two. The priesthood became a major The question is: Are we? source of division in the late Second Temple period, leading to sectarian divisions between Sadducees, Boethusians and This is not a minor question. It may even be the most the rest. The story of Korach explains why. Where there is important of all if humanity is to have a future. Anthropologists hierarchy, there will be competition as to who is the alpha are generally agreed that the earliest humans, the hunter- male. gatherers, were generally egalitarian. Everyone had his or her

Is hierarchy an inevitable feature of all advanced Great Neck Yoetzet Halacha Lisa Septimus civilizations? Maimonides seems to say Yes. For him, Welcomes your questions about mikvah, observance of taharat mishpacha (halacha relating monarchy was a positive institution, not a mere to married life) and women’s health, as it connects concession. Abarbanel seems to say No. There are to Jewish law. Reach out to her at: passages in his writing that suggest he was a utopian Phone: 516.415.1111 Email: [email protected]. anarchist who believed that in an ideal world no one would All conversations and emails are kept confidential. rule over anyone. We would each acknowledge only the sovereignty of God. Putting together the story of Korach and Frans de Waal’s chimpanzee version of House of Cards, Great Neck Synagogue the conclusion seems to follow that where there is 26 Old Mill Road, Great Neck , NY 11023 hierarchy, there will be struggles to be alpha male. The 516-487-6100 result is what Thomas Hobbes called “a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in Rabbi Dale Polakoff, Rabbi death.” That is why the rabbis focused their attention not Rabbi Ian Lichter, Assistant Rabbi on the hierarchical crowns of kingship or priesthood but on Dr. Ephraim Wolf, z”l, Rabbi Emeritus the non-hierarchical crown of Torah, which is open to all Zeev Kron, Cantor who seek it. Here competition leads not to conflict but to Eleazer Schulman, z”l, Cantor Emeritus an increase of wisdom, and where Heaven itself, seeing Rabbi Sholom Jensen, Youth Director sages disagree, says, “These and those are the words of Zehava & Dr. Michael Atlas, Youth Directors Mark Twersky, Executive Director the living God.” The Korach story repeats itself in every Dr. James Frisch, Assistant Director generation. The antidote is daily immersion in the Dov Sassoon, President alternative world of Torah-study that seeks truth not Rabbi Jesse Shore, Rabbinic Intern power, and values all equally as voices in a sacred Harold Domnitch, Chairman of the Board conversation. Lisa Septimus, Yoetzet Halacha 516-415-1111 SISTERHOOD EVENT CHAVERIM CENTER

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