The following sermon was delivered 8 years ago, Parshat Korach 2007.
This
past Thursday night, the Brotherhood organized a trip to the Marlins game. By
the number of Young Israel families and the smiles on their faces, it was a
great success. I was planning to go alone, but in the middle of the week
decided that the time had come for my son Yaakov to go to his first Marlins
game; as a matter of fact, his first baseball game. In the past we have taken
Yaakov to public entertainment venues, sometimes with disastrous results. You
see, he’s not a fan of loud noises, and sometimes in response to such noise he
has demanded that we leave immediately, in no uncertain terms. But I figured
the time was ripe. Besides, when asked if he wanted to go to the baseball game,
he enthusiastically responded yes. So even though the thought of going on an
outing of this magnitude with just Yaakov and no wife was a bit daunting, I was
nonetheless excited at the prospect of taking my firstborn son to see America’s past
time for his very first time. My expectations were high and I hoped that the
memories of this evening would be priceless.
Everything was going well. We parked at Dolphin Stadium.
Yaakov was holding my hand as we walked through the parking lot, waving and
saying hello to everyone we passed. I give him his ticket to hold. He handed it
to the lady at the entrance gate. Upon reaching the gate I found out that tonight
was a special promotion: The first 10,000 fans would receive a Marlins
Replica 1997 Championship Ring. Luckily we got our rings before
supplies ran out, and I thought to myself “this is the beginning of a great evening.”
I started to plan out our schedule. We had an hour before Mincha. Should we go
straight to our seats, or look around for the perfect souvenir- after all
there’s no way Yaakov would come home from his first baseball game without a
souvenir. I decided to first go to our seats.
And then it happened. My wonderful son whom I love dearly
heard the loud voices coming from the PA system coupled with the noise from the
largest High-definition jumbo-tron in America, and refused to enter the
stadium. My first response was to find a way to get Yaakov to acquiesce. But
the more I cajoled and bribed the more adamant he became. My next response was
to get angry. That of course just made things a lot worse. As my son was crying
that he wanted to go home, after being at Dolphin Stadium for no more than 12
minutes- I had an epiphany: This must be
how Korach felt.
Korach
had a lot going for him. He had a wife and children. According to the Talmud
Korach was a very wealthy man. Masechet Sanhedrin teaches that three hundred
white mules were necessary in order to carry just the keys of Korach's treasure
stores. Where did Korach get this wealth? According to the Talmud (Pesachim) Yosef
hid three treasures, and Korach found one of them. According to the Medrash
(rabbah), Korach became wealthy in his capacity as Paroh’s Finance Minister.
Korach
was also a member of an elite group of Leviim who had the privilege to carry
the holy Ark during Bnei Yisrael’s travels. Rashi mentions that Korach was a
“Pikei’ach”, an intelligent person. Moreover, it appears that Korach had a
degree of Ruach Hakodesh, Divine inspiration, as he knew that he was the
ancestor of the great prophet Shmuel.
With
so much in his favor, why did Korach feel the need for more? Why did he pick a
fight with Moshe, and in effect with G-d, leading to disastrous consequences
for himself and those around him?
The
story of Korach is full of ambiguity. For example, what was Korach’s actual
complaint? In pasuk Gimmel, Korach argues:
“Why
have you lifted yourselves above the assembly of G-d?”
The
Medrash Tanchuma writes that Korach’s criticism was directed towards Aharon and
his argument to Moshe went as follows:
“If you, Moshe, are the king
of Israel,
then you should not have selected your brother Aharon as the High Priest.”
However, in providing background to Korach’s rebellion, the
Medrash gives an altogether different cause for Korach’s rebellion:
“Korach was envious of the
princeship of Eltzafan ben Uzziel, whom Moshe had appointed prince over the family
of Kehat.”
Medrash Tanchuma elaborates that Kehat, Korach’s grandfather,
had four sons: Amram, Yitzhar, Chetzron and Uzziel. Kehat’s firstborn son was
Amram, who was the father of Moshe and Aharon. As firstborn, Amram was entitled
to “pi-shnayim” a double portion of land. As the tribe of levi would not
inherit land in Israel,
it therefore made sense to Korach that Amram should be bestowed with two
positions of rank: namely, kingship- a role which was filled by Moshe, and the
High Priesthood, filled by Aharon. However, there was another position of
authority that had to be assigned, the prince of the Kehatite family. Korach
expected to be appointed to this position. After all, he was the son of Kehat’s
second oldest son, Yitzhar. As such he felt that he was next in line for a
position. Korach was therefore shocked and thrown for a loop when Moshe
appointed his cousin Eltzafan considering the fact that Eltzfan’s father, Uzziel,
was the youngest of Kehat’s four children.
So
which one really set Korach off? Was it Aharon’s position or Eltzafan’s?
Korach had good reason to expect the position of family
prince. There are specific expectations assigned in the Torah to members of a
family depending on their birth order. For example, the bechor, the firstborn
gets a double portion of the father’s estate. In Parshat Vayeitzei, when we are
introduced to Leah and Rachel, we are told that Leah’s eyes were tender while
Rachel was beautiful. Breishit Rabbah informs us that the expectation at the
time was that since both Rivkah and her brother Lavan had two children, then it
only made sense that the two older siblings (Leah and Eisav) should marry each
other, as should the two younger siblings (Yaakov and Rachel). Korach’s assumption seems reasonable and his
logic seems sound.
So we can understand and appreciate Korach’s expectations.
But what happened when his expectations were not met? What happened when Korach
was passed over and the position was given to his younger cousin? What happens
when what we thought would happen or should happen does not actually pan
out? What happens when your son wants to leave his first baseball game before
your first bite of kosher hot dog?
Here is where Korach errs. In such a situation,
disappointment is to be expected. Even a little bit of jealousy, some
frustration and anger, though not good things, could have been understood and
respected. But the Medrash describes Korach’s reaction. Korach said:
“I will therefore rebel
against Moshe and nullify his words.”
It is only at this point,
that Korach attacks Aharon. Even if Korach is right, his expectations were not
met, and he is not appointed prince. In response he lashes out against Aharon.
His argument against Aharon is weak. In fact in the earlier Midrash we learn
that at first Korach recognized Aharon’s claim to the position of Kohen Gadol.
Some
commentators see within Korach’s response the power and danger of jealousy. I
see within the story of Korach a failure to prepare for alternate outcomes. Even
with everything that he had, Korach was unable to deal with the disappointment
when his expectations were not met.
The story of Korach teaches us the need to be flexible. We
must be able to handle unmet expectations in a productive and healthy manner.
Thursday night at the stadium my knee-jerk reaction was to
refuse to admit that my expectations were going to go unmet. One option would
be to go to our seats and watch the game, even if doing so would meant lots of
kicking and screaming. Another option was to allow my sense of disappointment
to express itself as anger. In that case, I would have immediately left the
stadium, and dropped Yaakov off at home, vowing to never again take him
anywhere.
Instead I took a deep breath, thought about Korach’s
mistake and resigned myself to the fact that tonight’s outing would not be at
all as I envisioned. I would defer to what my son wanted to do. So for two
hours, we wandered the recesses of Dolphin Stadium; everywhere except the
inside of the actual stadium. We walked up and down the ramp. We walked back
and forth from Section 125 to 145. We sat on the benches, ate dinner, and
watched on the televisions the game that was taking place inside.
At the end of the evening,
one of my original expectations was met: Yaakov left with a souvenir. As for
me- I left with a better appreciation for Korach’s error. I left with an
understanding how important it is to effectively handle disappointment. I left
with the memory of an evening with my son at the ballpark that was indeed
priceless.
2015 Update: Since then, I am happy to report that Yaakov and I have enjoyed many father-son baseball outings together- inside the stadium
