A Stroll Down Memory Lane: Yaakov Weinstock's First Marlins Game

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