{"id":47293,"date":"2018-07-09T17:41:20","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1027\/"},"modified":"2022-08-12T13:42:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T10:42:07","slug":"wall-1027","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1027\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20220807-to-20220813"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1027","date_from":"20220807","date_to":"20220813","book":"Numbers","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"107112","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"2","name":"Va-Eth\u0323anan, Shabbat Nah\u0323amu, and Tu Be-Av: With Heaven And Earth As Our Witness ","post_title":"Va-Eth\u0323anan, Shabbat Nah\u0323amu, and Tu Be-Av: With Heaven And Earth As Our Witness","slug":"va-eth%cc%a3anan-shabbat-nah%cc%a3amu-and-tu-be-av-with-heaven-and-earth-as-our-witness","old_id":"107112","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":107113,"post_title":"Louis Polisson","slug":"louis-polisson","old_id":"107113","first_name":"Louis ","last_name":"Polisson ","description":"Louis Polisson is a musician and rabbi. He currently serves as the rabbi of Congregation Or Atid in Wayland, Massachusetts and is a co-founder and co-leader of the Metrowest Jewish Mindfulness Community. He and his wife Gabriella Feingold released an album of original Jewish and nature-based folk music in November 2018 - you can listen at https:\/\/louisandgabriella.bandcamp.com\/album\/as-full-of-song-as-the-sea.\r\n","short_description":"Louis Polisson is a musician and rabbi, at Congregation Or Atid in Wayland, Massachusetts. He is a co-founder and co-leader of the Metrowest Jewish Mindfulness Community.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":107114,"alt":"","title":"-62f4a7c4296c8--62f4a7c4296calouis pollison.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f4a7c4296c8-62f4a7c4296calouis-pollison.jpg.jpg","width":300,"height":390,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f4a7c4296c8-62f4a7c4296calouis-pollison.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f4a7c4296c8-62f4a7c4296calouis-pollison.jpg-231x300.jpg","medium-width":231,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f4a7c4296c8-62f4a7c4296calouis-pollison.jpg.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":390,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f4a7c4296c8-62f4a7c4296calouis-pollison.jpg.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":390,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f4a7c4296c8-62f4a7c4296calouis-pollison.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":390,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f4a7c4296c8-62f4a7c4296calouis-pollison.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":390,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f4a7c4296c8-62f4a7c4296calouis-pollison.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":390,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/08\/62f4a7c4296c8-62f4a7c4296calouis-pollison.jpg.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":390}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1027","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"if you know you have harmed the earth, know that you can heal it\u2026\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

On <\/span>Shabbat Nah\u0323amu<\/span><\/em>, the Sabbath of Comfort the week after <\/span>Tish\u2019ah B\u2019Av<\/span>,<\/span><\/i> we read <\/span>Parashat Va-Eth\u0323anan<\/span><\/em>. Though <\/span>Shabbat Nah\u0323amu<\/span><\/em> is about consolation and healing after lamenting Jewish traumas on the 9th of <\/span>Av<\/span><\/i>, the threat of destruction continues to loom in <\/span>Parashat Va-Eth\u0323anan<\/span><\/em>.<\/em> Moses tells the Israelites:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhen you \u2026 are long established in the land, should you act wickedly\u2026 causing the LORD your God displeasure and vexation, I call heaven and earth this day to witness against you that you shall soon perish\u201d (<\/span>Deut. 4:25-26<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The calling of heaven and earth as witnesses is not just metaphorical. The natural world doesn't just witness our actions, but actually suffers from humanity's destructive tendencies. As Rabbi Harold Kushner puts it: \u201cHeaven and earth do indeed witness against us when we make improper use of that with which God has blessed us. Poisoning the air and water, despoiling the environment do threaten to cause us to \u2018perish from the land.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Our fate is not sealed, however. We can return to God and right our relationships with the earth: \u201cBecause Adonai is a compassionate God\u2026 and will not fail you, nor let you perish\u201d (<\/span>Deut. 4:29-31<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This dance between justice and mercy, between the threat of punishment to the promise of forgiveness and renewed relationship, reminds us that we are part of an ecosystem that has Divine roots. Just as the natural world ebbs and flows, in cycles of life and death, so too humanity moves through periods of loss to times of growth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is why <\/span>Tu Be-Av<\/span><\/em>, the holiday of love and relationship, comes six days after <\/span>Tish\u2019ah B\u2019Av<\/span><\/em>, the day of deepest mourning. A <\/span>midrash<\/span> about these two days teaches that the Israelites would dig graves every year on <\/span>Tish\u2019ah B\u2019Av<\/em> <\/span>and sleep in them, waking to discover that more of their number had died. This went on every year until the 40 years of wandering in the desert were complete, whereupon they woke and everyone was still alive. By the 15th of the month, they realized that this chapter of their journey was over, and, in awe and gratitude, they climbed out of their graves into renewed life.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We too face a fearful reality, facing the consequences of the way we\u2019ve treated God\u2019s good earth. We must prepare for the grief of impending losses due to climate change, while committing to changing our ways and cultivating hope and faith. Like the Israelites, we must accept that we\u2019ll witness loss as we seek a better future. But we can each do our small part in changing the world for the better by observing the covenant and practicing <\/span>shmitah<\/span><\/i> - returning to a healthy and loving relationship with the land.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the words of Rebbe Nah\u0323man of Breslov: if you believe that you can destroy, believe that you can repair. This is the message of both <\/span>Va-Eth\u0323anan<\/span><\/em> and <\/span>shmitah<\/span><\/em>: if you know you have harmed the earth, know that you can heal it.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Though humans have bought into the idolatrous falsehood that we own the earth, we can still realize the truth that we are part of it. Though we will continue to suffer the consequences of abusing the natural world, it\u2019s never too late to change our ways and find comfort and hope in our sacred relationships with the earth. We can do this through <\/span>shmitah<\/span><\/i> - letting go and letting the land renew itself, with heaven and earth as our witness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This year is the shmita year: Shmita means a sabbatical year for the Earth but also for ourselves, our communities, and our world. Each week we continue to share thoughts on how the weekly parsha can help guide our thinking around shmita themes of work and rest, wealth and debt, responsible land use, fair labor practices, private and public property ownership, and physical and spiritual revitalization.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

See here for more information on the Hazon Shmita project, and its blogs.<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"A Weekly Series: The \"Shmitah Parasha\" Blog","tile_main_caption":"Va-Eth\u0323anan, Shabbat Nah\u0323amu, and Tu Be-Av: With Heaven And Earth As Our Witness","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"in conjunction with Hazon.org","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1027"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"368","name":"Parasha","old_id":"768"},{"term_id":"494","name":"Shmita","old_id":"894"}]},{"order":2,"id":"47470","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Lifeline of Torah \u2013 Then and Now ","post_title":"The Lifeline Of Torah \u2013 Then And Now","slug":"the-lifeline-of-torah-then-and-now","old_id":"47470","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"132","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Salvation coming out of the blue...","post_main_content_content":"

At the beginning of our chapter, Moses instructs the Israelite people: \u201cwhen you come into the Land of your settlements which God is giving you, that they should make various offerings to God (Num. 15:1-31). Following the story of a man punished for gathering sticks on Shabbat (15:32-36) \u2013 and to help prevent such transgressions in the future -- our Chapter concludes with the Mitzvah of Tzitzit (\u201cfringes\u201d): \u201cThe Lord spoke to Moses saying: Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue (ptil tekhelet) to the fringe at each corner\u2026look at it and recall all the commandments of the Lord and observe them\u2026\u201d (15:37-39, summarized in Deut. 22:12). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Midrash (Tanhuma Buber, Shelah 31 and parallels) subtly ties the \u201ccord of blue\u201d \u00a0in the Tzitzit to another sort of \u201ccord\u201d that may also assist in the performance of the commandments in general. This is done by relating a parable [mashal] about a man who has been thrown into the water. The captain of the boat casts him a rope, saying: Grab this rope and hold on for dear life, for if you let it go, you are lost. Similarly, the Holy One, blessed be He, says to Israel: As long as you hold fast to the Mitzvot, then, \u201cAll of you who hold fast to the Lord, Your God, are alive today\u201d (Deuteronomy 4:4). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In ancient times, seafaring, even on the Mediterranean, was fraught with danger (see Daniel Sperber, Nautica Talmudica, 1986, pp. 94-106). Even today, boats above a certain size and ships are generally required by law to have at the ready rescue equipment, such as life rings or lifebuoys attached to lifelines, much like the lifeline cast to the man thrown overboard in our parable. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The concluding application (nimshal) of our parable, beginning \u201cSo too does the Holy One, blessed be He, say to Israel\u2026\u201d suggests the following application to our present situation. In our day, many of those drawn to a life of halakhic observance may do so because of a feeling of \u201chaving been thrown overboard\u201d from the storm-tossed \u201cship\u201d on the turbulent \u201csea\u201d of their previous lifestyle. And it is the \u201clifeline\u201d of the Torah, thrown to them by the \u201cCaptain of the Universe\u201d, that may serve to save them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: 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","post_title":"Let Us Head Back!","slug":"let-us-head-back","old_id":"47359","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34285,"post_title":"Tammy Jacobowitz","slug":"tammy-jacobowitz","old_id":"34285","first_name":"Tammy ","last_name":"Jacobowitz ","description":"Dr. Tammy Jacobowitz is the chair of the Tanakh department at the SAR High School in Riverdale, NY, and is the founding director of Makom Ba'Siach at SAR, an immersive adult education program for parents. She has taught Bible for the Wexner Heritage program, and she is also an adjunct faculty member of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, where she teaches the Pedagogy of Tanakh. \r\nShe received her BA in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, is a graduate of the Drisha Institute's Scholars Circle, and completed her PhD in Midrash at the University of Pennsylania in 2010 as a Wexner Graduate fellow. Dr. Jacobowitz is currently at work on a parsha book, geared towards parents reading to young children. Her research interests include the spiritualizing tactics of Midrash, gender and the body in the Bible and Rabbinics, purity and impurity, and the contemporary use of Midrash. She lives in Teaneck, NJ with her husband, Ronnie Perelis, and their four children.","short_description":"Dr. Tammy Jacobowitz is the chair of the Tanakh department at the SAR High School in Riverdale, NY,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34286,"alt":"","title":"tammy j","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","width":512,"height":768,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","medium_large-width":512,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","large-width":512,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","1536x1536-width":512,"1536x1536-height":768,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","2048x2048-width":512,"2048x2048-height":768,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","post_full_size-width":512,"post_full_size-height":768,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"131","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The people are closed off to the possibility of seeing the arc of promise or goodness in their identity as a people","post_main_content_content":"

Chapter 14 is a chapter of wild unraveling. It begins with the people\u2019s heavy weeping through the night and in the morning, their angry proclamations against Moses and Aaron:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cIf only we had died in the land of Egypt.. It would be better for us to go back to Egypt!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And then their call to action: \u201cLet us head back for Egypt\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Overwhelmed by the spies\u2019 report, the people fall into a manic, fearful state. They trust no one at all. Not God, not Caleb or Joshua, and certainly not Moses or Aaron. They are prepared to disassociate from their leaders and take matters into their own hands, throwing it all away-- and return to Egypt. \u00a0When Joshua and Caleb make a desperate effort to reorient them to the \u201cgoodness\u201d of the land and to move them from their narrative of fear, the people respond by threatening to stone them. They can no longer take in guidance; they are closed off to the possibility of seeing the arc of promise or goodness in their identity as a people.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As singular as this moment seems, it bears echoes of earlier moments in their trajectory as a people. Surely, their urgent sense of fear has surfaced before, and their distrust of their leaders- and of God- has reverberated throughout many prior narratives. But at this moment, their inability to hear-- to take it in-- has a striking parallel to one of their earliest encounters with Moses. Shortly after Moses demanded Israelite freedom from Pharaoh, Moses reveals to the Israelites the full arc of their story: from the <\/span>brit avot<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>covenant with the ancestors. to the promise of settling them in that covenantal land.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses lays it out clearly for them, but they \u201cwould not listen to Moses, on account of shortness of breath and cruel bondage\u201d (Exodus 6:9).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Here, too, they cannot hear about the promised land. Their leaders tell them that the redemptive story is theirs, but the people have lost themselves along that story; in the dark moments of Numbers 14, they have fallen off the map of covenantal redemption.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At the episode\u2019s end, God\u2019s punishment swiftly brings them back into awareness of how real it all is: the relationship, the promise, the covenantal arc. In a desperate attempt to realign themselves with the story, they rush up toward the hill country. But it is too late. And they are still trying to do it on their own; \u201cneither the Lord\u2019s Ark of the Covenant nor Moses stirred from the camp\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

A people without leaders, without God, is not how the story was meant to unfold.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":101938,"alt":"","title":"-6208dac861557--6208dac861558gen6-revolution protest 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Us Head Back!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The people are closed off to the possibility of seeing the arc of promise or goodness in their identity as a people","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":101938,"alt":"","title":"-6208dac861557--6208dac861558gen6-revolution protest 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Your Children Well ","post_title":"Teach Your Children Well","slug":"teach-your-children-well","old_id":"47672","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"132","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"That is the whole Torah on one fringe...","post_main_content_content":"

After a tragedy, the most mundane phrases can become the most painful ones.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 15 begins with a poignant example. \"Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: When you come to the land of your dwelling that I give you.\" Words that once carried hope and aspiration now bear deep frustration, disappointment, despair. With these words, the adults realize that from this point on, when Moses speaks to Bnei Yisrael, he's speaking past them, addressing himself to the children. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The story is no longer about them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

With this reality comes a radical, but entirely logical notion, embodied by the wood-gatherer. If the story is no longer about us, if we're no longer 'Bnei Yisrael', then there can be no more Shabbat, nor any other obligations. It's such a valid point that Moses, Aharon, and the entire congregation are left speechless. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Maybe he's right. Maybe it's game-over for the parents? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A quick consultation with God reveals that it's a mistaken notion. The parents will still be held to the same standards, although it is primarily their children we're concerned with.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But why? Perhaps the \"randomly\" placed parsha of <\/span>tzitzit<\/span><\/em> holds some clues.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The tzitzit <\/em>remind us that, in a profound way, it is <\/span>always<\/em> the children that we need to be primarily concerned with in our religious lives. The moment a child is born, a person's most important religious obligation becomes the transmission of the tradition to him or her. This obligation occupies center stage in the Exodus story (we discussed it way back in Exodus chapter 10), and in the annual reenactment of the Exodus on the Seder night, when our children are the stars of the show. Arguably the most basic religious obligation in Judaism, the learning of Torah, is actually only a derivative of the obligation to <\/span>teach<\/b> Torah to our children (see Kiddushin 29b).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The <\/span>tzitzit<\/span><\/em>, associated closely with the Exodus, are a daily physical reminder of this idea. What is important is not the garment, but what sprouts, what grows (see Rashi's explanation of the word) from the edges- that is the <\/span>tachlit<\/span><\/em>, the ultimate purpose.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This was the message that the wood-gatherer didn't, or refused to understand. Creating an environment for our children that supports their religious development is not meant to be a by-product of our own religious commitment, or an after-thought.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is every parent's greatest, holiest, task.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":79473,"alt":"","title":"zech8-fringes","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes.jpg","width":1140,"height":570,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes-300x150.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes-768x384.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes-1024x512.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":512,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes.jpg","1536x1536-width":1140,"1536x1536-height":570,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes.jpg","2048x2048-width":1140,"2048x2048-height":570,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes.jpg","post_full_size-width":1140,"post_full_size-height":570,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes-840x420.jpg","home_baner-width":840,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Teach Your Children Well","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"That is the whole Torah on one fringe...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":79473,"alt":"","title":"zech8-fringes","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes.jpg","width":1140,"height":570,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes-300x150.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes-768x384.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes-1024x512.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":512,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes.jpg","1536x1536-width":1140,"1536x1536-height":570,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes.jpg","2048x2048-width":1140,"2048x2048-height":570,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes.jpg","post_full_size-width":1140,"post_full_size-height":570,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech8-fringes-840x420.jpg","home_baner-width":840,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"15","chapter_main_number":"132","date":"20260302","wall_id":"132"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"399","name":"Education","old_id":"799"},{"term_id":"529","name":"Children","old_id":"929"},{"term_id":"812","name":"Tzitzit","old_id":"1212"}]},{"order":5,"id":"47340","color":"#f6f5de","size":"2","name":"The Good Old Days ","post_title":"The Good Old Days","slug":"the-good-old-days","old_id":"47340","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33992,"post_title":"Bradley Shavit Artson","slug":"rabbi-dr-bradley-shavit-artson","old_id":"33992","first_name":"Bradley Shavit ","last_name":"Artson","description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and is professor of philosophy there. Artson is married to Elana Shavit Artson, and they are the parents of twins, Shira and Jacob.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33993,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","width":204,"height":199,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":199,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","large-width":204,"large-height":199,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":199,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":199,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":199,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":199}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"131","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The consequences of giving in to nostalgia doomed a generation of our ancestors, and can have that same devastating consequence today if we let it","post_main_content_content":"

It\u2019s not unusual for people to miss the days that have already passed, as we all have a tendency to forget the negative and recall only the good of what is no longer with us. We do that with friends that have moved away, loved ones no longer alive, jobs or schools we no longer are affiliated with. The daily struggles and challenges fade with time, leaving us an artificially-distorted perception that those days were idyllic and lovely in ways that these more bleak and trying times are not.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps the most famous example of such warped memory finds expression as the Israelites struggle with their newest challenge. Spies from the Israelites return from scouting out the land of Canaan, and report that the people there are like giants, powerful and strong. The report of the spies is so devastating that the Israelites don\u2019t want to go forward. Indeed, the terror gripping them is so devastating that they even forget what Egyptian slavery was actually like. It was, don\u2019t forget, their anguished cries that drew God\u2019s attention and launched the exodus in the first place. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

But now, facing the challenge of entering the Land of Israel and having to fight for their place in the land, they look back with longing and recall a past that is literally too good to be true: \u201cIf only we had died in the land of Egypt, the whole community shouted at them, \u2026 It would be better for us to go back to Egypt! (2, 3).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Better to go back to relentless whippings, to endless toil, to despotism and despair! Such is the power of a false nostalgia that it unhinges our better judgment, blinds us to the possibilities inherent in the present, distances us from the courage we need to transform tomorrow for the good. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We are all those newly-newly-liberated slaves, all standing on the narrow precipice of the present. Dare we to face down our fears, to admit that our nostalgia and yearning is for a past that is warped by our opportunities, and then to muster ourselves to face and conquer today\u2019s challenges? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The consequences of giving in to their nostalgia, with its false comfort, doomed a generation of our ancestors. It will have that same devastating consequence today if we let it. Instead, let us, like Joshua and Caleb, rise in affirming that we are the children of promise, that the future is ours to shape in line with our highest values and firmest convictions. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We are, after all, the children of people who walked out of Egypt, to freedom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0By\u00a0Olivier Le Moal\/shutterstock<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47353,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_521443675","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675.jpg","width":5001,"height":5001,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Good Old Days","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The consequences of giving in to nostalgia doomed a generation of our ancestors, and can have that same devastating consequence today if we let it","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47353,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_521443675","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675.jpg","width":5001,"height":5001,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_521443675-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"14","chapter_main_number":"131","date":"20260301","wall_id":"131"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"405","name":"Memory","old_id":"805"},{"term_id":"469","name":"Egypt","old_id":"869"},{"term_id":"598","name":"Israelites","old_id":"998"},{"term_id":"810","name":"Nostalgia","old_id":"1210"}]},{"order":6,"id":"107007","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Like A Frayed Tzitzit, My Mind ","post_title":"Like A Frayed Tzitzit, My Mind","slug":"like-a-frayed-tzitzit-my-mind","old_id":"107007","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":104022,"post_title":"Benji Zoller","slug":"benji-zoller","old_id":"104022","first_name":"Benji ","last_name":"Zoller ","description":"Benji Zoller is a current student of Jewish Thought and Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He has studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion and Yeshivat Otniel. A native of Dallas, Texas, Benji now resides with his wife, Leah Nerenberg, in Jerusalem.","short_description":"Benji Zoller is a current student of Jewish Thought and Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. A native of Dallas, Texas, Benji now resides with his wife, Leah Nerenberg, in Jerusalem.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":104023,"alt":"","title":"-6258019f9e1f4--6258019f9e1f5benji zoller.jpeg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg.jpeg","width":1011,"height":1011,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg-300x300.jpeg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg-768x768.jpeg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg.jpeg","large-width":1011,"large-height":1011,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg.jpeg","1536x1536-width":1011,"1536x1536-height":1011,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg.jpeg","2048x2048-width":1011,"2048x2048-height":1011,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg.jpeg","post_full_size-width":1011,"post_full_size-height":1011,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/04\/6258019f9e1f4-6258019f9e1f5benji-zoller.jpeg-420x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"132","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"May it be Your will that from my frayed mind You will unify my soul.\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Like a frayed <\/span>tzitzit<\/span><\/i>, my mind unravels.
\r\n<\/span>Slowly, slowly thread by thread, what was molded to be wound unwinds,
\r\n<\/span>Untwists,
\r\n<\/span>Unrolls,
\r\n<\/span>Uncoils.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From one bound string of pure indigo stems countless scattered roots, branching out into the fertile universe.
\r\n<\/span>Anxiously the lone strands search for life, water, nutrients, soil.
\r\n<\/span>Helplessly they sway back and forth far above the earth.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Beside them, their brothers and sisters remain fastened stiff, performing the duties they were made for.
\r\n<\/span>But these blue scattered strings \u2013 blue like the sky high above, blue like the bluest waves \u2013 pursue freedom.
\r\n<\/span>Freedom to live, to explore \u2013 to stray.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How dare you!<\/span><\/i> The brothers and sisters shout. <\/span>How dare you follow your eyes! How dare you whore after your heart!
\r\n<\/span><\/i>Yet, as they shriek, the one blue fringe that once was one becomes two, three, four, five\u2026
\r\n<\/span>In their head they know what they need is grounding, earth to plant their ever sprouting roots.
\r\n<\/span>But their heart silences the truths they think they know.
\r\n<\/span>No.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Life is not only found in the soil down below, in the finite earth upon which one stands.
\r\n<\/span>Life is in the infiniteness of the bluest of blues. In the sea, in the sky, in the Heavens, in the throne of God.
\r\n<\/span>From one end of the universe to the next \u2013 from here to there to truly everywhere; <\/span>there<\/span><\/i> is where life is found.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the unwinding of a frayed fringe. The unbinding of the bound. The shattered, the broken, the cracked. (How else would the light get in?)
\r\n<\/span>My mind is scattered, my heart is broken, my clothes are torn, my strings are frayed.
\r\n<\/span>And I stray after my eyes, I whore after my heart.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But, God! I am not straying, I am not whoring.\u00a0
\r\n<\/span>I am seeking, I am asking, I am searching. I am climbing up the ladders, one-two-three-four-five-six, and when I arrive at the golden bed You are all I seek. Not in the wound and bound, but in my scattered blue strings.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

May it be Your will that from my frayed mind You will unify my soul.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":107008,"alt":"","title":"-62ef61895fd21--62ef61895fd22Num15-BZoller-Frayed 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Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"Like A Frayed Tzitzit, My Mind","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"May it be Your will that from my frayed mind You will unify my soul.","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":107008,"alt":"","title":"-62ef61895fd21--62ef61895fd22Num15-BZoller-Frayed 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Demagoguery and The Politics of False Nostalgia ","post_title":"Deceptive Demagoguery And The Politics Of False Nostalgia","slug":"deceptive-demagoguery-and-the-politics-of-false-nostalgia","old_id":"47578","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46249,"post_title":"Gil Troy","slug":"gil-troy","old_id":"46249","first_name":"Gil ","last_name":"Troy ","description":"Gil Troy is a Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University, has written ten books on the American presidency. A Jerusalem resident, Gil's latest book The Zionist Ideas, updates Arthur Hertzberg\u2019s classic The Zionist Idea. He was recently designated an Algemeiner J-100, one of the top 100 people \"positively influencing Jewish life.\" ","short_description":"Gil Troy is a Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University, and is the author of The Zionist Ideas.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":46250,"alt":"","title":"Gil Troy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Gil-Troy-e1545566714317.jpg","width":2083,"height":1968,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Gil-Troy-e1545566714317-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Gil-Troy-e1545566714317-300x283.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":283,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Gil-Troy-e1545566714317-768x726.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":726,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Gil-Troy-e1545566714317-1024x967.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":967,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Gil-Troy-e1545566714317.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1451,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Gil-Troy-e1545566714317.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1935,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Gil-Troy-e1545566714317-1200x1134.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1134,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Gil-Troy-e1545566714317-445x420.jpg","home_baner-width":445,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"133","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Motivated by petty Levite tribal jealousy, Korach was a dangerous political hack","post_main_content_content":"

Korach is Jewish history\u2019s Disreputable Rebel. But for a tradition proud of producing mavericks like Abraham and Baruch Spinoza, Theodor Herzl and Menachem Begin, Betty Friedan and Natan Sharansky, rebellion is not necessarily wicked. In fact, what Shimon Peres called the \u201cJewish dissatisfaction gene\u201d generated 66 volumes of Talmudic debate, billions in start-up revenue, innovations galore in theology, technology, philosophy, philanthropy, academia, science. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

What then is Korach\u2019s sin in mutinying against Moses and Aaron? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Note Numbers 16:13.<\/span>\u201c<\/b>Is it not enough that you have brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert,\u201d Korach charges. \u00a0Peddling such false nostalgia for Egypt to a people clearly vulnerable to such fantasies is unforgivable. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

True, leaders good and bad love evoking Golden Ages \u2013 whether they existed or not. Donald Trump\u2019s promise to \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d echoed Franklin D. Roosevelt\u2019s very different 1932 campaign vowing \u201cHappy Days are Here Again.\u201d In <\/span>On Revolution<\/em> <\/span>the philosopher Hannah Arendt taught that the word revolution evokes a cycle, returning to purity, to first principles. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

But Korach perverts a common rhetorical riff into treasonous propaganda. He builds his Politics of False Nostalgia with an ideological hijacking. He steals God\u2019s vision of future grace \u2013 arriving in a Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. He then manipulatively applies it to describe the enslaving Egypt the unsettled children of Israel know and now miss rather than the redemptive Israel they\u2019ve been promised. Such deceptive demagoguery is subversive, creating a clash of mutually exclusive visions. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Korach\u2019s categorical, sweeping, all-or-nothing, us-versus-them, approach to politics explains Chapter 16\u2019s opening word \u2013 VaYikach<\/em> \u2013 and Korach took himself, separated himself from the Mosaic status quo. That petty Levite tribal jealousies motivated him and his co-conspirators made them ordinary political hacks. That he used his dissent to repudiate our community, our leaders, our values, and our vision so thoroughly made him, extraordinarily \u2013 dare we say it -- revolting. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

May Korach\u2019s destructive deceit caution us to beware those who reject categorically rather than criticize constructively. Let\u2019s keep political critiques of healthy democratic communities contained and patriotic \u2013 except when forced by an evil Korachian leader or policy. May we usually be guided by the wisdom of my rebbe. New York\u2019s former mayor Ed Koch, who advised, \u201cif you agree on 9 out of 12 issues, vote for me; if you agree on 12 out of 12 issues \u2013 see a psychiatrist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47579,"alt":"","title":"demagogue-2193093_1920","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920.jpg","width":1920,"height":1446,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920-300x226.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":226,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920-768x578.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":578,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920-1024x771.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":771,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1157,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1446,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920-1200x904.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":904,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920-558x420.jpg","home_baner-width":558,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Deceptive Demagoguery And The Politics Of False Nostalgia","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Motivated by petty Levite tribal jealousy, Korach was a dangerous political hack","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47579,"alt":"","title":"demagogue-2193093_1920","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920.jpg","width":1920,"height":1446,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920-300x226.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":226,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920-768x578.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":578,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920-1024x771.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":771,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1157,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1446,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920-1200x904.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":904,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920-558x420.jpg","home_baner-width":558,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"133","date":"20260303","wall_id":"133"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"622","name":"Criticism","old_id":"1022"},{"term_id":"628","name":"Democracy","old_id":"1028"},{"term_id":"794","name":"Korah","old_id":"1194"}]},{"order":8,"id":"47500","color":"#faeed8","size":"2","name":"Universal Holiness and Absolute Power ","post_title":"Universal Holiness And Absolute Power","slug":"universal-holiness-and-absolute-power","old_id":"47500","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36423,"post_title":"Ari Hoffman","slug":"ari-hoffman","old_id":"36423","first_name":"Ari ","last_name":"Hoffman","description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U., and his writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Tablet Magazine, The New York Observer, and a range of other publications. He holds a doctorate in English Literature from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford.\r\n","short_description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36424,"alt":"","title":"Ari Hoffman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","width":1044,"height":1438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-218x300.jpg","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":743,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","large-width":743,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","1536x1536-width":1044,"1536x1536-height":1438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","2048x2048-width":1044,"2048x2048-height":1438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-871x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":871,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-305x420.jpg","home_baner-width":305,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"133","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Discerning the pretenders from the leaders has never been more difficult, or more necessary.","post_main_content_content":"

A brief check of the etymology \u201cinsurrection\u201d reveals a directional vector; its roots convey a sense of rising, the low made high, or at least trying to climb in that direction. This verticality also suggests reversal; the powerless ascendant, the powerful brought to their knees, Moses falling on his face. A polemic, the glint of a blade, an overturned table, the last made first. Revolt, rebellion, insurrection- perhaps we have so many words for the same phenomena because there is always the fear of, and attraction to, upending the order of things. The world might be made anew, but it is terrifying to contemplate the implications of rampaging change. The pull of the current might surprise even the strongest swimmers.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s chapter is a carefully staged account of rebellion. \u00a0It features Korach, a member of the elite, fluently speaking the language of populism. If the episode of the spies in chapter 14 is an earthquake from below, spoken in rough accents, Korach\u2019s efforts are the suave instigations of the upper classes, those privileged enough to know just how close to power they stand. Unfortunately, grasping makes one vulnerable to falling, and Korach\u2019s tumble into the pit is a riposte to his ambition to ascend the mountain top.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses has the benefit of bolstering his leadership with the ballast of signs and wonders. His election is ratified by Divine Election. This does not entirely mute Korach\u2019s voice- his challenge still stands, millennia later. But we have it harder. Discerning the pretenders from the leaders, the sophists from the visionaries has never been more difficult, or more necessary. The ambition to lead blurs into the hubris to control and command. If we are all holy, why are some holier than others? And how truly are any of us, really, when we incline our ear to the haunting melody of glory?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: The Punishment of Korach, Sandro Botticelli,<\/a> <\/span>(1445\u20131510), photo: Attilias, <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47501,"alt":"","title":"Num16-Korah_Botticelli","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","width":620,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli-300x290.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":290,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","medium_large-width":620,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","large-width":620,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","1536x1536-width":620,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","2048x2048-width":620,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","post_full_size-width":620,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli-435x420.jpg","home_baner-width":435,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Universal Holiness And Absolute Power","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Discerning the pretenders from the leaders has never been more difficult, or more necessary.","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47501,"alt":"","title":"Num16-Korah_Botticelli","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","width":620,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli-300x290.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":290,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","medium_large-width":620,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","large-width":620,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","1536x1536-width":620,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","2048x2048-width":620,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli.jpg","post_full_size-width":620,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num16-Korah_Botticelli-435x420.jpg","home_baner-width":435,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"133","date":"20260303","wall_id":"133"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"480","name":"Holiness","old_id":"880"},{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"},{"term_id":"794","name":"Korah","old_id":"1194"}]},{"order":9,"id":"47503","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"The People\u2019s Burden ","post_title":"The People\u2019s Burden","slug":"the-peoples-burden","old_id":"47503","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":47479,"post_title":"Adam Szubin","slug":"adam-szubin","old_id":"47479","first_name":"Adam ","last_name":"Szubin ","description":"Adam Szubin is a Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and of Counsel at Sullivan & Cromwell. 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","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":47480,"alt":"","title":"adam szubin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/adam-szubin.jpg","width":1032,"height":1395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/adam-szubin-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/adam-szubin-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/adam-szubin-758x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":758,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/adam-szubin-758x1024.jpg","large-width":758,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/adam-szubin.jpg","1536x1536-width":1032,"1536x1536-height":1395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/adam-szubin.jpg","2048x2048-width":1032,"2048x2048-height":1395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/adam-szubin-888x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":888,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/adam-szubin-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"133","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"It is difficult in the moment to tell democrat from demagogue","post_main_content_content":"

That the Israelites are drawn to the words of Korach is not a surprise. From the moment they emerged safely from the sea, they have been fickle and defiant. They turned away from God in favor of a golden idol and even memories of leeks in Egypt. \u00a0So, when Korach levels a well-worded charge against Moses\u2019 leadership, it is no wonder the Israelites are captivated:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above the LORD\u2019s congregation?\u201d (Num. 16:3).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What is striking about this chapter isn\u2019t that the Israelites are led astray; it\u2019s the epilogue. \u00a0After God sends Korach\u2019s band down to the depths, one would expect the people to be chastened and to get back into line. Instead, with the earth calmed and the leadership question resolved, the Israelites panic: \u201cLo, we perish, we are lost, all of us lost!\u201d (Num. 17:27) <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The conclusion is unsettled and unsettling. Even with Korach\u2019s demise, the people don\u2019t understand how, in the moment, they could have known which leader to trust. Korach\u2014like Moses\u2014invoked God\u2019s word. \u00a0What was wrong with his words? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

More critically, how will the people tell good leaders from bad in the future? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The message that elites are no better than commoners, that the people ought to govern themselves, has captivated people throughout history, from Korach to Cromwell to Lenin and into today. Even though experience teaches that successful populists will insert themselves as a new elite, often cruelly repressing dissent, it is nevertheless difficult in the moment to tell the democrat from the demagogue. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Indeed, when the earth opened her mouth and swallowed Korach\u2019s band, the Torah records that the Israelites \u201cnasu lekolam<\/em>\u201d, literally ran <\/span>towards<\/span><\/i> the voices of Korach and his band, towards the chasm (Num. 16:34). This image\u2014a crowd blindly following a demagogue into danger\u2014is the threat of populism made vividly real.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We can then understand why the Israelites are so shaken at the end. After the Golden Calf and the spies, the Israelites learned a clear lesson: trust in God\u2019s word. At the end of this story, the Israelites don\u2019t know what to do. How can they ensure they don\u2019t follow the next demagogue down to <\/span>she\u2019ol<\/span><\/i>? This is the cry of \u201c \u201cLo, we perish, we are lost, all of us lost!\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And, starkly, there is no answer provided by God or Moses. This is a burden the people alone must bear\u2014to use their judgement to search out leaders who do justice, love mercy, and walk modestly with God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Bible abr\u00e9g\u00e9e (France, 13th C.), abridged illuminated Bible, also known as the Bible of Saint-Jean d'Acre,\u00a0gallica.bnf.fr Biblioth\u00e8que de l\u2019Arsenal, Ms-5211 r\u00e9serve, fol. 53r.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47504,"alt":"","title":"num16-abregee","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee.jpg","width":571,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee-286x300.jpg","medium-width":286,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee.jpg","medium_large-width":571,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee.jpg","large-width":571,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee.jpg","1536x1536-width":571,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee.jpg","2048x2048-width":571,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee.jpg","post_full_size-width":571,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee-400x420.jpg","home_baner-width":400,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The People\u2019s Burden","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"It is difficult in the moment to tell democrat from demagogue","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47504,"alt":"","title":"num16-abregee","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee.jpg","width":571,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee-286x300.jpg","medium-width":286,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee.jpg","medium_large-width":571,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee.jpg","large-width":571,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee.jpg","1536x1536-width":571,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee.jpg","2048x2048-width":571,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee.jpg","post_full_size-width":571,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num16-abregee-400x420.jpg","home_baner-width":400,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"133","date":"20260303","wall_id":"133"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"628","name":"Democracy","old_id":"1028"},{"term_id":"794","name":"Korah","old_id":"1194"}]},{"order":10,"id":"47573","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"When The Bitter Becomes Sweet ","post_title":"When The Bitter Becomes Sweet","slug":"when-the-bitter-becomes-sweet","old_id":"47573","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":47523,"post_title":"Penny Joel","slug":"penny-joel","old_id":"47523","first_name":"Penny ","last_name":"Joel ","description":"Dr. Penny Joel is the Director of Experiential Jewish Education at the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators and teaches at numerous other educational institutions. 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Ed in Early Adolescent Education from the Bank Street College of Education.","short_description":"Dr. Penny Joel is the Director of Experiential Jewish Education at the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":47524,"alt":"","title":"penny joel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/penny-joel-e1547492633911.jpg","width":350,"height":363,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/penny-joel-e1547492633911-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/penny-joel-e1547492633911-289x300.jpg","medium-width":289,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/penny-joel-e1547492633911.jpg","medium_large-width":350,"medium_large-height":363,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/penny-joel-e1547492633911.jpg","large-width":350,"large-height":363,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/penny-joel-e1547492633911.jpg","1536x1536-width":350,"1536x1536-height":363,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/penny-joel-e1547492633911.jpg","2048x2048-width":350,"2048x2048-height":363,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/penny-joel-e1547492633911.jpg","post_full_size-width":350,"post_full_size-height":363,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/penny-joel-281x420.jpg","home_baner-width":281,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"134","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"On the deeper symbolism of the almond blossom","post_main_content_content":"

After Korach\u2019s dramatic and failed rebellion against Moses and Aaron, God tells Moses to collect the staffs of all the tribal leaders and to write the name of each leader on his particular staff. Moses is then instructed to place all the of staffs in the<\/span> Ohel Moed<\/span><\/em>, the Tent of Meeting. God explains that the man whose staff miraculously blooms is the person whom God has chosen to lead the nation. The next day, the staff of Aaron from the tribe of Levi had grown almond blossoms thus indicating that Aaron was God\u2019s chosen leader.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Of all the ways that God could have distinguished Aaron\u2019s staff from the others - gilding it in gold, transforming it into a crown, etc- why did God specifically choose that it sprout almond blossoms?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Shlomo Zalman HaKohen Kook (c.1844-1929) offers an interesting and relevant interpretation. He explains that an almond is a fruit that grows in one of two ways; it either starts off sweet and turns bitter or it starts off bitter and ends up sweet. This also reflects two different approaches toward <\/span>machloket<\/span><\/em> (disagreement). There are those who view <\/span>machloket<\/span><\/i> as a \u201csweet\u201d opportunity to prove they\u2019re superior and sow discord, which leads to lasting bitterness and anger. On the other hand, there are those who view machloket as a bitter starting point that can ultimately end in compromise and mutual respect if all parties are willing to put in the necessary effort to resolve the dispute.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the aftermath of the bitter power struggle launched by Korach, God teaches the tribal leaders and the nation that those engaging with <\/span>machloket<\/span><\/em> should do so with an eye toward achieving the genuinely sweet outcome of peace and progress rather than being proven right. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This message is true in all eras but it particularly resonates in today\u2019s climate. If we keep this story of the almond blossom in mind, perhaps it will help us build an environment of civil discourse, respect, and peace.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image by: Ester Inbar -\u00a0https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Shkediya02_ST_04.jpg<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47574,"alt":"","title":"Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04.jpg","width":1280,"height":960,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":960,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":960,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"When The Bitter Becomes Sweet","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"On the deeper symbolism of the almond blossom","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47574,"alt":"","title":"Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04.jpg","width":1280,"height":960,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":960,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":960,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-1280px-Shkediya02_ST_04-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"134","date":"20260304","wall_id":"134"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"615","name":"Argument","old_id":"1015"}]},{"order":11,"id":"47570","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"Truth v. Power ","post_title":"Truth v. Power","slug":"truth-v-power","old_id":"47570","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer. Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"134","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Argument in Judaism is a holy activity, the ongoing internal dialogue of the Jewish people","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cAny dispute for the sake of heaven will have enduring value, but every dispute not for the sake of Heaven will not have enduring value. What is an example of a dispute for the sake of heaven? The dispute between Hillel and Shammai. What is an example of one not for the sake of heaven? The dispute of Korach and all his company\u201d (Mishnah Avot 5: 21).<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The rabbis did not conclude from the Korach rebellion that argument is wrong, that leaders are entitled to unquestioning obedience, that the supreme value in Judaism should be \u2013 as it is in some faiths \u2013 submission. To the contrary: argument is the lifeblood of Judaism, so long as it is rightly motivated and essentially constructive in its aims.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Judaism is a unique phenomenon: a civilization all of whose canonical texts are anthologies of argument. In Tanakh, the heroes of faith \u2013 Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Job \u2013 argue with God. Midrash is founded on the premise that there are \u201cseventy faces\u201d \u2013 seventy legitimate interpretations \u2013 of Torah. The Mishnah is largely constructed on the model of \u201cRabbi X says this, Rabbi Y says that.\u201d The Talmud, far from resolving these arguments, usually deepens them considerably. Argument in Judaism is a holy activity, the ongoing internal dialogue of the Jewish people as it reflects on the terms of its destiny and the demands of its faith.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>What then made the argument of Korach and his co-conspirators different from that of the schools of Hillel and Shammai? \u00a0Rabbenu Yona offered a simple explanation. An argument for the sake of Heaven is one that is about truth. An argument not for the sake of Heaven is about power. The difference is immense. If I argue for the sake of truth, then if I win, I win. But if I lose, I also win, because being defeated by the truth is the only defeat that is also a victory. I am enlarged. I learn something I did not know before.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>In a contest for power, if I lose, I lose. But if I win, I also lose, because in diminishing my opponents I have diminished myself. Moses could not have had a more decisive vindication than the miracle for which he asked and was granted: that the ground open up and swallow his opponents. Yet not only did this not end the argument, it diminished the respect in which Moses was held: \u201cThe next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. \u2018You have killed the Lord\u2019s people,\u2019 they said.\u201d (Num. 17:6). That Moses needed to resort to force was itself a sign that he had been dragged down to the level of the rebels. That is what happens when power, not truth, is at stake.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From:\u00a0<\/span>When truth is sacrificed to power (Covenant & Conversation, <\/span>Korach <\/span>5775)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Carl Schleicher Eine Streitfrage aus dem Talmud.jpg\/wikipedia (A Controversy Whatsoever on Talmud, c 1859).<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47571,"alt":"","title":"Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud.jpg","width":4236,"height":3477,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-300x246.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":246,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-768x630.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":630,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-1024x841.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":841,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1261,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1681,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-1200x985.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":985,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-512x420.jpg","home_baner-width":512,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Truth v. Power","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Argument in Judaism is a holy activity, the ongoing internal dialogue of the Jewish people","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47571,"alt":"","title":"Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud.jpg","width":4236,"height":3477,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-300x246.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":246,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-768x630.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":630,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-1024x841.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":841,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1261,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1681,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-1200x985.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":985,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num17-Carl_Schleicher_Eine_Streitfrage_aus_dem_Talmud-512x420.jpg","home_baner-width":512,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"134","date":"20260304","wall_id":"134"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"354","name":"Rabbi Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"463","name":"Truth","old_id":"863"},{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"},{"term_id":"615","name":"Argument","old_id":"1015"}]},{"order":12,"id":"47638","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"A Covenant of Salt? ","post_title":"A Covenant Of Salt?","slug":"a-covenant-of-salt","old_id":"47638","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38634,"post_title":"Rachel Barenblat","slug":"rachel-barenblat","old_id":"38634","first_name":"Rachel ","last_name":"Barenblat ","description":"Rabbi Rachel Barenblat has blogged since 2003 as the Velveteen Rabbi. A Founding Builder at Bayit: Your Jewish Home, and author of several poetry collections (including Texts to the Holy, Ben Yehuda Press 2018, and 70 faces: Torah poems, Phoenicia 2011) she serves as spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel in western Massachusetts, USA. ","short_description":"Rabbi Rachel Barenblat of Congregation Beth Israel in Western Massachusetts, blogs as the Velveteen Rabbi. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38635,"alt":"","title":"rachel barenblat","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rachel-barenblat-e1535268212237.png","width":328,"height":424,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rachel-barenblat-e1535268212237-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rachel-barenblat-e1535268212237-232x300.png","medium-width":232,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rachel-barenblat-e1535268212237.png","medium_large-width":328,"medium_large-height":424,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rachel-barenblat-e1535268212237.png","large-width":328,"large-height":424,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rachel-barenblat-e1535268212237.png","1536x1536-width":328,"1536x1536-height":424,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rachel-barenblat-e1535268212237.png","2048x2048-width":328,"2048x2048-height":424,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rachel-barenblat-e1535268212237.png","post_full_size-width":328,"post_full_size-height":424,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rachel-barenblat-e1535268212237-325x420.png","home_baner-width":325,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"135","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Balancing justice and lovingkindness as an antidote to Korach","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cAll the gifts of the holy [offerings] which are set aside by the children of Israel for the Lord I have given to you\u2026it is like an eternal covenant of salt before the Lord, for you and your descendants with you\" (18:19).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What does that mean? What is a covenant of salt?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The 18<\/span>th<\/span> century Hasidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev explains that this covenant is connected to the deeds of Korach, who argued that everyone was holy, and therefore everyone should be priests.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The priests, he writes, represent the divine attribute of \u201cchesed<\/em>\u201d (lovingkindness), whereas the<\/span> Levites represent the divine attribute of \u201cdin<\/em>\u201d (justice, or gevurah<\/em> in the sefirotic tree) the quality of boundaries and strength. The problem with Korach\u2019s rebellion was that it left no room for <\/span>din<\/span><\/em>. He wanted everyone to be pure <\/span>chesed<\/span><\/em>, but in truth, the world needs judgment and justice, boundaries, and strength too. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Centuries earlier Ramban explained salt as a combination of fire and water, which is to say, justice and lovingkindness. He says it's the combination of those two, the appropriate balance of those two, which sustains all the worlds. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rav Levi Yitzchak thus teaches that the covenant of salt (representing the balance of <\/span>chesed<\/em> <\/span>and <\/span>din<\/span><\/em>) came as a response to Korach's actions, in order to remind us of what's wrong with Korach's imbalanced view. The world needs an appropriate balance of lovingkindness and justice.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Reading this passage, I marvel at how contemporary and real it feels. I've been in contexts where people want everyone and everything to be all-<\/span>chesed<\/span><\/em>-all-the-time, and they are not healthy at all. Love that flows without boundaries is a flood, destructive and damaging. When we over-privilege <\/span>chesed<\/span><\/em> at the expense of <\/span>din<\/span><\/em>, there are no appropriate roles or boundaries... and a community in which roles and boundaries are not honored is a community that will inevitably be rife with ethical violations and abuse. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

John Lennon may have written that \"all you need is love,\" but on a spiritual level, he was wrong. The world needs judgment, discernment, and justice every bit as much as it needs unbridled or unbounded love -- indeed, as Ramban notes, a world that has only one half of that critical binary cannot endure. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: By Lech Darski - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=49736222<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47639,"alt":"","title":"num18-Halit_(NaCl)_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka,_Polska","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":683,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":683,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":683,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"A Covenant Of Salt?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Balancing justice and lovingkindness as an antidote to Korach","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47639,"alt":"","title":"num18-Halit_(NaCl)_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka,_Polska","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":683,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":683,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":683,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num18-Halit_NaCl_-_Kopalnia_soli_Wieliczka_Polska-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"135","date":"20260305","wall_id":"135"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"381","name":"love","old_id":"781"},{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"395","name":"Covenant","old_id":"795"},{"term_id":"581","name":"Mercy","old_id":"981"},{"term_id":"814","name":"Salt","old_id":"1214"}]},{"order":13,"id":"47599","color":"#eceffa","size":"1","name":"The Value of Difference ","post_title":"The Value Of Difference","slug":"the-value-of-difference","old_id":"47599","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":47016,"post_title":"Ilana Blumberg","slug":"ilana-blumberg","old_id":"47016","first_name":"Ilana ","last_name":"Blumberg ","description":"Ilana Blumberg is a prize-winning author and teacher. Her most recent book is the memoir, \"Open Your Hand: Teaching as a Jew, Teaching as an American\" (Rutgers UP, 2018). She directs the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Bar Ilan University and lives in Jerusalem with her family.","short_description":"Ilana Blumberg is a prize-winning author and teacher.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":47017,"alt":"","title":"ilana blumberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","width":188,"height":249,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","medium_large-width":188,"medium_large-height":249,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","large-width":188,"large-height":249,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","1536x1536-width":188,"1536x1536-height":249,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","2048x2048-width":188,"2048x2048-height":249,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","post_full_size-width":188,"post_full_size-height":249,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","home_baner-width":188,"home_baner-height":249}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"135","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"When is difference a sign of status and hierarchy, and when is it just \u2013 different?","post_main_content_content":"

In this chapter, we learn that the Levites will have no land specifically assigned to them in the land of Israel. Instead, they will serve God in the Temple and God will be their portion. The people of Israel will bring them the sacrifices and the fruits of their assigned portions of land as gifts (18:20).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Is this difference \u2013 this specific destiny \u2013 something to be celebrated by the Levites? Their closeness to God, the freedom from working the land and tending the livestock, their centrality among the children of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Or is this difference something to be mourned? \u00a0No land that belongs to the Levites alone; none of the satisfaction in sowing and reaping, bringing first fruits; all the demands and the responsibilities attendant on the service of God in the Temple?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Is this difference between the Levites and the other tribes merely descriptive, or is value-laden? What do we make of social difference?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The last few chapters have been deeply concerned with differences and what they amount to. Miriam and Aaron speak about Moses, and God becomes angry, reproving them for not understanding that Moses is different, his order of prophecy is different, he cannot be judged as any other prophet.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Korach and his party then come to challenge the authority of Moses but this time, the confrontation positions Aaron on the side of privilege and power, the very same Aaron who had just been positioned on the other side of this debate. \u201cThe entire assembly is holy,\u201d Korach argues, \u201cwhy are you elevating yourselves above them?\u201d (16:3) Why is it that Aaron should be High Priest and that the Levites have claimed such power for themselves?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abuses of power are one thing. Fair to say that they are wrong and should be curbed. But what if we are not looking at an abuse? What does it mean to be distinguished for a different path? To be selected for something? What does it mean not to be selected for something?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Aaron asks this about Moses; then Korach turns around to ask it about Aaron. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

And we, the children of Israel, contemporary Jews, might ask it of ourselves. A people separated: what does this mean? What is to be celebrated? What is to be mourned?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Does difference necessarily imply a dynamic of power in which to be different is to be less or to be more than another?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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