Title: Korach

Medium: Water Color on Paper

Size: 22" x 17"

Available Framed or Unframed

The text afixed to the back of the framed origional and which is provided with each geclee copy, reads as follows:

“A Study in Separation”
by Drew Kopf
June 23, 2011

Parshas Korach 
Numbers 16:1 to 18:32 Haftarah - Samuel 11:14 to 12:22

When Jewish families gather around the Seder Table each year to celebrate the Passover Holiday, we are encouraged to see ourselves as if we were living at the time of the Exodus; as if we were one of the Jews about to leave Egypt. Really! So, what was it like then? Well, when Moses had stepped out of his life as a prince in the court of Pharaoh and revealed himself as the person who had been chosen by the Lord of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to lead the Jews out of Egypt to freedom in the land promised to us by HaShem, the events of the day were like an emotional roller coaster for us as slaves.

We had just witnessed, over the last number of days, nine miraculous events where terrible and awe-inspiring happenings had rocked the Egyptians, who are our owners and who decide our fates on a daily basis. One day we were to be free and then, in a veritable heartbeat, we were slaves again. Just like that. Then again, talk of freedom, and again, nothing. Back to slavery. This wide-ranging undulation of celebration followed by complete disappointment was matched on the Egyptians’ side of the street by shock and surprise followed by relief and recommitment to Pharaoh as all-powerful and unbeatable. But, the troubles and pain they had endured has surely angered them against us. And, now, in spite of this most stressful situation and the fact that our people have been slaves in Egypt for the last 400 years, we are about to sit down to eat our dinner; our last dinner in Egypt. Wow! How crazy is that?

And dinner on this, the first Seder night, is to be a very special and unusual one indeed.

But first, “Milsah agavorcha kaw mashma laun”; “a thing along the way we learn”; the word “Seder” means “order” and has become the term used to refer to the Passover meal eaten each year by Jews all over the world to remember the first Passover meal because of the way this commemorative meal is conducted, which is to say it is very highly structured. But, the first Passover meal was surely anything but an orderly or highly structured experience as the Seders conducted nowadays are. None of the customs, symbols, dialogue or songs were part of the original “Seder”. That is all for us today; to help us remember.   There had never been such a meal before as the one we are about to eat; certainly not among Jews. What did the menu include? Matzah, the unleavened “bread of affliction” or “poor-man’s bread” associated almost entirely with the Passover holiday, would have been on it. But the story of how Matzah was baked on the backs of the Jews because they left Egypt in such a hurry that it baked on their backs in the hot sun, which is why Matzah has that linear looking pattern on it, will have to be revisited since, for this evening’s meal, there really is no rush and whatever baking was done for it was done as it usually is done and not on peoples’ backs in the hot desert sun. The fact that we are eating together unrushed and at our leisure is different than normal. Slaves in Egypt eat what we can and when we can and we never know when we might be called away from our food. So, with this meal, where we can almost guarantee that there will be no interruptions, we are also experiencing our first taste of freedom.

The main course is to be lamb. The father in each Jewish home in Egypt slaughtered a lamb outside where anyone, even the Egyptians, could see. And, to make absolutely certain that our homes are ones that are clearly on the side of the Lord, each man brushed the blood of the lamb he slaughtered on to the door posts of his house.

This is amazing to us and very frightening at the same time because the lamb is, to the Egyptians, a god to be worshiped. Killing a lamb, as we had just done, is punishable by death. But, at the same time, we have just been told that a tenth and an even more terrible plague would be visited upon the Egyptians this very evening; that the Lord will pass through Egypt tonight and will kill every first born son in every home that is not marked by the blood of a slaughtered lamb; every home that is not on the side of the Lord. The homes marked with lamb’s blood will be spared. The Lord will pass over our homes because the Jews inside them demonstrated through what amounts to death defying acts that we believe in the Lord and are willing to risk our lives and those of our loved ones to make clear to everyone that our belief in HaShem is sincere; not merely words.

Sitting down to enjoy a meal of roasted lamb as if it was the most normal thing in the world to do while knowing that our house is painted with the blood of that lamb and is scary and, at the same time, calming. We know that it is going to be a long and frightening night. But, we believe that our safety is assured by HaShem. It is also a sign to ourselves that we are separating ourselves from all those who do not believe in the Lord, who still fear the Egyptians and who are disassociating themselves from the rest of the Jewish People who do believe in the Lord. That is big; very big; because those Jews who had not marked their homes in this way will be suffering the same fate as the Egyptians tonight. They will either be killed or will be left behind in Egypt when the time of the Exodus comes.

The Passover Seder, if experienced in this way, hopefully becomes more than just a family meal and the recitation of a highly structured text recalling the story of the Exodus but, rather, a kind of historical reenactment where each of the Seder participants plays the part of a Jew living the life of a slave in Egypt and experiencing the earliest feelings of freedom after knowing nothing like it since they were born.

Where we came from and what we went through when we were slaves in Egypt; and when and how we dared to be different from the rest of the world; when we separated ourselves from everyone else by following the Lord and living the way he planned for us to live, it is this level of appreciation of what it can mean to separate oneself from one's community that will allow us to more fully comprehend the events described in Parchas Korach and to enable us to take away from it a message meaningful to us today.

When we read Parchas Korach, the rapid fire presentation of what is often referred to as a rebellion catches us by surprise. There is very little in the way of a ramp up to the challenge by Korach and his cohorts to the leaders of the newly freed Jews who were slaves only a short time earlier; i.e. Moses and Aaron.  The self-appointed head of the malcontents, Korach, lists his facts that, to him, justify the claims he and his many compatriots are making. At first blush, his observations actually seem plausible. His lineage and those he represents are similar to those of Moses and Aaron. There is a close familial relationship between Moses and Aaron; they are indeed brothers. One could see Aaron’s having been appointed as High Priest as nepotistic.

So, it is not totally surprising if one asks why the reaction from the Lord is so severe and so immediate. Even Moses and Aaron themselves throw themselves to the ground to beseech HaShem to reconsider His death sentence decision. But, there was apparently no deliberation time needed as to the worthiness of the death penalty or of how and when the execution for their transgression was to be meted out against Korach and his fellows. For Moses and Aaron are commanded: “Seebawdlu” (Numbers16:20) “separate yourself from amid this assembly, and I shall destroy them in an instant.”

Korach “separated himself” from the community of the Jewish People and Moses and Aaron are told to “separate” themselves from Korach and his condemned assemblage. Wherein lays the difference between one separation and the other?

In the first instance, Korach and those he lead were executing a premeditated plan to overthrow the leadership of the Jewish People; both the organizational leader, Moses, who, though acting with all the strengths and authority of a king, is referred to by his following unto this day as Moshe Rabbanu, Moses our Teacher, and Aaron, the Kohain Gadol, the High Priest, whose responsibilities were to insulate the people from the overwhelming intensity of HaShem existing in the Mishakan located right in their midst, while allowing them to interface with the Lord by serving Him through their deeds and their worship. Moses and his brother Aaron were selected and put in these positions of awesome responsibility by the Lord Himself. To challenge those decisions was to contradict HaShem Himself; which was tantamount to denying the Lord’s omnipotence. What Korach and his compatriots did was arrogance of the first order, which could not be overlooked if the Lord was to see His purpose for the World; i.e. why it was created, come to fruition.  

When Moses and Aaron were told by HaShem to separate themselves from this assemblage, it was for a few reasons:

One was for their own protection. The decision to kill Korach had already been made. There would be no appeal and no postponement. It was to happen and without delay and the way that the deaths of these non-believers would be carried out could endanger anyone who might be situated in too close a proximity to the condemned.

Two was to make clear to anyone who might be in earshot or who could see what was happening, that Moses and Aaron were clearly not in league with or in any way associated with those who had effectively denied the majesty of the Lord. It is far too easy for people to see or hear someone saying or doing something that is known to be inappropriate or forbidden and, even if it was accidental or in appearance only, to take their apparent actions as an approval of the activity or an acceptance of their words as permission to do such acts and say such words themselves.

Three was as a way to declare to all who were there to observe the miracle about to happen, that this was no freak of nature; no unlucky thing for those about to die, but, rather, a demonstration by the Lord that He is in total control and such assaults against His position would be dealt with decisively.

The Sedrah continues to tell of the deaths of many others in waves of numbers that further makes one wonder, “What is happening here?”  Two hundred and fifty men of stature among the Jewish People who, like Korach, saw themselves as “right for the job” of priesthood are swallowed by a flame of fire that came down from the heavens while they were carrying copper pans of incense which Moses had directed them to bring to the Mishkan as part of a way to give the Lord a chance to react to their request to be considered more fairly than they thought they had been.

Was it the incense? That would be, “leHavdeel”; that is, to make a distinction, like blaming the baseball bat for a hitter not getting a hit. We saw this type of thing earlier in Numbers 3:4 when Nadav and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, were similarly consumed by fire for having affronted the Lord in the way in which they brought incense before the Holy Altar to be used in worship. There is nothing wrong with the use of incense except for the manner in which one may be using it or how one is bring it to be used.

Perhaps to make that point definitively, the Sedrah tells us of others in the Jewish Community, who had chosen to listen to Korach and had been convinced by Korach’s message that he was right and that it would be in their own best interest to follow him in his challenge against the leadership of Moses and Aaron even though they had been chosen by the Lord. As if from nowhere a fast-moving plague slices into the throngs of those who had listened to and believed in the message that Korach had put forth. Thousands are stricken by the plague and die what we must assume was a terrible and agonizing death. Aaron is told to carry incense amongst the people to use it to halt the plague in its track, which he does and it works. So, it was not the incense that brought the 250 to their fiery end but, rather, why they brought it and the manner in which they brought it.

Along the same line, the copper fire pans that were being carried by the 250 men who were swallowed by fire were ordered to be retrieved and hammered into a copper covering for the Alter in the Mishkan (the Tent of Meeting that housed the Holy of Holies). The very instruments that had been used as an effrontery against the Lord were harvested to be fashioned into part of the Holiest place where HaShem was worshiped. Who thinks of these things?

It comes down again to separation.  The thing that makes the copper special enough to be used for a Holy purpose has nothing to do with the copper itself. It is just copper. But, when set aside and dedicated to a certain purpose, such as its use as a cover for the alter; it becomes different than all other copper there is. It attains a certain degree of Kiddusha.

As the Sedrah continues, we learn of a kind of contest or lottery where the Lord is to single out His choice for Kohain Gadol (High Priest). Each potential High Priest, one from each tribe, is to carve his name on a staff of wood and all twelve staffs are to be submitted to Moses, who will in turn, place them in the Mishkan where they will remain over night to be checked in the morning to see which one has been selected by the Lord. The owner of the staff chosen by the Lord will be thereby identified as the Lord’s choice to be the Kohain Gadol. Aaron’s staff was also to have the tribal name of Levi carved into it. The staffs are retrieved the next morning and only one is different than all the others. Aaron’s staff was in full leafed-out bloom complete with beautiful almond flowers and mature nuts.

There is no mention as to the type of staffs used by the other priestly candidates. Might they all have been almond wood staffs or might they have been of other types of trees; we are not told. What the difference might be if the other staffs were of a different wood is a question that may be inconsequential. Because it is not touched upon, we can take it that there is nothing to be learned by what wood was submitted by which candidate other than the staff of almond wood submitted by Aaron.

What is consequential is that rather than simply taking the position that “the Lord told me Aaron should be the Kohain Gadol”, Moses went to the trouble of setting up the “staff selection process” described above. It worked out as it did and served as the way that HaShem separated Aaron from the “would-be High Priests” and thereby hallowed Aaron to the task or assignment of being the High Priest for the Jewish People. It is yet another instance of separation in Parshas Korach that seems to beg the question, “What, if anything, are all these examples of separation being brought forward to teach us?”

There are a few more separation examples described in the Sedrah that may help us zero in on the answer. The roles and responsibilities of people in the Jewish community in regard to the Mishkan are detailed. No one not of the line of Levy or a descendant of Aaron is allowed to come in contact with the Mishakan. Similarly, the Levites are permitted to perform certain functions and enter certain areas but are restricted from others, which are reserved for the Kohaniem (the priests) alone; separation, separation and more separation.

There is also a careful explanation of Trumah (the tithing) that is set aside or separated out by those who raise food such as fruit, vegetables, wheat, animals and the like, and dedicate it for the use of those connected with the service of the Holy Temple, or the Mishkan, which was the portable tent-like structure that served the purpose of the Holy Temple, while the Jewish People wandered in the desert for forty years following the Chait HaMirahgliem, the Sin of the Spies.

It was the Chait HaMirahgliem that actually set the stage for the actions of Korach. The spies had stratified themselves or separated into two groupings; two of them, Joshua and Caleb, who reported that the Land of Canaan was all that the Lord had promised and that it could be conquered by the Jewish People and the remaining ten spies, who set themselves apart from Joshua and Caleb, by contradicting their testimony and, instead, spoke of the Land as being unconquerable, inhabited by giants and certain death to those who would attempt to capture it. The Jews listened to and believed the ten rather than the two and cried to Moses complaining that he should never have taken them from slavery in Egypt. This they did in the wake of the most incredible miracles mentioned earlier including the Killing of the First Born on the “Seder” night. What would it have taken to have gotten those people to believe in the Lord enough to have believed Joshua and Caleb and attacked the Canaanites?  

That is the question, but the answer is apparently that nothing could have brought these former slaves to that kind of action or belief required. They were not, however, sentenced to instant death. No. They were allowed to live out their lives. But, rather than being permitted to enter the Promised Land, their punishment for being less than the believers they would need to have been, was to wander the desert for the next forty years until their entire generation; i.e. everyone above the age of twenty, had died. This separation is between slaves who were beyond repair, who could never know true freedom and appreciate it, and those who might be able to do so.

We say “apparently” because it was yet to be seen who would actually be amongst those who would eventually conquer the Land.  It may well have been many of the last generation of Egyptian Jewish slaves who, while traversing the desert, became enamored with the words of Korach and became his followers. It was as if there was a series of tests or sorting out experiences through which the last generation of the Jewish slaves in Egypt were put, before the real and true believers could emerge and be recognized. The last night in Egypt separated out those who would not paint the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. The Sin of the Spies and how the people reacted to the two different sets of testimonies of the spies separated out many more. Now, Korach and his followers; close to 15,000 soles as nearly as we can calculate, get killed; still another act of separation that culls true believers from those who were not so. Finally, the Jewish People can begin to move forward toward their destiny of “Tekune Ohlam”, i.e. repairing the world the Lord had made.

There is another “separation” that needs to have, perhaps, a special light focused upon it to help us see and understand what might be the key learning moment of Parshas Korach. Towards that end, consider the teachings of “The Rav”, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, (Yosef Dov, Yoshe Ber, Soloveitchik), as presented in Rabbi Avishai C. David’s book entitled “Darosh Darash Yosef: Discourses of Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik on the Weekly Parshah” (Urim Publications © 2011 by  Avishai C. David) where, in the chapter on Korach, he talks about the dual nature of Kiddusha of the Jewish People.

The Rav explains that being born Jewish comes with a certain level of expectation of Holiness, difference, being apart or separated from the rest of the world.

On that level, it can be seen that Korach had it right, that all Jews, in that respect, are indeed equal; i.e. that Moses himself would be no more or less important or holy than a woodcutter for example.

The Rav explains further that there is, in each of us, the Kiddusha we each create, nurture and develop in our own life by how we choose to live that life. That level or part of Kiddusha is all our own. It is the uniquely personal way that each of us chooses to dedicate our lives to doing mitzvos; good deeds, and helping to advance the world given to us by the Lord. The Rav points out that “If that source of Kiddusha did not exist, individuals would be deprived of their initiative, creativity, originality and uniqueness. Individual Kiddusha is part of one’s personality.”

That is where Korach got it wrong. He forgot us. He forgot the Jewish People as individuals. He focused on the big picture and, more pointedly, on himself and on what he felt and believed his place in the grand scheme of things ought to have been rather than on HaShem’s plan for the world, for the Jewish People and for each Jew as an individual who will choose to fit into the Lord’s fabulous plan.

Perhaps the best example of an individual choosing to get all wrapped up in G-d’s plan is the very first Jew; Abraham. Before him there was no Jewish People. There were no Jews. He stopped everything and started being and acting as a Jew. He was, in a sense, the first convert to Judaism. And, in a sense, until each of us thoroughly wraps ourselves in G-d’s plan for the world, even if we have been born Jewish, there is a need for more. That is where the separating theme of Parshas Korach seems to be leading us. Being Jewish is simply not enough for the Lord. He apparently wants much more. He wants demonstrable commitment. He wants us to paint our doorposts with the blood of a lamb. He wants us to trust that we will be up to the task of battling the Canaanites to win the Land that had been the Land of our forefathers so we might inhabit it as our own. He wants us to choose the life he has outlined for us to live; a life of Kiddusha of separating ourselves from the rest of the world; from those who choose to live lives with different purposes, whatever those purposes may be. It is up to each of us, according to what Rabbi Soloveitchik seems to be conveying to us, to let our individuality flourish.

Sivan 21, 5771 corresponding to June 23, 2011

© Drew Kopf 2011

Signed: בּﬠרּ דּוֹבֿ (in Hebrew) 5771 above and Drew Kopf 2011below (lower right)

Created: Sivan 12, 5771 corresponding to June 14, 2011

Original: Collection of a youngster in Fairlawn, NJ. A gift of the artist on the occasion of her Bat Mitzvah.

Giclée Reproduction:

Toll-Free Phone: (800)839-2929

Toll-Free Fax: (888)329-6287