Parshas Korach,5759 Some Are More Equal Than Others
By Rabbi Joshua ( popularly known as The Hoffer ) Hoffman

   The story is told that the less learned element among the Jews of  Vilna, a city renowned for its Torah scholars, decided to break away from the existing local synagogue and start a new one, to serve their own needs. They had little or no say in the running of the main synagogue, and rarely received any honors during the services.By creating their own facility, they felt, they would have a chance to be more involved, and enjoy a more democratic distribution of honors.As it turned out, the Torah reading on the first Shabbos that the synagogue was opened was parshas Korach. The first person called to the Torah looked at the scroll before reciting the blessing,and, to his horror, noticed something wrong. He exclaimed, "Wait! There's a mistake in this sefer Torah! Here the word Korach is spelled 'kof-reish-ches.' but in my Passover Haggadah, koraich (the sandwich of matzoh and bitter herbs eaten during the seder) is spelled 'kof-vov-reish-chof.' The directors of the synagogue checked out his claim, and saw that he was right.They therefore invalidated the sefer Torah.However, after Shabbos, there was a meeting of the board, and they decided to revoke that person's membership in the synagogue, arguing 'we don't want any scholars here.'The story, while humorous, also contains a kernel of folk wisdom, and, when looked at a bit closer, can help us understand what actually occurred in parshas Korach.

  Korach, as we know, led a rebellion against the leadership of Moshe and Aharon, claiming that the entire congregation is holy, and why should these two people elevate themselves from among the nation.Ostensibly, he was leading a democratic rebellion, offering the disgruntled masses a chance for a piece of the pie, a chance for equality.In actuality, however, as the rabbis point out, he sought Aharon's  leadership position for himself, feeling that it was his, by right.In fact, the rabbis further point out that On ben Peles, while originally included in the list of rebels recorded in the Torah, is later missing from the list, because his wife talked him out of participating. He left the group, they say, because his wife told him that he would gain nothing from joining with Korach's forces.Korach and his coterie, she said, would seize the leadership positions, and he would retain the same status that he had before. Realizing the cogency of her argument, he left Korach's ranks. As Rabbi Gedaliah Schorr points ut in his work Ohr Gedaliah, while the Torah itself writes that Korach 'took' men with him to join in his rebellion, Targum Onkeles, the traditional Arammaic translation ot the Torah, renders the word as 've'ispelaig'-he split off, or separated. Although he presented his actions as an attempt to give the people their due recognition, he was really concerned for his own honor.God intervened on behalf of Moshe and Aharon, demonstrating that they constituted the true leaders of the Jewish people.  

   We often hear complaints against the leadership of our great Torah scholars, with claims that they don't care about the people, that they don't have their real interests in mind.Those  who seek to replace them, however, have a tendency to shape their projected policies on the basis of their own subjective concerns, with the result that, as happened to our friends in Vilna, the plain meaning of the Torah can be distorted. The Sefas Emes points out that it was exactly in regard to Moshe's strongest character trait that Korach led his attack. He asked why Moshe and Aharon elevated themselves above the nation, thus accusing him of arrogance.The Torah, however, attests that Moshe was the most humble of all men. In regard to Aharon, as well, we find that God himself attested to his character.When God told Moshe that he would be assuming a leadership position among the Israelites, He told him that when he came to Egypt, Aharon, his older brother, who until then had served as the spiritual leader of the people, would greet him with joy. The Sefas Emes further says that because Moshe had an inner sense of humility, he was able to exercise the powers entrusted to a leader without losing that inner quality. Korach, on the other hand, was inwardly motivated by a sense of arrogance and rejection of Torah rule, and, therefore, ultimately failed in his attempted coup.The Jewish people needs to have spiritual leaders, to provide guidance in its fulfillment of the Torah.May we continue to be granted the wisdom to choose as our leaders  those who are truly suited for the position.
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