Summary from ReformJudaism.org
- Korach and his followers, Dathan and Abiram, lead a rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaron. God punishes the rebels by burying them and their families alive. Once again, God brings a plague on the people. (16:1-17:15)
- The chief of each tribe deposits his staff inside the Tent of Meeting. Aaron's staff brings forth sprouts, produces blossoms, and bears almonds. (17:16-26)
- The Kohanim and Levites are established and assigned the responsibility of managing the donations to the Sanctuary. All of the firstborn offerings shall go to the priests and all the tithes are designated for the Levites in return for the services they perform. (18:1-32)
What Questions/Kushiyot arise for you?
To foment his rebellion, Korah spends all night going from tribe to tribe accusing Moses and Aaron of wrongdoing. He carefully crafts his speech for each audience, but his message always makes the same point: “I am not like Moses and Aaron, who want to attain fame and power for themselves. I want all of us to enjoy life.” He wins the support of the people by misleading them. (Numbers Rabbah 18:10)
What moved him to start a quarrel? He was moved to it by the fact that Elitzafan, the son of his father’s brother, was appointed prince over his family, as it says, “The prince of the father’s house of the families of the Kehatites was Elitzafan the son of Uzziel” (Numbers 3:30). Korach argued: My father was one of four brothers, as it says, “The sons of Kehat: Amram, and Yitzhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel” (Exodus 4:18). As for Amram the firstborn, his son Aaron attained to greatness, and Moses to royalty. Who then should rightly take the next office? Is it not the next in line? Now I, being the son of Yitzhar, should by right be the leader of the Kehatites. Yet Moses appointed the son of Uzziel! Shall the [son of the] youngest of my father’s brothers be superior to me? Behold, I shall dispute his decision and put to naught all that has been arranged by him . . .(Midrash Rabbah; Rashi)
And Dathan and Aviram (16:1) …They were the ones who forced Moses to flee from Egypt (by informing on him to Pharaoh that he killed an Egyptian overseer—Exodus 2:13–15). They were the ones who hurled harsh words at Moses and Aaron in Egypt (ibid. 5:20–21). They were the ones who left over from the manna (in defiance of Moses’ instructions—ibid. 16:20) and went out to gather the manna on Shabbat (ibid. v. 27). And they joined in Korach’s mutiny. (Torah Sheleimah)
And On the son of Peleth (16:1) … Said Rav: On the son of Peleth was saved by his wife. She said to him, “What matters it to you? Whether the one remains leader or the other becomes leader, you will be but a follower.” Said he: “But what can I do? I have taken part in their counsel, and they have sworn me to be with them.” . . . She said: “Sit here, and I will save you.” She gave him wine to drink, intoxicated him, and put him to bed within [the tent]. Then she sat down at the entrance and loosened her hair. Whoever came [to summon him] saw her and retreated.
Meanwhile, Korach’s wife joined in and said to him: “See what Moses has done! He himself has become king; his brother he appointed high priest; his brother’s sons he has made the vice–high priests. If terumah is brought, he decrees: Let it be for the priest. If the tithe is brought, which belongs to you [i.e., to the Levite], he orders: Give a tenth part thereof to the priest. Moreover, he has had your hair cut off (cf. Numbers 8:7) and makes sport of you as though you were dirt . . . for he was jealous of your hair.” Said he to her, “But he has done likewise!” She replied, “Since all the greatness was his, he said also, ‘Let me die with the Philistines’ . . .”
Thus it is written, “A wise woman builds her house” (Proverbs 14:1)—this refers to the wife of On the son of Peleth; “but the foolish woman destroys it with her hands” (ibid.)—this refers to Korach’s wife. (Talmud, Sanhedrin 109b)
Korach said to them: All heard at Sinai the commandment, “I am the Lord your God”! If you alone had heard it while they had not, you could have claimed superiority. But now that they have all heard it, “why do you raise yourselves above the congregation of Gd?”(Rashi; Midrash Rabbah)
When Moses heard it, he fell on his face (16:4) Moses was thrown into a tremor . . . for this was already their fourth offense. To what can this be compared? To a prince who had offended his father the king, and for whom the king’s friend had effected a reconciliation, once, twice and three times. When the prince offended a fourth time, the king’s friend lost courage, saying to himself: How many times can I trouble the king? So it was with Moses. When Israel had sinned in connection with the golden calf, “Moses besought Gd” (Exodus 32:11). When “the people were as murmurers,” then “Moses prayed” (Numbers 11:1–2). In connection with the spies, “Moses said unto Gd: ‘When Egypt shall hear . . .’” (ibid. 14:13). When the dissension of Korach broke out, he said: How many times can I impose myself on Gd? So “when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face.”(Midrash Rabbah; Rashi)
If Moses, who personifies the sefirah (divine attribute) of Truth, said “I, too, desire it,” this was no mere debating tactic: Moses truly desired the position of kohen gadol for himself. This means that Korach’s desire for the highest spiritual state attainable by man was, in and of itself, a positive thing. The difference between Korach and Moses in this was that Korach acted upon this desire, in defiance of the divine decree. This explains why our Torah reading is named “Korach.” The Talmud tells us that it is forbidden to name one’s child after a wicked person, in keeping with the rule, “The memory of the righteous should be to blessing, and the name of the wicked should rot” (Proverbs 10:7). So how is it that an entire section in the Torah carries the name of a person whose deeds were most negative and destructive? But the name “Korach,” as the name of a Parshah in Torah, pays tribute to the positive aspect of Korach’s “rebellion.” While the story of Korach comes to teach us what not to do—not to act on even the most lofty of ambitions, if such action is contrary to the will of Gd—it also comes to teach us that we should desire and yearn for the highest ideals, even those which we are prohibited from actually attaining. (The Lubavitcher Rebbe)
They, and all that was theirs, descended into the abyss (16:33) Rabbi Berechiah said in the name of Rabbi Chelbo: Even their names flew off all written documents. Rabbi Yossei bar Chanina said: Even a needle of theirs on loan in the hands of another man was swallowed up with them. (Jerusalem Talmud)
Both Moses and Korah desired the people to be the holy people. But for Moses this was the goal. In order to reach it, generation after generation had to choose again and again… between the way of God and the wrong paths of their own hearts; between life and death… for Korah, the people… were already holy … so why should there be further need for choice? Their dispute was between two approaches to faith and to life.” (Martin Buber)
Pirke Avot states that there are two kinds of disputes: one that is pursued for a “heavenly” or good cause and one that is pursued for selfish reasons. As an example of the first, the rabbis cite the arguments between the great teachers Hillel and Shammai, which were always over matters of ethical or ritual principle. On the other hand, the chief example of “selfish” and unworthy controversy is that of Korah and his followers. Korah and his followers were simply a band of malcontents, each harboring individual personal grievances against authority, animated by individual pride and ambition, united to overthrow Moses and Aaron, hoping thereby to attain their individual desires. They deserve their punishment, because all their motives were self-serving, meant to splinter and divide the Jewish people.” (Nehama Leibowitz)
God has a relatively long fuse. If you enslave the chosen people, God’ll give you nine chances before really losing it. Live a life of debauchery and sin? God’ll send someone to ask you to change your ways. Deny a mission from God? God’ll give you another chance, and with enough apologizing, the whale will spit you back up. Why, then, in Parshat Korach does God display such a short temper? - Judaism was started by a stance against authority when Abraham smashed his father’s idols; so why should Korach face such wrath? The difference lies in intent. The only goal that Korach has with his complaint is to make himself look better at Moses’ expense. The rest of the portion leads you to believe that Korach was trying to advance his, and his supporters, interests by usurping Moses. He did not have a purpose in antagonizing Moses; it’s something your grandmother might call kvetching : being negative for the sake of being negative. I believe the answer is that God was trying to make a point. Korach and his followers seemed to forget all that Moses had done for them, even going so far as to refer to Egypt as a “land of milk and honey.” It was clear that Korach was simply trying to “bully” Moses and Aaron: pulling himself up by pushing them down. This shows not only defiance, but arrogance and ingratitude. All of these faults piled up led God to his action. (Justin Felder)
Was Korach Arrogant or Chutzpadik?
The dictionary defines chuzpah as "unmitigated effrontery or impudence; gall; audacity; nerve." The writer Leo Rosten, in his classic The Joys of Yiidush, defines chutzpah as "incredible 'guts,' presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to." He evokes the clinical definition of chutzpah: "that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan." ...
Chutzpah ... is a rare quality of moral courage. This chutpzah is at the heart of Judaism. Chutzpah suggests the revolutionary conception of the human condition and our relationship to God offered by the Jewish tradition. The chutzpah of Judaism insists on the significance of human life, the possibilities of human goodness, and the depth of human responsibility to the world. ...
The message of Judaism is chutzpah... This tiny people who have known more suffering, persecution, and humiliation than any other people in human history - the very people who have been oppressed by the darkest evils promulgated by humanity - mustered the irrepressible courage to assert that human life is no absurd, that human dreams are not futile, that we yet possess the power to redeem our world. (Rabbi Edward Feinstein)