Shabbat Korach

Written by Rabbi Barbara Borts Friday, 15 June 2007

DISSENSION – 1) disagreement among those expected to co-operate. 2) a conflict of people's opinions or actions or characters

This is one of the topics of the day here in the UK, what with the appearance of two separate groups of Jews who have marked their disagreement with some of the mainstream views about Israel.  How has the establishment handled this? In some cases,  with dignity, and in other cases, with a great deal of angst, or disapprobation, or angry disdain. In some cases, the right to dissent has been called into question.

We have a long and noble history of dissent – and just as long and noble a history of difficulty in accepting such dissent. This week, the parasha is Korach, last week, the rebellion of 10 of the spies who went on a reconnaissance mission,  the week before, the anger of Moses’ brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam –  and, throughout,  the general moaning and disgruntlement of the tired, hungry and weak Israelites. In each case, there is a challenge to the leadership and its actions,  and to the received wisdom, followed by a resounding reassertion of the authority of that leadership.

What, in fact, is Korach’s crime? He is a cohen,  a priest, and therefore, part of the ruling hierarchy, and his challenge to Moses is “You take too much upon yourselves, for the entire congregation is holy, and the Eternal is in their midst” (Num. 16:3). Moses in his response assumes that the challenge is a self-serving one, for he retorts, “Is it not enough that the God of Israel has distinguished you from the congregation of Israel to draw you near, to perform the service in the Mishkan  and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?” (Num. 16: 9). The end result of the conflict is the complete removal of the dissenters and their uncomfortable and inconvenient voices from the midst of the community:  “The earth beneath them opened its mouth and swallowed them and their houses, and all the men who were with Korah , descended alive into the grave; the earth covered them up, and they were lost to the assembly” (Num. 16: 32–33).

And there you have it. Dissension crushed and silenced.

Let us for a moment dissent from the prevailing view of the story, and ask the hard question, could Moses have responded in a different way to this challenge? Can those in authority and in positions of leadership bear to hear many voices, and to let the strength of their view stand or fall on its integrity?  In the extraordinary and beautiful film, The Lives of Others, a political system which held out the promise of bringing great justice and peace to its people was corrupted by that system’s inability to tolerate criticism, and such disagreement was silenced through threat, blackmail, bribery and torture.