“Does a house filled with holy Torah scripts still need a mezuzah - that one small scroll?”
“Does a garment made up completely of techelet threads still require additional tzitzit fringes to show the special colour?”
These questions sound like something between a clever halakhic riddle and cheeky teenagers giving their parents attitude. These, though, are the challenges that Korach throws at Moshe to question the validity of his teachings and his right to leadership. (Bamidbar Rabba 18:3)
Korach attacks Moshe, “Why then do you raise yourselves above the congregation of Hashem?” Rashi elaborates on Korach’s challenge, quoting the Midrash Tanchuma, “If you have taken royal rank for yourself, you should at least not have chosen the priesthood for your brother - it is not you alone who have heard at Sinai: ‘I am the Lord thy God', all the congregation heard it!” (Bamidbar 16:3)
If we are all tchelet - how come we still need one special thread of tchelet? If we are all holy sefarim - how come we still need one special sefer? If we all experienced the word of Hashem, how come we still need one special ruler - Moshe?
Korach’s argument is that if every person experienced the presence of Hashem at Har Sinai, it makes them all equally competent, capable and suitable to define the way that society is set up and how things run (and by ‘everyone’, he means himself). Korach makes the cardinal error of confusing equal access to ‘information’ with equal access to wisdom.
Hashem steps in to show all of Bnei Yisrael that Korach is guided only by his own narcissistic pursuit of power and that true leadership stems from authentic humility and openness to Divine guidance. Moshe is the epitome of both.
We’re at a peak in the ‘information age’ - humanity has unprecedented access to information across the board. Kids can search up almost anything and easily be more clued up on a subject than their parents. They, too, can easily slip into equating that knowledge with entitlement and misguided equality when it comes to making meaningful decisions and giving respect to the generations before them.
Moshe’s very public victory over Korach through the open miracles of Hashem was instructive for that generation and for ours. Truth and power must be linked with responsibility, humility, tradition and transmission. “Moshe Emet v’Torato Emet”.
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