Num. 16:1 - 18:32
PrĂ©cis: Korach foments a rebellion, claiming that Moses and Aaron have taken too much power for themselves. Datan and Abiram also attack Moses’ leadership, claiming that Moses has brought them from a land of milk and honey (Egypt!) only to let them die in the wilderness. A test of fire offerings is arranged, and Korach and his followers are destroyed as the earth opens and swallows them. The People continue to complain, God threatens to destroy them once again, but Moses and Aaron intercede. A plague takes the lives of 14,000 people. A final test, that of staffs, is performed, and when Aaron’s staff miraculously blossoms on the following morning, his status as High Priest is secure.
Num. 16:3 “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”
Rabbi Sacks notes that Korach had a point: at the heart of his challenge is the idea of equality (Rabbi Sacks Legacy, 6/26/25). However, Korach does not mean what he says. He claims to be opposed to the institution of leadership, but at the same time he wants to be the leader. Korach asks, “Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” and in so doing he is mistaken in his view of leadership. He sees leadership as a matter of status, and that the leader is what we would today call an “alpha male” who controls, directs, and dominates. But this is not the kind of leadership which our tradition honors. Moses, the greatest leader, is one about whom it is said “He was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Num. 12:3). In our tradition, leadership is not a matter of status but of function, and leadership is not about popularity. Even further, a true leader is not eager for the job. Witness Moses’ repeatedly attempting to avoid leadership of Israel.
This was Korach’s mistake. He thought leaders were those who set themselves above others.
