You may know the old story about the fellow who travels to another town to pay a surprise visit to his old friend, the Chazan. As he enters the town and begins to inquire where his friend lives, he encounters the strangest responses. Says the butcher gruffly: "Don't you talk to me about that Chazan!" Says a passer-by: "Don't ever mention that name to me!" (and spits on the ground three times) Even the rabbi is incensed about the man: "Any friend of the Chazan should be put in Cherem (excommunication)!"
Completely bewildered, the man wanders through the streets and then, by sheer luck, spots the Chazan walking. Running over to him, he says, "Tell me, my friend: You must be very, very highly paid to stay in this town."
"Not really," shrugs the Chazan. "The pay is actually quite poor. I stay for
one reason only: the kavod (honor)!"
In our Sedra, Korach starts a major rebellion against Moshe and Ahron and, by extension, against Hashem Himself. Korach mouths all kinds of high-minded reasons for the attack - "the leadership should be chosen by democratic means," "Every Jew is equally holy," etc. - but his prime motivation, say the Sages, boils down to just one desire: Honor. Pure, unmitigated kavod.
Maybe Korach thought that being the leader was a fast-track to riches, glory, power, stature. Maybe Korach felt being at the top meant that everyone would hang on to his every syllable and that his opinion would be the most valued in the Land. Wow! Did he ever have a cockeyed view of what being a Jewish leader is all about.
Korach should have learned from the example of Moshe. Moshe never wanted to be King; he resisted the throne with all his might. And when the mantle was thrust upon him, Moshe complained bitterly that this was "no job for a Jewish boy." The hours, the pressure, the thanklessness of it all. "What I lack in pay," Moshe would have said, "I make up for in aggravation." Like Golda Meir, who was the "Prime Minister of 3 million Prime Ministers", Moshe - the great Flight Controller - had to coordinate the ego trips of a whole people.
When Moshe asks the rebels to relent, they cryptically answer, "Even if you gouge out our eyes, we won't go with you!" Their Freudian slips were showing: They were, indeed, completely blind as to what being a true leader is all about. Not glory, but giving. Not pride, but purpose. Korach and his cronies may have craved honor, but they were anything but honorable mentschen.
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Rabbi Weiss is Director of the Jewish Outreach Center in Ra?anana.
Completely bewildered, the man wanders through the streets and then, by sheer luck, spots the Chazan walking. Running over to him, he says, "Tell me, my friend: You must be very, very highly paid to stay in this town."
"Not really," shrugs the Chazan. "The pay is actually quite poor. I stay for
one reason only: the kavod (honor)!"
In our Sedra, Korach starts a major rebellion against Moshe and Ahron and, by extension, against Hashem Himself. Korach mouths all kinds of high-minded reasons for the attack - "the leadership should be chosen by democratic means," "Every Jew is equally holy," etc. - but his prime motivation, say the Sages, boils down to just one desire: Honor. Pure, unmitigated kavod.
Maybe Korach thought that being the leader was a fast-track to riches, glory, power, stature. Maybe Korach felt being at the top meant that everyone would hang on to his every syllable and that his opinion would be the most valued in the Land. Wow! Did he ever have a cockeyed view of what being a Jewish leader is all about.
Korach should have learned from the example of Moshe. Moshe never wanted to be King; he resisted the throne with all his might. And when the mantle was thrust upon him, Moshe complained bitterly that this was "no job for a Jewish boy." The hours, the pressure, the thanklessness of it all. "What I lack in pay," Moshe would have said, "I make up for in aggravation." Like Golda Meir, who was the "Prime Minister of 3 million Prime Ministers", Moshe - the great Flight Controller - had to coordinate the ego trips of a whole people.
When Moshe asks the rebels to relent, they cryptically answer, "Even if you gouge out our eyes, we won't go with you!" Their Freudian slips were showing: They were, indeed, completely blind as to what being a true leader is all about. Not glory, but giving. Not pride, but purpose. Korach and his cronies may have craved honor, but they were anything but honorable mentschen.
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Rabbi Weiss is Director of the Jewish Outreach Center in Ra?anana.