by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen Melman
Korach was a man ahead of his time. He was in the right place, at the wrong time. The right goals, but the wrong motivation. He made a claim for equality and egalitarianism - even democracy, but went about it in a way which slandered a righteous, selfless man and sowed divisiveness and disunity among the people.
Korach asked Moses "who put you over all the people to rule over us?" For his insolance against a righteous humble man such as Moses, who was the epitome of the reluctant leader, he suffered a very strange punishment. But rather than seeing it merely as a punishment, we can view his fate as similar to a living time capsule - a time capsule of brazen effrontery and fearless confrontation.
Time capsules are meant to be dug up and retrieved in the future. Moreover, the Torah teaches that Korach went down ALIVE (hayyim) into the pit (NUM 16:33). At the time of Mashiach he would once again be retrieved. His rebellion against Moses was just his rehearsal. The cameras are rolling as the time capsule is being opened. The genie of true freedom is being released, but who will be its master as good and evil vie over its powers?
The fearless students and young people in Iran and Syria and throughout the Mid East are confronting the tyranny machine. The spirit of freedom lives in them. They are shedding their blood, secular martyrs against the repressive totalitarian regimes.
Time capsules are meant to be dug up and retrieved in the future. Moreover, the Torah teaches that Korach went down ALIVE (hayyim) into the pit (NUM 16:33). At the time of Mashiach he would once again be retrieved. His rebellion against Moses was just his rehearsal. The cameras are rolling as the time capsule is being opened. The genie of true freedom is being released, but who will be its master as good and evil vie over its powers?
The fearless students and young people in Iran and Syria and throughout the Mid East are confronting the tyranny machine. The spirit of freedom lives in them. They are shedding their blood, secular martyrs against the repressive totalitarian regimes.
As if channeling the spirit of Korach they proclaim to the mullahs and dictators: who made you lord over us? Who appointed you to rule over us? If our votes don't count then your very legitimacy does not count!
Stabbed, hacked, choked and shot. Rivers of blood. Is the world listening? Does the world care?
Korach is kerach - ice. But the world is heating up now. The ice is melting. The thaw is setting in.
Korach is returning. Rising from his pit. Rising with a vengeance, for now his time at last has come. His holy chutzpah standing up for justice. Standing up for freedom, the inherent right of all people to be free.
It is not climate change we should worry about. Better our hearts should grow warmer. Better we should feel their pain. The world's morality is frozen. They stand by and watch the slaughter. And say nothing. And do nothing. Nothing at all. Except to find a way to fault Israel. Never again all over again. And again. They shed their blood. Does anyone even shed a tear?
Stabbed, hacked, choked and shot. Rivers of blood. Is the world listening? Does the world care?
Korach is kerach - ice. But the world is heating up now. The ice is melting. The thaw is setting in.
Korach is returning. Rising from his pit. Rising with a vengeance, for now his time at last has come. His holy chutzpah standing up for justice. Standing up for freedom, the inherent right of all people to be free.
It is not climate change we should worry about. Better our hearts should grow warmer. Better we should feel their pain. The world's morality is frozen. They stand by and watch the slaughter. And say nothing. And do nothing. Nothing at all. Except to find a way to fault Israel. Never again all over again. And again. They shed their blood. Does anyone even shed a tear?
While the future Korach struggles to make manifest the true cause of freedom and dignity, devoid of the personal hubris and narcissistic posturing for which he was punished in the Torah, today's Korach types are stuck in the old Korachian paradigm and use the cause of freedom to mask their true evil intentions.
Gaza activist leaders mask their hatred of Israel and Jews and Zionism under the banner of civil rights and human dignity. Ironically though, to fulfill Hamas' intention of genocide against the Jews of Israel and the world would entail the very denial of civil rights and human dignity to the one group of people which introduced those very concepts to the world at large - through the Torah!
Hamas and the international forces against Israel cloak their rebellion against morality and justice in their attempt to deligitimize Israel and dismantle the world's sole Jewish state in the garments of morality and justice. Like Korach, the naive humanists for peace and justice are recruited for activism against Israel by Hamas and their international solidarity movement under the rubric of peace and morality, when the true motive is the ultimate annihilation of Israel and the Jewish people.
May the day come when all humankind will live in peace with one another, with every man tending undisturbed his own vine and fig tree.
Shabbat Shalom!
Good Shabbos!
© 2000 - 2012 by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen Melman
These words of Torah are written in the merit of my beloved father, Israel J. Melman, obm, Yisrael Yehoshua ben Harav Ya'aqov Hakohen Melman, z"l and in memory of my beloved mother, Esther Melman, obm, Esther bat Baruch z"l.
http://seferchabibi.blogspot.com/2007/07/yahrzeit-of-my-father-27-tammuz.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506EEDC1630F93BA35754C0A9649C8B63
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=esther-melman&pid=143745543
Chabibi stands for CHidushei Baruch Binyamin ben Yisrael Yehoshua
(a chidush, from the word chadash, means a new, original or fresh perspective)
Shabbat Shalom!
Good Shabbos!
© 2000 - 2012 by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen Melman
These words of Torah are written in the merit of my beloved father, Israel J. Melman, obm, Yisrael Yehoshua ben Harav Ya'aqov Hakohen Melman, z"l and in memory of my beloved mother, Esther Melman, obm, Esther bat Baruch z"l.
http://seferchabibi.blogspot.com/2007/07/yahrzeit-of-my-father-27-tammuz.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506EEDC1630F93BA35754C0A9649C8B63
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=esther-melman&pid=143745543
Chabibi stands for CHidushei Baruch Binyamin ben Yisrael Yehoshua
(a chidush, from the word chadash, means a new, original or fresh perspective)
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