Korach- The Place You, Alone, Stand

by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine

The Parsha begins, “And Korach took,” but it does not tell us what he took. Says Rashi, “He took himself,” he separated himself from the group and began to view the Jewish people from the outside with criticism, instead of remaining a member of the team, and finding his place within the team. It is as if the Torah said, “Korach took… Do you know what he took? He took Korach.”

The Medrash tells us that Korach was among the elite of the Jewish people. He was one of the select few chosen as the honor guard for the Aron. Upon hearing Korach’s complaints against Ahron being the Kohein Gadol (a position Korach wished he had been given) Moshe responds, “You have a lot.” In other words, life is not always about getting a promotion. Your role is unique to you, Korach. You must discover it.

You see, our world is very upward focused. In many businesses, there are very structured promotions. In the world of schooling, there are courses of study, followed by graduations. Such structure is very satisfying because it is verifiable and enables an outside body to endorse your success.

Yet, life is not essentially about structured upward growth, up a proverbial corporate ladder. It is not about status change or acquiring new titles verified by outside endorsement.  Much of life can be described as internal growth, where there is no external change of movement, but rather growth in place.

An analogy that comes to mind is from the food industry, where there are many machines that are too big to bring to a sink to be cleaned. Instead they are cleaned in place (CIP). Indeed, when it is necessary to kosherize such machinery, it is often kashered in place. Similarly, it is possible for a person to experience growth in place, even if externally they never moved or got a promotion.

The story is told of a joker who watched a yeshiva student pacing. The joker asked the student, “I understand why you walked from there to here. You must have thought it was better here. I understand why you walked back. It must be because when you got here you realized it was not better than there. But, tell me please, after you got back there, why did you come back here.”

The story is a cute one. It is meant to remind us that we will always think the grass is greener on the other side, even when we have tried it many times before. But on a deeper level, the pacing student could very well be going places. Within the confines of his pacing, he is introspective and contemplates great things. He may be working through his priorities in life, or some issue of jealousy that he really wants to overcome. For life to be worthwhile, it does not always mean that he must travel to the next town or receive a new title. It is possible to become great, even while standing in place.

Like most people, Korach wanted to be special. Moshe’s response is, “You are special.” It is probable that Hashem gave Korach a predisposition to jealousy as his challenge in life. As a bearer of the Aron, and one jealous of Ahron, the Kohein Gadol, Korach was uniquely suited to conquer his jealousy, and become a jewel in the crown of G-d and the Jewish people. Instead, Korach saw success only in the promotion he vied for. He therefore chose to “stand alone,” to critique Moshe and Jewish destiny. Instead, Korach would have done much better to recognize- as we all strive to recognize- “the place you, alone, stand.”

I once heard that it is a mitzvah to celebrate a birthday because a birthday represents Hashem’s decision that this world would not be complete without you.  In our own special way, every human being is irreplaceable. No one else can fulfill your mission.

The lesson of Korach is for each of us to yearn to discover the special role that we have been assigned.

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