Korach 5769/2009: "Korach's Children"
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of Sheila and Art Braufman
Celebrating the the marriage of Eliyahu Sills and Rachel Valfer
The story of Korach might not seem obvious for discussing relationships. After all, Korach and his followers, after contesting the rights of Moses and Aaron to lead the Israelite people, were devoured when "the ground under them burst asunder, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households. ...They went down alive into Sheol, with all that belonged to them; the earth closed over them and they vanished from the midst of the congregation. (Num. 16:31-33)" Not what we pray for in healthy relationships, to say the least.
And yet there is a message to be learned, perhaps in contrast with the Torah's narrative.
What was Korach's crime? What was so awful that it merited this devastating a response? Korach, a cousin Moses and Aaron, rose up "against Moses, together with two hundred and fifty Israelites, chieftains of the community, chosen in the assembly, men of repute. They combined against Moses and Aaron and said to them, 'You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the Lord is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above the Lord's congregation?' (Num. 16:2-3)"
The accusation, while certainly rebellious, is quite compelling. Korach's assertions that "all the community are holy" and that God "is in their midst" don't seem wrong. In fact, they are confirmed by other similar biblical phrases, such as "Let them make for Me a Sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. (Ex. 25:8)" and "Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, Adonai your God, am Holy. (Lev. 19:2)" There is deep truth in Korach's words, a truth which resonates for the community. We must remember that he managed to rouse more than 250 Israelites against Moses, who has, time and time again, been the agent of God's Word and stood in the breach, protecting the people from God's Wrath.
Korach's charismatic ability led people against Moses. But what would have happened if Korach had channeled his righteous indignation and magnetic personality in the service of the People, offering Moses his help instead of trying to assert his own leadership? Korach could have become a revered teammate to Moses by offered his help, instead of questioning the authenticity of Moses' authority.
And this suggests, perhaps, a lesson for couples, and for those in potentially collaborative leadership roles. Korach wanted a job Moses didn't even want for himself, one which Moses' reluctance made him supremely qualified to perform and for which Korach's over-willingness made him especially unsuited. Think of what these two strong personalities, these two different people, could have achieved had they been in partnership for the sake of the people!
Korach and his followers experienced a descent when the earth swallow them. But somehow, according to biblical tradition (Num. 26:9), Korach's children don't die. Their descendants are later, in fact, credited with several chapters of Psalms, all of which reflect musically upon the enduring possibilities and values of life (see Ps. 49, for instance). As Rabbi Perry Netter has written, "Korach is the symbol of rebellion and conflict and despair; his sons are a symbol of hope."
While every relationship comprised of two people with strong personalities has its share of struggle, the possibilities created by the actualization of sacred relationship is hopeful beyond words, perhaps most through the songs of their children.
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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
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EIN GEDI, Israel – Eli Raz was peering into a narrow hole in the Dead Sea shore when the earth opened up and swallowed him. Fearing he would never be found alive in the 30-foot- deep pit, he scribbled his will on an old postcard.
After 14 hours a search party pulled him from the hole unhurt, and five years later the 69-year-old geologist is working to save others from a similar fate, leading an effort to map the sinkholes that are spreading on the banks of the fabled saltwater lake.
These underground craters can open up in an instant, sucking in whatever lies above and leaving the surrounding area looking like an earthquake zone.
The phenomenon, Raz said, stems from a dire water shortage, compounded in recent years by tourism and chemical industries as well as a growing population. "This is the most remarkable evidence of the brutal interference of humans in the Dead Sea," he said.
The parched moonscape, famous as the site of biblical Sodom and Gomorra, is the lowest point on earth and runs more than 60 miles through Israel and the West Bank.
Large sections of the coast are fenced off and signposted in Hebrew and English: "danger, open pits" and "sinkhole area ahead." But it's too expensive to inspect every place for danger. Just two months ago an Israeli hiker wandered into an area that had no warning signs and was critically injured when he fell into a sinkhole.
While such accidents are rare, Raz says there are up to 3,000 open sinkholes along the coast and likely just as many that haven't burst open yet. And they're having a big impact on Israeli development plans.
The collapsing terrain has forced authorities to close a campground, date groves and a small naval base, and to scrap plans for 5,000 new hotel rooms, said Galit Cohen, director of environmental planning at the Ministry of the Environment.
The holes, also found on the Jordanian side of the sea, are the result of the Dead Sea having shrunk by a third since the 1960s when Israel and Jordan built plants to divert water flowing through its main tributary, theJordan River.
The holes form when a subterranean salt layer that once bordered the sea is dissolved by underground fresh water that follows the receding Dead Sea waters.
The main road along the shore has been torn apart by streams whose energy is increased because they are flowing farther to reach the receding sea, and all construction along the strip between sea and highway is banned, Cohen said.
Both Israel and Jordan evaporate Dead Sea water to extract its phosphates and have built hotels along the coasts for the thousands of tourists who come in search of the curative powers of Dead Sea mud, or simply for the experience of floating unsinkably in its salt-saturated waters.
Only micro-organisms survive in the Dead Sea, but indigenous species of fish, amphibians and snails live in small nearby ponds fed by underground springs, and these could be wiped out as the Dead Sea gets smaller, Raz said.
Many of the changes are masked at the pricey resorts on the sea's southern end, which lie on the banks of a large artificial pond built by the mineral industry. But around Ein Gedi, the kibbutz or communal farm where Raz lives, the Dead Sea's shrinkage is evident.
Twenty-five years ago Ein Gedi built a spa by the sea. Now it's a one-mile trolley ride from the water.
"Any visitor that's come back for a second visit in these last 10 years would see a dramatic change," said Gidon Bromberg, Israel director of Friends of the Earth Middle East, an advocacy group. "The sea has run away from the cliffs and it's exposed kilometers of mud and sea floor."
No quick solution is in sight.
The World Bank is studying a proposal to dig a canal from the Red Sea, more than 100 miles south, to replenish the Dead Sea's waters. But with costs estimated at up to $15 billion, there's little optimism it will happen.
Without a solution, the sea is expected to shrink to lose another third of its area over the next century.
MSNBC.com
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