Korach - Numbers 16:1−18:32 - 6/27/25

My favorite bumper sticker is one that was very popular some years ago, that is ripe for a comeback.  It said simply “Question Authority”.

This week’s Torah portion is named ‘Korach’. The name Korach in Jewish tradition is synonymous with rebellion.  He is a Levite, and so a Temple functionary, but not of the Aaronide clan, so not a priest.  He gathers a few other disgruntled Israelites with him and confronts Moses and Aaron, challenging their leadership. 

Korach’s confrontation with Moses and Aaron was received as a direct challenge to God, for as Moses himself pointed out, Moses did nothing that was not commanded by God.  For his temerity, Korach and his followers suffered a terrible punishment – some were swallowed up by the earth, some struck with divine fire, and some struck by plague.

What was Korach’s rebellious act that led to such dire punishment? He went to Moses, along with others from the community, and asked a question: “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and Adonai is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above Adonai’s congregation?”

In the Biblical context, and as the Rabbis of the Talmud understood it, this was seen as an egregious defiance of Moses’ authority, and therefore of God’s authority.  Today, however, this incident has a different resonance. For what, really, did Korach do? He asked a question in a public forum. In the United States today, we would say he exercised his right of free speech, the right to assemble, and the right to petition his government for redress of grievances (see the First Amendment to the US Constitution).

Sadly, we have witnessed in recent weeks members of Congress being arrested for exercising those very rights. They are not fomenting rebellion, as Korach was accused of doing, but speaking truth to power and obeying the mandates of their oaths of office. Today we may see Korach less as the leader of a rebellion and more of an exemplar of someone who speaks up for the rights of the community to question authority.

 -Rabbi Bonnie Margulis