Choosing Life (Shabbat Korach)

Last week I walk outside: The leaves appear greener than I remember, the air smells verdant and alive. As I pass the community gardens, I see a two residents tending their plots. With pride, they show me their greens, tomatoes, flowers...

Like many of you, I’ve been relishing the aliveness in the air as we plant seeds and new hopes, eagerly watching them grow and blossom: You speak of visits with family and old friends; weddings and celebrations once delayed, finally happening. Despite all the uncertainty bound up with living at this time of plague and continued unrest, there is also much to look forward to.

This week Torah tells us how our ancestors moved through plague and unrest of their own. It describes how — as the Israelites complain about their wilderness trek — a man named Korach, and his followers seek to capitalize on the people’s resentment in order to grab power from Moses, and take charge of the people.

Then a horrible plague strikes the community. Aaron and Moses could have easily said, this is what you get, and hidden out in their secret desert bunker until it was over. Instead, still reeling from the sting of the community’s rebellion, and despite his allegiance to his brother, Moses Aaron defends the people against the plague:

 וַיַּעֲמֹ֥ד בֵּֽין־הַמֵּתִ֖ים וּבֵ֣ין הַֽחַיִּ֑ים וַתֵּעָצַ֖ר הַמַּגֵּפָֽה׃ / And Aaron stood between the dead and the living until the plague stopped. (Num 17:13)

Imagine him on the front lines, putting himself at risk for those he could easily consider his enemy. In the face of death and adversity, he chooses life and peace.

After the plague comes to an end, to settle the leadership struggle amongst the tribes, in the wake of Korach’s rebellion, God instructs Moses to collect a staff from the head of each of the 12 tribes and deposit it in the ohel moed / Tent of Meeting to see which tribe should lead the people. The next day, in a dramatic moment, Moses enters the Tent— and behold! Aaron’s staff has sprouted, blossomed, and borne almonds!

According to mystical tradition, each of our ancestors embodies a godly quality. Reb Nachman of Breslov interprets the miraculous blossoming of Aaron’s staff in the Tent to be an illustration, a manifestation, of Aaron’s core trait of hesed / lovingkindness. The image of a dead piece of wood finding in it new life, despite its natural inclination to remain a piece of wood helps us see how wondrous it is that — rather than fight against Korach, or let the people succumb to plague — Aaron fights on their behalf.

In the face of pandemic and political strife, may we, too, find ways to fight for our survival. As we plant seeds of new hope, may we be inspired by Aaron, who the sages describe as:

אוֹהֵב שָׁלוֹם וְרוֹדֵף שָׁלוֹם / a lover of peace and pursuer of peace

אוֹהֵב אֶת הַבְּרִיּוֹת וּמְקָרְבָן לַתּוֹרָה / who loves creation and helps it become wise

(Pirke Avot 1:12)

May we, like Aaron, plant the seeds of new life, helping broken branches blossom, and our ailing earth find healing, that we and many generations to come, may dwell in abundance and peace.

And let us say: Amen.