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From the Rabbi:
Shalom Friends. I'm so glad to be officially starting my position as rabbi of KOT. Thank you for the opportunity to really get to know you all and grow together.
In addition to sharing Torah here and in shul on Shabbat, I have an ongoing "Chassidic insights on the Parsha" class that I've been giving on Zoom. You are all invited to join Thursday nights at 9 pm: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7789978781
Parashat Korach sees Moshe Rabbeinu challenged in a way we have never seen before. Yes we Jews have kvetched and complained at every step of the way. From "What there weren't enough graves in Egypt ?!" (Ex. 14:11) To (17:3) "To kill us and our animals with thirst?!" to last week's (Numbers 14:3) "To have us killed by the sword and our wives, children taken as plunder?!" We've consistently suspected Moshe of having conspired with Hashem against us to lead us to our deaths. Like a whiney child trying to manipulate their parent in the supermarket, "But I neeeeed it, I'm dying of thirst".
Yet this week we see something new. Korach and his colleagues accuse Moshe of doing all this for his own grandeur and appointing Aaron to his position as high priest out of nepotism. Slavery, thirst, and the threat of war aren't the problem. Moshe himself is the problem.
Yet the Torah told us just two weeks ago that (Num. 12:3) "Moses was very humble, more than all people who were on the face of the earth."
It often happens in life that we get accused of being crooked precisely in that trait at which we most excel. All of Am Yisrael is going through precisely that in this difficult period. Is there a more peace-loving and humane people than us? Yet not only are we faced with a ruthless enemy, we are the ones labeled as war criminals, colonialists, and perpetrators of genocide. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
This Parsha teaches us how, like Moshe, to endure such blatant hypocrisy without losing our cool or our compassionate disposition. To continue to care for those who hate us even when they hurl the most preposterous accusations at us. Like Moshe, we need to remain the adult in the room and not be fazed by juvenile drama and outbursts of hyperbolic condemnation.
This Shabbat we'll discuss what spiritual trait allows Moshe, and us, to rise to that level of inner composure and spiritual maturity. A trait which is at the very core of the identity of Am Yisrael.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shlomo
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