Jun 27, 2025, 6:51 PM 0
Korah 2025, Numbers 16 :1 – 18 :32
The story of Korah and his community appears prima facia as a conflict between autocracy and democracy. Korah challenges Moses and his brother Aaron whom he accuses of having concentrated power in the hands of one family. “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 God is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above God’s congregation?” (Numbers 16:3) Moses avoids direct confrontation with Korah and asks God to intervene. Indeed, divine intervention comes, and it comes in a violent form. The earth opens up and swallows the challengers. (Numbers 16:33)
This miraculous intervention raises questions. It is well known that differences must be settled according to the law of majority. Moreover, a famous case brought in the Talmud (Baba Metzia 59) explicitly rejects divine intervention. The case deserves to be explained in detail.
The rabbis debate whether or not a new oven is susceptible to ritual impurity. Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurcanus argues that the oven is ritually pure, while the other rabbis, including the Rabban Gamliel argue that the oven is impure. When none of Rabbi Eliezer’s arguments convince his colleagues, he says that if he’s right, the trees will give him a sign. At this point, the tree leaps from the ground.
The other rabbis tell Rabbi Eliezer that the movement of the tree was not evidence of what he was arguing. Rabbi Eliezer then says if he is right, an irrigation canal will give them a sign. The canal begins to flow backwards, but again the other rabbis are not convinced. Rabbi Eliezer cries out, “If the law is in accordance with my opinion, the walls of the study hall will prove it.” The walls of the study hall begin to fall but are then scolded by Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah who reprimands the walls for interfering in a debate among scholars.. Out of respect for Rabbi Joshua, they do not continue to fall, but out of respect for Rabbi Eliezer, they do not return to their original places.
In frustration, Rabbi Eliezer finally argues that if the law is according to his opinion, God himself will say so. God then speaks directly to the arguing rabbis, saying that Rabbi Eliezer’s opinion is correct. Rabbi Joshua quotes – out of context – Deuteronomy 30-12: “It [the Torah] is not in heaven”. Rabbi Yirmeya comments: Since the Torah was already given at Mount Sinai, we do not regard a Divine Voice, since You Yourself instructed us at Mount Sinai in the Torah to follow the majority (Exodus 23:2).
Upon hearing Rabbi Joshua’s response, God laughed and stated, “My children have defeated me!”
Why then does God intervene in the dispute initiated by Korah? The difference lies in the nature of the dispute. Korah was trying to take power from Moses and Aaron to himself and his community. There was clearly a personal interest involved. The intellectual dispute about the oven was disinterested and sought to find the right solution. In the rabbinic parlance, the second dispute is deemed to be “in the name of Heaven” and therefore can be left to humans to settle.
Indeed, Torah study is usually conducted in pairs, and disputes about the right interpretation may become verbally violent. However, since both seek truth, once they find it violence disappears and harmony reigns. Rabbis relate a verse found a few chapters after this one (Numbers 21 :14) to the issue of disputes:
עַל־כֵּן֙ יֵֽאָמַ֔ר בְּסֵ֖פֶר מִלְחֲמֹ֣ת יְהֹוָ֑ה אֶת־וָהֵ֣ב בְּסוּפָ֔ה …׃
Therefore the Book of God’s Wars speaks of “…Waheb in Suphah …
They read the verse as ואהב בסופה , we-ahab bsofa i.e. “and loved in the end”. In other words, wars that are truly godly are not those that shed blood and destroy life but those that seek truth and are waged between scholars in the study halls. And these “wars” end in harmony and love. This is how our tradition defuses stories of real violence in biblical episodes and makes then spiritually elevating.
Shabbat shalom!
About the Author
Yakov M. Rabkin is Professor Emeritus of History at the Université of Montréal. His publications include over 300 articles and a few books: Science between Superpowers, Interactions between Jewish and Scientific Cultures, A Threat from Within: a Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism, What is Modern Israel?, Demodernization: A Future in the Past and Judaïsme, islam et modernité. He did consulting work for, inter alia, OECD, NATO, UNESCO and the World Bank.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/true-gods-wars-are-waged-in-study-halls/
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