30 Friday, June 22, 1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
INSIGHT
WHERE HANDBAGS & JEWELRY
ARE A STATEMENT OF FASHION!
Parashat Korah
Hunters Spare, 31065 Orchard Lake Rd. at 14 Mile
8514460 Mon. Uwe Sat. 10-6, Wed. & Fri. 10.6, SUNDAY 12-5
Four interpretations for Korah
FLORISTS
BY RABBI EVERETT' GENDLER
Special to The Jewish News
FLOWERS FOR ALL
OCCASIONS
Now Korah . . . took men
. . . and they assembled
themselves together against
Moses and against Aaron
. . . And the earth opened her
mouth, and swallowed them
up, and their households,
and all the men that apper-
tained unto Korah, and all
their goods.
—Numbers 16:1,3,32
• WEDDINGS
• BAR MITZVAHS
• BAT MITZVAHS
544-0416
•
SWEET SIXTEENS
WE SEND FLOWERS ANYWHERE
e%,
503 East Nine Mile Road
Ferndale, Michigan 48220
SAVE UP TO '60% ON
DIAMONDS -
• V4 e !+el I Diamonds Onl)
• 11) :Appointment Onl
■
Any controversy which is
in the name of Heaven (from
sincere motive) is destined to
result in something perma-
nent; any controversy which
is not in the name of Heaven
will never result in anything
permanent. . . . Which con-
troversy was not in the name
of Heaven? The controversy
of Korah and all his com-
pany.
'—Avot 5:20
-
, 3
,
Call Jerry Turken at
The New York
Diamond Cutting
Company ,,,)
The Diamond Cutters"
3000 I min tenter.
Southfield. %lichigan
Traditionally speaking,
so much for Korah! Reci-
pient of a uniquely severe
Biblical punishment, he
stood little chance of any
posthumous re-instatement
by the rabbis of the classical
age. They, after all, were
having their own troubles
establishing the legitimacy
of the Pharasaic tradition
over the objections of Sad-
ducees and sectarians. That
was hardly a propitious
time to re-open the issue of
Korah's challenge to Mosaic
and Aaronide authority.
Ours, by contrast, is an
age much more receptive to
and beset by challenges to
authority; and not surpris-
ingly, one finds the case of
Korah re-opened from a
variety of perspectives.
Rabbi Joseph B. Sol-
oveitchik, Martin Buber,
Profs. Ellis Rivkin and
Daniel Nussbaum provide
four contrasting views, with
varying degrees of sym-
pathy for Korah.
-.., ,
355-2300
.
,
,
—
•_______
I
LEI/A WN?' IT
"Plan NoW For pour
Summer Entertaining"
•,,,,,,, i , ,,,,,• i
1 ' '
l' •
• CANOPIES & TENTS FOR DECK OR UIWN
• ICE CREAM TABLES
• PORTABLE BARS
• LINEN • GLASSWARE
• UMBRELLA TABLES
• CHINA
• COMPLETE UNE OF. PAPER GOODS
..
AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!
I FREE PARTY CONSULTATION 1
29212 ORCHARD LAKE RD. S. OF 19 Mlle Rd. • Farm. Hills
.
855-0480
mer
NI
IN
,* *
*A*
* * *
VISA'
MERICAN EXHAUST SYSTEMS INC.
(Corr Canfield)
•
Oak Park, NI 41131
15441 W.91114 Rd.
•
Mon.-Sat. 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
CUSTOM PIPE BENDING/FOREIGN CARS
968-0662
r
,
BRAKE &' 1
.
MUFFLERS: FREE
!SHOCK CHECK 1
..............
I
_
.$24 95
1 4 WHEEL BRAKE JOB I
most cars
INSTALLED
$8995
I ;
1;
I roost CillS
I
I
I
I
LIFE TIMEI
COUPON
DI
WI
S
TITUNT
I
1
0%
GUARANTEE • Ibi low EN exp. 6-30-84 all Nod I
GAS SHOCKS
$2995'
.
•-„,-.4- T oGn sarica mm's loz... ._eiswwiu mpe4, 04,r Atomom ed&A,...
Soloveitchik is predicta-
bly reserved. To this sensi-
tive and learned halakhist,
Korah represents a " 'com-
mon sense' rebellion
against Torah authority,"
one repeated throughout
the ages and much in evi-
dence today. Denying any
special authority to the offi-
cial interpreters of
Halachah, Korah and his
latter day followers would,
in Soloveitchik's eyes, re-
duce Judaism to
subjectively-preferred prac-
tices rather than Divinely-
ordained precepts
authoritatively interpreted
by a Divinely-sanctioned
chain of tradition.
I GLIERZZE
EACH INSTALLED
Rabbi Gendler is rabbi of
Temple Emanuel in
Lowell, Mass., and Jewish
chaplain and instructor at
Phillips Academy in
Andover, Mass,
Surprisingly, Buber is
harsh, by implication accus-
ing Korah of being an an-
tinomian sectarian, of try-
ing to establish "a secret
society in which the actual,
the true, the 'holy' com-
munal life is lived, free from
the bonds of the 'law'; a life
of 'leopards' or 'werewolves'
Parashat Korah:
Numbers
16:1-18:32.
Joshua 2:1-24.
in which the wildest in-
stincts reach their goal on
the basis of mutual aid, but
in holy action." To my eyes
this, itself, is pretty wild
Buber, reflecting more his
pre-occupation at the time
he was writing Moses than
the reality of Korah
Further on, however,
Buber does raise the com-
pelling question of what one
might call Korah's prema-
ture eschatology. Dare one
take Moses' hope — "would
that all the Lord's people
were prophets, that the
Lord would put His spirit
upon them!" (Numbers
11:29) — and regard it as an
operative principle in
human life as we presently
know it? May one, in fact,
abolish leadership as such
— which seems to be
Korah's central proposal —
without jeopardizing the so-
cial order? Furthermore, in
the face of such a proposed
abolition of authority, how
does one preserve a self-
critical communal voice
speaking in the Divine
name?
For Rivkin, Korah as an
individual is of secondary
.
interest; of primary interest
is the usefulness of Korah's
sad tale to the Aaronide ac-
cession to authority within
Israel.
Finally, Nussbaum comes
tentatively to claim Korah
as "perhaps . .„ the first Re-
constructionist." How so? A
careful reading of the Bibli-
cal text and the accompany-
ing Midrashim reveals ele-
ments of "religious subjec-
tivism . . . (a) functional ap-
proach to the mitzvot and
(a) more democratic ap-
proach to Jewish tradition"
within that material. An
early challenger of religious
authoritarianism and rigid-
ity, Korah appears from this
perspective a modernist ally
in the struggle to keep reli-
gious tradition alive and re-
sponsive to the needs of its
participants.
Copyright 1984, National
flauurah Committee.
Broadcaster Farber to appear at Bond
tribute for Shaarey Zedek leader
.
Barry Farber, radio
broadcaster, newsman,
writer and commentator,
will appear at the Cong.
Beth Abraham Hillel Moses
Tribute Dinner being held
on behalf of Israel Bonds on
Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the
social hall of Cong. Shaarey
Zedek.
The dinner will honor Nat
Fishman a life-time
member and past president
of the congregation, "for his
outstanding service to his
synagogue, his community
and the State of Israel."
Fishman will be presented
with Israel's Tower of David
Award.
Farber is host of WMCA
radio's talk show, "The
Barry Farber Show," and is
a commentator for WCA,
the AM-New York show on
WABC-TV. An interna-
tionally recognized news-
caster, he covered the refu-
gee exodus from Hungary at
the time of the Communist
takeover; Cuba when its
government fell to the Cas-
tro forces; and in Miami
gave on-the-spot coverage
to the race riot as the only
white man in an all-black
bar. Farber has also been in
and out of Russia and coun-
- tries behind the Iron Cur-
tain on numerous occasions.
In addition to his broad-
casts, Farber writes articles
which have appeared in The
New York Times, Readers'
Digest, Saturday Review,
Washington Post, and
Penthouse Magazine among
other publications. He also
is a linguist who is fluent in
Yiddish, Finnish, Hunga-
Barry Farber
rian, Indonesian, Chinese,
Serbo-Croation, Russian,
Portuguese and writes
other languages more com-
mon to Western Europe.
Farber was twice elected
to the board of directors of
the Greater New York Con-
ference on Soviet Jewry and
appeared for Artists and
Writers for Peace in the
Middle East before a Repub-
Couples class
at Bais Chabad
Cong. Bais Chabad of
Farmington Hills will begin
a class on "Ethics and
Prayer" for couples at 8 p.m.
Wednesday in the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Michael
Drissman, 28941
Ramblewood, Farmington
Hills.
The class will continue
throughout the summer.
For information, call the
Drissmans, 851-4019.
lican Party subcommittee to
appeal for a strong pro-
Israel plank which was
later adopted.
His most famous broad-
cast was with his late
grandfather, an immigrant
from a small village in
Lithuania, who recounted
his varied experiences in
making the transition from
a dot on the map to the new
world of the United States.
He was elected to Phi
Beta Kappa and was
graduated from the Univer-
sity of North Carolina,
where he was captain of the
wrestling team.
For information and
dinner reservations, call Is-
rael Bonds, 557-2900.
Class for teens
at Torah Center
The Bais Chabad Torah
Center of West Bloomfield
will conduct a class on "The
Talmud Sanhedrin" for
teenagers 10 a.m. Sundays,
Wednesdays and Fridays at
the Torah Center, begin-
ning on Wednesday.
The class will be con-
ducted throughout the
summer.
For information, call
Rabbi Elimelech Silber-
berg, 626-1807.
Yeshivah picnic
The Yeshivath Beth
Yehudah PTA will hold its
annual picnic 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sunday at Oak Park's
Shepherd Park. „