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Korach's Rebellion:
The Price Of Leadership
RABBI RICHARD C. HERTZ
Special to The Jewish News
In this week's Torah
portion we read the
story of Korach and the
great mutiny. Though this is
not one of the best known
stories in scripture, it teaches
a lesson which all of us might
well learn about the price of
leadership.
The story itself is a strange
one, full of dissatisfaction and
discontent, of mutiny and
sedition.
Moses was first, last and
always a man never divine,
yet a lover of God, subject to
human frailities and
shortcomings. Among his fol-
lowers were those who took
advantage of his weaknesses
in order to sow seeds of dis-
Shabbat Korach:
Numbers
16:1-18:32,
28:9-15;
Isaiah 66:1-24;
I Samuel 20:18,
42
content. One such man was
Korach, aided by two suppor-
ters, Datan and Aviram, who
gathered together about 250
malcontents. They spoke up
to Moses, right to his face,
saying, "You take too much
upon yourself! You think you
are so great! But everyone is
just as holy and just as im-
portant as you are!"
It wasn't long before Datan
and Aviram, talking the lan-
guage of the demagogue,
were able to gather together
those who were disenchanted
with the leadership of Moses.
The story has a frightful end-
ing. Moses does not answer
Korach but instead appeals to
God for Divine help in order
to teach the children of Israel
a lesson that they must be
faithful to God. The story
ends with a great earth-
quake, with fire swallowing
up Korach and his 250 sup-
porters. Thus did scripture
record the great lesson of
what false leadership can
lead to.
The great mutiny of
Korach was never forgotten.
To the ancient rabbis the
whole movement of Korach
and his followers became typ-
ical of controversy based on
demagogery or tyranny,
where personal motives of
graft or self-aggrandizement
motivated leaders lacking in
integrity; controversies that
Dr. Hertz is rabbi emeritus
of Temple Beth El.
were not, as the rabbis said,
"for the sake of heaven."
In rabbinic legend, Korach
became the symbol of a man
consumed by jealousy. Moses
had apparently passed him
over in not appointing him to
high priestly office. Datan
and Aviram were jealous of
certain priestly privileges
occupied by Aaron and his
family. Korach became a de-
TORAH PORTION
magogue who appealed to the
baser instincts of the people
and found them gullible
enough to swallow his big lie.
The whole story of Korach
and the great rebellion raises
a question of leadership.
What qualities make a true
leader? What is the price of
leadership?
A leader is obviously a per-
son whose word is his bond.
The fundamental institutions
of America today, or of any
democracy, lean heavily upon
the need for faith in the man
who is leader of the people.
Institutions of American
democracy could not exist
without that kind of faith.
Citizens must have faith in
those people whom they elect.
Representative government
requires that we entrust to
our leaders the right to make
decision and be accountable
for them.
In the early days of
America, the town meeting
was a simple way of having
neighbors get together and
check the words and promises
of their leaders against their
record. Today, it is not quite
so simple. There are too
many diversions, too much
instantaneous communication
via TV, too complex a party
system for the common citi-
zen to have unquestioning
faith in the leadership of
some man or some party.
A second requirement of
true leadership is that such a
person must be one who un-
ites rather than devides us in
our thinking and planning
for the future. We have great
problems today, where true
leadership must bring about
a consensus for thinking
clearly about the future.
A third requirement of a
leader is that he must be one
who accepts and exults the
discipline of democracy. Our
democratic government, as
_created by the founding
fathers of the Constitution
200 years ago, established a
system of checks and bal-
ances for the express purpose
of keeping power divided be-
tween the three branches of
Continued on next page
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