spiritualit
>> Torah portion
••
••
••
••
••
r
• b.
■■
••
■■
••
■■
What's Your Agenda?
Shabbat Rosh Chodesh, Parshat
Korach: Numbers 16:1-18:32, 28:9-15;
I Samuel 11:14-12:22.
M
ah nishtanah" is asked not
When the spies returned from spy-
just on Passover eve — it's
ing the land, they claimed that it was
become a Jewish expres-
impossible to conquer it. The Jews com-
sion, a part of the slang. When a Jew
plained and, as a result, God decreed
experiences something
that the Jews would remain
unusual, he asks, "Mah
in the desert for 40 years,
nishtanah?"
with only the next genera-
Our Torah portion tells
tion entering the land under
us about Korach, a cousin
the leadership of Joshua.
of Moses himself, a rich and
That was it. Moses' career
important man. One day,
was over. His primary target
Korach joined with Datan
was the introduction of the
and Aviram, two shady
Jewish people into the Holy
characters who constantly
Land — and now it seemed
caused trouble for Moses,
like
it wasn't going to hap-
Ra bbi
and with 250 community
pen.
That's why Korach
Sch neor
leaders. Together they all
came
along and asked,
G ree nberg
approached Moses with a
"Why have you made your-
seemingly strange chal-
selves elite?"
lenge: "Why have you made yourselves
And as Datan and Aviram said
elite over God's assembly?"
explicitly to Moses, "Not even to a land
flowing with milk and honey have you
We know they were wrong, and God
proved in an indisputable way that they brought us!"
were wrong. But when you read this,
In other words, you're not the one
you ask yourself, "Mah nishtanah?"
who'll be bringing us into the Holy
What happened on that day that
Land and, therefore, maybe it is time
motivated Korach to challenge Moses'
for a new leader.
leadership? Why it is that toward the
This coming Tuesday, the third of
end of the summer, Korach suddenly
Tamuz will be the 19th yahrtzeit of the
wakes up one day and starts hollering,
Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous mem-
"Who do you guys think you are?"
ory. He was a leader with an agenda —
Maybe the desert heat got to him.
to touch every Jew with love. The Rebbe
As we know, every leader, in order to
taught us that every Jew has a purpose
be successful, has to have an agenda.
in this world, and we should do things
Moses' agenda had three specific
to make this world a better place.
missions: taking the Jews from Egypt,
For us as parents, we are the leaders
of our children. In order for our chil-
the giving of the Torah and, most
important of all, bringing the Jews into dren not to ask us what our purpose
the Land of Israel, into the promised
is, we need to be a living example. It is
land "flowing with milk and honey:'
thus incumbent upon us to further our
In the beginning, things went very
self-improvement by learning Torah
well. He led the Jews out of Egypt
and doing mitzvot so we won't lose
and brought them to Mount Sinai to
focus of our agenda.
receive the Torah. However, when it
came to the third mission, everything
Rabbi Schneor Greenberg is rabbi of the
Chabad Jewish Center of Commerce.
fell apart.
Get
Better
Faster
Over 90%
Success Rate.
MLS LASER THERAPY
• Reduce Pain
• Non Invasive
• Painless
• Relieve
Inflammation
• FDA Cleared
• Restore Mobility
P
PI
I
.
i
Ron Lederman, MD
■,)
Mark Kwartowitz, DO Brad Mescher, PA
.01 LEDERMAN
KWARTOWITZ
Center for Orthopedics & Sports Medicine
LKOrthopedics.com
248.669.2000
2300 Haggerty Road, Suite 1110
West Bloomfield, Michigan 48323
❑
June 6 • 2013
39